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
    2014-09-20T15:23:10+00:00

    I did all those things.  I need the 64 bit bootable repair disk.  That's what is corrupted on my end for some reason.  Thanks.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-09-20T13:48:26+00:00

    The goal of the wipe, reinstall, upgrade is to ensure you are able to create a clean image backup by going to control panel, file history, system image backup in the lower left corner. Also ensure that any previously "WindowsImageBaclup" folders are deleted off of the usb external hard drive you are saving the backup to before starting the new system image backup.

    Ensure all available partitions on the "C:" drive are selected an once the bakdup completes successfully you never change the partitions in any way because that will render the new image invalid.

    During image restore booting from the Microsoft repair usb and you have the usb hard drive you previously saved the backup to plugged in, on one of the screen there will be a check box "re partition and format the disk to match the layout of the image" is not checked. If it is checked and greyed out that means it senses partition changes and must put them back for the restore to succeed. When it is done yes your partitions would be changed to match the original layout.

    "bootable disk it destroys" Is the repair usb created by windows or by Sony recovery software? This is why I offered to create a download link for a known good clean Microsoft usb repair disk. all I need to know is if you require the 32bit of the 64 bit version.

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-09-20T10:37:45+00:00

    Before I did the oem reinstall of win 8 I also wiped the disk completely clean so it had a fresh start.  It partitioned the disk with 5 segments exactly as it was supposed to.  The 5 partitions remained intact even after upgrading to win 8.1.  If I try to do an image restore from a usb bootable disk it destroys that initial set of 5 partitions.  Something is wrong with booting up from a usb bootable disk.  If I were to start from scratch it would be necessary to wipe clean the disk again to remove the bad partitions.

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-09-20T04:43:02+00:00

    I suspect that when you say "installed from scratch" you are referring to using the DVD's you personally created from the Sony built in software for creating a factory recovery set. A bootable usb does not modify partitions, only when you run software on the usb that does such as partition wizard, diskpart.exe or the system image recovery. The Usb 1.0/2.0 drivers are from Microsoft unless there is also third party usb  3.0 drivers such as NEC.

    I am certain that if you use my win8_PE I gave you a link to and boot from it,  click on the Hirens tools icon choose programs menu and find partition wizard (server edition). Delete every partition on the internal drive. then wipe the partition/drive (you may have to create one big partition first) This is to ensure there is no virus on the drive, it will take hours to wipe. Then use the dvd set to restore the computer back to factory condition. (the way it was the day you took it out of the box) Then upgrade to Win 8.1 update 1 and doo all the updates. customize your system...removing bloatware installed by Sony, installing programs and any other custom settings. Then boot from my win8 PE use partition wizard to examine the partitions.

    Modify as needed the partitions by shrinking, expanding and sliding, do not copy, paste, cut, delete any partitions. Just follow my 4 steps above to get the partitions big enough so volume shadow creation is successful and later windows image backup succeeds. Here the size constraints from a previous post of mine... (pg 58)

    volume shadow creation during the imaging process.

    volumes 499mb or less require 50mb of free space.

    Volumes 500mb to 999mb require 320mb of free space

    volumes 1000mb (1gb) and larger require 1000mb (1gb) of free space.

    Here was some suggested sizes from a previous post

    (pg 59)

    Windows (Recovery Partition) DE94BBA4-06D1-4D40-A16A-BFD50179D6AC --- (490Mb)

    EFI System - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B --- (490Mb)

    MSR (GPT Reserved) - E3C9E316-0B5C-4DB8-817D-F92DF00215AE --- (128Mb)

    Basic Data -  EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7 --- (~Gb)

    If you need a clean Microsoft repair usb/dvd (iso) just let me know and I will upload and create a link for it, I just need to know if you are running x86 or x64 because it is mandatory the correct bit version is used on the target operating system.

    Here is another post I made...

    (pg 62)

    HarryTapp replied on May 25, 2014 to Jobongo's post on October 20, 2013

    The answer you give is pretty solid :-) I did once have a problem with partition wizard when resized before system (C:) that in the process of rebooting there was a failure that required me to re-install the OS. This is why I prefer to use Hirens boot device with a mini win 7 pe environment to do the work off line. You did not mention the MSR Reserved (128Mb) partition which sits between the EFI system and the OS data partitions. The easy thing is if you do this booting from a Hirens USB/DVD disk is you can shrink the front of the OS partition and apply. Then select the MSR and move it sliding against the OS into the new unallocated space and apply. Do the same with the EFI partition. Now extend the recovery partition and apply. This method is really easy and eliminates the need to use diskpart to reset the partition Id's I will say that it is amazing that Partition Wizard with all it's versatility and functionality that it will not set GPT disk partition Id's, it will do basic...Hey it's free :-) One other thing is the Hirens is not compatible with UEFI firmware. You must go into the firmware and change to allow legacy bios booting for it to work. When the chores are done go back in and put it back for windows to boot again. I also found another problem is windows does not like for you to enter the firmware when turning on the computer. Sometimes pressing "Shift" key and "turn off computer" works, other wise go into recovery/advanced recovery methods and select modify firmware to get in.

    [I now have created the win 8 version to get around this problem as you know]

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