# Windows Backup issues



## KJackson50 (Nov 8, 2012)

I just bought a new 3TB external hard drive and it's formatted properly.The error is something like "volume over 2088958 cannot be protected" and it doens't let me set up a backup schedule. When I look online, lots of solutions point to shrinking the volume to below 2TB.

My question is, will this actually work in creating that backup schedule? Also won't shrinking the volume lessen the space that I need to do these daily backups. I wanted 3TB but it sounds like I can only use 2TB.

Any help will be appreciated, thanks.


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## ETech7 (Aug 30, 2012)

How large is volume you are trying to backup?


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## KJackson50 (Nov 8, 2012)

The full volume I need backed up is 3.32 TB. However I've played around with the customer feature and tried a volume that was as low as 416GB


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## ETech7 (Aug 30, 2012)

When creating system image backup, windows uses VHDs, which are limited to 2040GB, hence the issue.

You can try using file and folder backup, or shrink the SOURCE volume (not your external HDD), as you mentioned.


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## KJackson50 (Nov 8, 2012)

Okay thanks, I'll try that out and see what happens!


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## KJackson50 (Nov 8, 2012)

Updates:

The above from ETech7 did not work. I even borrowed a 2TB hard drive and tested out a simple Backup Once. It still gives me the error. Even when the source volume is well under 2TB the error still comes up.

So at the moment I have a 3TB drive and 2TB drive getting the same error. Varying volume sizes being backed up still gives the error.

Also, we already have a third party backup software (acronis), but that is having issues as well which is why I'm pulling my hair out over this.


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## srhoades (May 15, 2003)

I occasionally have problems with both the Windows Backup and Acronis on an SBS 2011 server. The logs report a VSS error. Restarting VSS doesn't fix it. A reboot usually resolves it.


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## KJackson50 (Nov 8, 2012)

I restarted the servers last night, and am still getting that error. However as a workaround I decided to use Acronis to backup to an external hard drive connected to the server. It seems to go without a hitch (still backing up now). However this is not an option for a permanent fix, it's simply a workaround until I can figure this out!


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## srhoades (May 15, 2003)

Contact Acronis support. If their backup software is failing they have an obligation to figure out why.


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## KJackson50 (Nov 8, 2012)

Trust me, we've been working with Acronis to try to solve that aspect. However my main issue is with Windows backup as stated in the title of the thread.


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