Cant backup 8.1 using system image backup! Error 0x80780119, Cant optimise system partition, (this is why i cant backup) please read. . .

Anonymous
2013-10-19T14:16:48+00:00

I am having this issue, cant optimise the system partition 350mb. 8.1 official release,

This is also causing a huge problem, the optimise option in windows 8.1 allows me to optimise the c: drive but not the system partition this prevents a system image backup...!!

Due to the system partition being out of space for a shadow copy to be placed onto it the backup fails every time with this error code, -- 0x80780119 --.

Backups are a huge factor in operating systems and since upgrading I cant backup my system using windows image backup, if I could optimise the system partition and straighten out the file structure within it (free up some space) for the shadow copy then the volume shadow copy could be placed onto the drive but it cant...

This all worked fine in 8.0 but not now...please fix this problem!?

Not being able to backup your system is not good enough...

here is my my issue again in pictures...

1.system volume needs optimising

but pressing the optimise for this does nothing at all.. current status remains "Needs optimisation".

The way an ssd reclaims drive space is to use the optimise function, this not working prevents the reclaim for files/data to be written to space where files have been deleted previously. Giving the impression the drive/partition is full when really its not full just needs optimising/trimmed.

 

  1. initiate the system image backup

  1. both volumes to be backed up

  1. error message due to insufficient space on the system partition for shadow copy. 

 

  1. finally here is a capture of the current disk setup on my system, notice the system partition only has 17mb free space and according to the above error message I need atleast 50mb free for the volume shadow copy !? Due to this I cant create a backup of my system using windows 8.1 !

(system partition has no drive letter assigned to it 350mb)

PLEASE HELP !! Thanks for reading.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Windows update

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Anonymous
2013-10-20T20:19:10+00:00

I have found a way around this getting Windows System Image Backup working again. I did this on my laptop and desktop confirming that I could recover from the images. It is actually pretty easy but should not be necessary. The reason that the backup would not work was because the recovery partition was using 284MB of the 300MB available. There was not 50MB available for shadow copy. Here are the steps I took on an EUFI GPT disk:

Note: All commands are without quotes. 

Disclaimer: I would recommend backing up all of you important data as any time you mess with partitions, there is the possibility to lose data. This process was done one both my laptop (Win8.1 Home) and desktop (Win8.1 Pro). I cannot take responsibility if this causes any damage. With that being said, I hope this helps.

Download and install MiniTool Partition Wizard http://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html Note that none of the changes will take effect until you hit apply. I am sure others may work but this is the one that I used and it is free. 

You should have 3 Windows partitions; Recovery - 300 MB, EFI System - 100 MB, and your system Volume to start off with. 

  1. Once installed, Open Partition Wizard and Shrink your system volume, C: in my case, by 101MB at the beginning of the partition. (I had to put 101MB as when I tried 100 it said that the space was too small when doing the next step) To do this, Right Click the C: Drive, select, Move/Resize, and the put 101 in box named "Unallocated Space Before:" and click OK.
  2. Copy the EFI System partition (100 MB FAT32) to this new Free Space by right clicking, selecting copy, and then selecting the unallocated space. Then next the OK.
  3. Delete the 100MB EFI System Partition after the Recovery Partition. 

After this is done, you will see 100MB unallocated space after the Recovery Partition. 

  1. Right click on Recovery partition and select Extend. Drag the bar to take up all of the extra free space. This will change the recovery partition from 300MB to 400MB allowing for enough space (50MB) for the shadow copy. Click OK. 
  2. Next Click Apply. I received an error stating that it could not make changes due to C: being in use. I clicked restart. 

When the computer restarts, Partition Wizard will do its thing. Once it is done you should boot into Windows again.

This next part is essential, because, windows now does not recognize the partition that was moved before as an EFI System Partition. If you try and do a backup image now, only the system partition will show and not the Recovery or EFI System

  1. Open a cmd prompt with administrator privileges. Press Start Key, Type cmd, right click, select run as administrator. 
  2. Type diskpart to start windows command line disk manager. 
  3. Find the disk that Windows is installed on by typing List disk. This will be different on each machine but for illustration mine was disk 0
  4. Select that disk by typing the command "select disk" and the disk number.
  5. Next, determine the EFI partition that was moved earlier. This is the partition that was moved earlier and should be 100MB. Type in the command "list part" to see a list of the partitions on the disk. Mine was Partition 3. This may be different on your system. 
  6. Once you have determined the partition number, type "select partition " and your partition number
  7. Next you have to set this partition as an EFI System volume. Type in this command - "set id = c12a7328-f81f-11d2-ba4b-00a0c93ec93b" This changes the partition type to an EFI system volume.
  8. After all of this is done, restart your computer and you should now be able to back up you system using the System Image Backup in File History.

I know some of this may seem a little elementary to some but you never know who needs help and their technical knowledge. 

I hope that this helps and let me know if you have any questions.

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-10-23T06:44:47+00:00

                Any suggestions as to the final, solid solution so far for this issue?

    In my case (uEFI/GPT) the culprit was the Windows Recovery partition running out of space ie. 285mb/300mb.

    And since the Windows 8/8.1 partition was arranged like WindowsRE/System/MSR/Primary there was no working way at least that I tried to expand the WindowsRE.

    Therefore, manually recreating partitions (With WindowsRE @995mb instead of the default 300mb) and Fresh installation of Widnows 8 and then upgrade to 8.1 did the trick.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-10-23T07:30:22+00:00

    But that's a **** of a lot of work, man just to fix System Image Backup. It would be much easier to use a third party option. By the way, I also have another broken feature on my Windows 8.1 upgrades. File History reports that no usable drive was found although I have a second hard drive on all my computers. Just as well that I don't use File History. PS: I don't think I can recall a time in Microsoft's history of a more troublesome upgrade. There have been some problems.

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-10-23T07:32:32+00:00

    I would recommend that you try to take an image backup after resizing and restore it.  Just to make sure every step is working for this method.  As I have tried this method earlier, where it worked once and failed the second time.

     

    Also, once you are done with Windows 8.1 upgrade  Make sure to create a fresh recovery drive(Bootable repair disk or usb).  As in my case, the Windows 8 Repair disk did not work with Windows 8.1.

     

     

    a recommendation to all, using any of these methods, try to do multiple backups and restores to make sure issue is ironed out.

     

     

    Good luck.

     

     

    NEXT new problem !!

    whilst trying to download 8.1 to a 8.0 machine THAT I HAVE RESIZED THE SYSTEM PARTITION I NOW GET THIS ERROR CODE !! AGAIN THE RESIZE OF THE SYSTEM PARTITION IS CAUSING PROBLEMS !!

    Windows Update Error 0x8020000E

    The definition of error code 0x8020000E is as follows:

    BG_E_VOLUME_CHANGED - The destination volume has changed. If the disk is removable, it might have been replaced with a different disk. Reinsert the original disk and resume the job.

    This can happen if partitioning has been changed, resized, cloned, or otherwise modified. To resolve this problem attempt clearing the Windows Update cache, and then Check for updates again.

    I HAVE TYPED THE FOLLOWING TO TRY TO RESOLVE THIS ISSUE AND RESTARTED THE DOWNLOAD...

    1.     Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and select Run as Administrator.

    2.     Click Continue or provide Administrator credentials as needed.

    3.     In the Command Prompt window type the following and press Enter after each line:

    net stop wuauserv

    ren %windir%\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.OLD

    net start wuauserv

    exit

    4.     Now click Start, click All Programs, and then Windows Update.

    5.     Then click Check for updates, and attempt reinstalling the failed update.

     I REALLY AM FEDUP NOW, IVE HAD ENOUGH OF ALL THIS....

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-10-23T07:45:44+00:00

    Any suggestions as to the final, solid solution so far for this issue?

    Resizing the system partition seems to be the direction to go but for myself I am still struggling to install 8.1 with a system that has had the system partition adjusted

    For users with the 3 partition setup, the extending of the system partition seems to work.

    now I cant even download 8.1 so I am no further forward until I can download it to try out the new partition size using 8.1

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