How to disable a shadow copy of a too big volume?

[ROSA]

I have a server (Windows 2012 R2 Standard) backed up by VAW, but only the OS (Disk C:)
The server had a 40 TB volume as disk D: and it (VAW) worked fine.
I recently added a new 80 TB volume as disk E:

Now I get this error message: Creating VSS snapshot Error: Failed to create snapshot: Backup job failed. Cannot create a shadow copy of the volumes containing writer's data. VSS asynchronous operation is not completed. Operation: [Shadow copies commit]. Code: [0x80042306].

I found out that the new volume is too big for shadow copy: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/hel ... in-windows

But VAW makes shadow copies of all three volumes, even if I don't want to backup volumes D: and E:

Is there a way to:
1) set VAW to not make a shadow copy of E: ?
2) disable shadow copy of E: in Windows ?

Or is there any other solution to this problem ?

Case # 03562214

[Vitaliy S.]

What job mode do you use in VAW to back up data? Entire computer?

[ROSA]

Volume level backup and "Operating system" is selected in the "Choose volumes to backup".

[Vitaliy S.]

If my memory serves me well, VSS is performed for the volume you select to back up, so if this large volume is excluded from backup, then the VSS snapshot should not be performed for this drive. Can you manually try to take VSS snapshots for the required volumes and post back the results? This KB can give you instructions on how to do it.

[ROSA]

Here is the list of volumes:

Code: Select all

    \\?\Volume{fa8c935f-fb37-11e4-80b5-806e6f6e6963}\
        *** NO MOUNT POINTS ***

    \\?\Volume{f9a218f0-615f-4e78-ad1f-fcf96438c8c6}\
        E:\

    \\?\Volume{a676b549-0a77-4ea5-bfaa-9992b0066662}\
        D:\

    \\?\Volume{fa8c9360-fb37-11e4-80b5-806e6f6e6963}\
        C:\

and here are the results:

Code: Select all

DISKSHADOW> set verbose on
DISKSHADOW> set context volatile
DISKSHADOW> add volume \\?\Volume{fa8c935f-fb37-11e4-80b5-806e6f6e6963}\
DISKSHADOW> add volume c:
DISKSHADOW> create

Excluding writer "Shadow Copy Optimization Writer", because all of its components have been excluded.
Excluding writer "Dedup Writer", because all of its components have been excluded.
Excluding writer "BITS Writer", because all of its components have been excluded.

* Including writer "Task Scheduler Writer":
	+ Adding component: \TasksStore

* Including writer "VSS Metadata Store Writer":
	+ Adding component: \WriterMetadataStore

* Including writer "Performance Counters Writer":
	+ Adding component: \PerformanceCounters

* Including writer "System Writer":
	+ Adding component: \System Files
	+ Adding component: \Win32 Services Files

* Including writer "ASR Writer":
	+ Adding component: \ASR\ASR
	+ Adding component: \Volumes\Volume{fa8c935f-fb37-11e4-80b5-806e6f6e6963}
	+ Adding component: \Volumes\Volume{fa8c9360-fb37-11e4-80b5-806e6f6e6963}
	+ Adding component: \Volumes\Volume{a676b549-0a77-4ea5-bfaa-9992b0066662}
	+ Adding component: \Volumes\Volume{f9a218f0-615f-4e78-ad1f-fcf96438c8c6}
	+ Adding component: \Disks\harddisk14
	+ Adding component: \Disks\harddisk1
	+ Adding component: \Disks\harddisk3
	+ Adding component: \Disks\harddisk4
	+ Adding component: \Disks\harddisk9
	+ Adding component: \Disks\harddisk7
	+ Adding component: \Disks\harddisk17
	+ Adding component: \Disks\harddisk21
	+ Adding component: \Disks\harddisk13
	+ Adding component: \Disks\harddisk8
	+ Adding component: \Disks\harddisk5
	+ Adding component: \Disks\harddisk23
	+ Adding component: \Disks\harddisk2
	+ Adding component: \Disks\harddisk12
	+ Adding component: \Disks\harddisk16
	+ Adding component: \Disks\harddisk20
	+ Adding component: \Disks\harddisk11
	+ Adding component: \Disks\harddisk22
	+ Adding component: \Disks\harddisk0
	+ Adding component: \Disks\harddisk24
	+ Adding component: \Disks\harddisk15
	+ Adding component: \Disks\harddisk18
	+ Adding component: \Disks\harddisk10
	+ Adding component: \Disks\harddisk6
	+ Adding component: \Disks\harddisk19
	+ Adding component: \BCD\BCD

* Including writer "SqlServerWriter":
	+ Adding component: \VEEAM\VEEAMSQL2012\master
	+ Adding component: \VEEAM\VEEAMSQL2012\model
	+ Adding component: \VEEAM\VEEAMSQL2012\msdb
	+ Adding component: \VEEAM\VEEAMSQL2012\VeeamBackup
	+ Adding component: \VEEAM\VEEAMSQL2012\VeeamBackupReporting
	+ Adding component: \VEEAM\LOCALDB#B775479C\master
	+ Adding component: \VEEAM\LOCALDB#B775479C\model
	+ Adding component: \VEEAM\LOCALDB#B775479C\msdb
	+ Adding component: \VEEAM\LOCALDB#B775479C\VeeamBackup

* Including writer "Microsoft Hyper-V VSS Writer":
	+ Adding component: \3FE85EE1-B299-404E-AD59-F534FDE44B8D
	+ Adding component: \Host Component

* Including writer "Registry Writer":
	+ Adding component: \Registry

* Including writer "IIS Config Writer":
	+ Adding component: \IISCONFIG

* Including writer "WMI Writer":
	+ Adding component: \WMI

* Including writer "COM+ REGDB Writer":
	+ Adding component: \COM+ REGDB

The last operation failed.
	- Returned HRESULT: 80042306
	- Error text: VSS_E_PROVIDER_VETO

There seems to be an error, even without the "too big" volume.
D: is 72,7 TB and E: is 40 TB

[Dima P.]

ROSA,

Thanks for the heads up. If I got it correctly you are backing up only volumes C and D via volume level backup, right? Any chance you have a mount points from the volume E created on volumes C or D? Cheers!

[ROSA]

No, I'm backing up only "System reserved" and C:
D: and E: are not backed up and there should be no mount points - how do I check that?

The problem appeared for the first time, after connecting the newly created E:, it was only formatted, no data on it.
I did try to offline E: and then VAW worked, but now there are data on it, so that is not usable even as a workaround ...

[ROSA]

Interesting thing is, that when I go through the GUI - Configure Shadow Copies and there I use "Create Now", the operation is successful for all the volumes except the 80TB one.
There I get this error message:

Code: Select all

Failed to create a shadow copy of volume D:\.

Error 0x80072306: The shadow copy provider had an error. Check the System and Application event logs for more information

From the Application event log:

Code: Select all

Volume Shadow Copy Service error: Unexpected error DeviceIoControl(\\?\Volume{a676b549-0a77-4ea5-bfaa-9992b0066662} - 0000000000000204,0x0053c008,00000089AE2BD730,0,00000089AE2BB710,4096,[0]).  hr = 0x80070057, The parameter is incorrect.
. 

Operation:
   Processing EndPrepareSnapshots

Context:
   Execution Context: System Provider

[Dima P.]

Hello ROSA,

D: and E: are not backed up and there should be no mount points - how do I check that?

Open command line as administrator and run mountvol command to list all available mount points.

Case # 03562214

Have you heard any news from our support team? Cheers!

[ROSA]

The final solution was to split the too big volume to two smaller ones ...