Problem with SQLServerWriter failing to prepare snapshot

Question

I have been having a problem with a third party tool we are using to do farm backups on Sharepoint.   It is backing up the WFEs and app servers fine using VSS.. but when it comes time to backup the sql servers the SQLServerWriter keeps dying on
me.  It keeps going into a state of
Writer name: 'SqlServerWriter'
   Writer Id: {a65faa63-5ea8-4ebc-9dbd-a0c4db26912a}
   Writer Instance Id: {7d547239-0f1f-4a37-be21-5873db2ecf49}
   State: [8] Failed
   Last error: Inconsistent shadow copy
When I restart the service/server the error clears .. but it never lets me do a backup of any of the database components  in the Application logs I get errors like this
Preparing for backup
Preparing for backup complete!
Status of writer SqlServerWriter: Stable
Doing snapshot set...
Snapshot set complete!
Time to do snapshot set: 1.014 seconds
Status of writer SqlServer Writer: FailedAtPrepareSnapshotExcepetion type: Idera.Poinbackup.Shared.PBException
Message: Status of writer SqlServerWriter: FailedAtPrepareSnapshot
When I do a list shadows I see a shadow of that operation. but on the list writers I still get
Writer name: 'SqlServerWriter'
   Writer Id: {a65faa63-5ea8-4ebc-9dbd-a0c4db26912a}
   Writer Instance Id: {7d547239-0f1f-4a37-be21-5873db2ecf49}
   State: [8] Failed
   Last error: Inconsistent shadow copy
My sharepoint databases are on a clustered server with 2 hosts.
We have the same setup on development and that works fine with no errors being produced.  I have checked that sqlserverwrite is running as the localsystem and that that account is sysadmin on the sql server.  I've tried deleting the existing shadows,
failing over to the othernode, rebooting servers... but so far I am getting no luck and the vendor is stumped.  I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the app just in case it was a corrupt install.. but that didn't get me anywhere either.  I
was thinking about reregistering the vss components and I have seen a bunch of somewhate different posts on what to re-register.. so I was hoping one of you guys could point me at something relevant to my situation.
Thanks for any replies in advance!

Answer 1

That does not fail
I did a vssadmin create shadow /for=f:\MySitesD1  it does not put the sqlwriter into a funky state
I am not well versed in VSS so i am not exactly sure how it is supposed to work but my directory structure is
F:  <-Mount point onto san where master/model dbs are
F:\MySitesD1 <- Mountpoint to san storage
F:\MySitesD1\Data <-folder where data files are for this db
F:\MySitesL1 <- Mountpoint to san storage
F:\MySitesL1\Logs <-Folder where log files are for this db
when I do a list shadows it looks fine.. but I don't know enough about vss to know if it is actually going into the subdirectories and backing up the data files as well. 
u:\>vssadmin list shadows
vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001-2005 Microsoft Corp.
Contents of shadow copy set ID: {da9108c8-389d-4482-af6b-74ec0ed34be4}
   Contained 1 shadow copies at creation time: 4/25/2013 2:41:18 PM
      Shadow Copy ID: {7c471de2-90f9-4fd0-8fb4-a3c6fa5f4173}
         Original Volume: (F:\MySitesD1\)\\?\Volume{130d0aae-c8c0-43b4-8481-29c0
456fc4cb}\
         Shadow Copy Volume:
\\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy50
         Originating Machine: uhmc-sql-sp02.uhmc.sbuh.stonybrook.edu
         Service Machine: uhmc-sql-sp02.uhmc.sbuh.stonybrook.edu
         Provider: 'Microsoft Software Shadow Copy provider 1.0'
         Type: ClientAccessible
         Attributes: Persistent, Client-accessible, No auto release, No writers,
 Differential