Not enough free disk space - really strange variant

[iGaidhlig]

So the other day when backing up to my 1TB iomega external drive from Windows 10 desktop with FFS it throws the 'not enough free disk space error'. Bear with me...

So I bought a new 4TB Toshiba and having run FFS with exactly the same settings and exactly the same amount of data to back up, I check the new drive and it tells me I've got 722GB of data on the new drive, with 3GB left, give or take:

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MUCH less than 1TB ... so I open the drive, select my backup folders (only 3, hard to get wrong) and ask Windows to tot up the size and I get 507 / size on disk 656:

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So I go back to my 1TB drive and Windows tells me it's 903GB

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But when I select the folders on the 1TB I get

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My settings are to Mirror:

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but with or without the Fail-safe Option ticked or unticked, it will not back up.

I've got file explorer set to show hidden folders and I am happy to write off minor discrepancies between file size on my desktop hard drive and the external (presumably FFS saves some sort of system files to speed up diffs) but I cannot for the life of me fathom why there would be such a huge discrepancy between the new external and the old. Something seems to have piled up on the old external that hasn't piled up on the new one yet, but that many GB seems unreasonable.

Any thoughts?

[xCSxXenon]

Recycle Bin or restore points
Run something like SpaceSniffer on it

[iGaidhlig]

Errr... good call... yikes? 423GB of stuff in a recycle bin I can't even see?

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So I wasted money on a new external, great... Should FFS at least flash a warning to check for stuff the user won't be aware of it even being there? So how do I safely get rid of this stuff and/or prevent it from piling up again?

[xCSxXenon]

I mean, it kinda did by saying there wasn't enough free space. Also, that is a task that should be done by whatever/whoever manages storage devices. In this case, you'd be able to see the drive was full using File Explorer as well. FFS isn't a storage management solution, and it's best for software to "stay in its lane".

To fix it, empty your Recycle Bin in Windows. To prevent it from piling up again, one option is to set FFS to delete things permanently instead of sending deleted items to the Recycle Bin. This means you are giving up a small line of defense against accidental deletions though.

[iGaidhlig]

That's slightly disingenous... We don't all have a software degree or an IT department - like in my case, there's just me. A lot of people out there use software with some degree of ability, but that's like the difference between being able to drive and being a car mechanic. Not the same.

A more helpful error message might have been <i>Drive is full. Use a tool like Spacesniffer to check if you could clear some files in your backup drive's recycling bin to create space</i>. It sure would have saved me £130 ...

Surely everyone wants FFS to be as good and helpful as it can be for everyone :)

As it turns out, one can right-click at the top of the recycle bin segment in Spacesniffer and select delete.

[xCSxXenon]

It's not disingenuous at all. Being able to drive a car carries its own responsibilities and general knowledge just as well. You don't have to be a mechanic to be expected to know when your car is out of gas and how to fill it up. Space management is a basic skill to have when working with computers. However, I do agree that most people lack it.

[iGaidhlig]

That attitude explains a lot about software ...

[xCSxXenon]

If you find this to be a common occurrence with software, you're the problem