Error EBAB03F8 still occurs in SSR 2013 R2

Anguel · ‎11-10-2014

Hi!

I have installed SSR 2013 (R1) on about 10 current Dell Optiplex PCs with Win 8.1 Pro (Update 1). I have setup two simple daily backups: One full backup to a server on my network and one incremental to a PC's local HDD. On every PC now and then the incremental backups fail with the strange error:

EBAB03F8: 'CHECK failed, Computer::CreateImageFile: Computer.cpp(1517): guid != Guid() && sequence != 0xffffffff && sequence > 0.'. (UMI:V-281-3215-6071)

This means that the incremental backups cannot be created successfully for some unknown reason and a new base has to be recreated next time the backup runs. This is really annoying and I had reported this error in the past without receiving any solution here in the forums. Now I hoped that SSR 2013 R2 would finally solve the problem but it did not. I upgraded one PC to SSR 2013 R2 (yes you really have to pay for this "updgrade") and the same error occurs again.

The main error reference I found is this: http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH217964

I wonder how long Symantec needs to get this hotfix tested and merged into the release. I am getting this error on each of my PCs and I am seriously considering to switch to a different backup product if the issue is not going to be solved immediately because it makes the program useless.

Other knowledge base articles state that the error might be caused by another backup program installed. There is no such program installed. Anti-virus used is from Symantec (Norton Internet Security) so this should have been tested at least to work ok...

Anguel

criley · ‎12-16-2014

We will certainly keep you updated on progress Gerhard.

Quick question; do you have a support case open for your issue? If yes, can you please share the case number? Thanks.

Gerhard_G_ · ‎12-16-2014

No, because I found this thread, that fits TECH226271. If I think I'll open my own thread, I'll tell you. Thank you.

criley · ‎12-16-2014

I think you misunderstood my question. I was asking if you have a support case open? Nothing to do with this forum thread.

Gerhard_G_ · ‎12-16-2014

Ah, ok I see, no I didn't open a support case for this. I think it might be sufficient to look from time to time on this thread. Also I receive email notifivcation on each update in this thread. If I have a further question, I'll open a support ticket.

criley · ‎12-16-2014

It's fine, you can ask questions here if you need to.

I was just curious to see if you had a support case open or not.

criley · ‎12-16-2014

Update ....

Check settings for the following:

Control Panel | System Protection | Protection Settings (turn this off for the drive(s) you are backing up.
Control Panel | System Protection | Protection Settings | Configure (set drive snapshot area for volume to 100%).

Let me know if these changes help or not.

Anguel · ‎12-16-2014

Gerhard,

The link you posted really looks interesting, maybe this is the problem we all experience:

http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH226271

Is there anyone experiencing the problem who is NOT using Samsung 840 or 850 SSDs?

Anguel

Anguel · ‎12-16-2014

Chris,

My system protection settings are the Windows defaults which are:

Protection ON and 2% of drive used for system protection

Now, let's assume you want us to turn it off for testing. I don't understand what is the purpose to turn system protection OFF and then set its area to 100%. Can you please clarify what your developers want us to try exactly?

Regarding your other question: Yes I use Samsung Magician and I use the default 10% over provisioning for the SSD.

Regards,

Anguel

criley · ‎12-16-2014

Well, they were able to reproduce the issue in-house. As soon as they made the changes mentioned above, the problem went away. Hence, they have asked if people experiencing this issue can try this and confirm the results...

Anguel · ‎12-16-2014

Ok, I will see if I can reproduce it, however first I want Symantec to confirm that this will be used for debugging to locate the real cause and finally fix it. The problem is that these are production systems here and I am not really interested in tweaking those settings.

Turning Windows system protection off is definitely not a long-term solution.

Anguel

Gerhard_G_ · ‎12-16-2014

I had on Drive C: 10% and [on], but I managed with those settings to get incrementals working. Sorry the overview is in german language. Target is a ZFS NAS with openindiana (opensolaris) installed.

I think it's working due to this checkbox?
[X] Fehlerhafte Sektoren während des Kopierens ignorieren
(~ [x] while copying ignoring corrupt sectors)

Laufwerk- und Backup-Ziele:
   (C:\) bis \\OPENINDIANA\oi_bak\NortonGhost\C_Drive.v2i

Neuen Wiederherstellungspunktsatz (Basis) starten:
   18:14, 1 jedes Monats, beginnend am 24.09.2014
   Nächste Ausführung: 01.01.2015 18:14

Geplante Backup-Zeit:
   Um 18:00 an den festgelegten Tagen der Woche, beginnend am 08.04.2013
   Nächste Ausführung: 17.12.2014 18:00

Optionen:
   Backup-Name: Laufwerk-Backup von (C:\)
   Komprimierungsstufe: Standard
   [X] Nach Erstellung Wiederherstellungspunkte überprüfen
   Begrenzung des Wiederherstellungspunktsatzes: 3
   [X] Computer&namen den Namen der Backup-Datendateien voranstellen
   [ ] Backup-Dateien in einem eindeutigen Unterordner speichern
   Beschreibung: gaussling-PC (C: samsung 840 ssd)

Erweiterte Optionen:
   Maximale Dateigröße: 4589 MB
   [ ] SmartSector-Kopiervorgang deaktivieren
   [X] Fehlerhafte Sektoren während des Kopierens ignorieren
   [X] Vollständiges VSS-Backup durchführen
   [ ] Kennwort verwenden
   Verschlüsselungsgrad: Kein

Befehlsdateien:
   Vor Snapshot ausführen: Kein
   Nach Snapshot ausführen: Kein
   Nach Erstellung des Wiederherstellungspunkts ausführen: Kein

Offsite-Kopie:
   Deaktiviert

Restore Anyware ist für diesen Wiederherstellungspunkt zulässig.

criley · ‎12-17-2014

Root cause is still being looked at but we need to test to see if this helps or not.

Is there a reason why you need to use persistent snapshots considering that you are backing up with SSR? Just curious...

criley · ‎12-17-2014

Gerhard,

Are you saying that incremental backups are now working because you have enabled the option to ignore bad sectors. Just wanted to check that I have read your update correctly...

Anguel · ‎12-17-2014

Yes, I regard Microsoft system protection as an additional layer of protection at the OS level that is auto-triggered on important events like program or driver installations (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/what-is-system-protection). In contrast, I run SSR backups only during the night.

Additionally, I don't trust any backup program 100%. So the more layers of protection the better, you never know what you will need when and if it will work when you need it.

Regarding the tests: The SSR 2013 R2 PC that always failed to do the incrementals in the past now suddenly "fixed" itself for some reason and now succeeds. I will see if I have SSR 2013 R2 trail installed on other PCs that still fail.

Anguel

Gerhard_G_ · ‎12-17-2014

I think, yes, but I'm not sure, if that's due to THAT option, but I guess so. I simply forgot what button I fiddled with.

I found that happened, as I started to change the security tab option on system properties for system protection to [off] and drive snapshot area for volume to 100%.Now I also changed those options, but It appeared, that there were already fine incremental backups, before I turned the security snapshots (system protection) of the windows 7 system off.

I hope that helps. I'm sorry for my english, but I'm not a native speaker.

Anguel · ‎12-17-2014

The problem is that the check failed error in SSR sometimes disappears and then reappears.

BTW, I noticed that Gerhard has also enabled the option to do "Full VSS backups".

Gerhard, do you have any over provisioning enabled through Samsung Magician? BTW, I also speak German :)

Anguel

criley · ‎12-17-2014

I think, yes, but I'm not sure, if that's due to THAT option, but I guess so. I simply forgot what button I fiddled with.

One way to test this is to turn off the option for 'ignore bad sectors'. I don't expect this to have any influence though, but it would be good to confirm this.

Gerhard_G_ · ‎12-17-2014

Yes, you got me right. I think I had switched ON VSS before too, I'm not sure, though.
I switched also all things on in magician to speed up the SSD. That could be a culprit too.

RAPID mode is activated.
For OP (OverProvisioning?) is 0.00 GB reserved, process could not be finished.
OS Optimation: maximum power (speed?)
Firmware is DXM06B0Q
TRIM is activated, Power Optimation is 100%(?)

Benchmark

direct r/w IOPS                   sequencial r/w MB/s
136024/175442 4670/4474                       2014-12-17
88080/61354                       1261/913                        2014-04-07
96899/83546                       531/453                          2013-04-08

I translated the magician settings above.

Anguel · ‎12-17-2014

Ok, I have OP (over provisioning) enabled (set to 10%) but I have NOT enabled any SSD optimizations. So it looks like this is not where the problem comes from.

Gerhard_G_ · ‎12-17-2014

Hm, I deactivated that 'ignore bad sectors' and set the plan execution on 3pm, but it wasn't issued. I then tried to 'start the backup with option', but the radio buttons of 'incremental' and 'new set' were greyed out. So does that indicate, that incremental no longer working? Or what is wrong here?

This is the behavior after deactivating 'ignore bad sectors'. But also I'm not sure if they were greyed out before :( .

VOX