Macirum Backup Failuers

Just a suggestion, try running Macrium elevated (Right click & run as administrator). From what you have explained, something between the time you ran Macrium before is now blocking access to your external drive.

storageman said:

Just a suggestion, try running Macrium elevated (Right click & run as administrator). From what you have explained, something between the time you ran Macrium before is now blocking access to your external drive.

Thanks for the suggestion, which I shall try the next time that the backup fails. I will have to wait, as I rebooted a while ago, the daily incremental ran on schedule, and now the weekly full is running.

There is something I can try before doing that: I have an extension for Keypass that sends a newly-saved database to another folder on the same disk as Macrium. If I get, as I suspect/fear I will, I can make a quick change to Keepass and see if the save is sent to the external disk.

Bastet said:

Do you have Macrium Image Guardian turned on for the drive where you’re saving images?
I’ve had the same error & turning this off & then running the backup usually fixes things.

Yes, it has always been on, save those times when I want to remove old files, so I don't know why this should suddenly cause a problem; that stated, I will give it a try. That something that has never caused a problem most assuredly does not mean that it will continue to act that way, a fine example of the perversity of inanimate objects.

While I'm at it, I also remembered a while ago that I can use the WD Drive Utilities to see if there is a problem when Macrium fails.

Bastet said:

I've noticed recently that after updates MR image guardian can have a bit of a wobbly & give that error about backup.
I always leave Image guardian turned on & delete images via Macrium.

You said, in an earlier reply, "I’ve had the same error & turning this off & then running the backup usually fixes things."

Which is it, off or on?

Your observation about problems arising after updates is interesting; unfortunately, I don't know if it started for me after the most recent Macrium update, but given that the label on my new rescue disk says that it was created 14 November 2018, which would place the start of the problem rather close to that date; this gives me yet another possible insight as to how to remedy the problem.

I have only turned it off when old messages have been left for odd circumstances, to the point that Macrium seemed to have lost track, such as recently when a backup failed as the external hard disk did not have enough room for a full backup. It was that instance when I learned about the very existence of Image Guardian, a good case of an error message leading me directly to the information needed to allow me to delete those old messages.

"Image Guardian", a new term for a museum security person....

Reflect just finished its scheduled morning backup, and I believe I know why it worked: The first thing I did after waking the computer this morning was to look at WB Quick View, which showed that the disk was locked, which it should not have been. I unlocked it and put the computer back to sleep; when it woke, I found that the disk was again locked. I suspect that the problem may be caused by KB4023057, which was installed 16November2018, followed by my reinstallation of Macrium Reflect 17November2018. That sequence indicates that the problem started on one of those dates; I cannot tell which one, as that would depend upon the time of day of the KB install; however, that is not important.

What is important is that, starting on either the first or second date, Reflect failed due to the disk being locked, of which I was unaware. The disk was unlocked when I rebooted Windows, as the WD lock program unlocks the disk when you enter your computer password, so I was able to create a backup. The next morning, as the disk was probably locked, something it did not occur to me to check, the backup failed due to it being unable to write to the external hard disk.

I don't know what caused me to check the disk's status this morning, other than continuing to ponder what might be the underlying cause of the repeated backup failures. I called WD a while ago, explained the problem, so the agent sent me a link showing how to prevent a hard disk from going to sleep in Power Options. I replied to the email he sent, explaining politely that this had nothing to do with the problem, and explaining it again.

That type of response is so typical of tech support. Recently, a software vendor wanted to do a remote session, asking me when I would be available. I replied that Tuesday through Friday of last week would be acceptable, so they replied that the session would be on Monday. I replied to that by quoting what I had said, so they reset the day to Tuesday. That having been done, I got an email Monday morning with a link to the program they use for remote sessions. I changed my plans, spent over 90 minutes on the session; the agent concluded that the program was incompatible with my computer (which I seriously doubted,) and that he would escalate the problem to Level 2 Support. Two days later, he let me know that Level 2 was already aware of the problem and had, in turn, sent it to the programmers. SIGH.