windows 7 unable to back up...

silicon

Senior member
Nov 27, 2004
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for some reason my windows 7 installation cannot create a backup using the "Backup and Restore" feature found in the control panel. The installation size is 42 gig and the partition size destination for the image is 53gig. It tells me there is not enough room...do I need to make the partition larger?
 

corkyg

Elite Member | Peripherals
Super Moderator
Mar 4, 2000
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Try it and see. Software needs room to maneuver.
 
Nov 20, 2009
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I've completely given up on backup software for a boot partition. I found it easier to just have two SSDs and one cloning the other every couple of weeks.
 

Skaendo

Senior member
Sep 30, 2014
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I've completely given up on backup software for a boot partition. I found it easier to just have two SSDs and one cloning the other every couple of weeks.
I do something similar, but I just partition. First partition is for OS, second is for 'My Documents'. That way I never have to back-up except for my bookmarks.

I don't know how much I trust SSDs yet since there is a limited number of times that you can write to a flash chip before it's life expectancy is over. Sure it may be 1,000,000 times (I don't know exactly) but the way windows likes to move things around how long could that be expected to last?
 
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silicon

Senior member
Nov 27, 2004
886
1
81
hello, I am still having problems to run the windows 7 backup utility as it gives a message not enough space for volume shadow yet the installation is only 49gb and the destination is 165gb. So ther is enough space I am sure so I am wondering if it has something to do with the oCZ vertex 3 ssd. googling this brings up a lot of hits regarding backup and restoring. Not sure what to try to make it work.
 

silicon

Senior member
Nov 27, 2004
886
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81
The backup feature is now working. What I did was to completely reformat the entire ssd and set it as the primary drive and reinstall everything. When I did all of that the backup works.
 

WilliamM2

Platinum Member
Jun 14, 2012
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I would strongly recommend Macrium Reflect over the built in Windows solution. Macrium is free, easy to use, and offers various advantages such as compression (which sounds like that could be useful in this case).

Windows built in imaging compresses. My 43GB install has an image that is 30GB in size.
Only problem is that the strategy becomes unrealistically expensive with multiple large SSDs.

I agree, seems quite wasteful. I store about 50 images on a 2TB drive at work, then copy them to a second 2TB drive. Much cheaper than 50 spare SSD's.
 

sonitravel09

Senior member
Jun 25, 2014
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1. Input Services.msc in Start --- Search to start Services box. Check if Windows Backup service is Started and set as "Manual". If not, change it to Manual and click Start to start it. You can stop and then restart it, reboot to see the result.

2. If issue still exists, find this key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\wbengine

Export it to Desktop as an REG file (as a backup) and delete the key. Then download this file, rename it to wbengine.reg and double click on it to import to Registry.

Then restart the computer to see the result.
 

silicon

Senior member
Nov 27, 2004
886
1
81
1. Input Services.msc in Start --- Search to start Services box. Check if Windows Backup service is Started and set as "Manual". If not, change it to Manual and click Start to start it. You can stop and then restart it, reboot to see the result.

2. If issue still exists, find this key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\wbengine

Export it to Desktop as an REG file (as a backup) and delete the key. Then download this file, rename it to wbengine.reg and double click on it to import to Registry.

Then restart the computer to see the result.
Its working correctly now..thanks.