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
    2014-09-25T10:59:22+00:00

    It just occurred to me there is an image restoration process that will get around the usb boot problem.  This is only needed if there is not a working version of windows currently running.

    1. boot up with bootable usb disk
    2. restore any win 8 or 8.1 image
    3. start up the restored pc with any version of win 8
    4. then go to recovery in that first restoration which had the bad partition
    5. then install the latest image from inside windows which repartitions the disk again to the correct set of partitions.

    That should do it, a two step process.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-09-25T09:44:35+00:00

    Hi Harry, I run MS Essentials on win 7 and was running defender on win 8/8.1 however I still had problems with malware so I am running avast now.  Im keeping good image copies of both win 7 and win 8.1.  The only problem is not being able to rely on the usb boot up on win 8.1.  Otherwise all is working fine.  Im still baffled why MS made a change between win 8 and win 8.1 that created the boot up problem.  We should have never had this string of discussions.

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-09-24T23:28:05+00:00

    The stupid part was to my friend as a joke to emphasize the importance of watching what is clicked on, not to infer. I think you misunderstood, the third party vendors was specifically directed at companies like "Norton, AVG, McAfee, etc..." who are anti-virus software producing companies. When their software is installed on a computer the latest virus definitions are downloaded to the computer which have Microsoft patches integrated into them.

    My point was to not install any third party antivirus programs and simply utilize the free software Microsoft provides which does the same job but does not slow down the computer. For windows 7 you have to download security essentials from Microsoft. For windows 8/8.1 it already comes with the operating system built in to "windows defender." Keep up on your updates from Microsoft.

    The image backup problem is something Microsoft is not willing to address because of the hardware/software configuration diversity in the world. We have 5 choices...

    1. Fix it ourselves.
    2. Pay someone to fix it.
    3. Live with it.
    4. Install a version of Unix/Linux
    5. Buy the farm and move over to Apple

    The process for resizing partition seems complicated but is really simple when dealt with on an individualized basis because of the system diversity. If I were local (Los Angeles) I would take custody of the laptop and fix it for you. It seems like you have a bios configuration issue because all those Microsoft boot repair images were designed to boot on both legacy and UEFI systems. I wont be until next Sunday until I have direct access at UEFI system where I run the sound/video at the church and can perform some testing. I might be able to access some UEFI computers which I have built for friends before then.

    The process gets much simpler if you boot from the Hirens (Windows 8 based to facilitate UEFI booting)

    observe the current partitions size and free space. Using the criteria that each partition 499Mb or less must have 50Mb free space. All you do is take needed space from the front of drive c windows and then in line starting with the one that was next to c resize as needed and then slide then towards c one at a time.

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-09-24T21:41:44+00:00

    I have 5 good partitions on the sony win 8 install and I maintained them through the win 8.1 upgrade.  Im not using any so called patches from other vendors.  The ways you are describing to do partitions adjustments is beyond my capability.  I just want the pc to work reliably without having to mess with all the software problems.  Will win 9 be better?  I used to have more control with XP backup and restore.  The entire disk image backup and restore is problematic for me.

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