Windows Server 2016 Backup Issues/Questions

Question

I have a system running Windows Server 2016. I have recently purchased a 10TB Seagate external HDD for backup purposes. Windows Server Backup is installed onto the system, however when I try to create a schedule for automatic backups, the system will not see the drive.
When I follow the steps to make a one time backup - it does see the external drive and it does complete a successful backup. Does anyone know why the drive is not detected when trying to create a schedule for automatic backups? But it is seen when making a one time backup..

Answer 1

Hi @Chris Bollschweiler

Please check the following:

Go into the Power Options in Control Panel, click on "Change Plan Settings" for your plan, then there should be an option "Change advanced power settings", then look under the "Hard Disk", set "Turn off Hard Disk after" to never (set 0). Under "USB Settings" area, set "USB selective suspend settings" to "disabled".

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Answer 2

Thank you everyone for the comments. I have tried as suggested and made sure the drive was formatted to NTFS standards but I am unfortunately still unable to resolve the issue. It seems to detect the drive as normal when making a one-time backup. But it doesn't show in the list of available drives when creating an automatic backup schedule. I have also tried to split the drive and have 2 (5TB) partitions, but still the issue was unresolved.

I also didn't need to change anything under Power Settings as it was already set correctly. I did have to change the setting you mentioned about USB selective suspend settings, but still no change.

I will continue to experiment and see what I can do.

Answer 3

All,

I was able to resolve my issue. I spent some time this morning going over some settings and such. The external drive came with partition style GPT by default. I formatted the drive to NTFS and changed from GPT to MBR. Once I did that, Server Backup was able to see it in its entirety too (9TB). Now I have successfully created an automatic backup schedule. Thank you everyone for being willing to assist.