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Image Backup Failure Troubleshooting

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Jon
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Image Backup vs File Backup

The method that is used to create an Image differs from File-Based backups, as it does not look directly at the files and folders located on your machine. An Image Backup looks only at the data "blocks" that are stored on your Hard Drive. Note: Image Backup to a local device (such as an external USB hard drive, or an internal hard drive) requires having the file system on that device formatted with the NTFS file system; it does not support FAT, FAT32, or exFAT. If the target hard drive to store an Image Backup to is 2 TB or larger for the physical size of the hard disk (not talking about the partition size) then the partition style setting on the disk will need to be set to GPT (not MBR), for more info (and how to verify or change that setting) view the Link detailed in Troubleshooting Step 6: NovaBACKUP requires GPT for hard drives that are 2TB and larger.

If you have successfully performed an Image Backup in versions of NovaBACKUP previous to 19.1

There were updated Image Backup drivers utilized in NovaBACKUP version 19.1, and there may be remnants of the previous Image Backup drivers on your system that were not updated or removed.

Please read the following article on how to remove and repair these drivers:
Repair the Image Backup Drivers

After performing this removal please re-install NovaBACKUP 19.1 or newer using the Setup-NB-xx.exe file you originally downloaded. When the setup starts:

  1. Choose the "Maintenance" option and wait for the files to extract.
  2. When the NovaBACKUP Setup dialog appears select "Next",
  3. followed by "Repair".
  4. When the repair finishes you can close the window that shows "Maintenance" (from the first step).

Some common problems:

Microsoft VSS

Image Backups utilize Microsoft VSS (Volume Shadow copy Service) to create a copy of the currently running environment (Open Files) for backup purposes.

Microsoft VSS Troubleshooting

Hardware Problems

Problems with hardware storage devices, such as disk errors or bad CD/DVDs left in the drives, will cause an Image Backup to fail.

Troubleshooting

As an Image backup can fail for numerous reasons, a few common things to look out for are:

  1. Restart the Disaster Recovery Imaging service.
    • Open the services administrative tool by typing "services.msc" into a run dialog. Select "Disaster Recovery Imaging" from the list and choose "Restart the service". You can now try to run your Image Backup again.
  2. Reboot the machine
  3. Ensure you are not imaging a Microsoft System Reserved Partition with zero (0) size or any EFI partitions.
  4. Verify there are no disk errors on the partition you are trying to image from by using the Event Viewer administrative tool.
    • Look at the Windows/System log and filter to show "Errors" and "Critical" and use the Event Source drop-down to choose "Disk" and "ntfs".
    • If disk errors are found, schedule a Check Disk for the next restart from administrative cmd prompt: "chkdsk /F /R"
  5. Ensure the target drive is not full.
  6. If you are backing up to an external drive that is 2TB or larger ensure it is GPT (GUID Partition Table)
  7. If you currently have or previously installed other programs that were able to perform an Image Backup, they can sometimes leave parts behind that will prevent an Image Backup from completing. Please refer to their documentation on how to clean-up after them.
  8. If you are currently using any continuous backup programs you will need to disable them to complete an Image Backup.
  9. Verify VSS is working correctly:
    • You can verify that VSS is "State: [1]: Stable" for all entries in an administrative cmd prompt: "vssadmin list writers"
    • Rebooting the machine will normally correct VSS Writer state issues
    • VSS may have some shadows saved, check for them in an administrative cmd prompt with: "vssadmin list shadows"
    • Remove any shadows that are found with: "vssadmin delete shadows /all"
  10. Run a System File Check
    1. Click the Start orb and then type cmd in the Search programs and files field.
    2. In the results area, right-click cmd.exe, and then click Run as administrator. You will be prompted to type the password for an administrator account. Click Continue if you are the administrator or type the administrator password. Then, click Continue.
    3. At the command prompt, type "sfc /scannow", and then press ENTER.
    4. The scan may take some time, so be patient. Windows will repair any corrupted or missing files that it finds
  11. For Network locations ensure you have added a Network Device on the Device tab of the main NovaBACKUP interface and selected it as the backup destination.

The following are related to errors output to *.dx.txt files in C:\ProgramData\NovaStor\NovaStor NovaBACKUP\ClientLogs\ 

  1. If you are receiving the following error, please try resizing the partition the error is being reported on 100MB to 200MB smaller that it is currently using Windows Disk Management
    How-To Geek | How to Manage Partitions on Windows Without Downloading Any Other Software
  2. If you are receiving the following errors make sure the total physical size of the disk in use is 9TB or smaller (if a RAID array, you would have to rebuild the array, shrinking a partition will not resolve the issue). This is a known limitation of the Image Backup system.
    [DRTAGID]:1
    ERRO "engine\engine.cpp(610) unexpected failure: oocode::CEngine::CreateImageFromLists : result = General Failure, error = 0xC000000D"
    [DRTAGID]:12
    Result = 1, ErrorCode = c000000d c0000033.50006.36c.1f6

These are common problems only and can usually be solved if you check them in order.

If these steps do not work, let us know by creating a support ticket at www.novabackup.com/ticket

Once your ticket is submitted, please generate advanced logs and reply to the confirmation email with the LogCollector ".zip" file as per the instructions found here:

http://novabackup.com/log

See Also:

How to repair the EFI bootloader on a GPT HDD for Windows 7, 8, 8.1 and 10

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