W8 system image fails

shortmort37

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I'm attempting to follow the instructions here, to do a system image of my Dell W8 machine:

Using Windows 8′s “hidden” backup to clone and recover your whole PC | Ars Technica

As I go through the wizard, I arrive at this screen:

backup.jpg

I don't have the option to deselect any of these "drives". I proceed with the backup - it chugs along, and then consistently fails here:

backup_failure.jpg

"one of the critical volumes is not having enough free space." It doesn't tell me which - but, it's certainly not the OS drive, this is a virgin system. Any ideas?

adTHANKSvance,
Dan
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Dual Boot: Back to W7 and Ubuntu 12.04
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Dimension E521
    CPU
    AMD AthlonTM 64 X2 dual-core
    Memory
    4 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia 9800 GT 1GB
    Sound Card
    M-Audio Mobile Pre USB External
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer 1916W
    Screen Resolution
    1440X900
    Hard Drives
    250 GB internal main, 500 GB internal backup, 1TB External
    PSU
    300 Watt (Dell stock)
    Case
    Dell Stock
    Keyboard
    Dell
    Mouse
    Dell
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    MSE/Defender or whatever it's called now
    Other Info
    Acer aspire One D255, Windows 8.1.1 Pro, 2GB Ram, Intel Atom N450 1.6Ghz
The problem with that is you have to boot into a CD or thumb drive, and manually conduct the backup. It's easy to get lazy, and do the back every other day, maybe next week when I have more time, oh wait - was it last month I did a backup?

Ostensibly this is an automated system backup - if I could get it to work, I'd rather. I can't count on myself to be diligent.
 

My Computer

System One

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

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/8956-system-image-create-windows-8-a.html

Most likely this is do to something being saved to your "System Reserved" or "Recovery" partition leaving it without enough free working space to allow the system image to be created.

Double check to make sure that System Protection is turned off for this drive if on.

Since this is a Dell (OEM) computer, double check to see if there may be some sort of Dell backup program that may be saving something to the same partitions above. If so, either turn it off or change the save location, then delete any backups it saved to the partitions above to free the space up. Be sure to DO NOT delete anything else on these partitions, or you will no longer be able to do a factory recovery of Windows.

Hope this helps some, :)
Shawn
 

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
I know the feeling LOL! I had to get into a habit of every week doing it, now it's second nature. Start it every week on Wednesday before I leave for work. It was just an option for you to consider. I like it as well because of the live cd recovery tools. In the meantime maybe someone else can help you figure it out...

Geeve

Edit: Brink got you covered :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Dual Boot: Back to W7 and Ubuntu 12.04
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Dimension E521
    CPU
    AMD AthlonTM 64 X2 dual-core
    Memory
    4 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia 9800 GT 1GB
    Sound Card
    M-Audio Mobile Pre USB External
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer 1916W
    Screen Resolution
    1440X900
    Hard Drives
    250 GB internal main, 500 GB internal backup, 1TB External
    PSU
    300 Watt (Dell stock)
    Case
    Dell Stock
    Keyboard
    Dell
    Mouse
    Dell
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    MSE/Defender or whatever it's called now
    Other Info
    Acer aspire One D255, Windows 8.1.1 Pro, 2GB Ram, Intel Atom N450 1.6Ghz
Thanks, Shawn (and you too, Geeve)! The tutorial looks excellent. I'll check out the System Protection, and see if that's implicated - and report back here.

Thanks again,
Dan
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
As far as I know you need a separate drive in order to create system images. A partition on the system drive isn't going to cut it here. Having system protection off or on has never made any difference for me when creating system images.

Using a separate drive and Windows 7 file recovery works every time for me without fail. You can also partition the secondary drive in order to create multiple system images if required.

The reason I like using the built in one is because I can't stand all the BS and advertisements of third party programs trying to sell you upgraded versions.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro WMC
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home built
    CPU
    Q9650 @ 4.05 GHz
    Motherboard
    Gforce 780i SLI FTW
    Memory
    8GB Gskill DDR2 1200Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    GTX-480
    Sound Card
    Asus D2 Xonar
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HannsG
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    Gskill 120GB SSD
    PSU
    Thermal Take 1000watts
    Case
    Thermal Take Xtreme
    Cooling
    9 fans air cooled
    Keyboard
    G15 logitech
    Mouse
    G9 logitech
    Internet Speed
    50mbps
Yes, if you look at the screenshot above, the backup is directed to go to the "D:" drive, a Western Digital 1TB usb-3 drive.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
I couldn't tell from the screen shot sorry, it seems that USB drives tend to cause problems with Windows back up for some reason, not sure why. I routinely image my SSD to another internal sata drive but never any problems there.

It may help to partition the drive in half then format both partitions. Windows disk management is good for this.

Using free Macrium may help.

Macrium Reflect FREE Edition - Information and download
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro WMC
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home built
    CPU
    Q9650 @ 4.05 GHz
    Motherboard
    Gforce 780i SLI FTW
    Memory
    8GB Gskill DDR2 1200Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    GTX-480
    Sound Card
    Asus D2 Xonar
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HannsG
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    Gskill 120GB SSD
    PSU
    Thermal Take 1000watts
    Case
    Thermal Take Xtreme
    Cooling
    9 fans air cooled
    Keyboard
    G15 logitech
    Mouse
    G9 logitech
    Internet Speed
    50mbps
Enjoy it while you can. Looks like System image is another thing that MS have taken out and shot.


As far as I know you need a separate drive in order to create system images. A partition on the system drive isn't going to cut it here. Having system protection off or on has never made any difference for me when creating system images.

Using a separate drive and Windows 7 file recovery works every time for me without fail. You can also partition the secondary drive in order to create multiple system images if required.

The reason I like using the built in one is because I can't stand all the BS and advertisements of third party programs trying to sell you upgraded versions.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    7/8/ubuntu/Linux Deepin
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 32-Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home made
    CPU
    Intel Core i5 4670
    Motherboard
    AsRock z87m Pro4
    Memory
    4 GB 1600 12800U
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Graphics 4600
    Sound Card
    HD Audio
    Hard Drives
    SSD Samsung 840 Pro 128 GB
    2 TB WD Green
    PSU
    Cooler Master Silent Pro MII 420 W
    Case
    Cooler Master Silencio 650 Pure
    Cooling
    Semi passive: Thermalright Macho HR-02 Rev.A, Scythe Gentle Typhoon 800 rpm
...Most likely this is do to something being saved to your "System Reserved" or "Recovery" partition leaving it without enough free working space to allow the system image to be created.

Double check to make sure that System Protection is turned off for this drive if on.

Since this is a Dell (OEM) computer, double check to see if there may be some sort of Dell backup program that may be saving something to the same partitions above. If so, either turn it off or change the save location, then delete any backups it saved to the partitions above to free the space up. Be sure to DO NOT delete anything else on these partitions, or you will no longer be able to do a factory recovery of Windows.

Hope this helps some, :)
Shawn

Shawn, I checked - System Protection was only enabled on the system partition. You were right about there being a Dell backup - I don't know if it was enabled or not (it wanted me to enter a product key, which I didn't have), but I just went ahead and deinstalled it and rebooted. I'm still getting the same error.

Here's what I don't understand - the D: drive is where I am backing up *to*. It's a 1TB drive, and it's completely empty. Even if the C: drive is used as workspace for the backup - it's only got about 200GB used out of 1TB. Why should there be a space issue?

If you have any further tips to Dx this problem, I'd appreciate.

adTHANKSvance,
Dan
 

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

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
Im having the same problem.

I bought a external WD harddrive, but due to bad cooling(probably why it was cheap), I converted the drive to be internal in my pc,

I cannot use windows backup to backup the system as I get IO error message.

acronis works but takes long time.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    thermaltake
    CPU
    intel 2600 4ghz to 4.20ghz
    Motherboard
    gigabyte p67-d3-b3
    Memory
    16gb 1900mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia 780 gtx + nvidia 580
    Sound Card
    sound ZxR
    Monitor(s) Displays
    asus hdmi 24inch
    Screen Resolution
    1080p
    Hard Drives
    3x 2tb drivers
    PSU
    850 watts
    Case
    Thermtake V9
    Cooling
    very powerful fans
    Keyboard
    sidewinder x4
    Mouse
    logitech G5
    Internet Speed
    100
    Browser
    chrome,firefox,ie
    Antivirus
    Avira
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