Windows Server 2012 shadow copy size?

Question

Hello guys.

I have server that would like to backup using windows service backup.

The problem looks like is the space available on disk.

My C drive is 1.8TB available is 150GB.
I want to use a external drive for my bare metal backup with 3.7TB available.

But once I run the task is say that there is enough space to create the shadow copy.

The shadow copy data will be on my C drive? how many space do I need in my C drive?

Can I move that shadow copy data into other drive with more space available?

Regards!!!

Answer 1

Hello,

In this case, the most elegant solution would be to relocate the Shadow Storage allocation to the proper drive. You can use the next article as a reference for the operation:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2008-R2-and-2008/dd364933(v=ws.10)

--If the reply is helpful, please Upvote and Accept as answer--

Answer 2

Hello,

When using the Windows Server Backup feature to create a bare metal backup, you will need to have enough space available on the destination drive to store the backup data. In addition to the backup data itself, the Windows Server Backup feature uses a shadow copy to store a temporary copy of the data that is being backed up.

The size of the shadow copy will depend on the amount of data that is being backed up. You can estimate the size of the shadow copy by multiplying the size of the data being backed up by a factor of 1.2 to 1.5. For example, if you are backing up 1 TB of data, you may need as much as 1.5 TB of space available on the destination drive to store the shadow copy.

If you do not have enough space available on the destination drive to store the shadow copy, you may receive an error message indicating that there is not enough space available. In this case, you may need to free up space on the destination drive or use a different drive with more available space.

It is not possible to move the shadow copy data to a different drive after the backup process has started. However, you can specify a different drive as the destination for the backup data when you configure the Windows Server Backup feature.

All the best!