Windows 7 Backup Error 8078002A

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Hi, Everyone:
I have a 3TB drive partitioned into 2T and 1T.
I tried to do a Windows 7 Backup to the 1TB partition and got Error 8078002A: “One of the backup files could not be created. Request could not be performed because of an I/O device error.”
Rooting around on the internet leads me to believe that this has something to do with the way my external drive has been formatted (by the manufacturer), or it’s too large. Not sure which. I did the msconfig32 thing and got “Bytes/Sector 4096”, which seems to be bad news for me. Don’t really care WHY I got the error.
My question is – is there anything I can do about it?
Thanks.
Carter

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Carter,

Welcome to the Lounge as a new poster! :cheers:

Yes you can do something about it mainly, IMHO, getting a decent backup program like Macrium Reflect Free. Windows backup still has too many quirks for my liking. YMMV.

HTH :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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An IO error can be hard-ware only. Do you have the hard-drive diagnostic utilities that came with the external hard-drive? I’d like to rule in or rule out any hard-ware problems before continuing with software, but, hey, do what you believe is best
While I do not believe an IO error is due to formatting, since you mentioned it, I have mine formatted as NTFS-4096, to match my internal hard-drives’ format.
Are you using something similar to Macrium Reflect or Acronis True Image? After we get the IO error fixed, we can find out how to smooth out the backup hiccup.

"Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin, revisted

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To RetiredGeek and RolandJS – (from a retired semi-geek)
I’ve just tried the standard built-in Windows 7 backup program. Will give Macrium a try – certainly easier than trying to fix a hardware formatting issue. I ran the “Quick Drive Test” program that came with the drive, but it didn’t find anything. It’s a WD My Passport Ultra WDBBKD0030BBY-05. It came with backup software (which I’d rather not use) – but maybe I should? Also an SES driver – would that fix the error?
Thank you both for your suggestions

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Carter,

I have quite a few WD drives of all descriptions (internal, My Book, Passport) they are my go to company!

I’ve taken to just reformatting the Passports and Non-NAS My Books as I don’t want to use any of the software and I’m not going to use them on any computer that does not support the NTFS file system. So I just reformat them as as GPT (GUID Partition Table) disks w/NTFS and get the whole 3Tb as a single drive. YMMV!

Of course check the WD documentation for your specific drive but I don’t think you need any of the software or drivers unless you’re using “OLD” hardware/software and/or not Windows OS.

HTH :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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Had NO IDEA they were not formatted NTFS or NAS, etc. I will do what you do. (“I’ll have what he’s having.”) I partitioned it because I want it to backup two different computers. The 2TB partition for a desktop, the 1TB for a laptop. And after the new format I will re-partition it that way again. Unless you have a better idea – I’m all ears.
Thanks again.
Carter.

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Carter,

FYI: NAS stands for Network Attached Storage, e.g. a drive you can plug into your Router and have access to from all the machines on your network. It is not a Formatting Option!

With Macrium Reflect you don’t need separate partitions only separate folders. I name my folders the same as my machine names, thus I have DellXPS8700DT, Dell1564LT, DellXPS14z, Dell13700JLT (wife’s machine). That way it is easy to make sure you get the backup file into the right folder.

The other advantage to this method is you don’t have to worry about running out of space in one partition and having plenty of extra in the other since it’s all in one and Windows can just allocate space as needed. I always keep multiple generations for each machine!

HTH :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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I agree that you should have the disk set up as a single 3TB partition.

The free version of Aomei Backupper has more features and is a little easier to use than Macrium. This will allow you to test both image and file backup to your disk.

cheers, Paul

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This may or may not be relevant, but I found a difference between the front USB ports and the rear USB ports when using Windows Backup on a small HP server.

After a random but short period of time the backup to a 2 TB external USB hard drive failed when it was connected to either of the two front USB ports, but works perfectly (taking 40 mins) when attached to one of the rear ones.

As Retired Geek says, YMMV…

BATcher

Plethora means a lot to me.

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Just reinforcing the advice about using a 3rd party disk imaging package.

Having issues making a backup is the nice part – imagine how it feels when you have issues trying to restore from what you thought was a good backup !!

I wonder how many useless backups there are out there ? I’ve come across quite a few.

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A well-planned, well-executed backup has much more restore success rate than otherwise.

"Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin, revisted

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