True Image 2020 hangs on "Preparing Data" when backing up
When backing up, Acronis will let me get all the way to starting the backup process. Once started, it will stay on the "preparing data" message in the status window.
I am at a complete loss for why this is happening. Same USB works fine on other machines, but this one will not get past that preparing data message. Some troubleshooting I have tried:
- re-imaged my bootable USB
- Used a different USB port
- Used machine specific drivers
I saw another post on this forum stating that it could be the naming convention of the gpt partition. I followed those steps with no success.
Any advice is appreciated
I have the same issue and have struggled after years. At first I was doing clones to my DVD bay. When I use a brand new drive Acronis will clone. If its been cloned and i go to reclone it as I keep a hot spare updated every few weeks it just hangs on preparing... Any help would be appreciated. I dont know why its fine after using new drives several times but once its been cloned its no good. I reset the drive using the acronis tools and still it sticks but when you do this you choose GPT or MBR (In my case GPT). I have never had these issues before. After all these issues with cloning to my drive in the DVD and keeping a hot spare and then having it corrupt my C drive boot the one constant is that i have issues with it cloning to anything other than a brand new drive
Scott, I never use clone as a backup method, it is wasteful to say the least, as with Backup I can make multiple backup images on the same target drive versus clone being a 1:1 copy.
Cloning to an empty drive is always recommended, especially if doing this from within Windows as Acronis normally requires a system restart if it detects an existing OS present on the target drive for clone.
I will normally re-initialise the target drive before attempting to a clone to a used drive, this can be done via the Tools > Add new disk option of ATI, or else using a partition tool such as MiniTool Partition Wizard. The partition scheme choice (GPT vs MBR) should match the system where clone is being run.
Steve Thank you so much. So the reason for the clone is I clone to have a hot spare. Then I just plug it in and update my data which takes 2 minutes or less and I have not spares with an up to date configuration if needed on the fly. I keep a few drives. So I did the tools approach. I reset the drive and tried again and nothing. Even plugged a new one in amd for the first time that just hangs ow as well and it’s not even initialized which is how I have done four successful ones albeit two from the dvd bay that taught me a bad lesson with the boot record. But this should work. It always has for years and they said as long as external it would be fine. Not sure why it’s just hanging on preparing. Even with the drive I ran the tools on to reinitialize it and with a brand new drive not initialized. Tried acronis 2021 as I have that. It didn’t work and for some strange reason now my laptop won’t hibernate. I get a blue screen hibernating. With the message system thread exception not handled. I do these clones just so I can have a complete drive should I fail and it’s saved me. I also can plug them in to the East’s now and copy files. Just not sure why a clone to even a new drive that’s not initialized is not working and hanging as well on preparing. Thank you so much.
Scott, as all the cloning is being done from within Windows, I would recommend checking the logs for these failing operations to see if they shed any further light on why they are failing?
There is a new log viewer tool that has now been made available by Acronis via the Community Tools KB page. See the link in my signature for the MVP Assistant tool. Use this to check the Demon logs initially I don't have any logs on my PC to look at for clone so am guessing that the ti_demon logs are the ones that would be used!
Hey, this sounds like the problem I'm having now in 2 computers that I recently got Acronis True Image 2020 for. Same thing, I was able to clone onto empty disks, but when I try to update my cloned copy by re-cloning over the previously cloned disk, it just hangs saying 'preparing' (no problems found with CHKDSK).......I cancel it after 20 min, which it should have started long before that. I have UEFI Bios / Windows 10.
Now something I just realized....I used to clone-backup to my extra SSD's using an Apricorn USB3-to-SATA connector and I just ended up getting 2 SSD enclosures with USB3 connectors (one for my C:drive SATA SSD and the other for my non-bootable Data SSD, partitioned into 3 partitions). So I just re-tried to do the same cloning of the 1-Tb data SSD to a backup 1-Tb SSD (previous backup still on it, just expecting it to write over it) and this time I took it out of the enclosure and used the Apricorn connector again. Well, interesting, Acronis True Image 2020, instead of doing it live in windows (since neither source or destination drive are bootable drives), it said it needed to reboot....so I went along with it and it ended up started cloning before loading windows.....like the old Acronis used to do, and even had the check off box for 'shut down after cloning', which of course I checked off because I liked that. So why did it do it this way?
I'm just happy I was able to clone it....I'll check it out tomorrow to insure everything is ok on the disk.
Dear All,
I am trying to create backup of my system which is a linux machine (Ubuntu 18.04 LTS) with some of our application several times i attempt to create backup, but each it stuck at "Preparing Data", it seem like an issue with my Hard drive, because that i test in a way, i plugged in two USB's (one is about 2gb and second one is about 16gb) other then bootable USB stick, and try to create backup of 2gb USB into 16gb and vice versa and i get succeed. can anyone guide, how do i resolve it and find what is wrong with my Hard Drive?
The Same issue Andrew Mentioned before.
Thanks. So I was using a cable and doing this to an eSata.... It still gave me the error when a disk was previously cloned or had data on it. I switched to the USB and cloned. While it did reboot as you say when it cloned it seemed to complete but when i went to plug the disk in after booting the computer (windows 10 and UEFI) would see the drive, recognize it as E but would not read the drive. Further Disk manager would lock up and nothing i could do with this drive until finally I ran DISKPART to clean it and then finally got the drive back. I will say i was able to hook the drive up to a Windows 7 laptop i have and finally got disk manager to read it but it showed the main partition as RAW! So messed up. So it really did not clone correctly to me. I would check the drive to make sure it was successful as i had no errors but this happened and i have never had Acronis try to reboot. I have been spending weeks and weeks with support trying to resolve this. Even doing backups having issues. Cant verify the backups most of the time. I am on 2021 now and i think still same issues. I am trying to get a could of cloned backups in addition to regular backups. I just cant say i trust this after being a user for too many years to remember. It used to be under Windows 7 and MBR i could clone my internal disk to a disk i put in the DVD bay. I could even leave it in the computer and never had issues. With WIndows 10 it corrupted my internal drive to remove the boot. Steve was kind enough to help through this. Also when i tried to clone and it kept locking at preparing it wound up corrupting something as i could no longer Hibernate off my internal drive. I could sleep but not hibernate. I tried everything in the world to fix this but nothing worked. Fortunately i had a clone a month old but i update the data on my clones so that i keep hot spares. This is what i have always done and appreciate to no end! I know Steve would say this is not the best method perhaps but wow has it saved me and quickly a few times and more than that since going to Windows 10 and UEFI. I am working with Support for all i can try. I get told one thing from one agent and another from another agent. Even now that i have a support person assigned it takes days and days for them to respond and i think there are MANY ISSUES with 2021. I dont need all these things they are putting into it. True Image has always been backup to me. I did respect and enjoy 2020 with the updates they did for security but I use Webroot Secure Anywhere which I love and Trust for all the stuff Acronis is trying to Jam into 2021. I would use Windows defender sooner than trust their stuff honestly. The good old days of acronis working without problems even before the 2018 update that let you do this in Windows seem gone to me. I have problems backing up, problems cloning and i spend more time messing with my computer just to protect it and have had more issues than ever before. I have purchased 7 new 2 TB SSD drives just to do all this testing and have new drives. I was using Crucial MX500 and now an using Samsung 860 EVO 2TB drives. Its costing me a fortune just to try and make sure i have good backups if you will. The time alone has cost me a small fortune.
I am glad this seemed to work for you. I have been staying with the eSata for the clone as after USB was making it reboot to clone and then getting a bad clone with RAW for the partition was just another issue. I wish Acronis would focus on their backup software. As i said even getting a backup has been a problem. I know I should be doing this off a USB as Steve suggests but wow its a painful process to me. I make clones like every 3-4 weeks and simply plug them in and backup data which is so fast so easy and keeps a hot spare. The most i miss is a few program updates which get re-updated but when i see significant updates or additional programs i reclone. TO DATE i have not been able to reclone a drive with data or that has been cloned. I am still working with support for 2 MONTHS on this issue. Its unreal that I have support folks telling me different things. Now in the LATEST update they came up with 3 choices for cloning. For this computer for another computer just data without Boot. Nothing released on this and tech support finally told me after 30 minutes of trying to ask a simple question on what the clone difference is for this computer vs another computer that they are the SAME. So why have this option???? Just confusing. I get an option to clone without boot but not to have for this or another computer that are the same.
I am still waiting for the next test and about to test another clone with a new drive to have 2 backup cloned drives and then will test reclone of a SSD that was cloned.... Crossing fingers...
Ok so first clone tonight after the latest update last week on Acronis 2021 TI to version 34340. I have internal 2TB Crucial MX500. Cloning to Samsung EVO 860 plugged into the eSata port. Last week prior to the update it took about 55 minutes. This is pretty much the norm for any clone to date and I have about 800 gigs of Data. Today using another new evo860 same drive it’s taken an hour so far and it’s not even half way. It’s been showing 3 hours. This is 3x what it’s been taking. It also seems to have taken 50 gigs from my C drive. Not sure if this is temp space somewhere to clone as I had issues with backup taking all this space and never releasing it and yet I couldn’t find where. I spoke to support. No answers. Then after I did a clone it released the space after a week or so of trying to troubleshoot this. Not sure what’s making this so much slower since the last build. Have not had this with 2020 and not in my first successful clone with 2021 to the same brand drive. I do clean boots each time I clone and wait about 30 minutes after boot for everything to settle down. Not sure what would be the issue but again with the 34340 version there must something more that changed and it did introduce the new choices to clone (3 of them - this computer new computer or data only no boot).
I don’t get why they are messing with this to create problems.
Thank you
Ok. So update. Just after I wrote this it magically completed the clone in just over an hour. Seems like they changed the progress bar or something as I have not seen this. But progress bars are often inaccurate.
having said this. I NOTICE WHEN I CLONE IT SEEMS TO WIPE OUT ALL BUT THE MOST RECENT RESTORE POINTS! I have noticed this before hut just seemed to confirm this. ALSO it’s robbed me of 50 gigs of free storage and even after reboot it does not reclaim it. Same issue I had on backups. My gut says since I cannot find a folder that is significantly different in storage space it’s in some hidden files that can’t be read and I “think” this is related to the restore points somehow. Not sure where to look for this 50 gigs of storage it has claimed on my internal drive. I had this before and it magically came back a week later after I cloned.
I’m doing yet another clone now to the drive that it rebooted and was done from usb. I had to use diskpart and clean the drive and it IS cloning again! So at least I may have a method whereby using diskpart to clean a drive as if it’s new will let it clone but I am using eSata. I dare not use the usb and have it reboot again just yet for testing as I read another MVP said there are issues in 2021 with this where it doesn’t copy the boot or something. I believe eSata external port treats this as an internal drive although I’ve had two tech support people say yes and two say no. Tomorrow will test a clone to replace internal drive and make sure it boots and all works and if so at least I may finally after months and months have something as a solution to clone again and clone a drive that’s been cloned again by just cleaning it with diskpart before cloning.
I know Steve wisely has said the best clone is off a separate usb boot and I understand. I’m just too stubborn and tired to always do it this way :-) after not doing it for years and having successful clones.
next I may try a drive with data on it to see if the latest build has fixed this clone issue perhaps. I’m just so weary of dealing with the bugs and terrible support ! It’s really crazy when the MVPs know more than even senior support people do and respond better! We all owe them so much for their diligence, time, and efforts!!!!! Thankfully Steve saved me months back and yet after that support corrupted me over and over not knowing what he and other MVPs have figured out !
ALSO it’s robbed me of 50 gigs of free storage and even after reboot it does not reclaim it. Same issue I had on backups. My gut says since I cannot find a folder that is significantly different in storage space it’s in some hidden files that can’t be read and I “think” this is related to the restore points somehow. Not sure where to look for this 50 gigs of storage it has claimed on my internal drive. I had this before and it magically came back a week later after I cloned.
Scott, open an Administrator command prompt then type in the command:
vssadmin list shadowstorage
This will show you what VSS space is currently allocated on your PC.
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: (C:)\\?\Volume{0ba1d081-19d6-4315-83ff-5c8afda79bb6}\
Shadow Copy Storage volume: (C:)\\?\Volume{0ba1d081-19d6-4315-83ff-5c8afda79bb6}\
Used Shadow Copy Storage space: 19.0 GB (9%)
Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space: 24.5 GB (12%)
Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: UNBOUNDED (100%)
Shadow Copy Storage association
For volume: (D:)\\?\Volume{deea6c64-6f61-4c25-a982-25f9cf2c57e5}\
Shadow Copy Storage volume: (D:)\\?\Volume{deea6c64-6f61-4c25-a982-25f9cf2c57e5}\
Used Shadow Copy Storage space: 0 bytes (0%)
Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space: 0 bytes (0%)
Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: UNBOUNDED (1868251646%)If you need to recover this space, then you can use the other vssadmin commands to do this:
C:\WINDOWS\system32>vssadmin /?
vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001-2013 Microsoft Corp.
---- Commands Supported ----
Delete Shadows - Delete volume shadow copies
List Providers - List registered volume shadow copy providers
List Shadows - List existing volume shadow copies
List ShadowStorage - List volume shadow copy storage associations
List Volumes - List volumes eligible for shadow copies
List Writers - List subscribed volume shadow copy writers
Resize ShadowStorage - Resize a volume shadow copy storage association
C:\WINDOWS\system32>vssadmin delete shadows /?
vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001-2013 Microsoft Corp.
Delete Shadows /For=ForVolumeSpec [/Oldest] [/Quiet]
Delete Shadows /Shadow=ShadowId [/Quiet]
Delete Shadows /All
- For the given ForVolumeSpec deletes all matching shadow copies.
If /Oldest is given, the oldest shadow copy on the volume is deleted
If /All is given, then all shadow copies on all volumes that can be
deleted will be deleted. If /Shadow=ShadowId is given, the shadow copy
with that Shadow Copy ID will be deleted. Only shadow copies that have
the ClientAccessible type can be deleted.
- The Shadow Copy ID can be obtained by using the List Shadows command.
When entering a Shadow Copy ID, it must be in the following format:
{XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX}
where the X's are hexadecimal characters. This ID can be obtained
through the List Shadows command.
Example Usage: vssadmin Delete Shadows /For=C: /Oldest
C:\WINDOWS\system32>vssadmin delete shadows /For=C: /Oldest
vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001-2013 Microsoft Corp.
Do you really want to delete 1 shadow copies (Y/N): [N]? Y
Successfully deleted 1 shadow copies.
C:\WINDOWS\system32>vssadmin delete shadows /For=C: /Oldest
vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001-2013 Microsoft Corp.
Do you really want to delete 1 shadow copies (Y/N): [N]? Y
Successfully deleted 1 shadow copies.
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: (C:)\\?\Volume{0ba1d081-19d6-4315-83ff-5c8afda79bb6}\
Shadow Copy Storage volume: (C:)\\?\Volume{0ba1d081-19d6-4315-83ff-5c8afda79bb6}\
Used Shadow Copy Storage space: 7.59 GB (3%)
Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space: 13.0 GB (6%)
Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: UNBOUNDED (100%)
Shadow Copy Storage association
For volume: (D:)\\?\Volume{deea6c64-6f61-4c25-a982-25f9cf2c57e5}\
Shadow Copy Storage volume: (D:)\\?\Volume{deea6c64-6f61-4c25-a982-25f9cf2c57e5}\
Used Shadow Copy Storage space: 0 bytes (0%)
Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space: 0 bytes (0%)
Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: UNBOUNDED (1868251646%)Steve, thanks so very much!!!! Your the best! I have read ways to clear this and even to see whats in it by giving permission to the system volume info folder and then you can remove it from some commands etc. but I really did not want to do this just yet or that way at least. This command was easy and so helpful!. So from the pic you can see I have 4 points. I know i am missing two from prior to checking before the clone. Also I verified 3 times that the space free on the drive prior to clone was 1.218 TB. Then I cloned and noticed it went down 44 Gigs. It looks to me like the used storage is 8 GB. The allocated is 57 gigs. I had this set to 10% which is way over i know but I have 2 TB drive with 1.2 TB free so I figured let it roll originally as when i used the clone drive it does not reset the restore points to run. I changed this last night to see if it would help to 5% usage so now we see the max at 93 gigs vs nearly double that under 10%. It did not change my free space to show 1.218 again it was still 1.174 TB free. So it looks like where i am short is the difference between allocated and used I am just "guessing". Those numbers are close to me if i think about it a few ways. So the question is if you can shrink the allocated space. The 8 gigs of used space is not the issue, i think its the unallocated space that went up after i cloned as best I can tell but am not sure as I dont have lots of experience here. Again all this happened after a clone this time and last week it was after a backup and then freed up after a clone? Its wild to me whats taking all this space. Thanks for all your feedback. I will keep this and perhaps try to delete the last restore point and see if it compresses this perhaps unless you have some thoughts. Thanks
Scott, deleting your shadow copy storage should not touch your restore point data as far as I understand! Also as you will see from my earlier information, my shadow storage is set as 'UNBOUNDED' rather than restricted to only a small percentage!
I have gone as far as to add a Pre Command batch file for some of my backup tasks which clears all VSS storage prior to the backup running! This seems to have improved the performance of the tasks run so far in my limited testing today.
@echo off vssadmin delete shadows /all /quiet exit /b 0
Note: I rarely do any cloning so have not been testing in that area at all but given you are using Active Clone, this is using VSS the same as Backup does when run in Windows.
I would recommend running the Acronis VSS Doctor tool and see what values it recommends for your shadow storage? I am using the recommended settings from the tool.
Thanks so very much Steve!!! I have not had to do this prior in Windows 7 nor did I experience anything like this. I had decreased the size of my restore points to like 40G and it wound up deleting all the restore points. I got my space back having said that but now i understand the difference in restore vs the VSS storage I believe. I know you are not a clone fan and yet it serves me so well to work like this and even know a duplicate laptop can get a new clone within 5-10 minutes. I will test this and I LOVE the batch! Your the best!
Scott,
As information, cloning uses VSS shadow copy just like creating a backup does. The question I have is, why does the shadow copy created from the clone process remain persistent? This makes no logical sense to me. If you are still working with support you should bring this fact to their attention.
Thanks. I agree as I had issues on my windows 7 a couple of years back with the VSS service and testing this. having said that I cant explain this. I am not sure if this is a 2021 issue as i have not noticed this before but now in recent backups and Clones I see where my space drops dramatically and is not released. I did raise this to support but i am getting the deer in the headlights as they dont seem to even understand it and I had to narrow down as to where the space was going and that it was happening at clone or backup. This resolved itself when i added a D drive with Data on it in my DVD bay and rebooted after a backup but on the last 2 clones I just did this weekend it would not correct. I will ask again but having said that I am working with Sub Par help honestly. My case on cloning has been open 2 months now where I am having issues cloning to a drive with data on this. I could clone to a new drive but not to an existing. The other thing is When I am running the clone to a drive in the USB it seems to want to reboot the system and then for some reason it complete but made the main partition RAW so unusable. I now use an eSata port on my computer with either new drives or i have been able to run a clone to a drive with data after running a clean from Diskpart which I tested and this seemed to work to clone again. 2021 is proving to be challenging. I am going to test recloning a cloned drive now that i have a few clones to see if the latest build has fixed this but I will point out your issue again. I sent them all the details for this but no answers.....
I might suggest that you perform a health check of your Windows system files. Please refer to the link below for details on two methods both of which should be performed. If errors are encountered and repairs made run the routines again repeating until no errors are found.
Use DISM to repair Windows image
I would also suggest that you routinely restart your PC on a daily basis so that any pending updates or other processes can be completed. This could be the answer to hold over shadow copies as they my not be freed until after a restart.
I will try to run the health check. Windows has been working perfectly as far as I can tell. I also do restarts certainly every time i do a backup or clone. Often i dont every day I may just hibernate but in this case of the size situation I restarted 3 times to see if it would clear and i always restart before running a clone or backup to have a fresh system and memory. It certainly cannot hurt to run the DISM repair you speak of as that cant hurt . Thanks!
Can someone shed some light on the Storage volume shadow copies that appear in the Device Manager when selecting the option to Show hidden devices. I find it inconsistent with other information.
At this time, I have 11 Generic volume shadow copies showing. The first 7 are "working properly" whereas the last 4 grayed out. Each of these 11 items corresponds to the date and time of my backups, the first on 11/23/20 (the date I updated to Windows 10 2004) and the last on 11/30/20. There are no more shown for the backups done since then.
Using vssadmin, I only show one shadow which is a restore point created on 12/2/20. Opening up System Protection I see just this one restore point. Also, Nirsoft's Shadow Copy View shows the one restore point. And if I run vssadmin /delete it just wants to delete the one restore point. I'm not sure how this fits with Steve's comment above that deleting shadow storage would not affect restore points.
So, why are there 11 generic volume shadow copies left over from backups? Why are there not more for all the backups run since 11/30/20? Why does the restore point not show up there? I recall a few years ago I was having lots of these left over from every backup and opened a support case, but there was no resolution. And I could have sworn that restore points also appeared in this list, but not now.
I'm sure I could easily delete the gray ones without worry, but what would be the effect of deleting the others?
And related... I have protection On for my C: drive, but off for D: and G:. Yet for some reason I have 1% of the G: drive available for storage and I cannot reduce it to 0. D: drive has no shadow storage.
To be revised.
Bruno, after doing some further testing, my earlier statement about deleting shadows not affecting restore points is not correct!
Running vssadmin delete shadows /all /quiet will remove all restore points.
This hasn't been an issue for me because I do not use restore points and haven't used them since back on Windows 7 as far back as I can remember!
Windows Protection is turned off by default by Microsoft since around the 1709 Update.
Bruno,
Device Manager, when the option Show hidden devices is selected, displays shadow copies and restore points as you have probably gathered. The grayed out entries will show from a Properties view that the device is not connected currently. This list is managed by Windows VSS and the Restore point feature.
I am providing link to a wiki that explains this in more detail that is worth the read for those whom have interest.
Steve, Thanks so much. I thought I was losing it a bit. I noticed the same thing and I believe suggested I never saw this in Win 7..... Seems somehow they are tied together here as you now suggest. In fact just lowering the storage space allocated for this below what the total allocated is (not used). Its still interesting to me that Acronis now is really bumping this up. I know people say this is not acronis but Windows but I have never seen this before. Thanks for confirming Steve. I was playing with this a bit. What I am going to test is if i lower the amount allocated if it will delete actual restore points vs the VSS storage its taking especially when I clone or even backup it seems.
Bruno, after doing some further testing, my earlier statement about deleting shadows not affecting restore points is not correct!
Running vssadmin delete shadows /all /quiet will remove all restore points.
This hasn't been an issue for me because I do not use restore points and haven't used them since back on Windows 7 as far back as I can remember!
Windows Protection is turned off by default by Microsoft since around the 1709 Update
Scott,
I believe you will find that lowering space allocation will result in a reduced number of restore points being held by that feature.
Thanks. I have a 2TB SSD with over 1.2 Tb free so I took it from 10% to 4% and still have 80gig for restore points which is fairly large to me. I think that should be ok for now. If not I’ll have to increase it but it was so large this vss space was growing large.
Although I've never tried it, vssadmin has the options to create the shadow storage for a volume on a different volume, e.g.
vssadmin resize shadowstorage /For=C: /On=D: /MaxSize=900MBMight be worth an experiment to see how it may affect ATI operation.
If you issue the above command to resize shadowstorage for C: on D: you will get the following error:
Error: The specified volume shadow copy storage association was not found.
Only Windows Server versions have the ability to associate a different drive for shadow copies.
What you can do is limit shadow storage on C: to 1% (smallest size allowable) and if you need more than you can turn on System Protection on a secondary internal drive and set additional shadow storage space there. In practice this is not necessary as shadow copies do not occupy huge space.
Since 1% is minimum if you have a 100GB drive your minimum is 1GB, 250GB drive is 2500MB, and so on. I have tried various setups for shadow copies. The best I have come up with is that I had an old 1TB HDD lying around and I use it as a storage area for shadow copies. I have it set so that System Protection is turned on for drives C: (this is a must have) and my drive E: in this case. E: drive shadow copy storage space is set to Unbounded. All other drives have System Protection turned off. ATI I believe looks to my E: drive finding max space for shadow copy purposes as I must periodically manually delete old copies from that drive. System Volume Information folder contains shadow copy and restore point information and is responsible for populating what you see in Device Manager with Show hidden devices selected.
I just looked again at what I was looking at two days ago when I posted response #19 to this thread. At that time, I felt the info was inconsistent and unexplained.
Now I see changes. The allocated space for C: went back up to 100%. But, the restore point has disappeared and the usage is showing as 0%. At the same time, the device manager's hidden "generic volume shadow copies" is still showing the same 11 items although all 11 are now grayed out. I think I will delete them now in the device manager.
So why should I have protection on for the C: drive? I have never in my life restored from a windows restore point. And I'm old.
My biggest reason for enabling System Restore is so that when Windows update does it thing and that process fails I will have a restore point to revert to and go back to what the system was just prior to the update. If you limit the size of the space then you limit the amount of restore points that are present on your system. If you do a lot of app installs you may want to increase the space footprint.
MS recommends that a minimum of 15% or available disk space but no less than 320MB be available for making VSS snapshot copies. Limiting this space for restore points will help flush out old VSS snapshots from disk. If you do not set it than VSS will use unbounded space on the C: drive for snapshots.
I do the same. I keep restore points just for this reason. I have read though 10% is the max to be used. I was using this but lowered to 4% which is 80 gigs for me. The minimum they say in different places is 500-600 megs. I am going to see how this behaves for now at 80 gigs Vs 200 gigs. It’s still plenty for a number or restore points.
I keep setting my C: space to 15% and it keeps jumping back to 100%. Yesterday I deleted all the storage volume shadow copies from the Device Manager. And again I set the max usage for system protection to 15%. This morning I see that max usage is back at 100% and there are two generic volume shadow copies showing (as disabled) in device manager, both from the time of my nightly backup.
If I can remember tonight, I will look at this situation right before and then right after the backup. I wonder if the ATI action is setting the max usage up to 100%.
Bruno,
You can see if any shadows copies remain on your systems by using the command below in either PS or Admin command prompt
- vssadmin list shadows
You can manually set the maximum size for shadow copies with this
- vssadmin resize shadowstorage /for=C: /maxsize=10%
I have found this to be much more persistent than using the adjuster in Windows.
So today I was on with support. I was finally able to reclone a cloned drive without issues... Only has taken 2.5 months to get here. having said that prior to starting I noted where my disk sizes were. I was on with the tech but forgot to show him. As soon as we started the clone i went to look and bam 50 Gigs was gone. I am using 2TB SSD drives with over 1.2 TB free but as soon as I pressed the proceed it took 50 gigs. I rebooted no change.
I can see I have 2 restore points. total is about 4 gigs. rest is now just allocated size. I am using 4% for Restore Point Allocation which is 80 gigs and likely more than is needed. The question is if I use the command Enchantech provided will this delete the restore points and then what to set it to. I hate seeing this space wasted and not returned. I understand if it was for a clone but give the space back then. I have never seen this in 2020 or prior versions to date..... I have sent all this info to Acronis and did discuss with Joel Roy senior tech. Will see if they say anything as only Acronis is causing this and right when I hit the clone button.
Thanks
Scott,
If you resize your shadowstorage then it is likely that you will loose one or more restore points. The oldest one will be removed first. So it boils down to what you are comfortable with. Personally I keep mine set low at a 1% level which in my case 4.76GB. Not knowing your needs I could not make a recommendation to you on max size. It really depends on how long you wish to retain a restore point. I only want them for an immediate use if things do not go well with an app install or Windows update for example so I am fine with a low setting.
Keep in mind here as well that a backup snapshot uses VSS in a different manner than does Restore Points. A backup snapshot should not be persistent and any space used to create a backup should be released after the backup completes. The Clone process should work this same way. What you describe as going on I find odd so I think it would behoove Acronis support to look into this behavior. I trust they are.
VSS uses a process called Copy On Write (COW) which I have assumed that Acronis uses to create backups. VSS also uses a process called VSS Clone which I have assumed is used to create disk clones. Having said that I have no proof of either being true. If however I am correct, there maybe some issue or bug in using the VSS Clone process.
Thank you ! Your comments are right on point! I have tested this now 4x. Each time it’s acronis clone that does this and doesn’t release it. I have forwarded this to support now three times. Little help from them. This time I did everything they asked and sent files FTP. No response yet. Their support is not wonderful these days I am sorry to say. I think they are so concerned about getting new functionality out Vs supporting classic stuff they do.
regardless I think I now agree with what you say. My restore has been 5% or more based on people saying you need this or more. Having said that I don’t agree and you don’t seem to. My restore points are max 3 Gig. Even at 4% I have 80 gig reserved. I don’t think I need even half that. I may try to reduce to 30 gig and see what it does. Thanks for your insight. At least I have been able to clone but I am using eSata now as I think USB has issues. 2021 is not a wonderful situation for me unfortunately.
Thank you!!
Scott,
Glad to have been of help. I believe that with some experimentation you will arrive at a shadowstorage size that fits your situation. Hopefully, Acronis support will find the issue with cloning. Will probably not be fixed until the release of 2022 though.
Thanks. I am going to do some testing. I dont need 80 gigs for restore points. I have just heard its good practice to leave 5% but i have big drives and lots of free space currently. Support at Acronis has not been helpful and I fear you are correct it may not be addressed until 2022. Thanks again.
just an update. I am still waiting for support to get back and sent them a bunch of info but all the sudden today i noticed I had more space back.... The only difference I noticed is the system did an automatic restore point today so it seems like this released storage the VSS was using. I have not tested if this is a solution to getting it to release but thats all I could see that changed. Thanks
Scott,
Restore points by default are saved every 24 hour period. When this happens the oldest restore point is flushed from the system thus freeing up the space it consumed. Sounds like that took place here.
Scott Goss wrote:Thanks. I am going to do some testing. I dont need 80 gigs for restore points. I have just heard its good practice to leave 5% but i have big drives and lots of free space currently. Support at Acronis has not been helpful and I fear you are correct it may not be addressed until 2022. Thanks again.
Hi, can you please tell us the results of your testing, thanks a lot 
So this is not what I am seeing. Maybe I don’t see restore points created ever 24 hours. In this case I see all the restore points none have been deleted. On 12/21 it created a new restore point first in a week and since the clone and now over 30Gig of space freed up. This just happened and I show no restore points since the clone when this space was all taken and no restore points have been deleted. Thank you
From acronis support finally. However I have never been at 10%. I was at 7% and went to 4% weeks ago when Steve talked about this. Even at 4% my last clone took 50Gigs. Further no warning that this could delete restore points when you resize this. Got to love their support.
We have got an update from the team concerned. Please do the following and share the outcome:
go to Start - type in in Win Search Advanced system settings, start them, go to System protection - Configure and check what is shown as disc usage - max usage. If it's much over 10-15%, re-set it to 10%, save the changes and take a screenshot of the settings. create system report, then clone and check System protection settings again. If the issue reproduces and max usage has risen again, take another screenshot of that and share the reports attaching to the FTP link.
Please feel free to get back to us should you have further queries.
I look forward to your response
Scott Goss said:
So this is not what I am seeing. Maybe I don’t see restore points created ever 24 hours. In this case I see all the restore points none have been deleted.
Where in Windows do you see these restore points? It is my understanding that only app installs and Windows updates create restore points with these being created on an every 24 hour basis.
Scott Goss said:
On 12/21 it created a new restore point first in a week and since the clone and now over 30Gig of space freed up. This just happened and I show no restore points since the clone when this space was all taken and no restore points have been deleted.
Did you make changes to the space allocated that would have caused the 30Gig difference? Again, performing a clone results in your having storage allocated space show as Maximum after the clone operation has completed and that maximum remains that way unless you change it?
Using PowerShell (admin) if you run this command vssadmin list shadowstorage does your C: drive report Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: UNBOUNDED?
EDIT: To see all shadow copies on your system use PowerShell (admin) with this command vssadmin list shadows
Enchantech thanks so much. So first I noticed the restore points when i went to the system restore and searched them all. See attached so you can see. These are all that exist. The most recent just said automatic and it was on 12/21 i noticed I magically had 30 more gigs. Thats when I checked the system restore just by thought and it showed this automatic restore point.
I ran the vssadmin. it shows the following in the attached. Nothing unbounded but now i see where my other nearly 20 gigs went that shows its being used so the 30 it released makes sense now. Strangely enough Support is just saying to lower the config to 10% if its higher for system restore but I am running at 4% so well below. Used is 17.5, allocated is 19.7 max is 74.5.. THanks so much!!! Happy Holidays
Scott,
Your Command Prompt screenshot of shadow storage indicates the following:
- Used Shadow Storage space = The total space occupied by the three Restore Points showing in your other screen capture (17.5GB) Can you confirm?
- Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space = The amount remaining of the total space that has been set for Restore Point use (19.7GB) meaning you have 2.2GB remaining of the total space allocation of 19.7GB
- Maximum Shadow Copy Storage Space = The total space (4%) value you have set for Shadow Copy purposes
It needs to be understood that Restore Points simply use the same space as Shadow Copies do. Windows itself manages Shadow Copy Storage space and may not respect the user imposed maximum limits set. It is normal for backup applications and others that use the Shadow Copy service to increase the user setting in their operation. Once that operation completes then user set limits should once again be respected.
Another aspect here is that I have found that Windows wants the user to use percentages when establishing limits. I know you said that you had set maximum space size to 80GB however, it is obvious that Windows has a better idea that the total should be 74.5GB.
The question is, does True Image release the shadow storage space after a clone operation so that it is returned to the user set limit? This needs to be investigated due to what you report here.
Having said that, ATI and I believe most, if not all other backup applications, use the Windows System Writer to create snapshots of data for backup. It could be that something coded in this writer is at issue here rather than a fault of ATI. It would not surprise me if that is found to be the case here.
I also had the same issue. I thought it was because of employee monitoring software, but these two tools seem to be working properly on my wife's laptop. I don't know what's wrong with my computer.
Enchantech Thanks so much! So first I can confirm the 17.5G for the restore points. What I did not realize that i believe you are suggesting is that the 19G is the maximum for restore points. the 4% I set this to was a bit less than 80G to me because the 2TB drive is not really 2TB but slightly less actually. But i thought when you set the 4% as I did it gives you approximately 80 gig for restore points and i think you are saying this is for restore points and Shadow copy storage? I may wish to raise this a bit just to have a little more for restore points then if that is the case.
I am still waiting on Acronis to respond as to why clones are not releasing the shadow copy. They just wrote me today they are still investigating this. From what i have seen each time I clone it takes a huge amount of space that disappears and then does not release this. Not even with reboot. It finally released only when the system did this restore point somehow. This is what support sent me today but not the first time they sent this. Its been a while i have been waiting.
Hello Scott,
Thank you for your response.
The issue is still under investigation. We will revert back to you with an email response once we get an update from the team concerned.
Please feel free to get back to us should you have further queries.
Scott Goss said:
Enchantech Thanks so much! So first I can confirm the 17.5G for the restore points. What I did not realize that i believe you are suggesting is that the 19G is the maximum for restore points. the 4% I set this to was a bit less than 80G to me because the 2TB drive is not really 2TB but slightly less actually. But i thought when you set the 4% as I did it gives you approximately 80 gig for restore points and i think you are saying this is for restore points and Shadow copy storage?
Yes, that is what I am saying. I would not be so concerned about the allocation myself. When it comes to shadow storage, Windows will scale the size allocation up to meet the demand. The application working with a VSS requester and writer will release this space after the storage is not longer needed for a shadow copy. The vssadmin command list shadows will tell you how many shadow copies exist on your system. I believe these are all restore points as shadow copies produced by backup apps for example, release the shadow space used when the task is finished. I would not think that more than a few restore points are necessary however, your needs may be greater than I can envision.
The fact that Acronis Support is still looking at this suggests that they have been able to reproduce the issue which in turn means they have a very good chance at finding and fixing the issue. Sometimes finding one cause leads to another then another and so on. This adds to the delay in a fix.
Just an update here. Acronis keeps sending me emails they are still researching. A clone last night took 50 gigs of space once again and did not release it. Having said that i tested something. I manually created a restore point. This released about 48 gigs with presumably 2 gigs being used for the restore point itself i created. So at least as a work around it seems creating a new restore point after this will release the Used Shadow Storage space created by the clone that I have consistently been experiencing.
Scott,
Although your method is a workaround it sounds like it works and will suffice temporarily until the problem is resolved. Here's hoping that fix comes in the near term!