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

feline1,

Sorry you to took it that way.  I didn't mean for it to be offensive, derogatory or a "smart alec" response.

No, it's cool, I'm just a sarcastic **** :)

I don't see that I have any means to "contact microsoft". (There is a support "chat" thing but it's timed out every time I ever try and use it from here in the UK ... )

Maybe Windows 9 will work better :)

I get also tyat erro posted earlier in this tread,

Is there meanwhile a fix so that we can actually make a image withour 3rd party software ?!

daslicht,

There is no fix.   For a very few, Microsoft System Image backup does work.   I suspect vast majority of those who have and use a device or computer ( desktop or server ) running Windows do not and have not ever used System Image Backup.

It simply isn't reliable.  It may work for a very small segment of users reliably, but for the vast majority who use it, it doesn't.

Let me also point out fact, that just because one can create a System Image Backup successfully, doesn't mean they will be able to restore their system using that same backup.

Practically all consumers and many business never verify their backups.  It simply takes to much time, effort and when restoring cloned images very destructive.

Example:

a. person or business takes a system image backup ( a complete cloned image saved to a file )

b. they rarely ever, if ever, restore that same image to a new drive or the existing drive.

c. why, because it's too risky for one ( what if it doesn't work ) and there are no issues at moment.

d. what they do is wait for a disaster, then try to restore to same or new drive

e. and most of the time it doesn't work due to user error ( not understanding process ) or bug in software.

If you're trying to clone your drive, then use Acronis to:

a. clone drives that are same size

b. clone smaller drive to larger drive

c. clone larger drive to smaller drive ( so long as there's enough space on smaller drive )

While there are a lot of complaints about all backup software ( because most simply do not work ), I've found Acronis True Image 2014 ( suspect 2015 will be just as good ) works when cloning drives.

The only caveat when using Acronis True Image is you have to clone from external to internal if you're using laptop:

a. remove the internal laptop boot drive

b. put the drive in a usb enclosure

c. put the new drive in the system

d. create a bootable Acronis USB ( flash ) stick / drive

e. boot from the Acronis bootable flash drive ( USB stick )

f. select backup ( clone )

g. select source drive ( external drive )

h. select destination drive ( internal drive )

i. there are a few other items you have to do, which are obvious on the screen

Should only take a few minutes, not hours to complete, assuming you have fast USB 3 interface and amount of data on the source drive.

This works 100% of the time.  I tried it on threed different new laptops Dell XPS 15 9530s.

Cloned 512GB mSATA to 1TB mSATA, no problems what so ever.

I would not recommend Acronis True Image for any other purpose other than cloning.

The other features seem to be unreliable at best and don't work at worst.

You don't want to play around with your data.  Your data, depending on what you do with your system is more important than the hardware itself.

Best of success and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

feline1,

Sorry you to took it that way.  I didn't mean for it to be offensive, derogatory or a "smart alec" response.

No, it's cool, I'm just a sarcastic **** :)

I don't see that I have any means to "contact microsoft". (There is a support "chat" thing but it's timed out every time I ever try and use it from here in the UK ... )

Maybe Windows 9 will work better :)

For record there won't be a WIndows 9.  They're going to Windows 10.  I have windows 10 ( beta version ) installed in virtual machine and use it only as test environment ).

If you're really interested in getting this System Image Backup fixed, this would be a good opportunity and they are actively taking feed back.

If you can install Windows 10, then you could try and test system image backup ( both creating image backup and restoring afterward ) then reporting any issues you discover or encounter.

Best of success to you and thanks for creating this thread.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year...

How do you try and reach support? https://support.microsoft.com/ContactUs/TechnicalSupport?PID=17655&wa=wsignin1.0

Try that, its how I can reach them in the US not sure if it will work for you.

The Systems image feature is widely used and works for the majority of people. There could be a small portion of people that have SSD that are not correctly doing what they are supposed to and the issue would be with the drive vendor not Microsoft so there will most likely not be an update. You could try looking for recent updates to the drive including chipset and drive controllers and firmware updates.

The way an SSD interacts with the OS is a little funny because the advanced SSD has to mimic a rotary HDD. The SSD shows the OS one set of an "image" while the drive is always wear-leveling and changing the actual address of the file system. The OS basically asks the drive to do something, the drive tells it its done and does it, or its done and the drive never does it, I am not going to do it, or there is an error. Windows can only respond to the info given back from the SSD.

There is a layer that decouples the relationship from the OS and the file system. I would check for drive updates, even a BIOS, UEFI update.

This is for everyone having the issue, too :)

If others are having an issue it may be the same error message, but the cause can be different. For the best help you should open a new tread. In addition, this topic is better suited for TechNet. https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/home

Posting a question there is a way better place for this topic since there is more Microsoft support staff and the people there are answering questions for IT pros, this is a useful service but is more commonly used at the IT enterprise level. I know this works on a wide variety of systems using 8.x because I have delivered and made 10s of thousands of systems images without a single error.

There is a very small part of the OS that can be corrupted and it is impossible to repair. It requires a reinstall. Usually if that is the issue tools like DISM and SFC will fail to work. This could be the issue but the error is rare and usually caused by a bad sector on the disk or a failed virus install. I am not aware if this part of the OS is used for a systems image.

For reference here is a list of solved and open issues with the same error code on technet.

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Search/en-US/Technet?query=system%20image%200x8078012D&beta=0&ac=5

Good holidays