Windows Server Backup - Hangs while loading

Question

Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard.

I swap two hard drives daily for scheduled nightly backups (bare metal backup) however for the past week the windows backup program never gets pasts the "Reading data, please wait...". When I try running Wbadmin in command prompt as an admin it does not appear to run. I have tried wbadmin start backup and it prompts Y or N for same settings as scheduled, after I input "Y" nothing happens _ . If I run another command prompt and command wbadmin get status is states no backups or recoveries are currently in process.

I am not sure if my scheduled daily backups are running as I cannot get past the "reading data, please wait..."

Please advise on what to do to troubleshoot. Thank You!

Answer 1

Hi @Laurent Pilon

First, you have to kill off this stuck backup process. Super simple: Just go into SERVICES and restart "Block Level Backup Engine."

Now that we are out of that stuck program, we still need to get into the Windows Server Backup vhd.

I was able to very quickly and easily mount the backup vhd as logical (usable) hard drive by using a built-in Windows program called DISKPART.

Follow These Easy steps:

Open command prompt and just type DISKPART

It returns a few lines indicating that DiskPart is started.

Next type SEL VDISK file=”the-location-of-your-file-including-the-file-name”

For example:

DISKPART> SEL VDISK file="J:\WindowsImageBackup\99-DC02\Backup 2017-01-16 070031\2a7efb56-0b8e-11e4-8d4c-806e6f6e6963.vhd"

It returns: DiskPart successfully selected the virtual disk file.

Now type ATTACH VDISK

It returns: 100 percent completed

After a few secs, your vhd will mount as a new logical drive. You can now dig into this drive with your Windows Explorer GUI just the same as any. I was able to retrieve files that I needed by dragging them to the desktop.

When you are done retrieving files, and you want to quit, go back to your command prompt window and type DETACH VDISK

It returns: DiskPart successfully detached the virtual disk file.

I do hope this answers your question.

Thanks.

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Answer 2

Hi @Limitless Technology

Thank you for your reply.

I have restarted the service twice. And ran windows server backup utility again and it is still stuck "Reading data". I have checked both backup drives on another workstation and they both are able to read/write after being plugged in. What is strange is that in disk management on the server these hard drives are not showing up. I doubt both of these seagate drives would have failed at the same time but i guess thats a possibility. The drives are Seagate Backup Plus Ultra Touch Seagate rescue edition...I may purchase another one to test this theory.

Any ideas why the server backup utility is still not running as it should?

Answer 3

I have the same problem.
I uninstall and install again Windows Server Backup.
After restart machine, backup works fine up to next backup, then works very slow, stuck at "Reading data"
Do you have any ideas?