Samsung SSD 850 EVO is not copying my files when Windows 7 does the backup

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Skelton1974

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Oct 1, 2016
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Hi! I have Windows 7 on a Toshiba laptop.
I installed Samsung SSD 850 EVO on June 15, 2016; followed the instructions and did the cloning of my C drive with no problem. I verified that my Word & Xcel files were on the SSD drive – they were. When I deleted one file on the new drive I noticed that that file was also deleted from the C drive. Fine. Now the data is on the E drive.
I then set up the regular backup of my files everyday Sunday night. Windows 7 backup indicates that the backup will include “Files in libraries & personal folders for all users and system image.”
My PC tells me the backup is in process if I happen to look at it when it’s supposed to happen. HOWEVER, out of curiosity, I checked the Word & Xcel files on the SSD E drive and noticed my new files were not being copied. What is happening and how can I fix this?
Thank you.
Mimi – an old lady who wants to understand.
 
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WyomingKnott

WyomingKnott

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I'd need a bit more information, but I think that what is happening is that you replaced your hard drive with an SSD. My best guess as to what SHOULD have happened is that
1) The system now runs from the SSD; the SSD is the C: drive. Otherwise, you don't get the benefit from it.
2) The old drive is the E drive.
3) Backups are done from the C drive to the E drive.

You seem not to be there. A few questions:
Do both drives fit in the laptop at the same time? If not, which one is in it now and how does the other connect?
Did you set up the backup software to backup from C to E?
 
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Skelton1974

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Hi,
Thank you for your response.
The SSD is an external drive plugged in directly into my laptop. The system is still running on the C drive, that I know for sure because I have plugged & unplugged the external drive several times and the system boots from C.
I use the Windows 7 backup system. It is set up to run every Sunday at 7 pm. The Windows back up screen indicates that the location of the backup is ToshibaHD (E:) which is the SSD drive – it shows the the capacity of the external drive as 931.51 GB and that I have currently 696.43 GB free.
It’s only in the past month that I checked the files I worked on in the C drive and couldn’t & cannot find the updates in the E drive. The data on the SSD drive hasn’t changed since the cloning in July!!!
Where does the weekly backup goes is a mystery to me!
I searched for information on the web, and I saw somewhere that Samsung SSDs were not set up to do backup(???) I am surprised because the computer technician said the SSD was a solid system for backup unlikely to crash like a previous backup I had.
I also have another issue with the Samsung Magician where only the Disk Drive & Performance Benchmark are enabled. All the other selections like optimization, firmware update, data management, advanced features are unable (grayish).
The Device Manager shows the SSD so it recognizes it’s installed. I have tried taking the protective case off the SSD to see if it made any difference –it doesn’t and I think it needs to be uncased to remain dust free. I appreciate any solution you may provide.
 
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WyomingKnott

WyomingKnott

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Ok. In my humble opinion, you have gotten something backwards. There is no reason to use an SSD for an external backup drive; a hard drive can keep up with the speeds just fine. There is an advantage to be gained from replacing your system drive with an SSD. This is what people usually do after cloning a system drive to an SSD, but it does require opening up your computer, so if you're not comfortable either skip that, have a shop do it, or have a relative with experience do it.


I'm not sure what that protective case is, but I suggest putting it back. SSDs don't care much about dust, unless they are filled with it. The 850 EVO is an internal disk - can you send me a link to the product that you bought?

Let me walk through this. You bought an SSD, attached it to a USB port on your PC, and cloned the hard drive. What software did you use to clone the drive? You wrote that you "followed the instructions," but not what software. If it came with the SSD, still let me know the name. (Side note - if it came with the SSD, it was for the procedure I described above that leaves your SSD as your system drive.)

The cloning only made a copy. What backup software did you configure to do the weekly backup? Does it show if they were done or not? It seems likely to me that they are not being copied directly, but stored in a file like E:/Backups/MyBackup.data (that's an example name). Most backup programs do backups to a single data file.

One thing I can't understand is that you deleted a file from the E drive and it was removed from the C drive. This makes no sense to me, unless you configured the backup software to copy from E to C, and not just copy but keep the disks matched.

So many questions!
 
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Skelton1974

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Skelton1974

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Hi, I think you resolve one issue. Until you pointed me to search for the link I didn’t realize I had bought an internal drive meant to replace my current C drive. That was not my intention when I bought the drive. I wanted an external drive to back up my laptop in case it crashes – that was my request to the computer sales fellow. He never told me it was an internal drive and nowhere in/out of the box does it say “Internal” or “external”.
This is the link: http://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/product/consumer/850evo.html
Mine is the Samsung 1TB, 2.5”, 850 EVO SATA, 6Gbps SSD, 540MBps
The case I am talking about is to cover the drive when it’s installed externally.

The installation pictures for a laptop show the drive plugged in directly into the laptop. Now that I am looking at the pictures for the installation on a Desktop, it shows to open the case & place the SSD inside the case but not for the laptop. I’ve never opened my laptop so I don’t know if the SSD would even fit in it.
The software that came with the SSD is the installation disk:
Samsung Solid State Drive One-stop Install Navigator, Manual & Software, version 4.5
To install the software and clone my PC I followed the instructions from that CD - that was easy and it worked. I saw all my files copied on the E drive. I see that there is a WindowsImageBackup done on 7/15/16 when I did the cloning.
Then, I use Windows 7 “backup my computer” to backup my files every Sunday onto the E drive. After each backup, Windows tells me the backup has been successful, the time it took & the backup size. The E drive shows the amount of free space has decreased, which looks normal to me but, I don’t see any changes to my files on the E drive. So, I don’t know where the backups are.
I don’t know where to look to see E:/Backups/MyBackup.data – I don’t know how to search for that on the C drive either.
To answer your last comment I can assure you I didn’t change anything in the configuration process. I am not that savvy. If I did. it happened by accident in the process of trying to solve my problem. Windows backup says backup location is E:
I did come across some instructions on the web about changing the way to boot the system from another drive but I didn’t pursue that because my goal was to get a backup system.
So, this is where I am, a drive that doesn’t do backup yet shows something happened every Sunday because the free space is decreasing. Weird! I continue to appreciate your help if you are willing and not getting bored with my problems.
 
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WyomingKnott

WyomingKnott

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No, not a problem. My specialty here is actually asking questions to narrow down the problem, and I tend to be long-winded.

I haven't used 7 in quite a while. The backup does not copy the files to the drive directly, and certainly not in the same location that they are on in you C drive. The data is backed up in a single file, with catalog information. I just read that those files are hidden.

If you want to see what has been backed up, open the utility, select Restore my Files, and you can browse what has been backed up. If you see all your files that should have been backed up, we are set. You can recover them when needed. If you don't see them, then we will look further.

A couple of side points. How did you manage to connect the drive, which has internal connectors, as an external drive to your laptop?
How much did you pay for it? Most people do external backups to external hard drives. These come in cases with USB ports to make them easier to attach to your machine, and they cost less. Of course, an SSD is less likely to be damaged if dropper.
 
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Skelton1974

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Hi, First let me respond to your last questions. The SSD came with its own cable (a small one) that has a USB port I plugged into my laptop. I paid $327 for the drive because I wanted a back up that wasn't going to crash like my previous Western Digital that went dead on me. The sales fellow said "our clients are very pleased with the SSD" so I bought it. I was considering returning it to the shop but I am pass the date of return.
As far as the backup is concerned, I am at a loss. I am quite familiar with the restore process because I've done that several times but, when I look, like you said, under "Browse the Backup for folders or files" it shows
Microsoft Windows Backup
- backup of ToshibaHD E: on the right side of this it showss Backup of C: 9/29/16 - but when I click on it it shows Users 5/11/2010 which is the date I bought the laptop
- my backup with my name - when I click on it it shows files I changed & backed up 9/29/16
I don't know how to open those files without restoring them to see if the info I changed was copied.
At this point I don't even know if my own backup with my name on it is a C backup and I am curious if the ToshibaHD E is in fact the Samsung E. I am very confused. I'll live you for now. Thanks for your effor
 
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Skelton1974

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Windows 7 did the weekly backup on Sunday as scheduled. The backup size was 190.58 GB & it took 2 hrs.
HOWEVER, when I checked the files I had purposely changed in Word, Excel, & My Pictures, those files were not updated on the E: drive. I then compared the number of items on the C drive to the # on the E drive and they are different expect for "My music" - that folder shows the same # of items. which makes sense because I haven't added anything to "My Music" since the cloning on 7/15/16.
The conclusion is that I cannot use the SSD for backup just for cloning. I know you said you haven't used Windows 7 in a while but I can assure you the Windows back up is pretty straight forward. Yet, as the backup happens the new files are not being updated, which is a real puzzle from me. I read everything I can about backups on the web & I haven't found why my SSD drive is not picking up the updated files while the free size of the E drive is decreasing. For the time being I'll just backup on a flash drive. Thanks.
 
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T-Bone457

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Skelton, You are confusing the cloned image with the backup files.
1. When you first setup up your SSD, you cloned (or copied) everything from your C: drive to your SSD on the E: drive. These files will not change unless you clone your C: drive again.
2. When you use the Windows backup tool it saves the backup to the E: drive, as a single file. You will not be able to just go in and look any of the individual files in the backup. However if you choose to restore from a backup (using the restore feature in the Windows backup tool) all your most recent data will be there.

In short, your backup is working, just not in the way you expected it to.



 
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