Windows 10 wrongly labels my secondary HDD as "System" in backup

topgundcp · 18 Oct 2015

Instead of renaming the folders one by one, he could also try to copy or, better still, move them to a dedicated folder on another drive. That would have the same effect but hopefully faster won't you think ?

I was thinking about just click on the folder once to get into edit then add an "x" at the end, if works then reverse the procedure to remove the "x" until we get to a folder that is locked. To me, it would be faster than copy a whole lot of files. Any hu, what ever it works to help the OP then I am happy.
Cheers.

Ocman76 · 18 Oct 2015

Here are the contents of the folders:

Windows 10 wrongly labels my secondary HDD as "System" in backup-untitled.png

Windows 10 wrongly labels my secondary HDD as "System" in backup-untitled2.png

As you can see the majority of things here are programs I have installed. I will quickly go through right now and try to rename them.

Ocman76 · 18 Oct 2015

I am able to successfully rename every single folder shown in the screenshots in my last post. Nothing appears to be protected by windows...

Edit: I should also note that I changed the view settings to show hidden files and system operating files and nothing extra showed up, so there isn't anything hiding that I wouldn't normally be able to see.

fdegrove · 18 Oct 2015

Hi,

I was thinking about just click on the folder once to get into edit then add an "x" at the end

That's one way to go about it. Why not.
From the screenshot you can already tell that some are definitely from the days of Windows 7, some are standalone (AKA portable), but most are installed through a setup program.
This obviously means they're written in registry with that path setting.
Short of uninstalling and reinstalling making sure they install using the default path (i.e. C: \ "Program Files" etc., what can you do ??

Either way, it's going to be a lot of work to set this all straight.

I suppose a clean install of Win 10 is out of the question ?

Cheers,

fdegrove · 18 Oct 2015

Hi,

I am able to successfully rename every single folder shown in the screenshots in my last post. Nothing appears to be protected by windows...

That's excellent news but then why does Windows Backup insist on backing it all up when making a system image ?

Can you launch backup to see if it still insists on doing this, please ?
Just don't make a backup as yet. We still want to know if some of the programmes are actually installed or if the list is just a leftover from Win 7.

Cheers,

Ocman76 · 18 Oct 2015

A clean windows 10 install is unfortunately out of the question. I had to do a clean install of windows 7 a couple years ago when I built my current computer, and spent literally weeks downloading and reinstalling all my games and programs. I will switch to Macrium Reflect before doing a clean install.

And yes, windows still insists my secondary HDD is a "system" drive:

fdegrove · 18 Oct 2015

Hi,

And yes, windows still insists my secondary HDD is a "system" drive

O dear....Why am I not surprised.....

Anyhow, if you now make a backup of the G: drive and put it on one of your other drives you can then clean that G: and you're out of the woods. (I hope).

Cheers,

Ocman76 · 18 Oct 2015

Ok, I will try to follow the steps in your previous post to make a backup of G:, clear the drive, and then replace the backup. The contents of my G: drive are used on a daily basis, so it may be a while until I find the correct time to get this done. A big thanks to you and topgundcp for helping me out so far!

When I am able to give it a shot il post back here and let you know how it works out :)

fdegrove · 18 Oct 2015

Hi,

Glad to be of help.

All the best,

topgundcp · 18 Oct 2015

Ocman76 said:

A clean windows 10 install is unfortunately out of the question. I had to do a clean install of windows 7 a couple years ago when I built my current computer, and spent literally weeks downloading and reinstalling all my games and programs. I will switch to Macrium Reflect before doing a clean install.

And yes, windows still insists my secondary HDD is a "system" drive:

Come to think ot this. I think it is normal since you installed your application softwares in G: drive and they were registered in the registry so your G: drive becomes part of Windows OS and Windows Backup software recognizes it to include the G: Drive.

One word of caution: when you use the built in Windows Backup, do not move your backup files to another drive, you might get a message that Windows Backup cannot find the backup files.