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
    2014-01-09T02:54:06+00:00

    Just finished reading through this whole thread, and this is the second F up I have come across with upgrading to 8.1 (the first was related to graphics drivers for ATI cards, which caused the upgrade to consistently fail). It is so poor that Microsoft have not sorted this problem out after 3 months, but it does not surprise me because they no longer employ technical staffers to get things done ... just lots of Managers.

    I also have the misfortune of trusting MS to create phone OS's and ever since the last update (GDR2) my phone's Bluetooth doesn't work and it has been like that for 5 months with just a miniscule confirmation from MS that it is a known issue back in September. The threads for those issues are just as long as these and yet nothing gets done.

    I am an IT guy and I am not happy with all the fannying around to make a System Update work (what impact will all the fannying around have in the future and what else might it break; not  now but later on?).That said I am going to try the replacing WinRE.wim approach in the morning. The thing is MS should have come up with a fix for the average Joe by now, because they won't do all the fannying around. And like me may even think it is just too much like hard work and go to the Apple shop next time round.

    Time to seriously look at Apple, because I am starting to get fed up with dealing with MS stuff that always seems to be a bit half baked.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-01-08T00:58:52+00:00

    I would rather move the recovery partition and have system image work so I have a complete copy of my main drive.

    Your mileage may vary.

    Regards,

    Chris

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-01-08T00:46:38+00:00

    Well, aside from the snark.

    You are moving the recovery partition, you still have access to it and can recover your PC it just doesn't have to reside on the main disk.

    Try reading more closely.

    I have two problems with this.  The first is that if I need the partition in the future, I might not be able to find it. The longer the time frame, the less likely I will find it.

    Second is that the "Create a recovery drive" function in Windows 8.1 is problematic for many of us.  When I do that on this PC the option to "Copy the recovery partition from the PC to the recovery drive" is greyed out.  If you google "copy recovery partition greyed out" you will see I am not alone.

    I found some detailed instructions to allow the copying of the recovery partition to a USB stick when originally the option is greyed out, but when I tried to recover with that stick the utility couldn't find the recovery .

    I would rather leave it on the hard drive and both solutions listed in detail in this thread worked for me.

    For sure.  Unless you desperately need the space, it's a good idea to leave the recovery partition intact.  As for the "copy the recovery partition" option being greyed out...isn't this a pain?  You figure Microsoft would have extensively tested everything before rolling 8.1 out.  Evidently whoever was in charge of that part of it was sleeping at the time.  I have three computers with 8.1 on them, and none of them worked with regard to trying to copy the recovery partition.  After fiddling with them, I got one to be able to copy the partition, and that one was a computer that I had to create the recovery partition using the recimg tool as it was a home build.  The two that came with the manufacturer recovery partition won't copy no matter what.  On the one I can't even access it after upgrading from 8 to 8.1, so the recovery partition on that one is now essentially useless.  I do have the recovery DVD though.  

    Even with all of the problems, I still don't regret upgrading to 8.1, though.  The good outweighs the bad, at least for me.

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-01-08T00:20:10+00:00

    Well, aside from the snark.

    You are moving the recovery partition, you still have access to it and can recover your PC it just doesn't have to reside on the main disk.

    Try reading more closely.

    I have two problems with this.  The first is that if I need the partition in the future, I might not be able to find it. The longer the time frame, the less likely I will find it.

    Second is that the "Create a recovery drive" function in Windows 8.1 is problematic for many of us.  When I do that on this PC the option to "Copy the recovery partition from the PC to the recovery drive" is greyed out.  If you google "copy recovery partition greyed out" you will see I am not alone.

    I found some detailed instructions to allow the copying of the recovery partition to a USB stick when originally the option is greyed out, but when I tried to recover with that stick the utility couldn't find the recovery .

    I would rather leave it on the hard drive and both solutions listed in detail in this thread worked for me.

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