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
    2013-10-24T07:24:39+00:00

    correct

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-10-24T07:35:24+00:00

    A reminder to users with this problem


    Jobongos method works for the 3 partition setup but not for the 2 partition setup where the system partition is 350mb.

    I can personally assure you this method did not work for me and I had to find another method to fix the system partition..

    I had to extend the system partition in 8.0 then upgrade to 8.1 as extending this partition in 8.1 resulted in boot failure..!!


    NOTE !! Don't be fooled , just because you can backup the image in 8.1... A RESTORE is the final hurdle and until you can restore that image your not in the clear....

    Users with the 3 partition setup are having success but users with the 2 partition setup are finding huge problems... including boot problems and system partition inconsistency errors !!

    Here is the other method that finally worked for me with 2 partitions only.

    update:-

    extended system partition on physical machine, notice new system partition size (win8.0)

    tried to use optimise of both partitions, this worked as it should no problem

    then went to create system image backup, again this all worked out perfect

     :-)

    and completed successful

    All that I have to do now is download 8.1 and see what (if anything) happens to the new system partition size and whether the upgrade changes this at all.... (I am not going to try to restore using this system image (just created) to see if it works as really it makes no difference as 8.1 is my requirement and I need to know if I can restore from an image in 8.1 (aswell as create it in the first place)

    Edging ever closer I feel but upgrading to 8.1 then creating backup image and trying to restore from that image has thrown up errors due to system partition adjustment (inconsistency errors) for other users...

    Final point I did not adjust the C drive at all ie-shrink it like we have done in previous comments, instead I extended the system partition in partwiz by simply moving the slider up (to the right) and allowing space from the C drive to be taken for the extension of the system partition, partwiz did the rest after a reboot... All working good in 8.0. and with only a system partition and a OS partition

    RESULT !!

    upgraded to 8.1 and created a system image in 8.1

    the previous procedures i used have worked,

    changing the system partition in 8.0 BEFORE the upgrade,

    After the upgrade i still have the extended partition (see pic)

    now all i have to do is try a restore from this new 8.1 image :-)

    in partwiz back in 8.0 only adjust 1 partition at a time (giving partwiz less to do and keeping it simple) after the reeboots partwiz does its thing and has a better chance of succeeding if it has less to adjust.


    I ONLY EXTENDED THE SYSTEM PARTITION IN PARTWIZ (this time round) AND ALLOWED PARTWIZ TO USE UP FREE SPACE FROM THE C PARTITION INSTEAD OF CREATING FREE SPACE AT THE BEGINING OF THE C PARTITION THEN MANUALLY USING THAT FREE SPACE to extend into.

    When I tried to do this in 8.1 before over the last few days (extend sys partition into manually created free space at the beginning of C ie-100mb partition) it failed twice and I could not reboot 8.1!!

    Finally have 8.1 installed and a system image of the new 8.1 and extended sys partition.

    FINALLY !!

    Will now test this image and attempt a format of C and restore using 8.1 image !

    The optimise of the system partition still does not work from the windows GUI but I will attempt an optimise using the cmd prompt...

    and indeed this succeeded from the cmd line , the windows GUI now shows 0%fragmented! of the system partition but the free space has not altered at all so this leads me to believe that optimise is probably not the root problem but simply The upgrade to 8.1 filling up the system partition to the point there is insufficient space left for a shadow copy service.

     ALL WORKED GOOD SYSTEM RESTORED IN 8.1 FROM 8.1 IMAGE !!

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-10-24T09:55:56+00:00

    It seems to me that Windows 8.1 creates more problems than it solves.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-10-24T10:01:22+00:00

    It seems to me that Windows 8.1 creates more problems than it solves.

    How on earth this has been overlooked is beyond me... 8.1 upgrade filling up the system partition rendering the backup utility useless...??

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