Windows 7 will not back up

[jfelano]

My friend had a constant problem with her computer, sometimes it would back-up, sometimes it wouldn't. The back-up drive she had was a old IDE drive and got full really fast cause it was only a 80gb drive, so I got her a new 500gb drive and installed it as a backup drive.

It still will not back-up. It get's right to the end (around 40gb) and then fails. It says:

"Windows back-up failed while trying to read from the shadow copy on one of the volumes being backed up. Please check event log for any relevant errors".


I'm trying to backup C drive obviously. The DVD drive is D, the backup drive I installed is E and there is a System Reserved F. Not sure what F is. It's around 62mb.

I have Vista and I do not have a System Reserved F in my computer, so this must be something with Windows 7. Nor do I have problems doing a regular backup.

I've tried formatting E, checking C and E for errors, etc. I don't know why it won't finish and I don't know how to check event log, maybe there's some more info in there. ?

Any ideas?

 

[jfelano]

Nobody has any ideas??

 

[THRiLL KiLL]

how fragmented is the drive?

is there more then 10% of free space?

 

[Gunbuster]

current on windows updates? I think there are some VSS writer updates.

Look in the windows event log for VSS errors and look those up.

Also try opening an admin cmd prompt and do: vssadmin list writers

 

[jfelano]

Windows updates are set to automatic.

If I new what an event log is I would look at that.

Both drives are 500GB. The C drive has less than 100GB of data. The E drive has no data. The C drive is only 6 months old, the E drive is new. Yes I have done defrags on the C drive.

 

[Ketchup]

Type "event" in the search box of the start menu and you should be able to select it from a list. Post back what it says for the error. Also, did you change the setting on Windows Backup when you put the new drive in?

 

[jfelano]

I don't have the computer with my now but I'll check it.

What do you mean did I change the settings on Windows Backup? I set it backup to the backup drive E. Like I said it gets all the way to the end or about 20 minutes before it fails and says it cannot read the shadow copy from one of the drives being backed up, which is C. Not sure if it backs up F too, I don't even know what F is. Something to do with Windows 7 cause I don't have a F on my computer.

 

[jfelano]

Ok I typed "event" in the start box and a whole new screen comes up with a lot of different options. What exactly am I supposed to look at?

Thanks, I'm totally lost with this computer. NOBODY on ANY of the forums has any idea why it won't complete a backup.

 

[Gunbuster]

it seems like you are waiting for one of us to jump out of your computer and do things for you. How about you think a little and try to find your way to the event logs.

Get to event log

 

[jfelano]

I don't think you understand the fact that I do NOT have the computer in my possession.

When I went to her house and typed "event" as you guys suggested, I had no idea where to look in the program for the information I need concerning "shadow copy" of "hardrive". If your read my post you would see that I already went to the event log.

You would also see that nobody here has yet been able to tell me what this F system reserved is in Windows 7.

Anybody that is capable of reading before replying able to help me here?

 

[paul878]

You need to go into the event log and tell use the error in there in order for us to help you. Google windows 7 event log if you don't know how to use it. If you don't have the computer in you possession then get it, we don't know magics here!

 

[THRiLL KiLL]

I don't think you understand the fact that I do NOT have the computer in my possession.

When I went to her house and typed "event" as you guys suggested, I had no idea where to look in the program for the information I need concerning "shadow copy" of "hardrive". If your read my post you would see that I already went to the event log.

You would also see that nobody here has yet been able to tell me what this F system reserved is in Windows 7.

Anybody that is capable of reading before replying able to help me here?

first of all, take it down a step, or dont expect to be helped.

as for the event logs, see here http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Open-Event-Viewer


as for the 100mb utility partition on windows 7, it is used to store the boot files for windows 7 and store data for bitlocker if enabled.

 

[jfelano]

Wow, just wow. You guys are unbelievable.

Third time someone has offered me instructions on how to open the event log, but not one person can tell me WHERE in event logs I'm looking for information on errors pertaining to the shadow copy of the drive being backed up.

Thanks but with all due respect to those that did try to help. Not so much to those that couldn't reply without using sarcasm or offer me a link that shows me how to open event logs for the THIRD time.

I've concluded that no-one here CAN answer the question, which is why the answer keeps coming up that I should help myself.

It would be nice if the people who are unable to answer the question, just refrained from posting, rather than try to up their posting status

I think I'll try Tom's Hardware, there are many educated Windows users there I'm sure are eager to answer my question without being immature and sarcastic.

 

[jfelano]

current on windows updates? I think there are some VSS writer updates.

Look in the windows event log for VSS errors and look those up.

Also try opening an admin cmd prompt and do: vssadmin list writers

You seem to be the only one that was able to post an intelligent answer Sir, thank you.

However I have no idea what VSS write updates are or VSS errors and when I view the event log I do not see anything VSS anywhere.

So basically I'm looking at this event log blindfolded.

All the Windows updates are up to date. The computer is running MSE and Malwarebytes and both have been updated and scanned. However, during the attempted backups, I always get a MSE virus warning. I tried cleaning it and deleting it but it keeps coming back up every single time during the backup attempt. Whatever it is MSE and Malwarebytes are not doing anything about it.

At this point I believe my only option is to completely nuke her drive and install a fresh copy of Windows 7.

 

[Ketchup]

You seem to be the only one that was able to post an intelligent answer Sir, thank you.

However I have no idea what VSS write updates are or VSS errors and when I view the event log I do not see anything VSS anywhere.

So basically I'm looking at this event log blindfolded.

All the Windows updates are up to date. The computer is running MSE and Malwarebytes and both have been updated and scanned. However, during the attempted backups, I always get a MSE virus warning. I tried cleaning it and deleting it but it keeps coming back up every single time during the backup attempt. Whatever it is MSE and Malwarebytes are not doing anything about it.

At this point I believe my only option is to completely nuke her drive and install a fresh copy of Windows 7.

If you are sure there is no virus on the system, disable MSE and Malwarebytes during the backup. They may be what is holding you back.