Okay, I have a MyBook Back up Storage External Hard Drive.

I accidently Backed up my entire program instead of just the data and now it's saying the tape is full ( even though I don't have a tape!)..

I called tech support and the guy in India says I need to call Microsoft to have it unzipped because the XP back up wizard is Microsoft and not MyBook. aaahhggg!

He says I can Restore it back and it will clear MyBook and empty and I can have more room. But, I'm scared to restore it. I'm afraid I'll mess up all the data I have stored in my program.... all the reports and data, invoices, payroll etc etc.. but what I'm more afraid of is that it's not backed up correctly and if something happens, all that data is lost.

The other thing is I would rather just use an off site Storage - online.. anyone have a recommendation? In case of a fire or something, I think that is the way to go.

Recommendations? Help? Sympathy?

Why could you not just clear out the entire drive and do another backup of just your data? Is there data on the external drive that you don't have on your local drive?

Because I can't figure out how to get into it to clear it out! I know, it should be simple but apparently the files are zipped or something.. when I called tech support for MyBook ( he was useless) and told me to call Microsoft because they have a Backup Wizard on XP. I don't want to call another India call center and spend a half hour giving them my name over and over.. I know it's simple but I can't get into it to delete it and I'm afraid to restore it in case it messes up my files!

No data on the external drive.

I'm a dork, I know it's an easy thing but it's not working for me!

Well, I can't speak to that particular device as I've never used one, but I'm assuming it is basically just a hard drive attached to the PC via USB and you can access it like any other drive (as a drive letter). In that case you simply delete the folder and files (or zipped file) that's hogging all your space.

Yes, I'm sure that's what it would take but I can't even find the option to delete anything! Which was why I called their useless tech support... It's the MyBook Western Digital External Hardrive. I accidently clicked back up all the files instead of let me choose what to back up and now it's full.. boo hoo.. I'm afraid to click restore because hypothetically it wouldn't change any files and just 'put it back' but I'm afraid.. would it override anything or duplicate my files? I don't know.. and I'm frightened! lol

I did set up a temp trial account at ibackup - for $99 bucks a year, I'm all over that.. if we have a fire or crash, it's separate and safe and encrypted.. what's not to like? ( I'm sure I'll found out!)

Browse to the device with Explorer, not your backup software. Delete what you find there.