Fix for: The shadow copies of volume X: were aborted because of an IO failure

Some users encounter an error when running a Windows backup or Hyper-V backup  and the Event Viewer may list several errors, such as:

The shadow copies of volume X: were aborted because of an IO failure on volume X:

The above error (source VolSnap or VSS) means the backup snapshot had to be taken down by Windows whilst in operation because there was a disk issue on volume X:

This disk issue is usually logged separately as a Disk error, or could be a different kind of error source, depending on the kind of disk you are using.

It’s strongly recommended at this point to immediately back up files and folders on X: as there is a high probability for a failing disk.

Once you have backed up everything, try running

chkdsk X: /R

which tests each cluster individually, but takes many hours to complete.

Why not test the disk immediately?

Because the high stress load on the drive may cause it to switch off for good and this is not unusual. Sometimes running this test results in additional files being damaged. Sometimes the disks stops responding altogether.

Preventing I/O Failures

Disks are becoming denser, faster, and ship with higher capacities. This trend usually translates into higher failure rates as well and unfortunately there is no way to prevent I/O failures that are caused by wear and tear.

The best way to protect your data from I/O failures and other sources of file damage and loss is to create backup files using an automated backup solution, such as BackupChain.

BackupChain Features

BackupChain is an automatic backup tool for Windows Server and PC platforms that offers a range of diverse data protection features to the IT professional. From SQL backup to network backups and dedupe backup, BackupChain also includes virtualization tools to back up hypervisors: CSV backups, VMware live backup and a range of granular features, such as granular restore for virtual machine backups and granular backups of VMs.
As a well-established hard drive backup software, BackupChain includes free automatic cloud backup, remote windows backup and internet backup, and various additional modules that position it as one of the top virtual backup solutions in the market. You can use BackupChain to backup virtual machine live and take a backup of a HyperV guest or use it as a general-purpose VirtualBox backup software. File versioning backup is a way to retain several versions of the same file as backups and works even for virtual machine backups.

Microsoft Exchange can also be backed up using BackupChain’s EDB backup capabilities, whether to a local target, as offsite data backup, or FTP backup or online server backup to a remote site, it’s all possible using the same standard user interface.
By using all the BackupChain tools we provide, you can easily set up the best backup system on your own for your infrastructure that uniquely suits your needs like no other system.
We also have several freeware for servers on our site, such as DriveMaker, which you can use to map FTP site to a drive letter.