Issues With Backing up Server to USB HDD in Windows Server 2012 Essentials

Question

Hi,
I have a few installs of Windows Server 2012 Essentials on clients sites and I have an issue where by the server will back up to the connected USB HDD for while but then will fail and the only way to make it backup again is to wipe the HDDs then setup server
backup again.
I get the following error in the Application Event viewer:
The backup operation that started at '‎2014‎-‎01‎-‎16T05:00:12.595237100Z' has failed with following error code '0x80070020' (The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.). Please review the event details for a
solution, and then rerun the backup operation once the issue is resolved.
- <Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
- <System>
  <Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-Backup" Guid="{1DB28F2E-8F80-4027-8C5A-A11F7F10F62D}" />
  <EventID>517</EventID>
  <Version>1</Version>
  <Level>2</Level>
  <Task>0</Task>
  <Opcode>0</Opcode>
  <Keywords>0x8000000000000000</Keywords>
  <TimeCreated SystemTime="2014-01-16T05:05:12.199871300Z" />
  <EventRecordID>141805</EventRecordID>
  <Correlation />
  <Execution ProcessID="7204" ThreadID="12092" />
  <Channel>Application</Channel>
  <Computer>ServerName.Domain.local</Computer>
  <Security UserID="S-1-5-18" />
  </System>
- <EventData>
  <Data Name="BackupTime">2014-01-16T05:00:12.595237100Z</Data>
  <Data Name="ErrorCode">0x80070020</Data>
  <Data Name="ErrorMessage">%%2147942432</Data>
  </EventData>
  </Event>
Are there any best practices that I am missing while setting this up or this a known issue and what is the resolution?
Best Regards,
Abby_Doc

Answer 1

Hi Abby_Doc,
Regarding to this issue, generally some application is causing sharing violation on files. Then backup fails to access those files. Such as some
Antivirus program and so on. Please temporarily disable antivirus program and monitor if this issue still persists.
Meanwhile, you can perform a clean boot in Windows to eliminate software conflicts that occur when you backup.
How to perform a clean boot in Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135/en-us
In addition, the Process Monitor will help us to find out which file was actually locked. You can download from following link.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645
Hope this helps.
Best regards,
Justin Gu