Occasionally I see Windows Server Backup throw odd errors pointing to problems with the disk allocated to Windows Server Backup, such as the bizarre “There is not enough space on the disk” – bizarre in that Windows Server Backup is supposed to automagically manage the disk space allocation and tidy up.
The normal course of action would be to run chkdsk /f on the drive, but the drive doesn’t have a drive letter allocated to it. Nor are you supposed to allocate a drive letter to it. The solution? Use the Volume GUID.
To find the Volume GUID, type in the following at an elevated Command Prompt:
mountvol
This will return the command syntax for the mountvol command, followed by the existing volumes and their mount points. We’re interested in the Volume GUID immediately above this line:
*** NO MOUNT POINTS ***
It will look something like this:
\\?\Volume{12345678-1234-5678-9abc-123456789abc}\
We now take this Volume GUID minus the trailing slash and feed it to chkdsk, like this:
chkdsk /f \\?\Volume{12345678-1234-5678-9abc-123456789abc}
This will then allow chkdsk to perform a consistency check and fix of the drive allocated to Windows Server Backup without needing to allocate a drive letter.
