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
    2013-10-25T13:40:50+00:00

    You've never noticed it because you probably have yours set up to automatically check, download and install your updates.  There's no need for a notification for that.  It's for us that, because of our metered internet, we have to know what updates there are and be able to pick and choose what updates to download and when.  I just finished reading an article about this.  The writer said that removing the notification in 8 was just ridiculous, and not putting it back for 8.1 was even more ridiculous.  One of the things they were supposed to do for 8.1 was listen to people.  I guess they didn't listen to the plethora of complaints and articles about this problem.  If you do a search for Windows update notifications missing you will see what I mean. 

    Again, I guess I will just have to wait until they update the 2nd party notification programs to work with 8.1 or wait until they create some new ones.  If I was educated in computer language I would create one myself.  LOL. 

    Thanks for the help, though.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-10-25T13:31:58+00:00

     

    When  you have it set to check but choose, does the right Charm Bar open and notify you where you indicated when you have an update that needs to be downloaded?  If so, how do you make it do that?  That would work perfectly.  It may not be the little popup on the taskbar, but at least I would be notified.    

    Ive not seen it since and I cant recall if the charmbar popped open or not but I did see a message indicating an update in yellow print.... Don't mean to sound cocky here but I can honestly say ive never noticed the notification popup not popping up, until now... lol, I am sure 8.0 and 8.1 notifies you when logging on that updates are available... I can see how this annoys you though, ive used 8.0 for over 1 year and never noticed an issue regarding updates but fully understand your frustration etc at the removal of the notification popup.

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-10-25T13:22:15+00:00

    I always use the desktop so I have never seen an update notification .  As for the popup on the taskbar, Microsoft eliminated it starting in Windows 8.  The only way that I know if I have updates is to manually check for them.  There are a few programs out there that were written to take the place of the popup notification that used to be there but is not in Windows 8, but they do not run in Windows 8.1.  As for the action center, there is nothing to display for updates from there because they got rid of the popup. 

    And yes, this is one of the dumbest things that Microsoft did.  They get rid of the popup notification because it was annoying people.  Honestly, this was their stated reason for getting rid of it.  How can a popup that lets you know that there is an update for Windows be annoying?  It's necessary, not annoying.  I have used this setting since Windows XP to get my updates, but when I first used Windows 8 and found out after about a week and a half of not getting a popup notification that I numerous updates that needed to be downloaded, I though something was wrong.  It wasn't until after I did quite a bit of research that I found out that Microsoft actually got rid of the notification.  This isn't just dumb, this is downright ludicrous.  I was hoping that it would be replaced for 8.1, but no luck.  I will just have to do manual checks until they can update the program I used in Windows 8.  It is called "Windows Update Notifier" and it has a popup in the taskbar just like XP through 7 had to let me know when I have an update. 

    When  you have it set to check but choose, does the right Charm Bar open and notify you where you indicated when you have an update that needs to be downloaded?  If so, how do you make it do that?  That would work perfectly.  It may not be the little popup on the taskbar, but at least I would be notified.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-10-25T12:29:05+00:00

    All I can say is that I hope that Microsoft takes notice of this problem and gives a warning before downloading and gives an "official" fix, then revamps the Windows 8.1 installation so it fixes this automatically when it installs. 

    I have found little problems here and there like we all do, but this is a fairly serious one and I certainly hope they address it. 

    Not related, but I hate the fact that they took out the notification part of Windows Update for those of us who set it to "Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them."  Starting in Windows 8 they took away the notice that let you know that you had an update to download.  There are programs that let you know, but they don't work in 8.1.  What good does checking do if it is not going to let you know when it finds one?  Their excuse for removing the notification was that people didn't like the notifications popping up.  I'm on Hughesnet, I HAVE TO DECIDE when to download.  I wish I had FIOS or even DSL.  UG.  I love the boonies, but internet access is awful.  I have to manually check for updates on a regular basis now. 

    Hi gabe1972, do you mean this option? notice the address bar to get to this location... I think (I may be totally wrong here) but I noticed that when this is set to the setting you mention a notification appears from the right charmbar and pressing settings, then you will see a notification in yellow print against the blue backdrop of the settings popup on the right (see middle pic), I have seen this once but not seen it ever since... strange... are you saying the popup notification no longer works or is not available?

    The update notification appeared in the yellow box (I created the yellow box only to show you the location) :-)

    Also I think an update notification was displayed when I logged on too also in yellow print against a blue backdrop again not seen it since.

    ALSO !! if you right click the far right taskbar/notification area and select properties you can select the action centre notification see pic below.

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