Backup keeps failing : Error 0x81000033

Anonymous
2010-02-05T02:01:36+00:00

I keep getting the error: 0x81000033 when I try do run backup.

I have tried various backup devices all with ample disc space.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Internet and connectivity

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Anonymous
2010-02-05T23:17:21+00:00

Hi,

If you have any security software installed on the computer it would take longer for the backup center to backup files. Try to disable security software and try to take a backup and verify.

If that works fine later enable the security software.

Follow the link for more information

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Disable-antivirus-software

You may also run disk cleanup utility and check if that helps.

Start Disk Cleanup

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Start-Disk-Cleanup

Also try to run a Check disk for the hard drive.

To run Check disk

1.       Open Computer by clicking the Start button, and then clicking Computer.

2.       Right-click the hard disk drive that you want to check, and then click Properties.

3.       Click the Tools tab, and then, under Error-checking, click Check Now. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

To automatically repair problems with files and folders that the scan detects, select Automatically fix file system errors. Otherwise, the disk check will simply report problems but not fix them.

To perform a thorough disk check, select Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors. This scan attempts to find and repair physical errors on the hard disk itself, and it can take much longer to complete.

To check for both file errors and physical errors, select both Automatically fix file system errors and Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors.

4.       Click Start.

Depending upon the size of your hard disk, this may take several minutes. For best results, don't use your computer for any other tasks while it's checking for errors.

For information follow the link

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Check-a-drive-for-errors 

After you perform a check disk try running the backup process and check if that helps

Hope this information is helpful.

Amrita M

Microsoft Answers Support Engineer

Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-04-30T07:40:42+00:00

    TIP => Chances are your problems (including your Backup problems) will persist as long as you haven't run the McAfee removal tool and keep on using registry cleaners!

    PS: You really should have begun your own, new thread about YOUR computer & problems.

    I was surprised by your advocacy of the McAfee removal tool. I'd inferred from the tone of your previous posts that you saw it as a possible causeof my problems, not a solution. My backup problems are now fixed and I understand why it happened from reading this thread and the pointers to other discussions. I'd be interested to know more about what problems the McAfee tool might solve that I haven't already solved and that other tools don't address. 

    I'm also surprised that you suggest I should have started a new thread. All the other forums I've used have, sometimes quite forcefully, recommended that before starting a new thread one should look to see if there are already solutions posted on existing threads. This is what I did. From putting together information from the posts on this thread, and following up some of the links, I was able to understand the problem and to construct a solution for my variant of this problem. I then posted my solution for the benefit of the community. I'm surprised to be criticised for what I thought was best practice.

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-04-30T19:18:29+00:00

    I'm surprised that you suggested starting my own, new thread...

    See my edited post above.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-05-01T07:30:18+00:00

    I'm surprised that you suggested starting my own, new thread...

    See my edited post above.

    Thanks. That's clearer. Will do.

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-05-01T07:49:07+00:00

    Could you clarify what you mean by 'invisible disk'? Before I deleted the USN records, using fsutil, I had only 28MB free on the 100MB partition. Afterwards I had only gained 10MB more free space, which is much less that I expected and backup still failed. So, I had a look at the partition. I found one folder, called 'snapshots', of about 32MB and a couple of txt files of 1KB each. I moved the snapshots folder off the partition, but this did not increase the announced free space at all. Never-the-less, backup did now work.

    I looked again at the partition, but only the two 1KB txt files were showing. I switched on showing hidden files, but this showed no more files. So, I assume that the partition is full of stuff that is even more hidden than 'hidden'. Is this what you mean by 'invisible disk'? Is it safe to delete any of this? If so how? I see there are 'clean' and 'shrink' options for fsutil. Should I use these? Should I try deleting the USN stuff again in case it didn't all go first time? Is there any other source of junk I should try to get rid of?

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