Best backup program?

Curious said:

I frankly don't know what the error about VSS is because I am not sure how to turn VSS off or on. Could you help?

The VSS (Volume Shadow Copy Service) runs on demand and can be stopped/started in the Services panel. Press the Windows key + R, type in 'services.msc' in the box and press enter. Scroll down to the VSS entry, right click for a context menu then clock on Start. Does the service start successfully? If not, in the Macrium Reflect window click on Other Tasks ---> Fix VSS Problems.

I also would like to contact Macrium to ask about why the program froze but I cannot access their support or register on their forum till I provide an order number (that is after purchase) since they apparently don't provide support for the free version.

This is the issue:

Troubleshooting Microsoft VSS errors - KnowledgeBase - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase

VSS Error:0x8000ffff - Backup aborted! - Failed To Create Volume Snapshot. - KnowledgeBase - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase

Hope this helps.

Beaupeep said:

Hope this helps.

It does. Thank you. I'll take care of it.

fdegrove said:

Hi,

Macrium Reflect has a menu in the top taskbar just to the left of the Help menu that lets you view the VSS events and also, just underneath, Fix VSS problems.

Also from an elevated command prompt run the following command : VSSADMIN LIST WRITERS

For every output you should see : NO ERROR.

Cheers,

Thank you. Greatly appreciated.

Hi there

The Best backup program is the one that WORKS for you.
However with all these programs DO TEST A RESTORE - it's no good getting what you think is an error free backup and then it fails to restore when you need it.

Too many people just assume because the backup gave a message completed successfully that it will restore OK. In general it will but you should always TEST - especially if it's a program you haven't used before.

As to recommendations - there's enough info in the thread --I just wanted to add the bit about TESTING THE RESTORE !!!.

Try it either on a spare computer or to an HDD that you can swap in / out so you've still got the original if the restore fails.

Cheers
jimbo

These are wise words. I'm an old experienced computer user myself, so I agree with you.

I always check the restore. That is why I gave up on Acronis. That is also why I use at least 2 backup tools, Reflect and another. One never knows. Before I started this thread, I updated a firewall program that crashed on this very W10 laptop and totally corrupted the system partition. I used an EasyUS Todo backup to restore and it restored everything (system and data) with no problems. That is why I am keeping EasyUS Todo for second backups in addition to Reflect.

After the vss repair, I made a system backup with Reflect, and restored, and all went well. So, now I am all set, with dual backup systems, Reflect and EasyUS Todo, on 3 external hard drives. Enough redundancy for me.

And I of course have rescue media.

Thanks for your comment. This is an excellent group and I hope this thread helps others. I am new to W10 and wanted to learn if there were some related backup novelties I needed to learn more about.

Have faced issues with folder backup programs including Goodsync, Memeo and Genie9, here's a Swiss utility/program for real time backups or folder syncs:

Bvckup 2 | Simple fast backup

Been using it for over a year now. It is very fast & works beautifully just like, well, a Swiss watch

Veeam offers a free solution called Veeam Endpoint backup. Great for workstation level backups while they also offer enterprise level solutions.