Top 3 Ways to Manage Backup Disk Space in Windows 10/8/7

The Necessity to Manage Backup Disk Space in Windows

Nowadays, people tend to use computers for all kinds of matters and to store various files, data protection is thus becoming increasingly important. For some particularly valuable data, users will even set up schedules for frequent backups. Sooner or later, the backup disk will be filled up and we may see a message like this:

This is not the only problem, however. Apart from affecting the subsequent backups, a lack of disk space can also cause the computer to run slower and slower, or even freeze up frequently. 

At this time, you could clean up the hard drive, and delete some useless backup to free up space. But it's a pain to do it manually each time. For most users, it is best to manage backup disk space intelligently with the backup solution itself. Next I will describe how to manage backup disk space using Windows backup solutions.

How to Manage Backup Disk Space in Windows 11/10/8/7

Windows has two well known backup methods, File History (Way 1) and Backup and Restore (Way 2), the former is more of an automatic backup solution of important folders and the latter allows you to freely backup libraries, volumes, system images or the entire hard drive.

Whichever you choose, you will find a bundled disk management option that allows you to modify the settings for saving your backup files. This way, old backups can be automatically deleted to free up your backup disk space.

However, when you get right down to it, you will find that the cleanup options for both methods are not flexible enough, especially Backup and Restore, which is commonly used for backing up large data. Therefore, you may also consider an alternative in Way 3 as a more efficient data backup and disk space management solution.

Way 1. Delete Older Backup Versions with File History

If you backup files with File History, you could do the following to manage Windows backup disk space.

1. Input backup settings in Windows 10 search box, and choose Backup Settings and hit Enter.

2. Click More Options under Back up using File History section.

3. Scroll down to the bottom, and choose See advanced settings.

4. Choose Advanced settings at the left panel.

5. Click Clean up versions at the Versions section.

6. Choose delete method at the Delete files field, click Clean up to manage backup disk space.

Way 2. Manage Backup Disk Space with Windows Backup and Restore

If you use Backup and Restore to backup files, and encounter Check backup disk space notice like the below.

1. Please click Options, and choose Manage backup disk space, or you could click Manage space at the Back-up section.

2. Click View backups..., select the backups you would like to delete, press Delete Windows 10 backup files to free up space. Or you can click Change Settings... to configure the backup retention policy.

3. By change settings, you can Let Windows manage the sapce used for backup history (maximum 150.00 GB), or Keep only the latest system image and minimize space used by backup to let Windows delete old backups automatically and save only one system image. Make your choice and click OK to save the change.

As you can see, the options provided by Windows Backup and Restore are quite limited, with which you can still not manage backup disk space flexibly and efficiently. In fact, there are many users reporting that Windows Backup not managing space correctly. To delete unnecessary backups automatically and manage backup space efficiently, you may try the next method.

Way 3. Manage Backup Disk Space Flexibly with AOMEI Backupper

The best Windows backup software - AOMEI Backupper Professional will make things easier to manage backup disk space. It supports file backup, folder backup, disk backup, system backup, partition backup, schedule backup, full backup, incremental and differential backup. And most importantly, it allows you to automatically delete old backups while the backups exceeds the number you specified.

Please download AOMEI Backupper Professional 30 day free trial to have a try:

Here is how to manage backup disk space in Windows 10 computer with AOMEI Backupper (take Windows 10 system image for example):

1. Execute AOMEI Backupper Professional, choose System Backup at the Backup tab. Or other backups you want, Disk Backup, Partition Backup, etc.

2. Choose a destination for Windows 10 system image file.

3. Tap Schedule Backup to set up the backup intervals, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Event triggers, or USB plug in. 

4. Hit Backup Scheme at the bottom left corner, tap to Enable Automatic Backup Cleanup, configure the schemes to delete old backup images automatically By quantity, By time, By daily/weekly/monthly or By space, then click OK.

5. Press Start Backup >> button to create Windows 10 system image and manage backup disk space easily.

After you create multiple backups, it will automatically delete your old system images once the backups over the number you specified. Then, you could avoid the Windows 10 backup disk full error.

The Epilogue

Manage backup disk space is not difficult for you according to the step-by-step guide. There are 3 ways to manage Windows backup disk space.

By the way, AOMEI Backupper could create incremental and differential backup to only backup changed files since the last (full) backup, these two backup types could help you save Windows backup disk space easily.

If you would like to protect unlimited PCs and Servers, please try AOMEI Backupper Technician Plus.