Windows Complete PC Backup error 0x80042401
Yeah, the dreaded "disk too small" error.
I don't understand why I'm getting this message. Backing up and restoring via Complete PC Backup was always easy and never failed. Now the last two times I've tried to restore my computer from the backup, I've gotten this error message.
Basically, my only HDD has two partitions: The C drive where Vista is installed (~103GB) and another drive with letter X:\ (8.5GB). There is no unallocated space on the drive.
It's a laptop, so any of those rearrange HDD cables solutions I can't do. Also, there was no hidden recovery partition or anything similar.
There are only two things I can think of that might interfere with the restore procedure:
1)The partition marked X: isn't liked because I noticed the Vista setup environment uses X: for some "Boot" partition. But this was never a problem before.
2)The Vista in the backup is Vista Ultimate 32-bit wSP1. The disc I'm using is a Windows Anytime Upgrade disc (32-bit) with no Service Pack that came with the laptop. The first time I had this problem does seem to be around the time I upgraded to SP1.
So, would the disc's Service Pack level matter? Or is something suddenly wrong with my HDD?
Answers
- Well, I got the PC Backup to work.
I took one of the Vista wSP1 installers and installed a trial of Vista Ultimate to my laptop. Then I restarted the computer and went back to the Repair area of the setup disc. On the "Choose OS" screen, the trial I had just installed DID appear (whereas nothing had ever appeared there before). With the Repair focusing on the this trial, the restoration of the backup succeeded, but only the system partition. I'm currently restoring the second partition via Virtual PC.
All Replies
- It is not a good practice to perform a backup to the very same drive. If your hard drive were to fail, how would you restore the backup? I would suggest investing in a good external hard drive for backups. Both Western Digital and Seagate offer excellent external drive enclosures designed expressly for backups.
Shoulda specified... the backup is sitting on an external drive. PC Backup recognizes this drive, its partitions and the backup files.
Well, I unfortunately resorted to torrenting some Vista installer images with SP1 slipstreamed and I noticed PC Backup had a different UI and I get a new error: Element not found: (0x80070490)
Here's a bit more info on my setup. The external is a LaCie 500GB external plugged in via USB. This is the same external I used in previous successful restore/backup attempts. The laptop itself has only one 120GB hard drive that I have completely wiped and repartitioned (meaning no hidden recovery partitions from OEMs) to my liking: The two partitions sitting in the backup.
The laptop is only 32-bit capable and I'm only using 32-bit installation media.
- Well, I got the PC Backup to work.
I took one of the Vista wSP1 installers and installed a trial of Vista Ultimate to my laptop. Then I restarted the computer and went back to the Repair area of the setup disc. On the "Choose OS" screen, the trial I had just installed DID appear (whereas nothing had ever appeared there before). With the Repair focusing on the this trial, the restoration of the backup succeeded, but only the system partition. I'm currently restoring the second partition via Virtual PC. Had the same problem, read my solution on:
http://i-zaak.eu/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=6
Hope it helps.
- Are you saying I should only have those two things in my boot up order? Cause it's been set to go disc drive>the external (sometimes I have an OS on it)>internal HDD>network.
yes, to have an external HDD above your internal drive will screw up the repair system detection.
Restoring with external USB drive is not the problem.
I had a RAID array failure and tried with Windows Complete PC Restore as I regularly made backups on external drive, booted with Vista DVD and tried but the restore operation failed at start with 0x80070490 (Element not found).
I then entered the BIOS and did find out that the RAID volumes order used under BOOT section was changed. There wasn't anymore as primary Disk my first drive Volume of the array, but the second. That made the Restore refusing the operation. I switched back the first Volume of the array to the top of the list and tried again: the operation went on smoothly.
I strongly suggest checking your bios for HDD boot priority (not just peripherals), the volume Windows was using as first on your Backup must be re-set at first in the list after (as in my case) physical disk exchange in order for the restore procedure to work out.
