When I try to backup my system I get the following error: A shadow copy could not be created for the following reason: Insufficient storage space to create either the shadow copy storage file or other shadow copy data. (0x8004231F). It doesn't seem to matter what type of media I choose to backup to. It's a home premium 32 bit system. Any suggestions?

Hi Cheryl, I have seen this error message before. How big are the volumes on your computer, and how much free space do you have? Another customer who reported this error only had about 500 MB of free space on one of his volumes.
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"Cheryl"

Hi Jill, there is tons of space on my c drive (400GB+) and only about 20gb are used. The recovery partition only has 290MB free, but the tech guy where I bought the computer says that is acceptable for a recovery partition. I've been mostly trying to backup to DVDs, both single and double layer have failed.

I'm thinking it's the recovery partition that's causing problems. Are you using this for storage of your own files? It wasn't sized to be a multipurpose partition, unfortunately.
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"Cheryl"

I'm not using the recovery partition at all for my own files, that is how the computer came.
"Jill Zoeller [MSFT]" wrote:

If you can send me the following information, I can investigate this further.
1. A description of the problem, including the exact error message and error code (a screenshot will work) 2. A screenshot of your Disk Management screen showing disks and volumes. 3. Contents of %windir%\logs\windowsbackup\ 4. Generate a log file using the instructions below and email it to me:
Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Asr, create a new key called LogFileSetting
Under LogFileSetting, create a new DWORD value called EnableLogging. Right-click that value, click Modify, and then enter 00000001 (hexadecimal) or 1 (decimal)
Under LogFileSetting, create a new String value called LogPathName. Right-click that value, click Modify, and then enter C:\asr.log.
Next, reproduce the error. You should have a file called asr.log under c:\. You can delete the registry key when you are done.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
Want to learn more about Windows file and storage technologies? Visit our team blog at blogs.technet.com/filecab/default.aspx.
"Cheryl"

Jill, I changed the partitioning in the computer to create a bigger buffer of empty space on the recovery partition. For the first 3 times I tried to backup after that I got a different error about an I/O problem. So I added the registry key you suggested and tried to recreate the new error to send the info you asked for, and the backup actually worked.
"Jill Zoeller [MSFT]" wrote: