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
    2014-09-16T20:43:27+00:00

    Here are the healthy partitions.  Performing an image restore creates a 6th partition - in error that is names \\f\ which is not an F partition but just some random piece of junk.  The extra space for \\f\ is taken from the (C:) drive space.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-09-16T17:28:04+00:00

    You have a proprietary system "Sony" and this opens up another whole can of worms. OEM's in your case Sony now ship with their own recovery partitions around 12Gb which is used to create bootable recovery media (DVD/Usb) which will restore the hard drive (or a new one) back to the way the computer was the day you t took it out of the box. This partition is usually labeled "OEM Recovery" Then there is the Windows recovery partition and For OEM systems they have built into it so that wile windows is booted and you use system restore - restore to factory default or any other choice windows recovery will utilize the factory OEM Recovery Partition as necessary to perform the restore function. The Windows repair Usb has the same tools as a retail copy of windows install disk you buy from the store. These tools are the same for Windows 8 and 8.1 and are specific to 32 bit (x86) and x64 bit operating systems. IMPORTANT: These Windows boot media do not know to use the factory OEM recovery partition. The factory recovery media you create only knows to use or can recreate the factory OEM partition which is Windows 8.0. These headaches is why I will never buy a factory machine with all its bloatware with only one exception and that is a laptop. Even then I discard ALL the factory software (Format the entire drive) and install my own retail copy. When I bought my laptop the first thing I did is boot it, create the recovery media, shut it down and then put a new SSD in it. I still have the factory hard drive and recovery media and none of it has been used ever. MY suggestion for you is to keep your factory recovery media, backup all important data, purchase a retail copy (physical disk not download). Then delete all the partitions during windows setup, install and enjoy a faster computer. You may have to get some drivers from Sony website and I recommend "StartisBack" to get the traditional start menu, It costs $5. Since you have a UEFI system you may run into some partition size limitations for volume shadow creation during Windows image backup creation which is what this thread was created to address.

    If you want to save your current 8.1 installation...Make sure ALL partitions in the drive are included satisfying volume shadow creation size limitations. Create the system image to a different physical drive (internal SATA or external Usb hard drive) and create a Windows boot repair Usb (not Factory) which is usually offered at the end of Windows system image creation. Again the best bet is to get rid of Sony and get a retail copy os Windows.

    I hope something in here helps.

    Regards.

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-09-16T15:51:40+00:00

    How about using the snipping tool and take a picture of your Disk Management window so we can see the partitions.

    8.1 will not make an 8.0 recovery drive.  But the image copied from the Recovery Partition on an 8.0 OEM install is of Windows 8, so that is what will be the working OS after a successful Factory System Recovery, or a Windows Reset/Refresh.

    When you say partition f:, for all I know, that is your flash drive.

    Updating to Windows 8.1 from Windows 8 no longer changes the partitions, but does move the Recovery Tools to the OS partition like it was in Windows 7.

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-09-16T14:49:21+00:00

    Its possible my pc is making win 8 recovery disks and bootable drives even though I have upgraded to win 8.1.  I noticed that I cannot do a win 8.1 image recovery from the win 8 4 disk recovery disks I created.  It has the wrong c drive format as does the bootable usb disk.  Whats odd however is that I checked the disk partitions on the c drive before and after reinstalling win 8 and then upgrading to win 8.1 and there was no change in the partitions or size of them.  There seems to be something else going on here.  Is it possible that there is an embedded virus inside the recovery drives?  If so this is easily verified by everyone checking to insure that when doing an image restoration from a bootable disk and a good new win 8.1 image that the restoration process DOES NOT need to do a reformat of the c drive.  In my instance it always wants to reformat and reparation the c drive creating that pesky little extra space called \\f\.

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