Windows 8 Win 8.1 Backup image creation fails...

badrobot

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I never had a problem with image backup creation before with Win 8 using the utility Windows 7 File Recovery. I am aware that this utility is gone in Win 8.1 and the same utility is now under File History. I've tried using this new utility last night to create a backup image of Win 8.1 and it failed 4x until I gave up and used Macrium instead. Is the image created in Macrium fully supported in Win 8.1? I know it works with Win 8. But Win 8.1 is a total overhaul and I just wanna make sure I have an image that will work when I need it. Thanks.
 
Solution
When considering questions which may have catastrophic outcomes in case of failure it's best to run some real trials. I'd create a backup using macrium, I'd create second one using Acronis (not free but you can a get a full trial for a month). The Acronis one is to ensure that you can recover as I am using it tried and tested on 8.1. Having got a belts and braces pair of images I'd then run a full restore from each to test them. Once you have established that both is ok you can decide which to run with.
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When considering questions which may have catastrophic outcomes in case of failure it's best to run some real trials. I'd create a backup using macrium, I'd create second one using Acronis (not free but you can a get a full trial for a month). The Acronis one is to ensure that you can recover as I am using it tried and tested on 8.1. Having got a belts and braces pair of images I'd then run a full restore from each to test them. Once you have established that both is ok you can decide which to run with.
 
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Solution
Were you getting an error message about there not being enough room to create the shadow copy?

If so, the problem is being caused by a Winre.wim file in the Recovery partition growing to a size that does not allow for shadow copies. Using a third party imaging software, increasing the size of the recovery partition, or perhaps replacing the larger one with a smaller one are the three options I can think of. The larger file appears to be adding files, probably driver files from the current install and thus, increasing in size.
 
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It says something about the backup drive is not detected which is very weird because I was able to select that particular partition on an external drive before starting the imaging process. If I can select it, that means it is being detected. But somewhere along the process it stops and gives me that error message. I've been doing the very same procedure with win 8 before and this is the first time I am having such problem.
 
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I have had some occasional problems with error messages when using certain drives, which had worked find before and still had plenty of room available. Using another drive would normally clear this up and allow for the backup.

You might check the thread linked below. The part about WBAdmin is not really relevant to your situation, but the System Volume Information might be.

http://windowsforum.com/threads/win...ne-could-not-be-contacted.114876/#post-581779
 
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Another option for backing up your computer is Paragon Backup and Recovery free edition.
I've used it twice with Windows 8 and it worked fine both times, with no issues.

Mike
 
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Thanks for this.

I've also tried wbAdmin and it gives me the same exact error. That is even after wiping out the partition clean (deep cleansing with no recovery) and performing partition alignment.
I've just finished creating a clone of my Win 8.1 installation on a separate drive (using Free Macrium) and I am going to mess up with it. I will try the 2 image backup tools that I have and do system image recovery and I will get back here to confirm which 3rd party backup tools work with 8.1. I have Macrium and Paragon. I'll see if I can get an Acronis.


..
 
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badrobot said:
I will try the 2 image backup tools that I have and do system image recovery and I will get back here to confirm which 3rd party backup tools work with 8.1. I have Macrium and Paragon. I'll see if I can get an Acronis...
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You may want to add this arrow to your quiver of free backup tools. It's called Aoemi Backupper and a lot of people have suggested that it is a very good free option.
Personally I'm a big fan and user of Acronis True Image and have been using it since somewhere around version 6.... but it's not free (except for the 30 trial).
 
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The Wbadmin utility might be relevant to you in that it would allow you to pick which partition you want to image, just in case there was a particular one.

Could you get us a picture of the error you are getting?
 
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Ok thanks. Will try this out also.
 
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Well, it's a different day, different luck. My HTPC was playing tricks on me. The native Win 8.1 back-up imaging worked today.




But I am still interested in testing out the four tools I have: Macrium, AOMEI Backupper, Paragon Back & Recovery and Acronis True Image 2014.

In fact I already have all the images backed-up on my test disk. I just need to fire them up when I get a chance.












...
 
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I've had good luck with Acronis also. They do have a very good forum if you have a problem. I have seen them bring in their software engineers to resolve problems.

Joe
 
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It seems if you have Disk Management open when you try to create the Image, it will throw an error about the drive is not accessible. But it if works now, perhaps the reboot cleaned something out.
 
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Hi

I had several different versions of Acronis, the last was version 2012 it think.
This was probably a fluke but the only time I really needed Acronis to come through it didn't.

It said that it couldn't open either of my 2 backup files that I had created with it at different times, that's when I quit paying for backup and switched to Paragon which has worked every time I used it.

And as I've said before, I'm cheap if I can get it for free, why not.

Mike
 
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