How do I avoid Windows Vista filling un my hard disk with backup files?

I am currently using Windows Vista Backup utility to back up my files on a separate partition on my Hard disk. My entire profile is less than 7GB, but free space on the backup partition 20GB keeps getting smaller and smaller. How do I ensure that this does not happen and still have an effective backup scheme?

Set it to use incremental backups and filter on *.tmp files etc ..

Depends on the make of your computer. If it's an HP, the open the HP Total Care Advisor, select Tools and turn off 'Create Back-up Folder'

I would recommend though that you back-up everything onto a remote hard drive so you know where to retrieve it. Say, once a month, overwriting your previous back-up.

This way you computer hard drive will not fill up with duplicated data.