Windows Backup and Restore problem

[bmeacham]

I run Windows Backup and Restore on Win 10 1909 weekly to back up files and a system image to an external drive. Recently it has been telling me that not all my files were backed up. There is kind of a convoluted story behind all this, so bear with me for a bit.

I used PC Mover to set up a brand new machine by migrating applications and data from my old one. My old one is 6DFJR32. The new one is B0VFYY2. (These names are the Dell service tag numbers, which are convenient to identify the machines.)

When I set up my new machine, unbeknownst to me Windows created my user directory as “bmeac.” On my old machine my user directory was “Bill.” After I migrated my data. some things didn’t work, so I changed the folder “bmeac” to “Bill” and then went through the registry and changed all the instances I could find of “bmeac” to “Bill.” That was a rather tedious task, but after having done it, everything seems to work OK. Except Windows Backup and Restore.

Here is the list of files and folders that Windows Backup and Restore does not back up on my new machine:

Backup encountered a problem while backing up file C:\Users\bmeac\OneDrive\Documents. Error:(STATUS_WAIT_3 (0x80070003))
Backup encountered a problem while backing up file C:\Users\bmeac\OneDrive\Music. Error:(STATUS_WAIT_3 (0x80070003))
Backup encountered a problem while backing up file C:\Users\bmeac\OneDrive\Pictures. Error:(STATUS_WAIT_3 (0x80070003))
Backup skipped backing up \\6DFJR32\Users\Patricia\Documents as it is not on local machine.
Backup skipped backing up \\6DFJR32\Users\Patricia\Music as it is not on local machine.
Backup skipped backing up \\6DFJR32\Users\Patricia\Pictures as it is not on local machine.
Backup skipped backing up \\6DFJR32\Users\Patricia\Videos as it is not on local machine.

The first three have to do with my user folder name. It’s looking for files in the old folder, which has been renamed so it doesn’t exist any more. The last four have to do with the machine name. It’s looking for folders on the old machine, but I am running on the new machine.

So how can I fix this? It’s not a fatal error, because everything that should be backed up is, but it is a nuisance. Where does Windows Backup and Restore get the names of the folders and file it tries to back up? If I could change that source or those sources, maybe the problem would go away.

Any ideas?

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[mledman]

I’m assuming you are using backup and restore (windows 7).  In change settings you should be able to edit which folders are included in the backup.

Win 10 home - 20H2
Attitude is a choice...Choose wisely

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[Vincenzo]

If it is a new computer why is it trying to backup folders with the old machine user pathname?

When I’ve had issues like this I found they can keep popping up in new ways. I would consider just creating a new user account, moving all your files over, and be done with it.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by Vincenzo.

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[Alex5723]

I would suggest to use a real backup app like the free Macrium Reflect or paid Acronis Trueimage…

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[bmeacham]

Vincenzo wrote:

If it is a new computer why is it trying to backup folders with the old machine user pathname?

When I’ve had issues like this I found they can keep popping up in new ways. I would consider just creating a new user account, moving all your files over, and be done with it.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by Vincenzo.

The whole point is to have my data in a folder named “Bill” because some of them — notably my iTunes library — are hardcoded to that name. So I don’t want to create a different user account..

• This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by bmeacham.

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[bmeacham]

mledman wrote:

I’m assuming you are using backup and restore (windows 7).  In change settings you should be able to edit which folders are included in the backup.

Yes, Backup and Restore from Win 7 running on Win 10. In the settings I select Data Files for three users and, under the Users folder, the folders for those same three users. I will deselect the Data Files and just include the users under the Users folder and see what happens.

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[bmeacham]

Alex5723 wrote:

I would suggest to use a real backup app like the free Macrium Reflect or paid Acronis Trueimage…

I use Macrium Reflect as well, for a periodic full image backup. Windows Backup and Restore has saved my bacon when I needed a prior version of a file. It has worked fine for me up until now.

Can I mount a Macrium backup and pull out individual files?

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[bmeacham]

Update: I have deselected everything under Data Files and instead selected the three users I care about under Computer / OS (C:) / Users. Now I get no errors. I guess there was some kind of conflict between the two selections. Anyway, now it appears to work, and I am not getting the error messages.  Cool.

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[wryker]

How were you able to deselect those folders when I don’t see that in either option (let Windows select or I choose)?

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[mledman]

Glad to hear your folder backups are now working without errors.  I believe you can copy individual files from a mounted macrium image.

Win 10 home - 20H2
Attitude is a choice...Choose wisely

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