I just got a new external RAID box that is connected to my system via eSATA. The drive appears to Windows as a 16 TB GPT disk with an NTFS partition on D: When I try to set up Windows Backup I get a message "A system image cannot be saved on this location." The reason given is Scheduled backup of system image is not allowed on removable devices. You can try to save a single system image on this device by clicking "Create a system image" in the Backup and Restore Control Panel. If I click "Create a system image" the dialog the opens does not list my D: drive as a disk drive. Well the rest of Windows seems to think there is a D: drive there, so what is the problem with Windows Backup and Restore? OK, these messages are completely useless and misleading. I often configured backups on removable USB devices including the system image, so the reason is completely bogus. I read somewhere that Windows Backup does not work on GPT disks. Well, actually it does because I just did one. Is it true for some reason you cannot save a system image to a GPT disk? Could someone please give me some explanation as to what is going on here.

Hi Eric, I would like to verify whether you can use this external RAID box to "Create a system image" with another Windows 7 system? Have you tried the backup and restore function with local disk or other external media to check the result? You may update the BIOS and the motherboard drivers, temporarily uninstall the antivirus program, then try to create a system image in Clean Boot mode. Hope this helps. Vincent Wang TechNet Community Support

I have the same issue here, with an internal 320 GB HDD that is not GPT. The drive is seen as external by Windows, because it is connected to a jMicron controller that also provides an eSATA port, but it is really internal. And the kicker is, I was originally able to set this drive as the backup target, and backup worked absolutely fine until 2 weeks ago. Thus, why Windows suddenly decided that it no longer likes the drive really boggles the mind. The only thing I remember doing between the last working backup and now is install Windows Virtual PC, to use a virtual image that also resides on the 320 GB drive. My guess is that there might have been a service that got installed on that drive, and Windows sees any drive where the executable for a service may reside as a system drive or something. But of course, without an actually helpful message detailing the problem, go figure... Quite frankly, between unhelpful messages, poor UI, poor implementation (if the small MediaID.bin file gets deleted, all your backups become useless), annoying behaviours and overall slowness (why does it take minutes just to cancel a backup?), as well as massive waste of space and time on account of creating system images, I find the Windows backup solution utterly disappointing, and plan to be switching to something else soon.

@Vincent I don't understand the 'Clean Boot' link, it takes me to "Home XP Desktop won't connect to Belkin N+ Wireless Router" I will try a few other ways to create a system image with this external RAID box. It also has a USB 3.0 connection. I will have to find another Windows 7 system with an eSATA connector. With the Dell T3500 I am using I have successfully done full backups including a system image using other devices, over both eSATA and USB. Currently I am assuming there is something weird about the Mediasonic RAID box as that is the thing that is new/different. Cheers, Eric

@pbatard - very interesting! Actually I am sure that GPT is not a problem because I was running backup on a GPT disk at one time and there were no problems. Something else that is interesting - when I run diskpart, "list disk" reports the disk on the eSATA port is only 382 GB, while "detail disk" reports differently. DISKPART> list disk Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt -------- ------------- ------- ------- --- --- Disk 0 Online 1117 GB 0 B Disk 1 Online 382 GB 0 B * Disk 2 No Media 0 B 0 B Disk 3 No Media 0 B 0 B DISKPART> select disk 1 Disk 1 is now the selected disk. DISKPART> detail disk H/W RAID50 Disk ID: {5519635B-50C9-44E6-8315-6AF5E7A7D2F1} Type : RAID Status : Online Path : 0 Target : 2 LUN ID : 0 Location Path : PCIROOT(0)#PCI(1F02)#RAID(P00T02L00) Current Read-only State : No Read-only : No Boot Disk : No Pagefile Disk : No Hibernation File Disk : No Crashdump Disk : No Clustered Disk : No Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info ---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- -------- Volume 3 D Data NTFS Partition 16 TB Healthy So, is there generally something weird about jMicron controllers? Basically I have a Mediasonic PRORAID H8R2-SU3S2 connected to my eSATA. I had a really hard time getting this set up as the first time I connected it to my system, Windows would only see it as a 382 GB device. Finally I had to connect it via USB and Windows was able to see it as a 16 TB device. After initializing and formatting it, when I reconnected it to the eSATA it now appears as a 16 TB device, but I am having these problems with backup. Excellent points about Windows backup, I have had other problems with it as well. And in Windows 8 it is totally different, and I have no idea how to create a system image from Windows 8. The first time I install Windows 7 the backup would always fail because the (hidden) System Reserve partition was to small to create a shadow copy. I had to reinstall Windows 7 and manually increase the size of the System Reserve partition in order to get backup to work. A word of caution. I tried installing Acronis True Image a few weeks back and it blue-screened my system. After rebooting, my system was incredibly unstable, especially wrt storage devices. I spend an hour on the phone with Acronis technical support as they tried to remove their software (as I could not). After we removed it they gave me the latest release of their software to install. The installer got a little further this time, but ended up causing a blue-screen before it was finished, then I had to spend another hour on the phone with Acronis Technical Support. I am still fighting the problems it caused. My recommendation is to stay as far away from Acronis as possible. Cheers, Eric

Clean Boot mode made no difference. I get exactly the same results with Windows Backup. I suspect there is something flaky about the Mediasonic RAID Box I am using. However, then manufacturer claims Windows Backup works fine for them on that device. I'll check to see if there are any new driver or firmware updates that may be relevant. Cheers, Eric

I updated to the latest BIOS, still no change. Any ideas on what else to try? Cheers, Eric

Hi, Sorry for the wrong clean boot link, I have already corrected it. I am sorry for the inconvenience. Regards Vincent Wang TechNet Community Support

Hi, I suggest you can use this external RAID box with another Windows 7 computer to run the backup in order to check whether this issue is related to the hardware. Regards, Vincent Wang TechNet Community Support

Hi, I suggest you can use this external RAID box with another Windows 7 computer to run the backup in order to check whether this issue is related to the hardware. Regards, Vincent Wang TechNet Community Support OK, I connected the RAID box to another Windows 7 Professional system (Dell Optiplex 990) via USB. The backup on this system does not have the same problem as my main development system (Dell T3500). So what could be different between these two Dell systems? Another difference is that on the the T3500 diskpart thinks the RAID box is 382 GB, while on the Optiplex 990 diskpart sees a 16 TB drive. On the other hand Windows Backup does not work on the 990, but that seems to be the "normal problems with Windows Backup" because there is not enough space for the shadow copy. I get so tired of dealing with this problem. So, where do I go from here. Are there some drivers I can check or update on the T3500? Do I need to get Dell technical support to help with this? Given that the backup fails for the T3500 on both eSATA and USB in the same way it seems to be related to how Windows views disk devices. Cheers, Eric

Hi Eric, First, please check if Volume Shadow Copy and Windows Backup services are running and set to automatic in Services Console. 1. Click on Start, type Services in Start Search. When the Services page is open, scroll the page to find Volume Shadow Copy and Backup service. 2. Right click on them and check if they are started. 3. If the services are disabled, start the services and set it to Automatic, then check if the issue disappear. Second, please run sfc command to check if it can fix this issue: How to use the System File Checker tool to troubleshoot missing or corrupted system files on Windows Vista or on Windows 7 If the issue persists, I also would like to suggest you perform an In-Place upgrade to repair the system: How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 & Windows Server 2008 R2 Hope this helps. Vincent Wang TechNet Community Support

OK, I appreciate the advice about Volume Shadow Copy and Windows Backup, but that is not the problem I need resolved. The problem I NEED resolved is why Windows 7 Professional on my Dell T3500 treats my RAID box differently than Windows 7 Professional on my Dell Optiplex 990. In particular why the T3500 tells me it cannot create a system image on the RAID box (because it is a removable drive), whereas the 990 does not have such a problem. What suggestions do you have to solve that problem? The problem is the same whether the drive is connected via eSATA or USB. What part of Windows is screwed up on the T3500? Cheers, Eric

OK, I found one solution to the problem, but I don't have a good explanation. I installed an Addonics ADSA3GPX8-4E eSATA RAID 5 Controller in my T3500. I then connected the external RAID box to it. When I booted it installed some new drivers and I had to reboot again. After the second boot diskpart now correctly reports the disk size at 16TB. However, when I tried to run Windows Backup it now reported it could not create a system image on the drive because it was a boot drive and/or had a copy of Windows installed (which is completely bogus). Why does Windows have so many incorrect and misleading messages? Next I deleted the volume on the external RAID drive and created a new simple volume. This time Windows Backup seems to think the drive is kosher and I am able to do a normal backup including saving a system image. I plan to do some more testing as I cannot see why the ADSA3GPX8-4E should work, but the built-in eSATA (ICH10R) does not. Also, it does not make sense that the backup did not work over USB. Maybe the original disk volume was hosed somehow? Cheers, Eric