Thanks - setting this up now (in my spare time) and will see if I can find a workaround. Stay Tuned..
UPDATE
I was able to duplicate your error:
C:\Windows\system32>wbadmin start backup -allcritical -backuptarget:e:
wbadmin 1.0 - Backup command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2013 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Retrieving volume information...
This will back up (EFI System Partition),(C:),Recovery (300.00 MB) to e:.
Do you want to start the backup operation?
[Y] Yes [N] No y
The backup storage location that you selected is on the same physical hard
disk as your operating system. If the hard disk fails, you may lose both
your system data and backup data.
The backup operation to E: is starting.
Creating a shadow copy of the volumes specified for backup...
Summary of the backup operation:
------------------
The backup operation stopped before completing.
The backup operation stopped before completing.
Detailed error: ERROR - A Volume Shadow Copy Service operation error has
occurred: (0x8004231f)
Insufficient storage available to create either the shadow copy storage file or
other shadow copy data.
Log of files successfully backed up:
C:\Windows\Logs\WindowsServerBackup\Backup-19-12-2013_18-39-24.log
Log of files for which backup failed:
C:\Windows\Logs\WindowsServerBackup\Backup_Error-19-12-2013_18-39-24.log
There is not enough disk space to create the volume shadow copy on the storage l
ocation. Make sure that, for all volumes to be backup up, the minimum required d
isk space for shadow copy creation is available. This applies to both the backup
storage destination and volumes included in the backup.
Minimum requirement: For volumes less than 500 megabytes, the minimum is 50 mega
bytes of free space. For volumes more than 500 megabytes, the minimum is 320 meg
abytes of free space.
Recommended: At least 1 gigabyte of free disk space on each volume if volume siz
e is more than 1 gigabyte.
ERROR - A Volume Shadow Copy Service operation error has
occurred: (0x8004231f)
Insufficient storage available to create either the shadow copy storage file or
other shadow copy data.
CAUSE
The problem is that the 300MB Recovery Partition only has about 31MB free space and VSS requires minimum of 50MB to create a snapshot.
You can see this by assigning a drive letter to the volume and doing a DIR /A
C:\Windows\system32>mountvol
Creates, deletes, or lists a volume mount point.
MOUNTVOL [drive:]path VolumeName
MOUNTVOL [drive:]path /D
MOUNTVOL [drive:]path /L
MOUNTVOL [drive:]path /P
MOUNTVOL /R
MOUNTVOL /N
MOUNTVOL /E
MOUNTVOL drive: /S
path Specifies the existing NTFS directory where the mount
point will reside.
VolumeName Specifies the volume name that is the target of the mount
point.
/D Removes the volume mount point from the specified directory.
/L Lists the mounted volume name for the specified directory.
/P Removes the volume mount point from the specified directory,
dismounts the volume, and makes the volume not mountable.
You can make the volume mountable again by creating a volume
mount point.
/R Removes volume mount point directories and registry settings
for volumes that are no longer in the system.
/N Disables automatic mounting of new volumes.
/E Re-enables automatic mounting of new volumes.
/S Mount the EFI System Partition on the given drive.
Possible values for VolumeName along with current mount points are:
\\?\Volume{80001a12-3033-4169-8985-5ce8dacf9b07}\
C:\
\\?\Volume{fa2cb1b2-93bf-4ce5-ad31-07581a9e887a}\
E:\
\\?\Volume{152eadd9-f001-4562-bb9c-dc0cc50c638c}\
*** NO MOUNT POINTS ***
\\?\Volume{889daeac-68ea-11e3-80b4-806e6f6e6963}\
D:\
C:\Windows\system32>mountvol x:
\\?\Volume{152eadd9-f001-4562-bb9c-dc0cc50c638c}\
C:\Windows\system32>mountvol
Creates, deletes, or lists a volume mount point.
MOUNTVOL [drive:]path VolumeName
MOUNTVOL [drive:]path /D
MOUNTVOL [drive:]path /L
MOUNTVOL [drive:]path /P
MOUNTVOL /R
MOUNTVOL /N
MOUNTVOL /E
MOUNTVOL drive: /S
path Specifies the existing NTFS directory where the mount
point will reside.
VolumeName Specifies the volume name that is the target of the mount
point.
/D Removes the volume mount point from the specified directory.
/L Lists the mounted volume name for the specified directory.
/P Removes the volume mount point from the specified directory,
dismounts the volume, and makes the volume not mountable.
You can make the volume mountable again by creating a volume
mount point.
/R Removes volume mount point directories and registry settings
for volumes that are no longer in the system.
/N Disables automatic mounting of new volumes.
/E Re-enables automatic mounting of new volumes.
/S Mount the EFI System Partition on the given drive.
Possible values for VolumeName along with current mount points are:
\\?\Volume{80001a12-3033-4169-8985-5ce8dacf9b07}\
C:\
\\?\Volume{fa2cb1b2-93bf-4ce5-ad31-07581a9e887a}\
E:\
\\?\Volume{152eadd9-f001-4562-bb9c-dc0cc50c638c}\
X:\
\\?\Volume{889daeac-68ea-11e3-80b4-806e6f6e6963}\
D:\
X:\>dir /a /s
Volume in drive X is Recovery
Volume Serial Number is BA3C-AF14
Directory of X:\
12/19/2013 10:18 AM <DIR> Recovery
12/19/2013 11:05 AM <DIR> System Volume Information
0 File(s) 0 bytes
Directory of X:\Recovery
12/19/2013 10:18 AM <DIR> .
12/19/2013 10:18 AM <DIR> ..
12/19/2013 10:57 AM <DIR> WindowsRE
0 File(s) 0 bytes
Directory of X:\Recovery\WindowsRE
12/19/2013 10:57 AM <DIR> .
12/19/2013 10:57 AM <DIR> ..
06/18/2013 07:08 AM 3,170,304 boot.sdi
12/19/2013 10:19 AM 1,013 ReAgent.xml
09/30/2013 01:21 PM 249,785,287 Winre.wim
3 File(s) 252,956,604 bytes
Total Files Listed:
3 File(s) 252,956,604 bytes
7 Dir(s)
31,383,552 bytes free
SOLUTION
You can move the shadowcopy storage for the recovery partition volume to the C: volume.
C:\Windows\system32>vssadmin add shadowstorage /for=\\?\Volume{152eadd9-f001-4562-bb9c-dc0cc50c638c}\ /on=c: /maxsize=500MB
vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001-2013 Microsoft Corp.
Successfully added the shadow copy storage association
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{80001a12-3033-4169-8985-5ce8dacf9b07}\
Shadow Copy Storage volume: (C:)\\?\Volume{80001a12-3033-4169-8985-5ce8dacf9b07}\
Used Shadow Copy Storage space: 0 bytes (0%)
Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space: 0 bytes (0%)
Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: 2.85 GB (10%)
Shadow Copy Storage association
For volume: (E:)\\?\Volume{fa2cb1b2-93bf-4ce5-ad31-07581a9e887a}\
Shadow Copy Storage volume: (E:)\\?\Volume{fa2cb1b2-93bf-4ce5-ad31-07581a9e887a}\
Used Shadow Copy Storage space: 0 bytes (0%)
Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space: 0 bytes (0%)
Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: 29.4 GB (30%)
Shadow Copy Storage association
For volume: (\\?\Volume{152eadd9-f001-4562-bb9c-dc0cc50c638c}\)\\?\Volume{152eadd9-f001-4562-bb9c-dc0cc50c638c}\
Shadow Copy Storage volume: (C:)\\?\Volume{80001a12-3033-4169-8985-5ce8dacf9b07}\
Used Shadow Copy Storage space: 0 bytes (0%)
Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space: 0 bytes (0%)
Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: 500 MB (1%)
RETEST WBADMIN
C:\>wbadmin start backup -allcritical -backuptarget:e:
wbadmin 1.0 - Backup command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2013 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Retrieving volume information...
This will back up (EFI System Partition),(C:),Recovery(X:) to e:.
Do you want to start the backup operation?
[Y] Yes [N] No y
The backup storage location that you selected is on the same physical hard
disk as your operating system. If the hard disk fails, you may lose both
your system data and backup data.
The backup operation to E: is starting.
Creating a shadow copy of the volumes specified for backup...
Creating a shadow copy of the volumes specified for backup...
Creating a backup of volume (EFI System Partition) (99.00 MB), copied (0%).
Compacting the virtual hard disk for volume (EFI System Partition) (99.00 MB), completed (0%).
The backup of volume (EFI System Partition) (99.00 MB) completed successfully.
Creating a backup of volume (C:), copied (0%).
Creating a backup of volume (C:), copied (0%).
Creating a backup of volume (C:), copied (0%).
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