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
    2014-05-04T01:55:59+00:00

    My "C:$Windows.~BT" directory is used to create a recovery disk or restart into the recovery environment. Disk management is not showing the 128Mb MSR partition. As long as partition 1 is not included in the image it should succeed. Me being picky would prefer to see the 450Mb as partition 1 and eliminate the 300Mb partition. This would be a little bit of work using partition wizard to shrink the front of C: by 150Mb to make room manipulating the rest and then using diskpart to ensure the Id's are correct. It would be rough for a noob to do. Partition wizard is great for changing either end of a partition and sliding within unallocated space without changing the Id's but wont modify GPT Id's, this is where diskpart comes in if necessary. I have yet to find or create a mini windows such as Hirens boot CD to run programs off line in a UEFI environment, unless you know of such a resource :-) It would have to be a win8 pe allowing additional processes and load explorer You are right the 100Mb is for MBR systems and puts the re on the OS partition. Even if you force no creation of the 100Mb the re is still on the OS partition, How ever it appears that on UEFI systems the re is placed in the 300MB partition, without it you would have to boot from external media to repair your computer.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-05-04T01:11:59+00:00

    The EFI system partition is not involved.

    the C:$Windows.~BT is a temporary directory used during an install.  Nothing should be using it.

    The only partitions involved are a Recovery (tools) partition or a System Reserved partition.

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-05-04T00:20:41+00:00

    I have not looked at the contents of the partitions on UEFI systems because of a lack of hardware encounters nor do I own any to test with. Even though there is some error in Microsoft's counter intuitive terminology, I understand perfectly and agree 100%. My MBR system files are located...

    C:$WINDOWS.~BT\

    OS/Kernel = Boot

    NTldr/UEFI handoff files  = System

    If it is the case that the 100Mb partition can be left alone, then the only bad tooth is the EFI System partition. You just make the EFI System 499Mb unless more data space is needed then you would start growing from 1499Mb.

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-05-03T23:18:30+00:00

    I would really like to know what the absolute size win re partition 1 could be as to ensure there is at least 50Mb available free space for shadow copy to succeed.

    Win 8 Repair x64.iso - 226 MB (237,699,072 bytes)

    As you can see this exceeds the 100Mb partition 1 Specification. On my MBR system I have 1 partition which holds everything.

    On my system, the Recovery Tools took around 220 MB on the Windows 8 system.  The update augmented that by another 65 MB or so, bringing that part to around 285 MB. 

    The Boot part of a System Reserved partition takes around 20 MB and is not made larger with the update.

    A 450 MB partition, which is currently being installed with the upgrade for UEFI systems should be large enough.  Again, I do not know what is being done for Legacy installs, but that partition for Windows 8 is normally 350 MB.  If yours is only 100 MB (i.e. Windows 7), only the boot files are located there and the Recovery Tools are on the OS partition.

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