I think your problem is centered around the 'write caching' setting for this
removable drive. (Disk Properties, Policies tab.) I would suspect this is
set to use write caching to speed the drive, and the drive was removed
without using the "Safely Remove hardware" icon in the Notifications area.

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Mark L. Ferguson
..

"Tim" <Tim@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:FF70EC12-9339-4A9D-82F2-F8C5AA1DCFD9@microsoft.com...[color=blue]
> Mark,
>
> Thanks for your prompt reply and my apologies for taking so long to get
> back
> to you.
>
> I open "Backup Status and Configuration", select "Complete PC Backup",
> select the external USB HDD as backup media, then the system says that a
> previous backup exists and "only the differences will be saved".
>
> The problem is that there is no previous backup (as the exernal USB HDD
> has
> been reformatted). I want everything on the C: partition to be backed up
> not
> just "the differences".
>
> You say that "There are setting available during a backup that let you set
> the interval between Complete backups", but I don't see any options. It
> just launches straight into the backup and creates a backup directory of
> 26Gb
> (clearly not a complete backup as 52Gb of space is used on the C: drive.
>
> I need to make a genuine "complete" backup.
>
> I'm using Vista Business.
>
> Thanks again,
> Tim
>
> "Mark L. Ferguson" wrote:
>[color=green]
>> Not sure you are saying what you have done. You open "Backup Status and
>> Configuration", highlight "Complete PC Backup" and it doesn't tell you
>> the
>> location of the last successful backup, and where it is?
>> There are setting available during a backup that let you set the interval
>> between "Complete" backups.
>>
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>> Was this helpful? Then click the Ratings button. Voting helps the web
>> interface.
>> [url]http://www.microsoft.com/wn3/locales/help/help_en-us.htm#RateAPostAsAnswer[/url]
>> Mark L. Ferguson
>> .
>>
>> "Tim" <Tim@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:2480A427-9071-4E2F-BF84-5E4994D2D958@microsoft.com...[color=darkred]
>> > Does anyone know how to reset the Vista backup routine in order to
>> > force
>> > it
>> > to do a fresh complete backup? My problem is detailed below...
>> >
>> > I've used Complete PC Backup to backup / restore various new customer
>> > installs. The way I understand it is that the first time it's run it
>> > backs
>> > up ALL the data on the selected partition(s) to the backup media, then
>> > subsequent backups are incremental and smaller in size.
>> >
>> > I've just finished rebuilding a Vista machine and want to make a
>> > complete
>> > (i.e. not incremental) backup of it. 52Gb of space has been used for
>> > data
>> > on
>> > the C: drive, but when I attempt to make a complete backup it says
>> > that
>> > previous backups have been detected and it will only backup the
>> > differences.
>> > The backup file created is only 26Gb.
>> >
>> > There are no other backups on the system as the backup device (ext USB2
>> > HDD)
>> > has been reformatted. I'm guessing that if I attempted to restore, the
>> > routine would try to find a previous complete backup that no longer
>> > exists
>> > and fail. The only way I can test it would be to attempt a restore
>> > which
>> > I
>> > cannot risk.
>> >
>> > There must be a hidden file somewhere that records previous backups.
>> > If I
>> > can reset this I could make a full 52Gb backup.
>> >
>> > Any advice would be greaty appreciated.
>> >[/color][/color][/color]