Discussions Altaro Physical Server Backup Troubleshooting & General Discussion
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Analyzing disk error

I installed Altaro and get this error when starting a backup

"Altaro Physical Server Backup encountered an error while analyzing the disks"


1. I restarted the server. No difference.

2. Uninstalled Altaro, restarted server, reinstalled, restarted server. Same error.

3. Moved the backup disk location to a different folder.

No difference.

4. Moved the backup disk location to a different disk.

No difference.

The two disks are using the same Dell RAID controller. Maybe your application is having issues communicating with this disk controller ? (DELL PERC H330 SCSI / SAS DISK)

Server o/s is Windows Server 2016 Essentials Ed


Best Answer

Hi,


We resolved this issue by taking drastic action -> Deleted the RAID configuration and reinstalled Windows. 

We found formatting the disk and reinstalling Windows did not help. We had to delete and recreate the RAID configuration.


I am comfortable saying this was NOT an Altaro issue but a RAID configuration issue.


Check if you can run defrag (we could) but we could not decrease (shrink) the volume by any (tiny) amount.

The other sign we have, was it took Windows +10 minutes to boot, each time we restarted (cold or warm). 

We also found, using third party partition software, we could not shrink the volume either.


After recreating the RAID array and reloading Windows, Windows boots in around 90 seconds, we can shrink the volume and Altaro works perfectly.




Hi Trevor, could you post a screenshot from your disk management screen showing the details of the disks?

Are they NTFS formatted or ReFS?

They are NTFS


NTFS.jpg
NTFS.jpg
(13 KB)

OK thanks Trevor, I have taken this offline to request some logs via email, you should get an email from me shortly.

are there any other disks connected in disk management? perhaps removable disks which are offline?
could you send a full screenshot of disk management please?


i have the same problem, please advise:

An error occurred while analyzing the disks on the machine. (Error code DiskContentsExceptionError)

Arjan, could you send me your most recent backup ****_Failed.log file from here please: C:\ProgramData\Altaro\AltaroPhysicalServerBackup\Logs\OpControllers

Hello, I have a similar problem. A new installation of Altaro Phys. Server  Backup and the first backup of this server with only 1 phys. HDD got this error:

An Error occurred during a Backup

An error occurred while analyzing the disks on the machine. (Error code DiskContentsExceptionError)
I tried restart the server, check the HDD by CHKDSK and the same error again.Here is the disk manager with no complicated partitions:

image


Please could you any idea how to start the backup?

could you attach your most recent backup ****_Failed.log file from here please: C:\ProgramData\Altaro\AltaroPhysicalServerBackup\Logs\OpControllers 

All *_Failed.log files show a problem with "Last partition exceeds size of disk":

[INFO - 2020-01-10-09:51:17 - TBackupJob/P0584] MainOperations           : Preparing layout...
[INFO - 2020-01-10-09:51:17 - TBackupJob/P0584] preparing_disk_layout
[INFO - 2020-01-10-09:51:17 - TBackupJob/P0584] PrepareDiskLayout        : Preparing disk layout
[INFO - 2020-01-10-09:51:17 - TBackupJob/P0584] PrepareDiskLayout        : Handling disk 0
[INFO - 2020-01-10-09:51:17 - TBackupJob/P0584] FillDiskAreaDetails      : Getting volume list for disk 0...
[INFO - 2020-01-10-09:51:17 - TBackupJob/P0584] FillDiskAreaDetails      : WMI full physical disk size = 1000168980480
[INFO - 2020-01-10-09:51:17 - TBackupJob/P0584] FillDiskAreaDetails      : DiskGeometry disk size = 1000171331584
[INFO - 2020-01-10-09:51:17 - TBackupJob/P0584] FillDiskAreaDetails      : Got 2 volumes
[INFO - 2020-01-10-09:51:17 - TBackupJob/P0584] FillDiskAreaDetails      : Got extents for volume \\?\Volume{6b410e4d-4bee-11e3-93e7-806e6f6e6963}\: disk number 0, starting offset = 1048576, length = 367001600
[INFO - 2020-01-10-09:51:17 - TBackupJob/P0584] FillDiskAreaDetails      : Got extents for volume \\?\Volume{6b410e4e-4bee-11e3-93e7-806e6f6e6963}\: disk number 0, starting offset = 368050176, length = 1000168323584
[INFO - 2020-01-10-09:51:17 - TBackupJob/P0584] FillDiskAreaDetails      : Getting WMI details for volume [\\?\Volume{6b410e4d-4bee-11e3-93e7-806e6f6e6963}\, Altaro.WindowsAgent.Providers.DiskContents.DiskExtentInfo]
[INFO - 2020-01-10-09:51:17 - TBackupJob/P0584] FillDiskAreaDetails      : Volume name
[INFO - 2020-01-10-09:51:17 - TBackupJob/P0584] FillDiskAreaDetails      : VSS Supported: True
[INFO - 2020-01-10-09:51:17 - TBackupJob/P0584] FillDiskAreaDetails      : Volume Capacity: 366997504
[INFO - 2020-01-10-09:51:17 - TBackupJob/P0584] FillDiskAreaDetails      : Getting WMI details for volume [\\?\Volume{6b410e4e-4bee-11e3-93e7-806e6f6e6963}\, Altaro.WindowsAgent.Providers.DiskContents.DiskExtentInfo]
[INFO - 2020-01-10-09:51:17 - TBackupJob/P0584] FillDiskAreaDetails      : Volume name C:
[INFO - 2020-01-10-09:51:17 - TBackupJob/P0584] FillDiskAreaDetails      : VSS Supported: True
[INFO - 2020-01-10-09:51:17 - TBackupJob/P0584] FillDiskAreaDetails      : Volume Capacity: 999803277312
[INFO - 2020-01-10-09:51:17 - TBackupJob/P0584] FillDiskAreaDetails      : Checking for RAW disk areas
[INFO - 2020-01-10-09:51:17 - TBackupJob/P0584] FillDiskAreaDetails      : Checking partition starting at: \\?\Volume{6b410e4d-4bee-11e3-93e7-806e6f6e6963}\ for expected offset: 0
[INFO - 2020-01-10-09:51:17 - TBackupJob/P0584] FillDiskAreaDetails      : Adding raw area: 0/1048576
[INFO - 2020-01-10-09:51:17 - TBackupJob/P0584] FillDiskAreaDetails      : Checking partition starting at: \\?\Volume{6b410e4e-4bee-11e3-93e7-806e6f6e6963}\ for expected offset: 368050176
[INFO - 2020-01-10-09:51:17 - TBackupJob/P0584] PrepareDiskLayout        : Handling exception...
[INFO - 2020-01-10-09:51:17 - TBackupJob/P0584] PrepareDiskLayout        : Done from exception handling
[INFO - 2020-01-10-09:51:17 - TBackupJob/P0584] PrepareDiskLayout        : Rethrowing disk contents exception
[ERROR - 2020-01-10-09:51:17 - TBackupJob/P0584] HandleFinalResult:

-------------------
*** EXCEPTION (TOP LEVEL) ***:
[Exception Message]: Cannot get drive details: Last partition exceeds size of disk
[Inner Exception Message]: Last partition exceeds size of disk
-------------------
*** EXCEPTION DETAILS (TOP LEVEL) *** :
[Exception Message]: Cannot get drive details: Last partition exceeds size of disk
[Exception Type]: Altaro.WindowsAgent.Contracts.Exceptions.DiskContentsException
[Exception Stacktrace]:    at Altaro.WindowsAgent.Providers.DiskContents.DiskContentsProvider.PrepareDiskLayout(List`1 disks, List`1 excludedVolumes)
   at Altaro.WindowsAgent.Providers.Controller.BackupController.MainOperations()
   at Altaro.WindowsAgent.Providers.Controller.BaseController.Run()

[Inner Exception Message]: Last partition exceeds size of disk
[Inner Exception Type]: System.Exception
[Inner Exception Stacktrace]:    at Altaro.WindowsAgent.Providers.DiskContents.DiskContentsProvider.FillDiskAreaDetails(PhysicalDisk disk)
   at Altaro.WindowsAgent.Providers.DiskContents.DiskContentsProvider.PrepareDiskLayout(List`1 disks, List`1 excludedVolumes)
-------------------
[INFO - 2020-01-10-09:51:17 - TBackupJob/P0584] FinaliseOperations       : Backup result: Failed


So according to our logging, the disk size is being reported as:
[INFO - 2020-01-10-09:51:17 - TBackupJob/P0584] FillDiskAreaDetails : DiskGeometry disk size = 1000171331584

However when reading the volume on that disk, we get the below 
[INFO - 2020-01-10-09:51:17 - TBackupJob/P0584] FillDiskAreaDetails : Got extents for volume \\?\Volume{6b410e4e-4bee-11e3-93e7-806e6f6e6963}\: disk number 0, starting offset = 368050176, length = 1000168323584

 As you can see the numbers do not quite add up, adding the starting offset and the length should never be larger than the actual size of the disk! ...In fact Altaro is failing due to the above maths not adding up:
*** EXCEPTION (TOP LEVEL) ***:
[Exception Message]: Cannot get drive details: Last partition exceeds size of disk
 
 
At this point there is an issue here with the disk data being read by your Operating system and that is why the product fails to back it up.

Try the below:
1. Run a defrag on the volume, perhaps that might help.
2. If that does not help could you try to shrink this volume by 1GB for example and let me know your results.

Hi,

I'm trying to setup Altaro Physical Backup - I had a error previously. This was due to the server needing .net framework 4.7. This was done and then I got another error. From reading through the above and the logs I don't think I'm getting the same error message. 

Anyone any ideas on how to fix this? 

Thanks

log
2020-01-23 1...
(36.9 KB)
Answer

Hi,


We resolved this issue by taking drastic action -> Deleted the RAID configuration and reinstalled Windows. 

We found formatting the disk and reinstalling Windows did not help. We had to delete and recreate the RAID configuration.


I am comfortable saying this was NOT an Altaro issue but a RAID configuration issue.


Check if you can run defrag (we could) but we could not decrease (shrink) the volume by any (tiny) amount.

The other sign we have, was it took Windows +10 minutes to boot, each time we restarted (cold or warm). 

We also found, using third party partition software, we could not shrink the volume either.


After recreating the RAID array and reloading Windows, Windows boots in around 90 seconds, we can shrink the volume and Altaro works perfectly.



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