Event ID 38 — Diff Area Integrity

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Applies To: Windows Server 2008

The Diff Area is the storage space that Shadow Copies of Shared Folders allocates on a volume for maintaining the snapshots of the contents of shared folders. A snapshot is a block-level set of information that represents the differences between the current content and content from a previous point in time. The integrity of existing and new snapshots depends on the integrity of the Diff Area.

Event Details

Product: Windows Operating System
ID: 38
Source: VolSnap
Version: 6.0
Symbolic Name: VS_GROW_DIFF_AREA_FAILED_LOW_DISK_SPACE_USER_IMPOSED
Message: There was a user imposed limit that prevented disk space on volume %3 from being used to grow the diff area for shadow copies of %2.  As a result of this failure all shadow copies of volume %2 are at risk of being deleted.

Resolve

Increase the storage space for shadow copies

You must increase the maximum amount of storage space that is available for shadow copies of the volume.

To perform this procedure, you must have membership in Administrators, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority.

To increase the maximum amount of storage space available for shadow copies:

  1. Click Start, and then click Computer.
  2. Right-click any of the volumes listed, and then click Configure Shadow Copies. If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue.
  3. Click the volume where you want to increase the storage space for shadow copies, and then click Settings.
  4. Under Storage area, type a larger value for the maximum size of the storage area, and then click OK.
  5. Click OK to exit.

Verify

The Diff Area is working correctly if a new shadow copy can be successfully created.

To perform this procedure, you must have membership in Administrators, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority.

To create a new shadow copy:

  1. Click Start, and then click Computer.

  2. Right-click any of the volumes listed, and then click Configure Shadow Copies. If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue.

  3. Click the volume that you want to create a new shadow copy of, and then click Create Now. The Diff Area is working correctly if the new shadow copy is listed under Shadow copies of selected volume.

    Note: Depending on the size of the volume and the number of changes that have occurred since the last shadow copy, creating the new shadow copy can take a few seconds or several minutes.

Diff Area Integrity

File Services