Fix: “The Drive Is Not A Valid Backup Location”

The error “The disk is not a valid backup location” appears periodically in Windows 10, but it also bothers Windows 8, 8.1 and 7 users.

Many users have encountered this problem because the Windows Backup and Restore feature often fails to recognize the drives. USB as a valid backup location.

This can be problematic because a regular backup to a USB drive is often convenient and, in many cases, a necessary step in implementing a proper security plan.

Fortunately, This problem is quite easy to fix and it doesn't require anything complicated. Follow the detailed instructions below and you'll be backing up your files to a USB drive in no time.

You can also read: Fix: “Please Insert The Last Disc Of The Multi-Volume Set”

The drive is not an acceptable backup location in Windows 7/8/10

Many people are increasingly concerned about protecting their computers from unforeseen catastrophes. No one knows when a disaster will occur, such as a hard drive failure, a virus, or a virus attack. ransomware, etc., resulting in data loss or system corruption.

To protect your computer, an excellent solution is to back up your data on the hard drive or Windows operating system.

However, a Problems often arise with Windows backups, such as Windows does not complete the backup successfully, Volume Shadow Copy service errors, etc, and data cannot be saved to the hard drive. Recently some users have reported this issue on some forums like Reddit: Creating a system image does not work for a USB drive.

When a USB drive is selected as a write location, the message “This drive cannot be used to write a system image because it is not formatted as NTFS” appears. The drive is then formatted as NTFSHowever, another error message appears "The drive is not a valid backup location."

Why is my flash drive not a valid backup location in Windows 10/8/8/7?

This is actually due to a limitation of the built-in Windows backup feature: the Windows Backup and Restore feature does not support USB drives or flash drives as backup locations, even though It is possible to make file backups and other data on USB drives.

What is the cause of the error message “The drive is not a valid backup location”?

There are several causes of this problem, and it is important to list them all. First of all, if the media is not formatted in NTFS, it may have problems from the beginning and you have to wait until it is formatted in NTFS.

Secondly, some workarounds are possible. In some cases, Windows will not allow the use of media. flash as system images, but you can apply a workaround to allow this in Solution 2. There is also another built-in tool that you can use to remove the recovery particles that may be responsible for this issue.

Fix: “The drive is not a valid backup location” in Windows 10/8/7?

Solution 1: Backup Windows 10/8/7 to USB with ShadaowMaker Mini Tool

If you still want to create an image on a USB, it is better to use a third-party backup tool. This method is recommended by many users on the forums.

ShadowMaker Mini

Mini Tool ShadowMaker, a free and comprehensive backup tool for Windows 10/8/7, offers solutions for data protection, disaster recovery, and file recovery. It can also back up files to a server.

The free automatic backup program is more flexible and reliable than Windows backup and recovery software, and can regularly back up files, Windows operating system, hard drive and partitions to an external hard drive, flash drive, USB drive, memory stick, NAS, etc.

Full, incremental and differential backups are supported. Hard disk management can be enabled at the same time. In addition, MiniTool ShadowMaker It is also a file synchronization program.

As a reliable PC backup software, it is the best alternative tool when Windows 7/8 or Windows 10 creates a USB system image that does not go to a valid backup location.

Now you can download and try MiniTool ShadowMaker Trial Edition to create system image on USB drive under Windows 10/8/7 without error message. "The drive is not a valid backup location."

This article shows you how to backup Windows 10 to a USB drive: create a system image on USB and create a Windows 10 recovery disc.

How to create a system image to update your Windows 10/8/7 computer in case of a system crash.

• Launch MiniTool ShadowMaker to open the main interface.
• Click on the BACKUP SETUP in the initial interface if this free backup program has not already created a backup.
• On the Backup tab, You will see two sections where you can select the source and the backup destination.

The system reserved partition and the system disk (system disk) Boot) are automatically selected for system backup.

Tip: If you want to back up the entire system hard drive, click Select Source in the Select Hard Drive and Partitions window, select the system hard drive in the combo box, and select all partitions on the hard drive to back up.

Backup Windows 10/8/7 to USB Flash Drive

To backup Windows 10/8/7 to USB flash drive, select the largest USB drive on the computer interface as the backup destination drive. It must be large enough for the backup.

For computer security reasons, It is advisable to follow a backup strategyThe best practice is the 3-2-1 rule. For more information, see Best Practice: 3-2-1 Backup Strategy for Home Computers.

Finally, this free Windows backup software returns you to the backup interface where you can click Backup Now to backup your system.

Tip: You can customize your backup before it runs, such as creating an automatic backup to USB with Scheme or creating incremental backups with Scheme. Just grab the ShadowMaker mini-tool and try to fix the problem: Windows 10 USB image is in the wrong place.

Other details

With a few simple steps, you can easily and successfully create a system image on a USB drive without getting the “The disk is not a valid location” error message in Windows 10/8/7. If your friends are also having trouble while trying to create a system image on a USB drive, you can share this backup program with them.

In case of any issues, the created system image can be used to refresh your Windows 10/8/7 computer. In general, restoring a system image is quite easy if you get a bootable output using MiniTool Media Builder.

Solution 2: Backup your system to an external hard drive instead of a USB flash drive

Some of you still prefer to use Windows Backup and Restore utility to backup your Windows operating system. You can also use this tool to perform regular or scheduled backups.

To fix the issue -the drive is not the correct location to backup- You can directly change the location of the system image and continue with the backup process.

Let's take Windows 10 as an example.

• Access Control Panel > Backup and Restore or Backup and Restore (Windows 7) > Create system backup.
• Decide where you want to store your backups.

If you click A hard disk, you will see all detected partitions. It is recommended to select an external disk partition here. You can also create a system image on a CD/DVD or specify a network for the backup image.

• In the window that opens, You will see that the drives you need to boot Windows are selected by default.

Tip: If you want to backup the entire system hard drive, activate any other partition on the system hard drive here.

• Confirm the backup settings: backup location and backup disks. Then, click Start BackupThis process will take a few minutes, so please wait.

Sometimes Windows Backup fails during system image creation, for example if the failure occurs at 97%, 57% or 12%, if there is not enough space (0x80780119) when creating the system image, etc.

If at least one of these cases occurs, it will be difficult to solve the problem. Therefore, we highly recommend using a third-party backup software – MiniTool ShadowMaker. To create a system image, just follow the steps in Solution 1.

Solution 3: Make the USB flash drive available as a network drive and proceed with the backup

If you still want to use Windows Backup and Restore to create a system image on a USB flash drive instead of an external hard drive, you can create a folder on the USB flash drive, share it as a network drive, and continue creating the system image.

In this way, you can effectively solve the problem of “The disk is not a valid backup location” in Windows 10/8/7. See the step-by-step guide below (using Windows 10 as an example). The only drawback to this method is that it requires many more steps than the previous two.

• Connect the USB drive to your computer.
• Format the USB drive to NTFS file system using Windows Disk Management or third-party program MiniTool Partition Wizard.
• Make the USB drive is available as a network drive:
  • Create a folder on the USB drive: Open the USB partition, right-click an empty space, and select Folder from the New drop-down menu.
  • Right click on the folder and Select Share with specific people.
  • Share folder in the user list and click Share.
  • Decide whether to allow network discovery and file sharing for the private network or for all public networks.
  • The created folder becomes a shared folder. Click Finish to continue.
• Right click on the folder, select Properties and click Advanced Sharing on the Share tab.
• In the small pop-up window, Click Permissions to set all permissions to Full Access.
• Open Windows Backup and Restore (Windows 7) and select Create a system image.
• Select a network drive as the backup location:
  • Navigate to your computer and select a network location.
  • Enter your computer's login details and click OK.

Note: Make sure your USB drive is large enough to hold the system image file. Otherwise, you will get the warning “The specified network location cannot be used” as shown in the image below.

• All system drives are now included in the backup.
• Confirm the backup settings. Finally, make the backup.

This method should work in most cases and you won’t get the “The disk is not a valid backup location” error message.

Conclusion

If you’ve reached this point, you already know how to resolve the “The disk is not a valid backup location” error message. Now it’s time to try the solutions above.

If you have any other solutions when a USB drive is not a valid backup location for Windows 10/8/7, please share the troubleshooting steps with us in the comments section below.

You can also read: External Hard Drive Not Working. Causes, Solutions, Alternatives