I have tried creating a system image

NoSmoke

New Member
Messages
8
Hello, new to forum and new Win 8 user. I have tried creating a system image using this program but without success. I have an Asus X202E laptop and am trying to create the image on a 1TB USB hard drive. Everything goes well for a few seconds after the backup starts (the progress bar goes about 10% through) but it then halts and gives an error message: "There is not enough disk space to create the volume shadow copy on the storage location....". I have directed the backup to an empty 500GB partition on the hard drive so there should be ample space. Have tried the same procedure with another USB hard drive with the same result.

BTW, both hard drives show up normally in windows explorer.

It would be much appreciated if anyone could help me with this.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
Hello NoSmoke, and welcome to Eight Forums.

How much free space do you have on the Windows drive/partition?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
Hi Brink, thanks for the prompt response.

My windows partition (C) has 146GB free and 39GB used.

The drive also came partitioned with a 258GB (D) partition (which is empty).
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
OK, turned off system protection on the C drive (it was already off for all others, including the USB hard drive partitions) and reran the create system image but the result was the same. Turned system protection for the C drive back on.

Update: Just tried the "Back up or restore your files" part of it. Back up started normally but abended again with an error: "Windows Backup skipped backing up system image because one of the critical volumes is not having enough free space...." (this again going to the 500GB partition on the USB drive). So, it still thinks the drive hasn't sufficient space. :cry:
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
Could you post a screenshot showing the full layout of your Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc) window and all information in it.

I'm guessing that it may be an issue of there not being enough free space on the "System Reserved" partition if there.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
Thank you again Brink for the kind assistance. As a further update, I tried storing on the D drive (part of the Asus hard drive) but had the same result (progress bar about 50% through and it quits with the error message).

Here is the Disk Management screen shot (I hope it's OK).

Capture.PNG
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
I'm afraid that with XP and UEFI being involved, I'm not sure why it's giving you that error. :(
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
UEFI? As for XP being on one of the partitions, the other USB drive did not have it so that may not be the issue.

Was wondering why though the System and Recovery partitions show 100% free (should there not be content in those partitions?).
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
The EFI and Recovery Partitions are in the wrong order. Do not know if that would effect the image backup.

I am surprised the system is even booting at all with the Logical partition on the XP drive.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Grown
    CPU
    i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8Z77 -v Pro, Z87-Expert
    Memory
    16 G
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GTX 680 Classified (2)
    Hard Drives
    Kingston SSD 240 GB
Hey, Saltgrass, the XP partition is on the USB drive (if that makes a difference). I'm now doing a system reset after talking to Asus tech support. He says he searched and found other instances of the same problem so it looks like it's not just my machine.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
I have not tested Windows 8 like Windows 7, but Windows 7, when installed as UEFI, did not like extended/logical partitions on any drive, including external ones.

How did the partitions get out of order? If you install Windows 8 with that sequence, Windows will complain, but go ahead and install anyway. I am not really sure if the complaint could influence the system image making.

Edit: I should also add, when I was doing system backups using an external drive, I ended up converting the drive to GPT because if I booted to re-image with an MBR drive as an external, the image backup utility could not find the drive. I had to wait to plug it in AFTER I started a re-image process, then tell the utility to search for a drive again.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Grown
    CPU
    i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8Z77 -v Pro, Z87-Expert
    Memory
    16 G
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GTX 680 Classified (2)
    Hard Drives
    Kingston SSD 240 GB
Keep in mind though I have tried the create image with another USB drive (without XP or a logical partition) and the Asus internal drive D partition (both without the drive with the XP partition connected).

The laptop came with Win 8 installed so I have no idea how the partitions were installed.

As I mentioned, Asus recommended doing a complete reset which is now in progress but it looks like it's cocked up too because it's been going for over an hour now and is only 6% completed (Asus says it should take about 1/2 hour to complete).

RMA number is next step I guess...........
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
Looks like you have given me something else to test, but it might take a while to get to it. :think:

You already know you cannot backup to the same drive. And it has to be the root directory on the backup drive and cannot be in another folder.

If the external drive is not working, do you have a network location?

I suppose if you did not do the install, they may have added a bunch of stuff in a particular partition and not left room for the shadow copies.

Edit: Have now tested and the order of the partitions does not seem to interfere with the image creation.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Grown
    CPU
    i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8Z77 -v Pro, Z87-Expert
    Memory
    16 G
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GTX 680 Classified (2)
    Hard Drives
    Kingston SSD 240 GB
Two hours now into the restore and only 14% complete. This can't be right but who knows??

As to backing up on the same drive (to the D partition), I thought it wouldn't be allowed but the program allowed it even though a warning message was given to the effect that the backup would be lost if the HD crashed. Anyhow, it too failed at about the same distance into the backup and with the same error message.

As mentioned before, I also tried another external drive (two in all) and it produced the same result.

Are the shadow copies placed on one of the internal HD partitions (and not the backup HD)? It sounds like what say may be the case all right.

Update: Did some more googling and found many posts from people with the same problem. It looks like the issue is one of the recovery partitions is not large enough to handle the shadow volume copy. One person's solution was to use a partition program to expand the partition but he only had the one partition on his setup and I have two (a 600MB and 20GB) so I don't know which to expand or by how much (not that I'm really keen on trying that on a new computer anyhow in case I have to return it).

On slightly brighter note, the % complete on the restore is up to 95 now so it looks like it will complete soon (after about 4 1/2 hours!!).
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
On my Asus X202e, I used Easus Partition Manager to free up some 200MB of space from the beginning of my C drive and then copy the Other reserved partition into the free space. I then expanded the Recovery partition to 800MB and now it runs Create System Image fine. So the 600MB is too small. Be sure to backup your data before trying this fix.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    Intel I3 Ivy
    Motherboard
    Asus
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD
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