Windows 7: Windows 7 Backup Failed

Hi All

I have desperately been trying to perform a backup on my computer for about a day now and whenever I try to use the Windows Backup I get the following two errors about 25GB (out of 120GB) into my first backup run:

Then a few seconds later I get the following error:



I have read through everything I can find on google and there does not seem to be an answer as to what is causing this problem.

I have two junction points in my main "users" folder and I thought this may be causing the problem. Indeed when I select a "test" folder to backup, it does so without a problem. However, I am unsure how I should "deselect" these, i.e. make sure that these aren't part of backup. What I did was only select the folders I was sure did not have any junction points or symlinks. I also created custom libraries with the required folders for backup and even these caused problems.

Finally, I went into each and every folder, ensured there was no malware, junction points, symlinks or essentially anything that could be causing a problem and I ran the backup again selecting only a small selection. This time the backup ran to only 3GB.

This is really annoying as in principle the Windows Backup seems adequate for my needs.

I am already backing up my basic documents to dropbox and Windows Backup is just another level of protection for me.

Anyway does anyone have any suggestion as to how I can make this work?

If not can anyone recommend a VERY simple backup programme? I don't need hundreds of features, just something that does incremental backups and allows me to restore a previous version.

Thanks

Long long story (I will not bore you or do I really want to type it) but shadow volume is the problem. It is best not to use it and make regular backups.

Here is a free GREAT software for making backups not images. Version 10 is stable make sure you don't use shadow volume.

Cobian Backup

Thanks, I guess there isn't much point using it as it crashes no matter what (Windows Backup that is).

How does Cobian allow me to recover earlier versions of the file?

What I am looking for is essentially something like Mac Time Machine.

What about a true Imaging program such as Macrium Reflect FREE Edition - Information and download

Thanks I decided to go with Acronis True Image 2010. It's paid but it worked really well for me. I especially liked it's "nonstop backup" feature.

I haven't paid for it (using the trial) but provided it backs everything up and allows me to recover, then I think I plan on buying it.

I tried Macrium but the free version didn't have file and folder backup

Glad you got it worked out.

Another update, while Acronis was great it was a MAJOR resource hog. I have 6gb of ram and this ate up 500mb in total (it ran about 7 different processes). Also the backup was slow and made my external hard drive very noisy. In sum, I wasn't happy. I looked around further and came across Genie Timeline Home 2.0. This is basically Time Machine for Windows. It does exactly the same thing as Apple's Time Machine, except it's got a lot more customisation options and it works on Windows. The features in this program were exactly what I wanted (i.e. quick, easy backup and ability to load older versions). It also has a light memory footprint (150mb in total while backing up and about 75mb when idle).

Thanks again!