VSSADMIN errors during Aomei backup

glnz · 03 May 2015

I have Win XP Pro SP3 on a Dell Optiplex 755 Desktop with 4GB RAM. I know this forum is for Win 7 (which I have on a different PC), but my question may apply to all.

Last November, using Aomei Backupper Pro 2, I did a FULL backup of my XP machine (Disk Backup.adi - 85GB).

Yesterday (May 2), using Aomei Backupper Pro 2.5 (new version), I did my first INCREMENTAL backup (Disk Backup.adi - 33GB).

HOWEVER, Event Viewer says there were two VSSADMIN errors during yesterday's INCREMENTAL backup. So maybe it's bad.

QUESTION: Is it possible to discard yesterday's INCREMENTAL backup and re-do it? So that Aomei Backupper Pro 2.5 thinks there is only the original FULL backup and a new INCREMENTAL backup and NO faulty incremental backup in between? IMPORTANT: If I try to restore later, the discarded INCREMENTAL backup will not be there.

If my question isn't clear, please rephrase it.

Many thanks.

Andyrids · 05 May 2015

When you select restore from the AOMEI menu and then select a path and browse for backup files in the results window what do you see ? do you see your original full backup still ?

glnz · 05 May 2015

Andyrids - See attached word .doc with screenshots (five pages). Note that I have NOT deleted the incremental backup yet.

Confession: When I did the incremental backup, I still had CryptoPrevent set for Max. Should have first set it to None and rebooted before doing the backup.

So my question is whether or not I can simply discard the incremental and do it again. When I go to Restore, will Aomei complain that I'm missing an earlier Incremental file?

Thanks.

Andyrids · 05 May 2015

I have seen the same error on a few occasions myself whilst using AOMEI but in my case the image has been able to restore without any issues that I have detected at least and that was with a system image... I see that the full backup is still there so technically the incremental backup is just a catalogue of files that have changed on the source HDD after the full backup was created (as you well know) if you delete the incremental backup then obviously you loose the data that has changed but you will still have the original full backup of course.
Now question is I gather you still have the data on the HDD otherwise you would not be able to do an incremental in the first place, so why not just delete the whole backup job and start again ? if you select incremental the first backup will be a full one anyway naturally as the future incremental backups need that as a base line so to speak.
I would not worry to much about the VSS errors since putting it simply it is for making sure any files that are in use get copied correctly (I know there is more to it than that, but yeah put simply) this should not be a problem though as I am guessing this is a data drive your working with and not a system one?.

Andyrids · 05 May 2015

Just thinking out loud here, since 0x80070005 is an Access Denied error I wonder if running AOMEI as Administrator would eliminate that... I know with another backup program I have to run that as Admin when copying the Appdata folder to prevent such errors.

glnz · 05 May 2015

Andryids - thanks for your post.

I don't want to lose the original November full backup because I might actually need it some day. That's why I wanted to do Incremental now. Also to save space and to finally get some practice doing this.

FYI - the PC is still XP SP3. The user is an Administrator and there are no UAC prompts in XP, so it's all at admin level anyway.

While I much appreciate your information, does anyone know what happens if (a) I simply delete Sunday's Incremental backup during which I had the VSSADMIN errors, (b) leave last November's Full backup alone and (c) make a new Incremental backup?
When I go to Restore, will Aomei give me a good full Restore with everything (including through the new Incremental), or will it crash and say I'm missing last Sunday's Incremental in between?

(PS - I think the reason I had VSSADMIN errors is because I ran the Aomei backup when I still had CryptoPrevent set at Maximum. CryptoPrevent is protection against ransomware and will lock down VSSADMIN. You might want to google CryptoPrevent to see what I'm talking about. But my question is not about CryptoPrevent - it's specifically about what happens if I delete that initial Incremental backup and do a new one.)

Andyrids · 05 May 2015

glnz said:

While I much appreciate your information, does anyone know what happens if (a) I simply delete Sunday's Incremental backup during which I had the VSSADMIN errors, (b) leave last November's Full backup alone and (c) make a new Incremental backup?
When I go to Restore, will Aomei give me a good full Restore with everything (including through the new Incremental), or will it crash and say I'm missing last Sunday's Incremental in between?

Ok, delete Sundays backup via the AOMEI interface (don't just delete the file yourself) leave the November backup alone as long as the original backup job was created from Novembers backup then it will create a new incremental one based on that... If you were to delete any incremental backup that was in-between some data loss will incur at times it will either try and piece together information from the remaining incremental backups or simply revert to the previous incremental backup before the deleted one. And yes CryptoPrevent was more than likely the cause for the Access Denied errors with VSS as you have already stated. Please note I have never worked with the XP version of AOMEI only the Win7 version so I am assuming that they both function in a similar manner. I could contact Doris at AOMEI on your behalf (she is a friend) and ask her to verify what I have said with the actual programming team there but you would have to wait maybe a week or so before I could post their response if you so wish? 85 gig is a lot of data and I appreciate the fact finding somewhere to place another temp version of it could well be an problem... However I am sill failing to understand since you still have the original source data on HDD and in good condition why you do not just delete all the backups pertaining to this data and start over with the CrypoPrevent disabled that way you know for certain you have a good backup...

glnz · 05 May 2015

Andyrids - You are the Man !!

I want to keep the November backup because it was my XP machine just before I did the POS 2009 regedit hack to continue updating my XP machine with MS updates for XP Embedded, which so far is going fairly well but with a recent issue. (I'm posting about that at POSReady 2009 updates ported to Windows XP SP3 ENU - Page 18 - Windows XP - MSFN Forum

Anyway, please yes contact Doris at Aomei and ask her all about this!! I can wait the week - very busy anyway.
Also please ask her how one uses AOMEI Backupper Professional Edition 2.5 to delete only that last INCREMENTAL backup, as when I choose "Delete", it doesn't show me an option like that.

Finally, AOMEI Backupper Professional Edition 2.5 is good for both XP and 7 - I don't think Aomei has different versions for the two OSes.

Many thanks. This remains a GREAT forum, thanks to the folks watching it.

Andyrids · 05 May 2015

Here is a quick update for you: Running a virtual version of XP on VirtualBox I installed AOMEI 2.5 and placed 1.70gig of data onto a partition. I then created a backup job within AOMEI and then performed a full backup of said data. After I proceeded to add a few extra files to the partition and then performed an incremental backup. Closed AOMEI and ran it again I was unable to delete the incremental backup from with AOMEI (I was certain you could do this, maybe with an older version then). I closed AOMEI again and proceeded to delete the actual incremental backup it had created. Ran AOMEI yet again and obviously in the backup list all I could now see is the original full backup and not the incremental one. I opted to restore that full backup to its original location (that still contained the new files I had added). The operation completed successfully and upon looking at the restored contents as expected the files I had added previously were missing. Bottom line, deleting the actual incremental back up file had no ill effects as such other than not reinstating recent changes to the data contained on the partition. It restored exactly what was contained in the original backup. I know that was not an exact recreation of your scenario however it does serve to prove the theory that it is ok to delete that incremental backup.

glnz · 05 May 2015

Andyrids - wow - thanks.

But, logically, that leaves a question - if you now made some changes to the virual XP, and then a new Incremental, and then tried to restore everything, would Aomei complete the restore?