Macrium Reflect "Index load failed" - no other processes interfering

I have used the free version of Reflect for months on the Dell XPS 8950 computer I bought last fall. C drive = 512GB NVMe, D drive = 2 TB HDD. I back up to 2 different WD Black P10 5TB USB drives. No schedule -- I just do a full backup of C: & D: to one of the WD Blacks, followed by 5 or 6 Differential backups to the same USB drive, then switch to the other WD Black & repeat. Backups have occasionally failed with a "Index load failed" error. But I've always been able to try another time or two & it would work. No problem, since I always have the "verify" switch on. That way I know the backups have been written & checked.

The problem has gotten worse. Every full backup attempt bombs out with the "Index load failed" error, and the same with most differential backups. I installed the Trial version of MR to get the most up to date. Same thing. I've already followed the advice given to use ResMon to make sure no other processes are interfering with Reflect. None are.

Even now that I have the trial version Macrium won't give me any support. I've never asked for any support before, but they say I've been a "customer" for several months already, since I was running the free version, so my Trial version doesn't include any support (and if it did, it'd only be to help me get it installed correctly).

I've run Dell's diagnostics but nothing shows up -- including the memory troubleshooter. I suspect that some hardware is failing (memory?), but can't figure out how to gather enough info to give Dell before my 1-yr warranty runs out. (I might be wrong, but I suspect they'll say MR is the problem since nothing else is showing any errors, and Dell's own tests don't show any problems.)

I got HWiNFO64 to test hardware with, but if it could help, I can't tell. I just get lost as soon as I open it up.

Possible fix?

1 Try turning off verify to see if MR is the cause

2 Start Windows in safe mode and then run MR - this will eliminate many possible conflicts.

Porthos said:

Detecting another poccess interfering with backups - Knowledgebase 8.0 - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase

knowledgebase.macrium.com

Possible fix?

Click to expand...

Thanks, but that's the ResMon tool I mentioned. Already tried it multiple times and it hasn't shown anything.

I've spent days working on this, trying to locate the source.

• The backup drives: I'm alternating between two Western Digital P10 5 TB external USB drives. I updated WD's "Dashboard" software and had it do Extended Diagnostics on one of the drives. That ran for 16 hours. Nothing.
• USB slots and cables. Each USB drive came with its own short cable. I've always kept the original cable with its drive. I tried different USB slots on the PC. Ruled this out.
• The computer: It's a Dell XPS 8950, less than a year old, so I've run Dell's diagnostics (especially the advanced version of RAM diagnostics, multiple times). Dell also has diagnostics you can run only by interrupting the bootup process, before Windows has loaded. Did that. Also ran Windows's diagnostics that run during the bootup process. Nothing.
• Large files: The problem has gradually gotten worse with the increasing size of the backups, so I created a big-ass archive file using 7-zip, then used XCOPY to copy it to the drive and verify. A 550 GB file copied and verified without a hitch on both USB drives. That was one archive. I decided to try copying the unarchived files and folders, just to stress the situation in a little different way. I learned that you can't use XCOPY to copy files & folders from an internal HDD because my file names and paths exceed XCOPY's limit of 250-something characters. I considered learning how to use Robocopy, but it seemed like too much trouble for any info the exercise would yield. Yet I clearly had more problems with data corruption with copying larger files than with smaller ones.
• Dell: I called Dell Support, paid $99 (refunded if they don't solve the problem). The tech spent 45 minutes looking at the PC, concluded that it's something Macrium should be addressing, not Dell, and refunded my $99.
• Macrium: As I said earlier, the ticket I opened with them once I installed the 30-day trial version of Reflect wasn't helpful. The tech saw that I had been using Reflect Free, and at first said they don't support that. I pointed out that I have the Trial version installed, & then they said essentially "Well, but you were a customer as soon as you started using Free." So in other words, even though I had no support with the free version, whatever support I would've gotten by installing the Trial version has already run out. Oh, and by the way, the only thing they'd be willing to help me with is installation issues. Instead, they directed me to tenforums (or in my case, eleven). With Macrium changing their licensing model, I seriously doubt that they'll be willing to pay their support team enough to provide adequate service in the future. Right now I'm not too happy with Macrium, and I'm still quite open to using another established company's backup software (maybe Seagate's DiscWizard, which is an Acronis product. At least it doesn't come with a 5 year limit (vs. Western Digital's Acronis-made freebie).

So what worked? Well first I learned some helpful info:

1. Western Digital's Dashboard software offers to tell Windows to TRIM (defrag) your USB drive. But I discovered that it wasn't getting "TRIMmed" at all! Dashboard was misleading me. Windows will defrag a disc if it's formatted with NTFS, but it won't defrag a disc that's formatted with exFAT.
2. Also, NTFS offers better performance if you're willing to *ALWAYS* use "Safely Remove Hardware" and wait for it to complete before unplugging the USB cable to your drive.
3. Better performance + defragging? Sure, I'll do that! The only drawback is I can't also use these drives on a non-Windows machine. No problem!

So I reformatted one of the USB drives to NTFS (NOT a quick format -- a 16 hour long, full format). Then I used Reflect to do a full image of both C: and D: using medium compression, with verification on. That backup file was 729 GB, and it succeeded. Not only that, but it took significantly less time than previous full backups!

Conclusion: exFAT appears to have caused the problem. As my backup files got larger, it appears to have introduced more data corruption into the copy process.

Update: same problem even after reformatting the USB drives to NTFS. I've stopped trying to back up C: and D: both at the same time. Now I back them up seperately. C: passes the verification test most of the time. But D: fails more often than it succeeds. Today so far it failed the first time at 20%. The second time it failed at 10%. Now it's running for the 3rd time.

I was considering buying a license for Macrium Reflect while they have their Black Friday sale, but I don't see the justification. It just doesn't work on this rig, and they don't *really* support their software (see my earlier post).

I'll try running Windows in safe mode next. If that doesn't do it, then the only suggestion I've read that I haven't implemented is switch out RAM modules. Nice suggestion ... if you happen to have an extra $400 or so of RAM just lying around. I'm sure as hell not going to buy it *hoping* that it solves the problem.

Back to the drawing board.

I restarted the PC in "Safe Mode with Networking" then tried backing up the D: drive with Reflect. That's a 685.48 GB backup -- the same one that failed during the verification stage 3 times yesterday. Reflect aborts the backup as soon as it gets to "Creating Volume Snapshot". Here are the three errors:
ERROR: COM call "m_pVssObject->SetBackupState(true, true, VSS_BT_FULL, false)" failed.
ERROR: COM call "m_pVssObject->BackupComplete(&pAsync)" failed.
ERROR: COM call "m_pVssObject->SetBackupState(true, true, VSS_BT_FULL, false)" failed.

Full details:

Never run MR in Safe Mode. If you run from the Recovery stick, VSS is not needed.
I believe that the USB is the culprit.
512 GB for a C-Drive means just one partition (C:) on that disk? Not a good idea!
hyperfil is switched off?
If you don't have too many data on (C:) create a backup-folder on your D-Drive and run the test.
If there is enough space on the (C:)-Drive create a backup-folder and test the backup from D ==> C with some testfiles.
If that works without problem:
Take a 3,5" HDD with a SATA-Adapter and connect it to the machine.
Once more. Never run MR in Safe Mode.