Windows 8 File History backup creates duplicates

Anonymous
2013-02-05T16:18:46+00:00

I have run the Windows 8 file history since I installed W8 last October and each time I run it I get another duplicate set of documents, photos, video's, everything. After I accumulate 5-6 copies that amount to 45gb of space on my extended hard drive I delete the file history file and start over.

I'm using Windows 8 on a laptop and therefore do not have the HDD connected all the time. I run backups occasionally and whenever I run it all files are duplicated over and over again. By running it occasionally I mean sometimes daily, sometimes weekly. I've made all sorts of modifications but nothing works.

This is not a new problem and there are several complaints to Microsoft regarding people with this problem so I thought I'd ask the question on this forum.

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w8itprogeneral/thread/14cedd95-b3b0-4830-be00-da793dda9e27/

My main question is, is there a different backup / restore application that will work besides the W8 File History? Does the old backup from Windows 7 still work?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Performance and system failures

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-11-05T15:39:07+00:00

    I'm almost sure it is File History's fault. I am using a second utility (Microsoft SyncToy) to manually backup my files on a different external hard drive and it didn't find any modified files when I run again the backup. This means the files where not modified. Unless** there was some minor attribute change on the files which SyncToy didn't catch, File History has a major bug!  

    ** Just to cover this narrow possibility, I'm wondering if it could be Nero's indexing service (Nero Scout or Nero Home, I'm not sure about the name) or any other program that access user files.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-11-05T14:26:37+00:00

    I had Nero 2014 installed.

    Other 2 items don't apply to my situation.

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-11-02T15:56:34+00:00

    Did this issue occur to anyone under these circumstances?

    • Having Windows Live Photo Gallery installed
    • Having Nero 2014 installed 
    • Temporarily disabling File History and/or removing the external hard drive.

    I'm having the exact same issue. I'm trying to narrow down the possible cause of it.

    It is either File History very buggy or another application is making minor modifications to our files without our knowledge.

    John

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-06-14T01:23:28+00:00

    A recent update may have fixed the problem. I'm using Windows 8.1, and recently noticed that File History only creates new copies of files that have been changed since the last backup. Are you running Windows 8 or 8.1, and is the problem fixed?

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  5. Anonymous
    2014-05-18T23:07:32+00:00

    This is very different for me as I normally run a backup once a month. So far, the best solution I have found is to plug the drive in when I want to run a backup, and set it to keep versions until it runs out of space on the drive.

    You could always do a backup the old fashioned way: manually copy your files to the drive. At least this way you get your files the exact way you want them. It just takes longer.

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