How Can change maximum number of shadow copies created at one time

Question

we have difficulty taking backup for SQL Server, using VSS writer, the server having more than 100 disks but VSS writer has a limitation of only 64 created at one time. is there any possibility to increase it?

Answer 1

Hi @Kalaimani Thirupathi ,

Quote from this case:2012r2-how-to-increase-number-of-shadow-copies

The maximum number of software shadow copies for each volume is 512. However, by default you can only maintain 64 shadow copies that are used by the Shadow Copies of Shared Folders feature. For more information to how to change this limitation, see the following article

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb891959(v=vs.85).aspx

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa384627(v=vs.85).aspx

Besides, please check if there's enough space. If after the MaxShadowCopies value is set, you still couldn't create more shadow copies. Could you test to try to choose No limit in Maximum size of Shadow Copies and see if more snapshots could be created. You could also manually create snapshots for testing.

More information: how-many-days-are-covered-with-shadow-copy-if-there-is-a-limit?

BR,
Mia

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Answer 2

Hi,

As far as I'm know, the maximum volume of VSS shadow copy "64" is by design, we are unable to increase it. Thanks for your understanding!

Thanks for your time!
Best Regards,
Anne

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