Fix Volumes Larger Than 2088958 Megabytes Cannot Be Protected

Volume larger than 2088958 megabytes cannot be protected

Why do you receive “Volumes larger than 2TB cannot be protected”

To fix the error “volume larger than 2TB cannot be protected”, you need to know how Windows Server Backup works first.

When you create a system backup for Server 2008 using Windows Server Backup, it will create a virtual hard disk(VHD) file for each volume included in the backup. A VHD file is easy to mount and restore, but the size of a full volume backup is limited to 2TB. This is why you receive “volumes larger than 2TB cannot be protected”.

How to solve volume larger than 2088958 megabytes issue

Microsoft has realized this problem, so VHDX file that supports maximum of 64TB was introduced in Windows Server 2012. To fix this problem, you can upgrade to Server 2012 or newer version, or make a partial volume backup instead of full volume backup.

To fix “Volume larger than 2088958 megabytes”, use the following steps:

1. Open Windows Server Backup, and then click “Backup Once” or “Backup Schedule”.

2. Click “Next” to enter the “Select Backup Configuration” page.

3. Select “Custom” instead of Full server.

4. Add all the items on the volume that is large than 2TB and click “OK” to exit.

5. Then, click the inverted triangle and select where to save the backup. After that, click “Next”.

6. In the confirmation screen, click “Backup” to start the backup process.

If you want to create a full backup so that you can restore your computer in case of system crash, you could consider using a trust and reliable third-party backup software like AOMEI Backupper Server.

Best alternative backup software to Windows Server Backup

AOMEI Backupper Server is a backup and restore program for Windows Server 2008, 2012, 2016, 2019 and its R2 version, which does not have an actual size limit for volume to be backed up. Thus, you will never have the problem that volumes larger than 2088958 megabytes cannot be protected.

And it has many advanced backup feature. Providing System Backup, Disk Backup, Partition Backup and File Backup, no matter what you to backup, it will do just as you desire.

The main features are listed below:

• Schedule backup and full/incremental/differential backups: All the important data will be backed up as scheduled while taking a little disk space.

• Support for lot of storage devices as well as file systems: You do not need to worry about any partition cannot be protected or destination location not available.

• Dissimilar hardware restore: You can migrate OS to a new server with dissimilar hardware when needed.

• System/Disk/Partition Clone: You can transfer OS or whole hard drive to SSD or another storage device.

• Disk Space Management: This feature will automatically delete the previous obsolete image files while keeping the protected data intact.

• Other backup options: This software also has compression, encryption, image splitting, email notification and more.

Besides, it provides an intuitive user-friendly interface so that anyone can easily use it for backup and recovery job. If you want to enjoy these features, just download AOMEI Backupper Server, then create a full backup with the detailed steps in the following.

How to create a full backup for volume larger than 2088958 megabytes?

To create a full backup for volume larger than 2TB, follow the steps below:

1. Launch AOMEI Backupper Server and click “System Backup” under the “Backup” tab.

2. Click where the arrow point and select a path for your system drive.

The system partition and boot related partitions are selected by default. Because there are some boot partitions required to boot Windows is hidden and may be ignored by users. So the final result is the computer in trouble still unbootable.

3. Click “Options”, “Schedule Backup”, “Backup Scheme” and set up backup settings. At last, click “Start Backup” and wait until the process is 100% completed.

✎Tips:
• If you want to backup system, disk, file or partition regularly or avoid data loss owing to forgetting to create a backup, you can use daily, weekly, monthly backup.
• If you want to backup at a specific event or device, you can use Event-trigger, USB plug in.
• If you want to reduce the backup size, you can use “Normal” or “High” compression level, or backup only used sectors with “intelligent sector”.
• If you want to password-protect sensitive data, you could consider using “enable encryption for backup”.
• If your backup disk is not big enough, you can enable backup scheme to fix ”Windows Server backup disk full” error. With it, you can set the number of backup to retain and the old backup will be deleted when it reaches the number. So, your backup disk will never run out of space.

Written in the end

For “Volumes larger than 2088958 megabytes cannot be protected” error, you can upgrade to Windows Server 2012 and newer version. Because Microsoft changed the 2TB backup limitation to 16 TB in Windows Server 2012 and later version. Besides, you still can choose to create a partial volume backup instead of full backup with Windows Server Backup.

However, the partial backups are useful only when the data base is in ARCHIVELOG mode. If you want a once and for all solutions, you can use a professional backup and restore software like AOMEI Backupper Server. By the way, to protect unlimited servers, AOMEI Backupper TechPlus will be a greater choice.