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

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-07-25T14:10:04+00:00

    Follow the instructions in this link for your attached hard drive to un-index all files on the drive, then hopefully this will solve your File History problem, as it did mine. 

    http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/how-to-speed-up-your-computers-performance-by-turning-off-indexing-of-your-local-drive-in-windows-xp-and-vista/

    Let me know how you get on

    David

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-09-01T13:57:37+00:00

    I just bought a new laptop, and I hate windows 8. Why force us to buy a worse version of windows. I hated Vista, and windows 8 is doing the same junk. Hey microsoft, nobody wants all their files backed up 5 freakin times. How do I get Windows 7 on my new laptop! I will switch to Apple, if you keep making us buy this ignorant operating systems.

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-10-29T02:20:22+00:00

    I upgraded to windows 8.1 form 8.0.

    Today, my external USB backup has duplicated all my Videos, Pictures, Documents.....  sigh.  Yes, from the File History program.

    No, it is  not fixed.    It is still broken.

    Microsoft, are you listening?    You need to fix at least ONE of your lame backup tools, or delete them.

    OK  ??  Is it THAT hard to fix your OWN software?   We aren't talking about rewriting OUTLOOk, or EXCEL, or even Windows?    Just your own File History program.

    Please fix it, ok?    Just WHAT is your team assigned to FILE HISTORY doing anymore?  Obviously nothing, since so many of us continue to be plagued by your virant software.

    I am about to give up on Windows and  go to something better supported.... like Ubuntu.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-10-29T02:21:46+00:00

    And yes, indexing is turned OFF on my USB and my folders that I am backing up.   Been turned off for over a month... sigh.

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  5. Anonymous
    2013-11-06T18:22:49+00:00

    The likely cause of this issue is an NTFS USN Journal wrap. Please try increasing the size of your usn journal to see if your problem goes away. The following instructions will increase your USN Journal size from the default of 32MB to 128MB. If the journal is still wrapping you can increase the size even further.

    From an elevated command prompt:

    fsutil usn createjournal m=0x8000000 a=0x2000000 c:

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