Hangs after starting

Well more details about this would help. 

Are both disks internal or is drive D: and external disk?  If external how is it connected?

Are there other backups in this folder on D:?  If yes are they all in the same folder?

Not knowing more I would recommend running chkdsk /f on all partitions of your SSD including partitions without letters which means you will have to temporarily assign letters to those for this purpose.  If your D: drive is an HDD then run chkdsk /r on all partitions of that disk. 

In my signature below look for link "Fix Disk Corruption" for more details on this.

D: is an external (USB) drive.

Yes.  There are other backups on D:.  They are in the root directory.

You should know I have been backing up this way for 7 years.  This just started happening.

Jim, the log for this backup task should provide better information about what error is being encountered here?

There is a new MVP Assistant log viewer tool that has now been made available by Acronis via the Community Tools page.. 

If you have Disks & Partitions backups created on ATI 2020 or later using .tibx files, then look in the Backup Worker logs.

If you have Files & Folders backups using .tib files (or Disk backups from earlier versions using .tib files) then look in the Demon logs.

Other logs are shown by the MVP Assistant under the 'Active Logs' heading of the Log Viewer page of the Assistant.

The log files should be zipped to preserve their original file names if sharing in the forums and would need to be less than 3MB in size, otherwise you would need to share the zip file via a Cloud share service such as OneDrive, Dropbox etc.

One suggestion here is to reselect the Source and Destination for the backup task then retry it.

Ran chkdsk on all 3 drives. No problems reported.

Log from backup attempt:

4/4/2021 3:05:00 PM: -----
4/4/2021 3:05:00 PM: ATI Demon started. Version: 24.7.1.38530.
4/4/2021 3:05:00 PM: Backup reserve copy attributes: format tib; need_reserve_backup_copy false;
4/4/2021 3:05:00 PM: Operation Copy C to D started manually.
4/4/2021 3:05:00 PM: Backup reserve copy attributes: format tib; need_reserve_backup_copy false;
4/4/2021 3:05:00 PM: Operation: Backup
4/4/2021 3:05:00 PM: Priority changed to Low.
4/4/2021 3:05:00 PM: Create Backup Archive From: Disk 1 To file: F:\AcronisBackup\Copy C to D.tib Compression: Normal Exclude: Files matching mask Match criterion: hiberfil.sys, pagefile.sys, $Recycle.Bin, swapfile.sys, System Volume Information, *.tib, *.tib.metadata, *.~, *.tmp, C:\Users\Hotdog\AppData\Local\Temp, C:\Users\Hotdog2\AppData\Local\Temp, C:\Users\Hotdog\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache, C:\Users\Hotdog2\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache, C:\Users\Hotdog\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Cache, C:\Users\Hotdog\AppData\Local\Opera Software, C:\Users\Hotdog\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles, C:\Users\Hotdog\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Cache, C:\Users\Hotdog\AppData\Local\Opera Software, C:\WINDOWS\CSC
4/4/2021 3:05:00 PM: Pending operation 174 started: 'Creating partition image'.
4/4/2021 3:05:00 PM: Writing full version to file: Copy C to D_full_b29_s1_v1.tib
4/4/2021 3:05:09 PM: Pending operation 174 started: 'Creating partition image'.
4/4/2021 3:05:09 PM: Pending operation 174 started: 'Creating partition image'.
4/4/2021 3:05:09 PM: Error 0x101f6: Failed to create volume snapshot.
4/4/2021 3:05:10 PM: Error 0x13c0005: Operation has completed with errors.

Start: 4/4/2021 3:05:00 PM
Stop: 4/4/2021 3:05:10 PM
Total Time: 00:00:10

This is a log for the previous backup that ran correctly:

3/21/2021 9:20:39 AM: -----
3/21/2021 9:20:39 AM: ATI Demon started. Version: 24.7.1.38530.
3/21/2021 9:20:39 AM: Backup reserve copy attributes: format tib; need_reserve_backup_copy false;
3/21/2021 9:20:39 AM: Operation Copy C to D started manually.
3/21/2021 9:20:39 AM: Backup reserve copy attributes: format tib; need_reserve_backup_copy false;
3/21/2021 9:20:39 AM: Operation: Backup
3/21/2021 9:20:39 AM: Priority changed to Low.
3/21/2021 9:20:39 AM: Create Backup Archive From: Disk 1 To file: F:\AcronisBackup\Copy C to D.tib Compression: Normal Exclude: Files matching mask Match criterion: hiberfil.sys, pagefile.sys, $Recycle.Bin, swapfile.sys, System Volume Information, *.tib, *.tib.metadata, *.~, *.tmp, C:\Users\Hotdog\AppData\Local\Temp, C:\Users\Hotdog2\AppData\Local\Temp, C:\Users\Hotdog\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache, C:\Users\Hotdog2\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache, C:\Users\Hotdog\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Cache, C:\Users\Hotdog\AppData\Local\Opera Software, C:\Users\Hotdog\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles, C:\Users\Hotdog\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Cache, C:\Users\Hotdog\AppData\Local\Opera Software, C:\WINDOWS\CSC
3/21/2021 9:20:39 AM: Pending operation 174 started: 'Creating partition image'.
3/21/2021 9:20:40 AM: Writing full version to file: Copy C to D_full_b28_s1_v1.tib
3/21/2021 9:20:48 AM: Pending operation 174 started: 'Creating partition image'.
3/21/2021 9:20:49 AM: Pending operation 174 started: 'Creating partition image'.
3/21/2021 9:20:55 AM: Pending operation 174 started: 'Creating partition image'.
3/21/2021 10:23:03 AM: Pending operation 174 started: 'Creating partition image'.
3/21/2021 10:23:10 AM: Pending operation 174 started: 'Creating partition image'.
3/21/2021 10:28:00 AM: The following backups have been successfully created: F:\AcronisBackup\Copy C to D_full_b28_s1_v1.tib
3/21/2021 10:28:00 AM: Operation has succeeded.

Start: 3/21/2021 9:20:39 AM
Stop: 3/21/2021 10:28:00 AM
Total Time: 01:07:21

Jim, the core issue is shown in the failing log:

Error 0x101f6: Failed to create volume snapshot.

This is a VSS snapshot issue so please download the Acronis VSS Doctor tool (link in my signature) and run this to see what they reveals.  If the tool offers to fix issues, then let it do so!

It did not offer a fix.  It gave the message below.  Very confusing - I don't understand this message.  Isn't 176 GB of space enough?  What does Minimum storage size: 320 MB mean? 

Your configured maximum storage space on disk is 434GB.  You need at least 10% of that space for VSS to work meaning that your minimum space should be set to at least 45GB.  You have 30GB of the 176GB free space available on disk allocated to VSS of which 24GB is used probably by Windows Restore Points. 

You can either add additional space for VSS to operate in raising the total allocated to say 100GB or delete restore points and add another say 20GB to allocated space for VSS.

Since I have never known about space being allocated for the shadow copy before, I have a couple of questions.

1)  Is the allocated space only used during backup & available for other uses after backup completes?

2)  The following command line argument suggests I can allocate the space on any drive I choose.  I have more space available on drive F: is there a problem with me putting the shadow copy space on F: ?  And, if I do this will the space currently on C: be relinquished?

vssadmin add shadowstorage /for=<drive being backed up> /on=<drive to store the shadow copy> /maxsize=<percentage of disk space to allow to be used>

I have attempted to use the command to see how much space is currently allocated, but it doesn't seem to work. Here's what I get:

Jim, does the VSS Doctor tool offer to fix this issue?  If yes, then let it do so.  Shadow Storage is used by multiple applications on the system including System Protection if this is enabled for saving restore points.

Jim,

The output from vssadmin showing no storage used by shadow copies or restore points is not normal.  The VSS Doctor tool reporting 24GB of used space for shadows indicates the space is being claimed.  It is possible that a VSS component is hung or corrupted and will not release the space or is not reporting the space used properly.

I would suggest doing the following before doing anything else here.

From an admin PowerShell prompt run this command: sfc /scannow  This will run the Windows System File Checker against all Windows System files and replace any found to be corrupt.

Follow that up with this command: DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth This will check for data corruption that SFC may have missed.  If it reports corruption found then run: DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

The VSS Doctor tool did not offer to fix the issue

I ran sfc /scannow   It found errors and said it corrected them.

Then I ran DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth  It also found errors and said it corrected them

I reran both in that order and neither found errors.

I then tried to run vssadmin list shadowstorage  Same result as before -- it did not produce results.

So I ran VSS Doctor. This time it hung on Shadow Storage Status.  I let it run for 20 minutes before giving up.  Screen shot below.

Now Acronis will not load.  It throws up the splash screen but goes no further.

I am curious as to why the VSS Doctor said Maximum storage size 434GB when it appears that is the size of the drive. In my case, I see it says UNBOUNDED, which is what I would expect.

Can you go into the System Protection setting and look at what it says for drive C:. Is Protection on or off (I suspect on)? Can you change the Max Usage configuration there, say to 10% or so?

After a reboot, Acronis is backing up with no changes to VSS.

Says protection is on.  It 100% or the drive can be used for VSS.

I posted this last night and don't know what happened.

Since I was unaware of allocating space for VSS I have a couple of questions:

1) Is VSS space made available for other uses after the shadow app is through with it?

2) The following command line argument suggests I can reserve space on another drive for VSS.

vssadmin add shadowstorage /for=<drive being backed up> /on=<drive to store the shadow copy> /maxsize=<percentage of disk space to allow to be used>

My C: is a SSD.  I have more space on F:  If I create VSS space on F:, is the space on C: released?

Jim,

Windows itself manages free space available on disk for shadow storage.  The slider you see available only allows for some control over space allocation for Restore Points but has no effect on shadow storage space.  If you run a backup task while having the System Protection windows open and viewing the Configure screen you will see that while the backup runs free space will be automatically set to unbounded which means that shadow copy can use all free space on disk regardless of what it is set at.

The only real control the user has here is either System Protection enabled or disabled which when enabled turns on Restore Points.  I myself have System Protection turned on and I let Windows manage the space.  In addition, I do not worry about how much space it uses or how many writes my SSD is having or anything else.  If I encounter issues like you did then I will follow the steps I suggested you do which in fact found errors in Windows System files and did correct those problems.  I suspect that one or more of those problems was with VSS files.  You did the right thing in restarting the PC as this released the shadow storage space from it's corrupted state back to a normal working state thus allowing backups to once again be created.

So at the end of the day your problem is solved, things are working again, enjoy your success.

This board does strange things

It was a combination of Steve and Enchantech that got me out of this problem so thanks to you both.

Your welcome :-)

The problem has returned.  This time a reboot didn't fix it.

I ran the VSS tool.  It did not offer to fix it but gave this error message:

I no longer remember the details of VSS storage, but I tried to resize it following Microsoft's instructions found here and got this:

After screwing with the Shadow Copy setting I got the VSS tool to offer to fix the problem.  I clicked do it and reran the tool.  No error message.  I then checked the amount allocated using the command line tool and it says I have 44gb allocated:

I still get the same error when trying to backup.

Jim, if you are not using Windows System Protection (restore points) then try running the command:

vssadmin delete shadows /all /quiet

then repeat the Acronis VSS Doctor report.

I'll do that but first I want you to be sure you understand VSS doctor is not reporting an error now.

OK I went ahead and did it and here is the result:

Jim, those are the only errors then I would state the obvious that a system shutdown was in progress at that time!

I see those errors in my event logs periodically and they seem to be innocuous.

Steve Smith wrote:

Jim, those are the only errors then I would state the obvious that a system shutdown was in progress at that time!

 

I'm not sure which errors you're referring to but did you expect the Access Denied response to the vssadmin argument you suggested?  In either case my computer was not shutting down.

So, what's preventing me from backing up???

Jim, I do not see any errors when I run the vssadmin command I suggested - I even have this set as a Post Command for some of my backup tasks to clean up snapshot space after the tasks have finished!

The Event log entries you posted above clearly make the statement that a system shutdown was in progress for those error entries.  I cannot argue with those entries and don't know why they should state this if it is not the actual case??

See webpage: How to Read Shutdown and Restart Event Logs in Windows  - for information on checking for corresponding entries for the events you posted above?

In terms of what is preventing you from backing up, then it is time to go back to basics again and start at the beginning!

Do you have any backup tasks that are running successfully on this same PC?

What information is being recorded in the logs for the hanging / failing backup task(s)?

Jim,

What version of Windows 10 are you running?  The errors reported suggest that your version is that of 1903 - 1909 Windows 10 x64 Home, is this correct?

If the answer is yes then a reported bug in those Windows release versions might be cause of the error.  A simple fix that I know of is to open the Services app check the Status of the services involved namely CEventSystem and CoCreateInstance.  These services should both have Startup type set to Manual.  If you find one or both set to something else change the value to Manual.

After the change restart your PC and your errors should not happen again reportedly.

What version of Windows 10 are you running?  The errors reported suggest that your version is that of 1903 - 1909 Windows 10 x64 Home, is this correct?

Best I can tell I'm running version 20H2

Steve

I decided to run it to get a new error log for you but amazingly it ran and completed successfully.  This may be an intermittent problem.

Clearly it is intermittent.

This morning it failed.  The same way with the same error message.

Steve asks:

Do you have any backup tasks that are running successfully on this same PC?

Yes.  I have a files backup that makes a volume snapshot and runs successfully.

Steve asks:

What information is being recorded in the logs for the hanging / failing backup task(s)?

There are so many logs my head swims.  But I looked at the Windows  Shutdown and Restart Event Log and it has no entries for the time the failed backup was running.

I'm attaching the logs created by the MVP Assistant log viewer tool

running ReadLogFileNewGen I get this:

5/16/2021 11:23:10 AM: -----
5/16/2021 11:23:10 AM: ATI Demon started. Version: 24.7.1.38530.
5/16/2021 11:23:10 AM: Backup reserve copy attributes: format tib; need_reserve_backup_copy false;
5/16/2021 11:23:10 AM: Operation Copy C to D started manually.
5/16/2021 11:23:10 AM: Backup reserve copy attributes: format tib; need_reserve_backup_copy false;
5/16/2021 11:23:10 AM: Operation: Backup
5/16/2021 11:23:10 AM: Priority changed to Low.
5/16/2021 11:23:10 AM: Error 0x1e50023: The specified file does not exist: F:\AcronisBackup\Copy C to D_full_b31_s1_v1.tib.
5/16/2021 11:23:10 AM: Create Backup Archive From: Disk 1 To file: F:\AcronisBackup\Copy C to D.tib Compression: Normal Exclude: Files matching mask Match criterion: hiberfil.sys, pagefile.sys, $Recycle.Bin, swapfile.sys, System Volume Information, *.tib, *.tib.metadata, *.~, *.tmp, C:\Users\Thumper\AppData\Local\Temp, C:\Users\Thumper2\AppData\Local\Temp, C:\Users\Thumper\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache, C:\Users\Thumper2\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache, C:\Users\Thumper\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Cache, C:\Users\Thumper\AppData\Local\Opera Software, C:\Users\Thumper\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles, C:\Users\Thumper\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Cache, C:\Users\Thumper\AppData\Local\Opera Software, C:\WINDOWS\CSC
5/16/2021 11:23:10 AM: Pending operation 174 started: 'Creating partition image'.
5/16/2021 11:23:11 AM: Writing full version to file: Copy C to D_full_b32_s1_v1.tib
5/16/2021 11:23:20 AM: Pending operation 174 started: 'Creating partition image'.
5/16/2021 11:23:20 AM: Pending operation 174 started: 'Creating partition image'.
5/16/2021 11:23:20 AM: Error 0x101f6: Failed to create volume snapshot.
5/16/2021 11:23:20 AM: Error 0x13c0005: Operation has completed with errors.

Start: 5/16/2021 11:23:10 AM
Stop: 5/16/2021 11:23:20 AM
Total Time: 00:00:10

Jim, the zip file was for the Acronis VSS Doctor tool and shows no issues!

I would suggest creating an Acronis System Report zip file and sharing it via a cloud service link such as Dropbox, OneDrive etc (send the link to me in a private message) then I would take a look at the logs from there to see if they hold any clues!

I would suggest creating an Acronis System Report

 It doesn't want to create a System Report. 

When I click on this, nothing seems to happen,

The System Report takes awhile to run so be patient, when it finishes a message will appear on screen giving you the option to save the report.  Do that and then follow Steve's suggestion to upload.

Like I say, nothing happens when I click that.  All others on that page do something when I click them, but not that one.

jim,

In that case go to Windows Start - Acronis - Acronis System Report and click on that.  Let us know if that does not work or exhibits the same behavior.

FYI, the MVP Assistant can be used to generate a system report. Go to the True Image Configuration and find it under the Acronis Utilities menu. Unlike generating the report from the ATI application, the MVP Assistant gets the location to place the report before the generation.

Thanks Bruno, the MVP Assistant is a great option for generating a System Report indeed.

Enchantech wrote:

jim,

In that case go to Windows Start - Acronis - Acronis System Report and click on that.  Let us know if that does not work or exhibits the same behavior.

That worked.  I sent Steve the report.

Steve Smith wrote:

Jim, the zip file was for the Acronis VSS Doctor tool and shows no issues!

I would suggest creating an Acronis System Report zip file and sharing it via a cloud service link such as Dropbox, OneDrive etc (send the link to me in a private message) then I would take a look at the logs from there to see if they hold any clues!

I have sent you the System report.  In the next message I will explain developments since my earlier posts

I created a new Backup.  It worked once. The file it created was larger than my normal backups and acronis will not delete so I can make another.  I'm running low on drive space and must reuse the space consumed by the backup to make another.  See screen shot below.

I do not get email notifications of other's posts to this forum so it can sometimes be a while before I remember to check.

Jim, thanks for the system report zip file.

The most common error listed is Error 0x101f6: Failed to create volume snapshot.
| error 0x70021: Failed to create volume snapshot.
| error 0x10c449: Failed to lock the volume snapshot.
| error 0x9: Unknown status.
| error 0xfff0: Access is denied
| code: 0x80070005
| $module: ti_demon_vs_38530

There are events as above logged going back to January 2021 and build 25700 of ATI 2020 with the latest being on 24th May for your "Copy C to D" backup task.

The failed to lock and access denied errors suggest you may have something else running at the same time which is seizing control of the snapshot volume needed by ATI.

I see a new backup task "BLUE" that is creating a .tibx backup archive which is hitting a similar error when trying to close the archive file / write to disk.

19/05/2021 07:46:20:384 AM type=log; level=err; message=image backup: failed to close archive: 0x29b138d;
19/05/2021 07:46:21:794 AM type=commonerror; Input/output error
archive_stream_write_shbufpath D:\/BLUE.tibx
The device is not ready.
19/05/2021 07:46:21:794 AM -05:00 14192 I00000000: type=retcode; value=4095;

I see that the same new task was retried and was successful.

For the issue shown in the latest image, then this is a 'known' issue that can normally be resolved by using the 'Add existing backup' option and selecting the backup file from your destination drive which should correct the menu options and let you access the 'Clean up versions' tool if you want to safely delete any unwanted archive files.

Steve Smith wrote:

resolved by using the 'Add existing backup' option

Where do I find that option?

Steve Smith wrote:

The failed to lock and access denied errors suggest you may have something else running at the same time which is seizing control of the snapshot volume needed by ATI.

 How do I find this interfering thing?

I've tried to run immediately after a reboot with no success.

As to how to find what is interfering with your backups, I can only suggest trying to limit the other activities on your PC at the times when your backups are scheduled to run, look for any other scheduled activities via the Windows task scheduler etc.

Your system report shows you have other backup software running on your PC, Softland fbackup 7, 8 & 9 are all active!  Also WinPatrol, Intel ICLS Client - Heciserver, and lots of other software applications as shown by the msinfo32 report - Software section.

After running Add Existing Backup the problem with deleting backups was fixed.  Thank you.

I assumed installing an update of Fbackup removed/wrote over the old one.  I have now deleted the two older versions.  The first attempt to do my normal backup was successful.  We'll have to see if this continues.

It did make a smaller backup file than it had been  making before it stopped working.