Windows 8.1: System Image Backup of C: drive fails, Error 0x8078012D and 0x8007045D

Hello again,

The configuration changes you refer to may in fact have been the case.  ***However, I don't think so!***I did - prior to replacing the hard drive - perform totally clean re-installations of Windows 8.1 (on the old drive) - not only once - but about 3 times - with the same results.

Like I said before, this was the LAST RESORT.  I would have never elected to change out the drive without trying that  (and many other things) first.

Also, I did not replace the drive only because I could not make a System Image.  The fact is, this had nothing to do with my decision.  The truth is - I was not too concerned about it.  I started following this thread only after initially encountering the problem a few times but then forgot all about it entirely a long time ago and just decided to live with it.

You are totally misunderstanding my point.  ***My decision to replace the drive was not even related to the fact that I was unable to make a System Image.***It was (LIKE I SAID EARLIER)

• because my system was acting up and I concluded (after painstaking troubleshooting) that replacing the drive was what I should do.  It worked!  Its running better than ever now!

I am in no way saying replacing one's hard drive is a solution to not being able to create a System Image.  That's totally absurd!  That's entirely your interpretation of what I was trying to say.  I'm glad it gave you a good laugh :-)

I'm simply saying - I had the same problem as all these folks but it all went away after I replaced the hard drive.  THAT'S ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I never stipulated that this was "the solution".  I just concluded that it was probably my hard drive because of all the circumstances I experienced.

Now I'm laughing because I cannot see how you are not understanding this.

It is nothing to do with USB, as the backup also fails over an ethernet connection.

The analogy is bogus, for the reasons already explained. But thanks for your input :)

Oh, so many things to cover..

I never said it was your hard drive.  I suggested troubleshooting...  for all I know, it might be the USB port or even cable.

My analogy is not bogus, but the fact you think it is shows there is a basic misunderstanding.  Maybe because the title of the thread and you statement of the problem do not agree.

I never said you will need to reinstall everything.  If it is an I/O problem, it could be caused by several things, not just the hard drive.  And I agree error messages can be misleading.

But again, troubleshooting requires some steps be taken to eliminate possible causes of the problem.  I hope you get the situation resolved, maybe something helpful will be offered soon...

  For me, knowing thousands of folks are using the imaging utility without problems, would mean the simplest answer is your system is having some type of problem.

....

  It would be about the same relationship if I told you I could not drive my car to the grocery store because it would not start.

"Thousands" of people may be using the System Image Backup feature in Windows 7 and 8 "without problems" (I used to be one of them), until (like for many many others), something "went wrong" and it no longer works.

The problem is completely reproducable on our systems, so it is not illusory.

The difficulty is in finding out WHAT it is about our systems that is triggering the problem. There's all manner of filesystem and permissions issues that could be causing it. The only reason you're thinking "it must be a hardware fault on my drive" is because that is what the error text said. The error text is not sentient! It just displays what the developer typed into that string when he wrote it. He could just have well have written "EAT MORE BANANAS!" instead.

I've already given you several reasons why I am skeptical that there is a hardware fault on my drive (namely - no other diagnostic can detect one, and there are no obvious other system problems).

Re: your car won't start analogy - no, your analogy is completely bogus.

There are a great many reasons why you would want your car to start! A wide variety of journeys you would want to make.

In contrast, there is NO reason why anyone needs to make a system image backup, other than as a quick way to restore a known good system if their drive goes kaput (instead of having to spend days reinstalling everything).

If the only way to "fix" the system image backup not working is to reinstall everything, then there's simply no point! I will just wait until my drive fails, and if it does, THEN I'll spend the week reinstalling anything. Doing it in advance will not save any time or effort.

I'm going to give this system one last try.  I ran a chkdsk /R and it's stuck at 10% complete and has been running for past 3+hrs...

It says:  Scanning and repairing drive (C:) 10% complete

Assuming it comes back, I'm going to try and perform system backup one last time.  If that doesn't work, then I'm going to reset to factory default and see if I can perform a system image backup then.  If I encounter any issues whatsoever after that, then I'm going to return the system.

Replacing the drive really isn't an option because it's still under warranty and it's non-trivial task to replace drive in this system.