Why is my 64 GB USB Flash Drive "not a valid backup location?"

Anonymous
2011-07-30T06:11:46+00:00

I tried to tack this on to a previous question but upon reading the Code of Conduct for this forum, I discovered that doing that was improper.  My apologies for that.

I'm running Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1, installed using Toshiba Recovery Discs (I have a brand new Toshiba laptop, when I recovered the system I opted to not have a recovery partition).  I just cleansed all the bloatware off Windows, ran Windows update until there were no more updates to get (got SP1 this way), and now I've got a fresh, clean, windows installation that's never even been to a single website.  Now, I'm trying to create a system image on a 64 GB flash drive (I won't even end up using half of it, as my SSD only has about 19 GB used, and that includes the hibernation file (I turned off the pagefile, because pagefiles are unkind to SSDs)

I asked previously if it was possible to manually create a Windows 7 System Image on a (large) USB Flash Drive, and I got two "Yes" answers from two Community Stars. (See my question here)  It is also stated that this is possible on windows.microsoft.com, here.  Note that when windows.microsoft.com states that "the system image must be saved on a hard drive, it is referring to the automatic creation of system images.  If you keep reading, you'll see that the page indicates that if one wishes to manually create a a system image, that system image may be saved on optical discs, a USB Flash Drive, or a hard drive.  If it is possible, then why am I having the following problem?

Inserted 64 GB USB Flash Drive --> Closed Autoplay dialogue --> Opened "My Computer" --> Right-clicked Drive E (my flash drive) and selected format --> Unchecked "Quick Format" --> Selected NTFS files system and 4096 byte cluster size --> Clicked "Format" and acknowledged that all data will be erased --> waited a while for format to complete, then clicked OK --> Closed "My Computer" --> Ejected my flash drive by clicking "safely remove hardware" --> Physically unplugged flash drive --> Grabbed a diet coke with ice --> Inserted 64 GB USB Flash Drive --> Closed Autoplay dialogue --> Opened Start Menu --> Clicked "All Programs" --> Clicked Maintenence --> Clicked Backup and Restore Center --> Clicked Create System Image --> (The program scans for storage devices) --> My flash drive shows up under "On a hard disk" and the words "The drive is not a valid backup location" appear under my Flash Drive being listed.  For reference, "On one or more DVDs" is listed just below the text saying "The drive is not a valid backup location."

My understanding is that what I just tried to do is manually create a system image on an NTFS formatted (with a 4 KB cluster size) 64 GB USB Flash Drive.  But it's not letting me!  I understand I can't schedule automatic system image creation for USB Flash Drives, but according to windows.microsoft.com and two community stars, it is in fact possible to "manually" create a system image on a large USB Flash Drive, which I think is what I just tried to do.  If there is another way to create a system image, even more "manually" than what I just did (I'm definitely not scared of the command line, if I need to use it I'm more than happy to do so), please let me know.

I do have a low-quaility SATA-3.0 Gbps notebook HDD in a cheap bus-powered USB enclosure, and I was able to create a system image on that.  However, I expect that device to fail shortly.  I was also successful creating a system image on blank DVD-Rs.  I did, however, just spend $85 on a 64 GB USB Flash Drive specifically to store a system image, which I was hoping to use to store Windows 7 with World of Warcraft installed (total size of C drive will be about 50 GB; I have not yet downloaded WoW; I want to overcome this obstacle first).

Any insights would be appreciated.  Thanks!

1st Edit: Added links so people wouldn't need to copy/paste to their address bar, and clarified the last sentence of the last paragraph.

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Anonymous
2011-10-16T14:54:52+00:00

I would suggest you get away from the Windows backup program and get yourself a good commercial backup program. This forum is frought with problem reports for the Windows one. I know I was very unimpressed when I tried it. Two I'm familiar with and like are Norton Ghost (which I've been using for 7 years without the 1st problem), and Memeo which has a 30 day free trial and you can buy it for $29.99 - you can download it from http://memeo.com . You can get Ghost for next to nothing (like I did) if you watch the sales.

CNET has a lot of backup program reviews at

http://download.cnet.com/windows/backup-software/?tag=contentBody;sideBar .

Some of these are free (last time I checked there were 315), some have free trials (over 1000), and some are purchase only (over 200).

 Good luck.

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  1. Anonymous
    2012-09-08T12:37:34+00:00

    I think that MS had a team of attorneys design Windows 7 backup.

    In any case, you can break their laws by doing the following,

    1. Format your USB stick as NTFS
    2. Share your USB stick as a network drive
    3. Insure the advanced share allow permissions are set to full control
    4. Start Windows Backup and select System Image
    5. Select network drive as your backup location
    6. Browse to your own computer and select the USB share
    7. Enter your computer's logon credentials, if your password is blank use 1 space

    Hit OK and you are off and running.

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  2. Anonymous
    2012-09-08T20:19:31+00:00

    Something I noticed when looking at this problem.

    I have a 16Gb Cruzer USB drive that works perfectly with Win7 system image.

    I have a 32Gb Cruzer that does not - invalid drive etc.

    There have been numerous comments on FAT32 and NTFS file systems.

    If I look at drive properties of the working 16GB drive in Win 7 - Manage - disk manager - it does not say what file system is in use for the USB drive that works!

    The field is blank.

    Every other disk that I have or attach says either FAT 32 or NTFS,  This one does not.

    I cannot explain this.

    Win 7 apparently cannot recognise the file system on the disk.

    The disk works!!!!

    What is going on?

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  3. Anonymous
    2012-09-10T04:02:28+00:00

    I tried the above, but I cannot perform step 5. There are 2 radio buttons on the "where do you want to save the backup" form; first button is "on hard disk", second is "on one or more DVDs". I clicked on "on a hard disk" there is only "refresh", available. Even after clicking refresh, no drives appear.

    This windows 7 PC in "computer" does show 2 network locations, one is Z drive which is mapped to USB drive on another computer (running Vista) connected in the same network. The other network location has no drive letter.

    I am able to write to the Z drive from the windows 7 PC.

    How do I get the "system image backup" to go to a network drive, which is a USB drive on another computer?

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  4. Anonymous
    2012-09-12T16:52:37+00:00

    I've tried and it does not **** work. Same error message. I still find annoying, though. There should be a one-off backup option which let the user to back up to USB drives as well.

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