In Windows 7 64-bit Pro, Reflect 6.0 build 708 (licenced) Logs said:



with the error details or code. This error string is absent from the knowledgebase:


The Reflect VSS log gave no reason:


and the Event Viewer gave no VSS event:




Should I conclude this failure is due to the destination drive? Despite having more than enough free space, and succeeding the previous and next day.
If so, where can I find failure reason logged?
Thanks.

It wouldn’t be the destination. Reflect only needs to make snapshots of SOURCE volumes since they need to be in a consistent state for Reflect to back them up reliably if they are going to remain online for other access during the process. I would start by trying the “Fix VSS Problems” wizard you’ll find under Other Tasks, and also just restarting your PC. That can fix a number of transient VSS issues.

And while this likely isn’t related to this specific issue, why are you still running Reflect 6.0? Even within Reflect V6, Macrium has issued DOZENS of updates that have improved functionality and fixed bugs, including security vulnerabilities. And some of those bugs are issues that only become apparent in the Rescue environment when trying to restore something, so if your reason for not updating has been “Everything seems to work fine”, please keep in mind that if you’re basing that on performing backups, that is only half of the equation. I understand not updating just for the sake of updating, and to that end if you want to read release notes to determine whether a given update is worth it, that’s entirely reasonable. But if you’re not doing that, then on balance, updating is better than not updating. Reflect 6.0 is several years old at this point, and you can update to the latest release of 6.3 for free.

If you’re curious, you can access the Reflect V6 changelog below. As you’ll see, even though the latest release is over 3 years old now, your particular release is over 7 years old. And there were quite a few releases with quite a few changes noted in the interim.

http://updates.macrium.com/reflect/v6/latest_release_notes.asp

> It wouldn’t be the destination. Reflect only needs to make snapshots of SOURCE volumes

Thanks, but this error message does not say the error was in the making of the snapshot. It say it was in the creation of a snapshot file.

> I would start by trying the “Fix VSS Problems” wizard you’ll find under Other Tasks, and also just restarting your PC.

Neither will answer the question, and I would really like an answer to determine the cause, before trail-and-error solutions.

> why are you still running Reflect 6.0?

I'd like to understand the issues I'm getting with it before deciding whether to upgrade it or switch to an alterative.

The destination drive would not be involved in anything related to VSS, unless you had some very unusual configuration where snapshot data for one of your source volumes was stored on the volume you were using as your destination. It is technically possible to implement a configuration like that, but you would have had to go out of your way to set it up.

In terms of understanding underlying cause, it might help to post the full VSS log rather than only a screenshot of a small portion of it. I understand wanting to understand underlying cause (Windows IT guy for 15 years, so no shortage of underlying problems to understand!), but Fix VSS Problems performs a very benign set of standard troubleshooting steps - which is why that capability even exists in Reflect — and the tried-and-true restart is another such basic troubleshooting measure. If the problem is simple enough to be solved through steps as simple as that and does not return, I personally don’t consider it worth spending the time to dive into underlying cause. But of course it’s your PC and your time.

To be clear, I’m not proposing a Reflect upGRADE to the newest release (V8), just an upDATE to the latest build of your existing V6 release. And for what it’s worth, a VSS problem is not technically a Reflect problem. VSS is a Windows technology, so it would be a Windows issue that is simply affecting Reflect.