backup destination missing

Question

I have 2 internal hard drives and I'm trying to setup a backup from the one with windows to the other formatted drive. But the only backup option that shows up is my DVD drive. Screen shot here:

http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/7656/backupd.png

How do I make the other hard drive show up? I can see it under 'my computer' just fine.

Answer 1

Hello nathontomiln,

Thank you for posting in the Answers Forums,

Click on the Guidelines for choosing a backup destination.  If that doesn't help please come back and post so we can help you out.

When you choose a destination to save your backup to, the wizard searches your computer and displays a list of all destinations that you can use. If the destination that you want to use doesn't appear in the list, it could be due to one of the following reasons:

·         The destination is a tape drive. You can't save backups to tapes.

·         The destination is the drive that you're trying to back up. You can't back up a disk to itself. For example, you can't back up the contents of Drive E: to Drive E:.

·         The destination is a CD-ROM drive or a DVD drive. You can't use a CD drive or a DVD drive to make a backup; you must use a CD or DVD burner, also known as a CD-R/CD-RW or DVD-R/DVD-RW drive.

·         The destination isn't formatted as NTFS, FAT, or Universal Disk Format (UDF) (also called Live File System). Backups can only be saved to disks that are formatted using the NTFS, FAT, or UDF file systems. For more information, see Convert a hard disk or partition to NTFS format.

·         The destination is either the drive that Windows is installed on or the system drive (the drive that Windows uses to start your computer—also called the startup drive).

·         The destination is a recovery partition. This is a special partition created by your computer manufacturer that contains files and tools that you can use to return your computer to the manufacturer's settings if it stops working correctly.

·         The destination is locked by BitLocker Drive Encryption. If the drive is encrypted using BitLocker, it must be unlocked before you can store a backup on it.

Regards,

---

Edgar

Microsoft Answers Support Engineer

Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.

Answer 2

I also have a NAS device with a CIFS share mounted as drive Z.  Windows 7  Backup and Restore does not list this mount as an option for backups.  I have the same setup on an XP machine and can backup up to this share with no problem.  I am an IT tech with over 30 years of experience with PCs, so I'm not "missing something".  Microsoft, you have a problem with Windows 7 and need to fix it.

Hello nathontomiln,

Thank you for posting in the Answers Forums,

Click on the Guidelines for choosing a backup destination.  If that doesn't help please come back and post so we can help you out.

When you choose a destination to save your backup to, the wizard searches your computer and displays a list of all destinations that you can use. If the destination that you want to use doesn't appear in the list, it could be due to one of the following reasons:

·        The destination is a tape drive. You can't save backups to tapes.

·        The destination is the drive that you're trying to back up. You can't back up a disk to itself. For example, you can't back up the contents of Drive E: to Drive E:.

·        The destination is a CD-ROM drive or a DVD drive. You can't use a CD drive or a DVD drive to make a backup; you must use a CD or DVD burner, also known as aCD-R/CD-RW or DVD-R/DVD-RW drive.

·        The destination isn't formatted as NTFS, FAT, or Universal Disk Format (UDF) (also called Live File System). Backups can only be saved to disks that are formatted using the NTFS, FAT, or UDF file systems. For more information, see Convert a hard disk or partition to NTFS format.

·        The destination is either the drive thatWindows is installed on or the system drive (the drive that Windows uses to start your computer—also called thestartup drive).

·        The destination is a recovery partition. This is a special partition created by your computer manufacturer that contains files and tools that you can use to return your computer to the manufacturer's settings if it stops working correctly.

·        The destination is locked by BitLocker Drive Encryption. If the drive is encrypted using BitLocker, it must be unlocked before you can store a backup on it.

Regards,

---

Edgar

Microsoft Answers Support Engineer

Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.

Unfortunately these are not the case in my situation.  I have an external NAS (D-Link DNS-323) which is a mapped network drive on my LAN however it does not show up in the wizard... thoughts?

Thank you

Answer 3

Hello nathontomiln,

Thank you for posting in the Answers Forums,

Click on the Guidelines for choosing a backup destination.  If that doesn't help please come back and post so we can help you out.

When you choose a destination to save your backup to, the wizard searches your computer and displays a list of all destinations that you can use. If the destination that you want to use doesn't appear in the list, it could be due to one of the following reasons:

·        The destination is a tape drive. You can't save backups to tapes.

·        The destination is the drive that you're trying to back up. You can't back up a disk to itself. For example, you can't back up the contents of Drive E: to Drive E:.

·        The destination is a CD-ROM drive or a DVD drive. You can't use a CD drive or a DVD drive to make a backup; you must use a CD or DVD burner, also known as aCD-R/CD-RW or DVD-R/DVD-RW drive.

·        The destination isn't formatted as NTFS, FAT, or Universal Disk Format (UDF) (also called Live File System). Backups can only be saved to disks that are formatted using the NTFS, FAT, or UDF file systems. For more information, see Convert a hard disk or partition to NTFS format.

·        The destination is either the drive thatWindows is installed on or the system drive (the drive that Windows uses to start your computer—also called thestartup drive).

·        The destination is a recovery partition. This is a special partition created by your computer manufacturer that contains files and tools that you can use to return your computer to the manufacturer's settings if it stops working correctly.

·        The destination is locked by BitLocker Drive Encryption. If the drive is encrypted using BitLocker, it must be unlocked before you can store a backup on it.

Regards,

---

Edgar

Microsoft Answers Support Engineer

Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.

Unfortunately these are not the case in my situation.  I have an external NAS (D-Link DNS-323) which is a mapped network drive on my LAN however it does not show up in the wizard... thoughts?

Thank you

Answer 4

Does disk management also show that drive has a windows partition and it is active?

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VP Tech Services

Answer 5

Hello,

Do you see the drive in Computer and the Disk Management screen?  Is this the only place it is not showing?

Regards,

---

~Alex T.~

~Windows Desktop Experience MVP~