Problem with Windows 7 Task Scheduler

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  1. Posts : 46
    Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64-bit Multiprocessor
    Thread Starter
       #21

    Hi Everyone – Afraid my problem is not yet fixed.On Saturday I scheduled backups of my C: (OS) and M: (Data) drives to run at 02:00 and 03:00 respectively this (Monday) morning and to run again on Wednesday and Friday mornings.The first should have taken about 30 mins and the second about 15 mins to run.When I came to my PC today there was no sign of my backup drive D: Label – Backups of System and Data Ptns in Windows Explorer and I had to re-boot the system in order to see it.Then when I clicked on folder Op System backups I could see that a new (fifth) file - My Backup W7 OS4-00-00.mrimg – had been created at 02:00 but the size was shown as 0 KB.I then looked in folder Data Partn backups only to find that no new file had been created (expected to have been at 03:00).When I reverted to folder Op System backups to my surprise the size had updated to 2,478,080 KB, which was very much smaller than previous successfully created files of about 19,378,586 KB.

    Clicking on the new file resulted in a message stating the file was corrupt, whereas clicking on the larger earlier files had enabled one to mount the image, choose a drive letter and view the contents. Looking at the Scheduler History entries the first task started on time (Triggered on Scheduler) at 02:00 but appeared to have completed at 03:32:47 which meant it had taken about 1 hour longer than previously to run, and moreover would have overlapped with the due start of the second task at 03:00. The second task was Triggered on Scheduler at 03:32:37 – 10 seconds before the previous task had completed – but at 03:32:39 showed "Task triggered by user", which in the details below showed as: - Event ID 110Task Scheduler launched "{ca90848a-f1f8-4c11-8b22-8a37f887ad2e}"instance of task "\My Backup Data xml"for user "Peter"” but I can assure posters that I was then safely in bed and asleep! At exactly the same time, Event 322 showed “Task Scheduler did not launch task "\My Backup Data xml"because instance "{ee48dd94-ae94-4276-9a15-fc15b380cae6}"of the same task is already running.” and Event 101 “Task Scheduler failed to start "\My Backup Data xml" task for user "Peter-PC\Peter". Additional Data: Error Value: 2147750687.” Then at 03:33:19 Event 201”Action completed” and Event 102 “Task completed” – total task duration of 42 seconds. With the exception of Event 110 all the above events showed the same Correlation Id, as quoted above between { }

    I am quite new to Macrium Reflect and only realised today that the program writes logs of what has happened when it is run. Looking at the logs of the most recent runs shows the C: backup ended with an error message “Backup aborted! - Write operation failed - The system cannot find the file specified.” and the M: backupshows a start time of 03:33:13 with error message “Backup aborted! – None of the specified backup locations could be written toThe logs showed similar errors for previous failures, but there were also logs of successful runs.

    Researching what might have caused these errors I came across a page in the Macrium Knowledge Base – http://kb.macrium.com/KnowledgebaseArticle50010.aspx and scrollingdown to “Make sure that the VSS Service isn’t disabled” it advises changing the startup type to “Automatic”. My own setting was “Manual” so I changed it to “Automatic” in the hope that it would do no harm but perhaps some good, but I have not yet attempted to re-run the Scheduled backups until I get some advice from the experts on this Forum as to what is wrong and a suggested cure. I am particularly puzzled as to why I had to re-boot in order to see the D: drive
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 6,330
    Multi-Boot W7_Pro_x64 W8.1_Pro_x64 W10_Pro_x64 +Linux_VMs +Chromium_VM
       #22

    I requested more help for this.
    It's good you found logs with error messages.
    You should mark this thread UNsolved.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 46
    Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64-bit Multiprocessor
    Thread Starter
       #23

    Well, apart from changing the VSS Startup Type to Automatic (as per last para of my last post) I did nothing else to the two scheduled backups due to run this morning at 02:00 and 03:00, but when I came to my PC today I was able to see that both backups had completed without any problems. Each had started at the scheduled time although both had taken a little longer than expected - 40 mins for the C: drive and 23 mins for the M: drive. Interestingly the MR logs showed under I/O Performance Read/Write times of 1.3 Gb/s and 69.5 Mb/s for C: backup and 1.3 Gb/s and 66.9 Mb/s for the M: backup, to me quite a large difference in the Read and Write speeds. Would anyone consider these speeds as normal or abnormal? Edit - Having given further thought to this, I am wondering if the speed discrepancies are because the program is reading from a SSD and writing to a HDD?

    I am now very puzzled at Monday morning's failure of BOTH backups and the fact that the external HDD could only be seen after a reboot. Could the change of VSS Startup Type have any bearing on the failures on Monday and success today? Obviously I would like to have the confidence of knowing my backups will ALWAYS run successfully.
    Last edited by Nosmas; 02 Jul 2014 at 05:02. Reason: Thoughts about speed discrepancies
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 6,330
    Multi-Boot W7_Pro_x64 W8.1_Pro_x64 W10_Pro_x64 +Linux_VMs +Chromium_VM
       #24

    Hello Nosmas,

    The default Win 7 startup type for the VSS service is Manual.
    I don't know if there are any concerns/issues changing this service to "Automatic", so it is running all the time.
    It seems to fix your issue with Macrium Scheduled backups,
    but I believe the Macrium Scheduled backup should start this Service "as needed".
    I use Acronis (not Macrium) ... and I don't use imaging for data backups ...

    I am playing with Macrium Backups in Win 7 and here is what I am seeing:
    If I create an image of the [C] (OS) drive, the VSS service gets started.
    If I create an image of a NON [C] drive the VSS service DOES NOT get started.

    Seems Macrium only starts the VSS service if the "OS" partition is being imaged...

    You might post your issue issue/question in this tutorial for better help, and include a link to this thread ...
    Imaging with free Macrium

    I understand your concern for reliability.
    For me the most important things are reliable backups and security ...
    Sorry I can't help more and give an "experienced" answer
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 46
    Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64-bit Multiprocessor
    Thread Starter
       #25

    Thank you for your reply DavidW7ncus. Since my last post I returned the VSS setting to manual and earlier today I scheduled two more backups to start at 15:15 and 16:00. When I came to my PC at 15:45 it had completely frozen at 15:30 and I had to reboot. When I reckoned the 16:00 had completed, my D: drive was not visible in Windows Explorer and again I had to reboot to view it. Examining the MR Logs I then discovered there was no sign of the 15:15 backup and the 16:00 had failed but without any error message generated. The VSS Log listed three Windows Events which had succeeded BUT "....succeeded, but took an abnormally long time (64 seconds) to be serviced by the OS. This problem is likely due to faulty hardware. Please contact your hardware vendor for further assistance diagnosing the problem" (my emphasis).

    Thank you for the link to the Tutorial. I will post to it and hope that someone - perhaps WHS himself - will be able to offer some advice. In the meantime thank you for your endeavours.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 6,330
    Multi-Boot W7_Pro_x64 W8.1_Pro_x64 W10_Pro_x64 +Linux_VMs +Chromium_VM
       #26

    Nosmas said:
    The VSS Log listed three Windows Events which had succeeded BUT "....succeeded, but took an abnormally long time (64 seconds) to be serviced by the OS. This problem is likely due to faulty hardware. Please contact your hardware vendor for further assistance diagnosing the problem" (my emphasis).
    You can run HD diagnostics to see if any errors are detected.
    This link has several testing tools including WD.
    14 Free Hard Drive Testing Tools (Updated June 2014)
    Also, Seagate Seatools works with all HDs.

    You're specs show a WD HD in a docking station.
    Wonder if the docking station / connection might be causing an issue ???
    Any chance of connecting the HD internally and testing that way?
    Just guessing here ...
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 46
    Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64-bit Multiprocessor
    Thread Starter
       #27

    I am now pretty sure that many if not all of my recent problems are back to the HDD issues I reported in my post Help wanted please to perform backup. WD sent me a replacement HDD under warranty which initially appeared to be working OK. Since experiencing further problems I ran WD's Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows and after a few minutes it failed the Extended Test. I intend taking up this matter with WD Support on Monday morning. Thanks for the link for hard drive testing which I will take a lok at in due course. The reason for failures was shown as "Too many bad sectors"
    Last edited by Nosmas; 06 Jul 2014 at 17:42. Reason: Clarify reason for failure
      My Computer


 
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