This guide provides solutions to troubleshoot some of the common technical errors that you might encounter while using IDrive^® Mirror.

Error Message: Request could not be completed as a socket start error has occurred

Error Description: This error is usually caused when the underlying network connection to the client machine is unavailable.

Solution: Check the internet connection of the client machine and try again.

Error Message: An error occurred while trying to transfer the backup data

Error Description: This error is mostly caused if the device went into a busy or hung state.

Solution: Restart the backups. If the error persists, run check disk on the concerned disk partition.

Error Message: Request could not be completed as a hash file error has occurred

Error Description: If the hash data file was deleted due to some unknown reason, it causes the backup to fail.

Solution: Perform a full image backup for the specified volumes.

Error Message: Backup failed as the snapshot was deleted

Error Description: The VSS snapshot of the current backup is deleted by Windows while backup is running.

Solution: The possible reasons for this error to occur are:

1. Low disk space on the drive - Windows recommends almost 10% of free space for VSS snapshots.

   To fix this error, ensure there is enough free space on the drive and start the backup.

2. Stale snapshot - Windows might delete the VSS snapshot when a lot of newer VSS snapshots are taken during backup. This might be due to the competing backup softwares running continuous backups.

   To fix this error, disable competing backup softwares for time being until IDrive Mirror backup is over.

3. Low shadow storage space in the volume which forces windows OS to delete the oldest snapshot while it is in use.

   To fix this issue, try to increase the shadowstorage.

Use the following command to increase shadowstorage:

1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator.
2. Run the following command:

vssadmin resize shadowstorage /for=<ForVolumeSpec> /on=<OnVolumeSpec> [/maxsize=<MaxSizeSpec>]

 vssadmin resize shadowstorage /For=C: /On=D: /MaxSize=900MB

vssadmin resize shadowstorage /For=C: /On=C: /MaxSize=20%

Error Message: Snapshot creation failed

Error Description: This error occurs if the shadowstorage is already full and cannot accommodate any new shadow copy creation.

Solution: You can delete the shadow copies or increase the shadowstorage.

Run the following command to delete the shadow copies:

vssadmin delete shadows /all

Follow these steps to increase shadowstorage:

1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator.
2. Run the following command:

vssadmin resize shadowstorage /for=<ForVolumeSpec> /on=<OnVolumeSpec> [/maxsize=<MaxSizeSpec>] 

 vssadmin resize shadowstorage /For=C: /On=D: /MaxSize=900MB

 vssadmin resize shadowstorage /For=C: /On=C: /MaxSize=20%

Error Message: Request could not be completed as a backup data error occurred

Error Description: This error is mostly due to the bad sectors in the volume.

Solution: Run check disk to check and correct such errors.

chkdsk <Volume> /r

Error Message: Snapshot could not be created. Backup Failed.

Error Description: WINDOWS VSS module is failing to access volumes and failing in open/ file creation in the VSS snapshot areas.

Solution: Contact Hardware Support or Microsoft Support to check disk access errors.

Error Message: Snapshot could not be created. Backup Failed.

Error Description: This generally means that the VSS snapshot creation process could not initialize due to a third-party VSS Provider component installed on the system.

Solution: You can verify this by opening an elevated Command Prompt and typing ‘VSSADMIN LIST PROVIDERS’ on the guest which is failing to backup. If more than the default software provider is installed, another third party software suite may have enabled its provider on the client machine. This component of the third party software needs to be removed.

Error Message: Snapshot could not be created. Backup Failed.

Error Description: This generally means that the VSS snapshot creation process could not start as another VSS snapshot creation is going on.

Solution: This is usually caused due to a conflicting software that creates backups / VSS snapshots for its operation at the concurrent time. Removing the software is recommended.

Error Message: Snapshot could not be created. Backup Failed.

Error Description: This generally means that the VSS snapshot creation process could not start as the maximum number of volumes for a VSS snapshot set has been reached.

Solution: Maximum number of volumes for a VSS snapshot creation is set to 65. If any backup contains more than 65 volumes, this error occurs. Reduce the number of selected volumes and retry the backup operation.

Error Message: Snapshot could not be created. Backup Failed.

Error Description: This error suggests that too many shadows are created on the client itself due to the inability to delete the existing shadows or because of their retention.

Solution:

Run the following command on elevated Command Prompt:

vss delete shadows /all

Error Message: Snapshot could not be created. Backup Failed.

Error Description: This error is suggesting that there are some unregistered VSS providers.

Solution: Re-register the VSS providers.

Error Message: Snapshot could not be created. Backup Failed.

Error Description: The most likely cause of this error is that the Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Software Provider has been disabled. This essential core service is required to make volume VSS snapshots on your system.

Solution:

Follow these steps:

1. Click 'Start' (or press the 'Windows' key), type 'services.msc' (without quotation marks) and press 'Enter'.
2. Locate 'Microsoft Shadow Copy Provider' in the list of services.
3. Right-click on the service and select 'Properties'.
4. Ensure that the Startup Type is 'Manual'.
5. Click the 'Start' button and then click 'OK'.

Error Message: Snapshot could not be created. Backup Failed.

Error Description: The given shadow copy provider does not support shadow copying of the specified volume.

Solution: Trace the event logs and view the volume that is not supported by VSS. Contact Support.