Transient VSS errors appear to be randomly and occur many hours into the backup. For that reason you need to suspect the errors are due to a VSS shadow area overrun which can be easily prevented. Try using the tool VSSUIRUN.EXE from the command prompt (see screenshots here:) //backupchain.com/Cannot-Find-anymore-diff-area-candidates-for-volume-Volume-shadow-copy-service-error-troubleshooting.html and set ‘no limit’ for all drives/volumes listed. This setting […]

BackupChain offers many options that allow you to quickly implement several backup strategies you can use simultaneously. If you are dealing with very large files, say a 1.6TB VHDX being the largest, you may need to plan for restore times. An average modern hard drive and server will give you processing speeds of 50 MB/sec […]

The backup error VSS_WS_FAILED_AT_FREEZE may occur with several types of writers, such as the Hyper-V VSS Writer or Registry Writer. We have a tool to diagnose all kinds of VSS errors, called VssDiag available at //backupchain.com/VssDiag.html The important thing is to enter the backup error time as accurately as possible, within a 5 minute window […]

This article describes a couple of quick steps to speed up VMware Workstation. These steps will speed up and offer better performance, during normal operation but also during backups with your VMware backup software. First you would want to merge split VMDKs that VMware Workstation creates by default. This default setting is unfortunately not very […]

Below is a feature comparison of modern hypervisor platforms, such as Hyper-V, VMware, VirtualBox and others:   Name Can boot an OS on another disk partition as guest USB support GUI Live memory allocation Snapshots per VM Snapshot of running system Live migration Shared folders Shared clipboard PCI pass-through KVM Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes […]

In order to convert your VHD or VHDX file from a dynamically growing format to a fixed size format, you can use the PowerShell and run the Convert-VHD command. When the VM is offline, you can specify the VHDType parameter and switch to a differencing disk, you can switch between Fixed, Dynamic, and Differencing as needed. […]

You may receive the following Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) error in your Event Viewer logs: Volume Shadow Copy Service information: The COM Server with CLSID {463948d2-035d-4d1d-9bfc-473fece07dab} and name HWPRV cannot be started. [0x80070005, Access is denied.   and or this one: Volume Shadow Copy Service error: Error creating the Shadow Copy Provider COM class with […]

The Freeware Gimmick Are you familiar with the saying ” There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch“? Especially when it comes to using software, some companies employ marketing “gimmicks” and offer so-called “free” versions of their products. The entire point is to get you hooked and the major price tag follows soon thereafter. […]

BackupChain now runs on Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1, download our new installer here: //backupchain.com/downloads.html Your trusted Windows Server and Hyper-V backup solution also works on Windows 8.1 with all Hyper-V features as the server edition.   What is BackupChain? BackupChain is a simple to use, yet powerful backup tool for IT professionals. […]

In the folder C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Workstation or: C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware Workstation   You’ll find vmrun.   Command format: vmrun [AUTHENTICATION-FLAGS] COMMAND [PARAMETERS] 1. To start a virtual machine: “C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Workstation\vmrun” -T ws start “C:\VMs\Linux.vmx”   2. To Shut down a VM: “C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Workstation\vmrun” -T ws stop “C:\VMs\Linux.vmx”   3. To reboot: “C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware […]