=?Utf-8?B?SmVmZkc=?= added these comments in the current
discussion du jour ...

First, IMO, Windows backup is a slow, bloated, error prone way to
backup your system. I'd suggest you invest in a good imaging
utility such as Acronis True Image or Norton Ghost.

As to checking the validity of a .bkf, don't really know but a
good indicator would be its size. If it is much smaller than the
GB you attempted to backup, it is likely corrupt or you had a
setting wrong. I never touch the stuff so don't know if Windows
can or can't compress the data, but on a fairly robust system
using Acronis True Image, e.g., mine, a full image of just my C:
\ with NO personal data on it at all (my data is on one of 2
extended data-only partitions), my highly compressed image files
are around 6 gig from an amount of used space uncompressed of
around 15 or so gig.

You could try restoring some of the folders in the backup to an alternate
location on your hard drive or external hard drive. You will see that option
when you try to do a restore. It is a good idea to select verify for backup
jobs which will compare the contents of the folders in the backup to what
was actually backed up.

Steve