Windows 7 - Backup Problems

[thyde9337]

We have two desktop computers which use Windows 7, (a) an Acer Aspire and (b) a Dell Studio XPS, their system details are given below. I have had several problems when trying to backup these computers, as follows:

(A) Using Windows backup I get the following error message - “The last backup did not complete successfully” The further information states that there was insufficient storage to create the shadow copy storage file or other shadow copy data. This is incorrect - the backup external hard disk has 819.13 Gb free whilst the C: drive has only 79 Gb of data and programs to backup. I use the default settings chosen by Windows to decide what items to backup. How can I ensure that the system backs up correctly?

System details: Acer Aspire, 3 Gb memory, 500 Gb hard disk (2 partitions), Toshiba Ext. Hard Drive 1Tb

(B) Windows can backup the C: drive for this computer but it took about 7/8 hours yesterday. The amount of data backed up was about 73 Gb and there are three other backup copies of the data in the backup folder , a total of about 401 Gb. The system image backup occupies 482 Gb. The backup is made to a Toshiba external hard disk which also holds copies of other folders and has a free space of 207 Gb. Please can someone explain why the backup process takes such a long time?

System details: Dell Studio XPS, 6 Gb memory, 1.15Tb hard disk, Toshiba 1.36 Gb external hard disk..

 

[kado897]

It sounds like system protection may be turned off or set too small on the disk you are backing up to take a shadow copy. Right click on Computer and select Properties then System Protection.

 

[thyde9337]

Thank you Kado for your reply. I tried your suggestion on the Acer computer but without any success. The protection is switched on but I still get the same error message when I try to run Backup. It does not surprise me because I did not understand what I was doing and the messages on the screen did not seem to have any significance for my problem. The only item I understood was "Create a Restore Point", which I have used on XP computers, I ran this but I do not know whether the restore point referred to the C: drive or the backup disk.
Do you have any more ideas?
thyde9337

 

[kado897]

No I'm sorry. If you have System Protection turned on and have allocated it sufficient space to make at least one restore point I don't understand what the message is saying.

Although I do use Windows Backup I also use Macrium because I don't altogether trust it and it can behave strangely on occasion.

 

[Mike Connor]

Try this;

Free backup software for data backup & disaster recovery. Hard drive system backup software, disk clone and disk image freeware - EASEUS

It does not cause any strange problems as Windows Backup is prone to do.

Regards....Mike Connor

 

[Shootist]

Also how much space is left on the C drive. I have no idea how the built in backup program functions but if it first creates a Shadow Copy of the data on the drive you are backing up and there isn't enough space on that drive for the shadow copy to work then it would seem to me the cause of that error.

Look at any other backup/imaging program.

 

[kado897]

Also how much space is left on the C drive. I have no idea how the built in backup program functions but if it first creates a Shadow Copy of the data on the drive you are backing up and there isn't enough space on that drive for the shadow copy to work then it would seem to me the cause of that error.

Look at any other backup/imaging program.

That was the point I was trying to make. If not enough space is allocated for one shadow copy in System Protection the backup will not work as it uses the shadow copy as a snapshot to allow changes to be made to the file system during the backup.

 

[Bill2]

I read up a little on the first issue. A lot of people have solved this problem by expanding the system reserved partition which is normally only 100 mb. Try using partition wizard or Easeus to expand the system reserved to say 400 mb (by shrinking C: drive), then retry the backup.

Also make sure the services volume shadow copy and virtual disk are started.

 

[mjf]

Using Windows Disk Management or Partition Wizard you can check the free space for the 100MB partition. If free space is 50MB or more then the problem probably lies elsewhere. The example here shows > 50MB free space.
If the free space is < 50MB then the partition Explore will show what's taking up the extra space. Look out for USN journal files which can be cleaned out.

 

[thyde9337]

Thank you for the various replies, I will need more time to try the various suggestions for alternative backup programs, here are some preliminary comments.

To kado897: Protection is turned on and the restore setting is 10% but I have no idea how much space is actually required although I presume that Windows 7 compresses the files before storage. If you were referring to the System Reserved partition, the computer has allocated the standard space of 100 Mb and this has 38 Mb free. This I discovered using Computer Management/Disk Management process. If I right click on the box labelled System Reserved there are a number of options but the Extend Volume option is blanked out so I am unable to increase the space. (Is there a quick way to open Computer Management? - I could not find an option in Control Panel and I discovered it accidentally using Help & Support.)

To Shootist. The amount of free space on the C: drive of the Acer computer is about 144 Gb out of a total of 224 Gb. Incidentally, the hard disk on the Acer is divided into two equal partitions, the other partition, labelled Data, is not used and all program data resides with the programs on the C: drive. I am also looking at methods of merging the partitions or, at least, transferring some spare disk space to the C: drive.

To Bill2 and mjf. Please see response to kado897.

thyde9337

 

[kado897]

The quick way to computer management.

 

[Bill2]

@thyde9337, did you not read my post? Windows disk management will not let you shrink C: drive thats why I had asked that you use partition wizard or easeus or another 3rd party tool.

 

[mjf]

Windows uses shadow storage space on the system reserved partition (in this case your 100MB) and the drive you are storing the image on. If the image storage drive hasn't got enough shadow storage allocated then you can have backup problems.

Filling up of the 100MB partition appears to be the main cause of these issues.
Your number one priority is to examine it first using Windows own Disk management. You get to Disk Management through Computer Management. It takes 2 minutes.

If the 100MB partition has more than 50MB unused space then it isn't your problem and you don't need to shrink C:.