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
    2013-11-14T04:52:00+00:00

    Since I didn't want to repartition my hard drive without FIRST making a backup, I used the following command to successfully backup my C: drive:

    wbAdmin start backup -backupTarget:E: -include:C:

    You must type this at the Command Prompt as Administrator.  As long as you don't use the "-allCritical" command line option, the command will backup your C: drive without any problems.

    This will not backup the EFI System Partition, but you should be able to restore that from a System Recovery Disk or the original installation media, but I haven't tried that.  Worst case, I think the restore sequence would be:

    1.  Reinstall Windows 8

    2.  Upgrade to Windows 8.1

    3.  Restore your C: drive from the backup

    I'm not sure if step 2 is necessary, but it guarantees the EFI and Recovery partitions are up-to-date with Windows 8.1.

    The wbAdmin documentation is here:

    http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc754015.aspx

    I hope this helped.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-11-14T02:17:32+00:00

    I just purchased a new 1TB hard drive for the purpose of backing up my Windows 8.1 system, and I got this error.  So now I have no way to backup my system, and apparently I purchased a backup hard drive for nothing.  Great job Microsoft!  Thank you for providing me with a system I can't back up.  And it's so nice of you to totally ignore all your customers.

    And to PauloAllan and B_hmpl -- I think you're right -- the media should be informed that Microsoft doesn't seem to care about their customers.  Backup is such a basic and fundamental part of computer maintenance, and it doesn't even work.  Judging by the size of this thread, the obviousness of this problem, and the silence of Microsoft, I don't know how it could be interpreted other than Microsoft doesn't care.  Sad.  I installed Windows 8.1 with a very open mind, and I'm becoming very disappointed.

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-11-13T20:42:15+00:00

    How in God's name can MS let this go one?  

    Microsoft might think it will go away, affecting only a small number of users, but... how many users even bother to backup?? How many users use the system image backup?? A lot of users don't even bother with this feature, (my point being that this is the reason the outcry seems fairly small in comparison to the potential numbers who could have this issue, its a numbers thing, the percentage of users who have firstly upgraded is far greater than the percentage of users who have tried to system image backup and restore), it will be a great shock to them though to find it might not work, regardless of small numbers of users coming forward we deserve to be heard and acknowledged.

    This thread has had almost 3000 hits and on page 1 there is an initial response from Microsoft (totally missing the point altogether) since then nothing at all!! not even on the 10 other threads on this issue, not a single word,

    We are still here Microsoft, the problem still exists Microsoft, !?

    Microsoft saying nothing actually says everything.

    Firstly do they care about our issue??

    Secondly by admitting the issue, (they have to then fix it) this could open up the flood gates to further criticism ie-sending out a bad update (8.1) that handicaps the system image restore operation. (system partition issue)

    and thirdly perhaps they cant figure out how to fix this via a patch/update??

    So Microsoft are stuck between a rock and a hard place,

    Again we were good enough to buy your products (8.0) and this feature worked perfect, then we upgrade and it does not work!? help us out!

    This issue happens on top of the range i7 Lenovo systems down to core2duo machines of older age, there is no set pattern of affected machine/bios types, the 2, 3, and 4 partition layouts are all having issues, WHY??.

    I hope Microsoft speak soon,

    Would it help to inform the media? If someone gives a hint to famous online magazines, maybe it had a bigger effect than an angry mob that wreaks his anger in a forum like that. Of course, it's on the whole a far tinier issue than one might believe reading all these threads but on the other hand it is a serious issue that an important and very basic functionality just does not work and Microsoft gives a sh*t about it.

    It's like an car manufacturer delivers new cars with damaged spare tyres. 99% of all people wouldn't care since they never have a breakdown or just call a mechanic in this case. But still it is a faulty product.

    So when someone with good contacts could try making this issue public on a whole other level, Microsoft maaaybeee would give it a little more attention. I was thinking to contact german online newspages even though I don't expect a (positive) answer.

    Has anyone good ideas on how to make it interesting enough so that an editorial office would even think about publishing something about it? They are greedy for big news, not for just another tiny bug in Windows 8.1.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-11-09T22:07:42+00:00

    Hello

    I have 4 Windows partitions :

     Recovery - 300 MB, EFI System - 100 MB, a partition 128 Mo and my system Volume C:

            I think the third partition is the partition MSR.

    In your workaround you say nothing about the partition MSR.

    Sorry for my English, l am living in France.

    Could you tell me what I have  to do ?

    Thanks.

    Joël NIZART

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