How do I determine what disk Acronis displays
I have been having Acronis related disk error issues on a newly built computer. It was Disk 1 but is now disk 3. How do I know which disk Acronis is actually referring to?
Initially it was shadow reads on disk 1, the boot disk, an M.2 Samsung EVO 960 1TB drive. Since the disk was new and after working with Samsung I returned it and purchased another from a different vendor. Same issues and it looks like the same sectors. I discovered there was a bios update to my MB (ASUS STRIX 270E Gaming) and applied it. Now Acronis is complaining about disk 3 but I have no idea what that actual disk is. Acronis is the only app that is encountering disk problems. Windows image backup works without errors.
Acronis has suggested I change the shadow image from the default to Acronis but I have not done that yet because I don't want to change more than one thing at a time.
Operating System
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core i7 @ 4.20GHz 29 °C
Kaby Lake 14nm Technology
RAM
32.0GB Dual-Channel Unknown @ 1069MHz (15-15-15-36)
Motherboard
ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. STRIX Z270E GAMING (LGA1151) 31 °C
Graphics
DELL U2412M (1920x1200@59Hz)
3071MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (EVGA) 45 °C
Storage
931GB Samsung SSD 960 EVO 1TB (Unknown)
931GB Western Digital WDC WD1002FAEX-00Z3A0 (SATA) 36 °C
2794GB Seagate ST3000DM001-9YN166 (SATA) 38 °C
2794GB Western Digital WD My Book 1230 USB Device (USB (SATA)) 36 °C
4657GB Seagate Expansion Desk SCSI Disk Device (USB (SATA)) 39 °C
1397GB Western Digital WD My Book 1140 USB Device (USB (SATA)) 35 °C
Optical Drives
ATAPI iHBS112 2
Audio
Realtek High Definition Audio
Steve, thanks, that's what I thought and also why I am confused. Acronis (according to Acronis numbering) is reporting CRC errors on disk 3 now. I am backing up disk 1 to disk 4 and am not accessing disk 3 at all. I have no idea why disk 3 is being reported by Acronis.
I have run into another annoyance you may be able to help with. A few days ago Acronis started asking for my Windows credentials before performing a backup. Now scheduled backups are failing until I manually start them and enter my Windows password. Do you have any idea why this is happening and how I can fix it?
It is possible that the CRC errors can come from the MS VSS component being used to create snapshot data, where that could be on a different drive than the ones selected in the source data.
A CHKDSK /R for the reported drive would give you a better indication if there is a problem or bad sector, even if it is in unallocated space.
I haven't seen any other users reporting any issues with Windows credentials being requested, nor have seen this with any of my own backup tasks, so not sure as to why that should be the case for you. Have any of your credentials changed recently? Do you run any Registry cleaner utilities that could remove this type of information?
It may be worth trying a Repair Install of ATIH if the problem persists to see if that would help, also take a look at what is held by the Windows Credentials Manager (via the Control Panel).
Steve, shadow storage for the C drive is on the C drive as you can see from the vssadmin output below though I need to see what "UNBOUNDED" really means. I have a ticket in for both these questions but email turn around time has been 2 days and my questions are not answered directly in most cases. We shall see. Thanks again.
Shadow Copy Storage association
For volume: (C:)\\?\Volume{eea75767-0000-0000-0000-501f00000000}\
Shadow Copy Storage volume: (C:)\\?\Volume{eea75767-0000-0000-0000-501f00000000}\
Used Shadow Copy Storage space: 62.2 GB (6%)
Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space: 99.1 GB (10%)
Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: UNBOUNDED (1845269043%)
Darkhelmet, UNBOUNDED would mean that there are no limits to the amount of space used for shadow storage. It looks like already 10% of your 1TB drive is used.
Do you know how many System Restore points you have? If you look in Device Manager and show hidden devices, how many Generic Volume Shadow Copies do you have?
Just wondering if your system is doing what mine does, which is leaving orphanded shadow copies after each backup that uses VSS.
En réponse à Darkhelmet, UNBOUNDED would… par truwrikodrorow…
BrunoC, It looks like I have almost 80 shadow copies in device manager. Don't know if that's across all devices or only the C drive. In any event it seems like way too many. Any suggestions on how do get rid of the unnecessary ones and get VSS to start working properly?
Here is some additional information if you're interested. It's a bit lengthy. I was going to use the Acronis tool Steve recommended but I see there are issues with it so I'll stick with vssadmin for now.
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Vssadmin list volumes
vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001-2013 Microsoft Corp.
Volume path: \\?\Volume{eea75767-0000-0000-0000-100000000000}\
Volume name: \\?\Volume{eea75767-0000-0000-0000-100000000000}\
Volume path: T:\
Volume name: \\?\Volume{288d2123-df62-4dd7-8d54-f7369bf9d02b}\
Volume path: X:\
Volume name: \\?\Volume{d036834c-a170-4e07-9d20-9bbf03ffd752}\
Volume path: G:\
Volume name: \\?\Volume{0099080e-0000-0000-0000-100000000000}\
Volume path: H:\
Volume name: \\?\Volume{50778c0e-56b2-46cc-b658-6abc161ec468}\
Volume path: I:\
Volume name: \\?\Volume{00021758-0000-0000-0000-100000000000}\
Volume path: C:\
Volume name: \\?\Volume{eea75767-0000-0000-0000-501f00000000}\
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Vssadmin list shadowstorage
vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001-2013 Microsoft Corp.
Shadow Copy Storage association
For volume: (X:)\\?\Volume{d036834c-a170-4e07-9d20-9bbf03ffd752}\
Shadow Copy Storage volume: (X:)\\?\Volume{d036834c-a170-4e07-9d20-9bbf03ffd752}\
Used Shadow Copy Storage space: 4.10 GB (0%)
Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space: 54.1 GB (1%)
Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: UNBOUNDED (614797768%)
Shadow Copy Storage association
For volume: (G:)\\?\Volume{0099080e-0000-0000-0000-100000000000}\
Shadow Copy Storage volume: (G:)\\?\Volume{0099080e-0000-0000-0000-100000000000}\
Used Shadow Copy Storage space: 0 bytes (0%)
Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space: 0 bytes (0%)
Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: 838 GB (30%)
Shadow Copy Storage association
For volume: (H:)\\?\Volume{50778c0e-56b2-46cc-b658-6abc161ec468}\
Shadow Copy Storage volume: (H:)\\?\Volume{50778c0e-56b2-46cc-b658-6abc161ec468}\
Used Shadow Copy Storage space: 1.09 GB (0%)
Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space: 50.3 GB (1%)
Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: 1.36 TB (30%)
Shadow Copy Storage association
For volume: (C:)\\?\Volume{eea75767-0000-0000-0000-501f00000000}\
Shadow Copy Storage volume: (C:)\\?\Volume{eea75767-0000-0000-0000-501f00000000}\
Used Shadow Copy Storage space: 63.3 GB (6%)
Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space: 99.1 GB (10%)
Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: UNBOUNDED (1845269043%)
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Vssadmin list shadows
vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001-2013 Microsoft Corp.
Contents of shadow copy set ID: {156d9d69-7073-4f71-a38b-230f194d7c44}
Contained 1 shadow copies at creation time: 5/17/2017 10:35:33 AM
Shadow Copy ID: {a46b63aa-5bf2-42f3-a6f3-1db6f97ac4ce}
Original Volume: (X:)\\?\Volume{d036834c-a170-4e07-9d20-9bbf03ffd752}\
Shadow Copy Volume: \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy1
Originating Machine: RedDwarf
Service Machine: RedDwarf
Provider: 'Microsoft Software Shadow Copy provider 1.0'
Type: DataVolumeRollback
Attributes: Persistent, No auto release, No writers, Differential
Contents of shadow copy set ID: {9f645c84-02b5-4580-8d97-087c44192425}
Contained 1 shadow copies at creation time: 4/19/2017 1:51:17 PM
Shadow Copy ID: {94e7b1e3-bc72-465c-8496-4f72d8600131}
Original Volume: (H:)\\?\Volume{50778c0e-56b2-46cc-b658-6abc161ec468}\
Shadow Copy Volume: \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy57
Originating Machine: Thurston
Service Machine: Thurston
Provider: 'Microsoft Software Shadow Copy provider 1.0'
Type: DataVolumeRollback
Attributes: Persistent, No auto release, No writers, Differential
Contents of shadow copy set ID: {54aa3b72-8893-4cd3-a712-95bd61aa433b}
Contained 1 shadow copies at creation time: 5/12/2017 9:47:11 AM
Shadow Copy ID: {ffe61c4f-27aa-4d32-a0f5-85c6ac113196}
Original Volume: (H:)\\?\Volume{50778c0e-56b2-46cc-b658-6abc161ec468}\
Shadow Copy Volume: \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy58
Originating Machine: RedDwarf
Service Machine: RedDwarf
Provider: 'Microsoft Software Shadow Copy provider 1.0'
Type: DataVolumeRollback
Attributes: Persistent, No auto release, No writers, Differential
Contents of shadow copy set ID: {4e812ed2-d370-4467-a7ce-a3e6709e6e25}
Contained 1 shadow copies at creation time: 5/22/2017 9:31:30 AM
Shadow Copy ID: {feb63214-cce7-44fe-b215-e131b07a6e4c}
Original Volume: (C:)\\?\Volume{eea75767-0000-0000-0000-501f00000000}\
Shadow Copy Volume: \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy31
Originating Machine: RedDwarf
Service Machine: RedDwarf
Provider: 'Microsoft Software Shadow Copy provider 1.0'
Type: ClientAccessibleWriters
Attributes: Persistent, Client-accessible, No auto release, Differential, Auto recovered
Contents of shadow copy set ID: {56c42ce8-af4e-41a6-9949-2ab96c5f812c}
Contained 1 shadow copies at creation time: 5/24/2017 7:20:40 PM
Shadow Copy ID: {c04d63db-2511-48dc-b2b8-81fa08a2d993}
Original Volume: (C:)\\?\Volume{eea75767-0000-0000-0000-501f00000000}\
Shadow Copy Volume: \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy37
Originating Machine: RedDwarf
Service Machine: RedDwarf
Provider: 'Microsoft Software Shadow Copy provider 1.0'
Type: ClientAccessibleWriters
Attributes: Persistent, Client-accessible, No auto release, Differential, Auto recovered
Contents of shadow copy set ID: {1446c106-11f8-4f6d-86d4-621ad7a3aa78}
Contained 1 shadow copies at creation time: 5/26/2017 10:41:13 AM
Shadow Copy ID: {7148afc3-c411-4ca7-a739-439632b661eb}
Original Volume: (C:)\\?\Volume{eea75767-0000-0000-0000-501f00000000}\
Shadow Copy Volume: \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy42
Originating Machine: RedDwarf
Service Machine: RedDwarf
Provider: 'Microsoft Software Shadow Copy provider 1.0'
Type: ClientAccessibleWriters
Attributes: Persistent, Client-accessible, No auto release, Differential, Auto recovered
Contents of shadow copy set ID: {42b0d624-034c-4b93-b0cb-2ce53fbee25d}
Contained 1 shadow copies at creation time: 5/26/2017 10:41:59 AM
Shadow Copy ID: {cf15a8e5-cdc2-47e1-86a6-1de0d9c8d6d5}
Original Volume: (C:)\\?\Volume{eea75767-0000-0000-0000-501f00000000}\
Shadow Copy Volume: \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy43
Originating Machine: RedDwarf
Service Machine: RedDwarf
Provider: 'Microsoft Software Shadow Copy provider 1.0'
Type: ClientAccessibleWriters
Attributes: Persistent, Client-accessible, No auto release, Differential, Auto recovered
Contents of shadow copy set ID: {c55a68c9-f8c9-480a-9f9b-1d6d75c84dd5}
Contained 1 shadow copies at creation time: 5/27/2017 10:47:42 AM
Shadow Copy ID: {f8c97337-8b63-4b1c-9a93-8c3689b25bbf}
Original Volume: (C:)\\?\Volume{eea75767-0000-0000-0000-501f00000000}\
Shadow Copy Volume: \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy45
Originating Machine: RedDwarf
Service Machine: RedDwarf
Provider: 'Microsoft Software Shadow Copy provider 1.0'
Type: ClientAccessibleWriters
Attributes: Persistent, Client-accessible, No auto release, Differential, Auto recovered
Contents of shadow copy set ID: {bf1ceca9-1cd7-4076-beda-6c5bca02dffc}
Contained 1 shadow copies at creation time: 5/27/2017 10:47:50 AM
Shadow Copy ID: {509ca2d9-8746-483d-840a-2ed62be55c55}
Original Volume: (C:)\\?\Volume{eea75767-0000-0000-0000-501f00000000}\
Shadow Copy Volume: \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy46
Originating Machine: RedDwarf
Service Machine: RedDwarf
Provider: 'Microsoft Software Shadow Copy provider 1.0'
Type: ClientAccessibleWriters
Attributes: Persistent, Client-accessible, No auto release, Differential, Auto recovered
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32>
Please take a look at the new, free Acronis VSS Doctor utility and give that a try to see what it says about your VSS setup? Link in my signature.
Steve, I just ran the new VSS Doctor. The only issue it reported is that I have protection turned off on the D: drive.
It did not detect that there were two orphaned shadow copies on my system. It does not appear to tell us anything about what is in the shadow storage.
Bruno, please submit Feedback on the VSS Doctor so that the developer (Anton) can get this input about the tool.
How do I submit feedback for this tool? Do I do it through the ATI 2017 interface?
Bruno, yes please do it via the normal Feedback tool in the GUI (I have also updated a post in the private MVP forum to alert Anton to this post).
Steve, I decided to run the tool anyway. It reports several bad block errors on \Device\Harddisk2\DR2. So is that system disk 1 or 2? It would make sense if it were 2 since the system disk showing the errors is Acronis disk 3. That disk is a S.M.A.R.T drive and should self correct as I understand it. I don't understand why it even gets accessed for a C drive backup to system disk 3 or 4.
And also: The IO operation at logical block address 0x163a481 for Disk 3 (PDO name: \Device\0000004a) was retried.
As BrunoC mentions, there are no phantom shadow copies reported by the tool.
My understanding of the VSS Doctor is that it reflects the Windows disk identification rather than using the Acronis +1 identifier.
I have flagged this topic to Anton (the owner of the VSS Doctor) so would hope that he might correct any misunderstanding I or others have for this tool.
Darkkhelmet, I just spotted your post about the 80 shadow copies. It looks like you have 1 on X:, 2 on H: and six on C:. The rest may be left overs.
In Device Manager, are they enabled or disabled? For disabled devices, the icons are grayed out. If disabled, I did not experience any problems in Uninstalling them from Device Manager. But don't do that for enabled ones.
Look at the properties in Device Manager and check out the events. If the latest date/time matches when a backup was run and the device is not grayed out, that may indicate the same problem I have or orphaned shadow copies.
Given that you have six listed by VSSADMIN on C:, is it possible that you have six valid Restore Points. That would make sense. I'm assuming C: is your Windows system drive.
They all look like this image. Yes, C is the root drive. So far the first 7 I looked at have exactly the same time stamp but different snapshot numbers.
Device STORAGE\VolumeSnapshot\HarddiskVolumeSnapshot7 was configured.
Darkkhelmet, it looks like you may be experiencing what I am. All these are enabled shadow copies.
As an experiment, you could look in Device Manager to find the last shadow copy and note its number (they should be listed in order, so just go to the last entry). Then run a backup and check again. Is there a new shadow copy? Does its event time match the backup? Is it left enabled?
The enabled an orphaned shadow copies can only be removed by changing the size allocation, but the result will most likely be the destruction of all Restore Points. It can be changed by going to the System Protection configuration and setting a new limit, or through VSSADMIN. Once this is done, the shadow copies will probably remain visible in the Device Manager, but grayed out. At that point they can be uninstalled, one at a time.
En réponse à Darkkhelmet, it looks like… par truwrikodrorow…
BrunoC, thanks. What a pain. It looks like a new shadow copy is indeed made for every backup and then just left to hang out. Not sure I want to mess with it until I do some more research. I appreciate the advice.
Darkkhelmet, to prevent this from happening set up your backups to use Acronis Snapshot instead of VSS. That's what I did. It's in the Advanced settings, down at the end under Performance.
I have had a support case with Acronis which has gone nowhere. They are now saying it is an issue with Windows 10. I've posted this to the MS TechNet forum but not getting any answers yet.
BrunoC, they recommended I do the same thing but I have not done so yet. Interestingly the Windows image backup seems to work. Doesn't that use the same VSS shadow?
This whole thing started because Acronis was reporting bad block errors when doing a full backup. Those errors were reported on Acronis disk 1, the root disk. The computer is new and so was the disk. I returned and replaced the disk from another vendor (Samsung EVO 960 1TB M.2 SSD) and got the same errors.
The other day I looked at the ASUS site (ASUS MB is what I used) and discovered there was a bios update related to the M.2 device (for Plextor though) so I installed it. The bad block errors have moved to different disks that are not related to the full backups. It appears the root disk bad block errors may be resolved. Time will tell.
I built this new rig because Every Windows update drove my old computer deeper into the grave. The Creator update finally put the final nail in the coffin.