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
    2013-10-30T12:03:41+00:00

    Will system image recovery work? ( i'm tempted to test that)

    That is the question, most probably yes but there is only 1 way to find out... lol

    A second dive into the unknown :)

    The problem is Mark that as someone has said in this thread earlier, its different mileage for different setup's as I am sure your aware,

    I had a terrible time in 8.1 trying to configure the system partition to the point I could not boot back to 8.1 following system partition extension.

    Others have had success, some have had system partition inconsistency errors in a similar thread to this but ultimately the factor of human error also plays a part, (and possibly overloading partwiz with too much to do at once) and everyone will most probably be doing things slightly differently.

    I am fairly certain that following a successful image backup you will restore to THAT exact image including all new partition layouts...BUT if it does not work then its not anyone's fault but Microsoft's, you should not have to be adjusting partitions in the first place, has Microsoft endorsed this?? they have said nothing at all. 

    I wish you luck, I think most people who have managed to successfully extend then backup have restored no problem, I've read one or two reports of problems restoring but on the whole its a risk worth taking for piece of mind (I can backup, I can restore) your system is safe, your time and efforts have paid off, you have your original (now updated to 8.1) system.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-10-30T14:21:02+00:00

    You know what?

    I'm on my old desktop since laptop didn't recover from system image restore.

    Deep sea diving... :)

    To be continued

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-10-30T14:30:24+00:00

    You know what?

    I'm on my old desktop since laptop didn't recover from system image restore.

    Deep sea diving... :)

    To be continued

    Ah, that's a shame!!, could you give us more detail on what happened? I know you will now be busy rebuilding your crashed system, were you trapped in a boot loop with no way to recover, even entering recovery via 8.1 usb key??  welcome to my world !!

    Possibly a conflict with 2 recovery partitions? just a guess? 

    This is a nasty reminder of the "No guarantee" as mentioned before...

    you might be able to back up following partition adjustment but can you restore!!?

    Condolence's fellow 8.1 user.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-10-30T15:06:19+00:00

    Finally I'm on W8.0 (last W8.0 image on a external HDD with W8.0 recovery USB key)

    After 2 attempts with W8.1 image (W8.1 image on the same HDD with W8.1 recovery USB key then W8.0 recovery key) both failed with 0x80070057 display.

    I 've just downloaded Partition Wizard. The layout is:

    Recovery 400MB (118MB unused)

    ESP 300 MB (249 (+2))

    MSR 128 MB (0!)

    C: 238 GB (207GB unused)

    No 5th partition ( recovery #2)

    ie W8.1 upgrade had added a partition

    Now I can see that my W8.0 partitions have no sizing issue regarding W8.1 system image recovery. Hence no need to address this point now then upgrade confidently to W8.1.

    Now I have 2 options:

    • Playing with my nerves upgrading to 8.1 again...
    • Staying quiet with W8.0 until a consistent solution appears

    Merci Paulo :)

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