"You are running out of disk space on RECOVERY (D:)" message.

Anonymous

From: Robert Judge

On my new VISTA PC, I tried to use the built-in Backup program. The back-up apparently failed because there was not enough room on the "RECOVERY (D:) disk.

Now, when I re-start my new VISTA PC, I get this message:

"Low Disk Space You are running out of disk space on RECOVERY (D:). To free space on this drive by deleting old or unnecessary files, click here..."

When I "Click here," I am then offered "Disk Cleanup for RECOVERY (D:)." The Disk Cleanup offers "Office Setup Files" and "Recycle Bin," but both have "0 bytes" so I can't free up space that way.

When I open the Backup and Restore center and try to backup files, the program starts by "Creating a shadow copy." However, I then get a message:

"An error occurred...There is not enough space to save the backup files.

Free up disk space or change yur backup settings. (0x81000005)."

If I have limited space on "RECOVERY D," I only need to backup Documents. But even when I only check "Documents," I get the same error message.

I am thinking that I should delete the contents of RECOERY D and try to start over again. However, there appears to be some files that came already installed on RECOVERY D. However, I see a folder called "Backup Set 2008-06-08 193208," which I assume is the failed backup that I tried on June 6. Should I just delete that folder and try again? Or is there some other way I should try to use the "Backup and Restore" program? I will appreciate advice.

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Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous

Mickie,

As Ryan pointed to, the Recovery D drive should not be used for storage, did you install anything to it directly?

If you were attempting to backup and then canceled or failed, then follow these directions:

Click

Windows Logo (Start) -> In Start Search type Backup Status and Configuration 2. Next to "Automatic backup is currently turned on" Click Turn Off 3. Close the window.

Next we will need to remove the incomplete files that were saved on your D drive.

To do this you will need to click Start click Computer, then double-click Local Disk (D:)

Here you will find two things, a MediaID.bin file and a folder with the same name as your computer (you can confirm this by finding a Backup Set folder inside this one), you will need to delete both to get rid of the message. Let us know if you require help figuring out the name of this Folder.

Rami

Microsoft Answers Support Engineer

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Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous

From: Mick Murphy

Your D: Partition is a partition set up on your computer by the Manufacturer in case of serious problems in the Vista operation system.

DO NOT TOUCH IT.

You are supposed to make recovery DVDs from it to reinstall Vista in case of complete Hard Drive failure.

Also, at Startup, there is an F Key option to reinstall vista from it, back to factory standards, in case of System crash.

To Backup your System/Data, buy an external Hard drive, and save to that.

Mick Murphy - Qld – Australia

Another community answer from the Windows Vista newsgroups

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45 additional answers

Anonymous

2012-01-03T16:24:24+00:00

that was perfect got rid of the annoying message now and got loads of space back thanks
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Anonymous

2011-12-13T20:21:27+00:00

great advice, consice, right to the matter of the problem.thanks.
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Anonymous

2011-11-16T23:58:20+00:00

Have been attempting to resolve the same issue with my wife's HP laptop. D drive is for back-up only and I have seen countless work-arounds that did nothing except ignore the issue. My wife's laptop had about 35Mb left on an 11.8 Gb Recovery (D) disk full of HP's original system and driver software. (They don't provide software disks when you buy laptops any more!!) I could not change the size of the disk under Disk Management as the option was greyed out..... Thinking back, if this drive is only for back-up and is not used by me, why is it stll expanding?

MY SIMPLE SOLUTION:

I gained an extra 1Gb of available space by going to the Disk Clean-up tool, selecting drive D, clicking on More options and then clicking Clean-up System Restore and Clean-up copies to delete all but the latest 'Restore Points'. A simple but 100% effective solution......
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