XPS 8940, error in Windows Recovery Partition on C:

I have no real answer, but a question and a suggestion.

The question is what back-up program and how or why is it trying to process the Recovery partition? Sector by Sector copy of the boot drive? Each Back-up program might have different ways to handle the full disk when you create the back-up scenario.

One thing you can do is use DISKPART (as Administrator) to assign a Drive letter to the problematic partition. Then CHKDSK will work on that partition.

See the web page for usage details, https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/diskpart

It should look like this:

=========

DISKPART> list disk

  Disk ###  Status         Size     Free     Dyn  Gpt
  --------  -------------  -------  -------  ---  ---
* Disk 0    Online          476 GB    15 MB        *
  Disk 1    Online          931 GB  1024 KB        *
  Disk 2    Online         3726 GB      0 B        *

DISKPART> select disk 0

Disk 0 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> list partition

  Partition ###  Type              Size     Offset
  -------------  ----------------  -------  -------
  Partition 1    System             150 MB  1024 KB
  Partition 2    Reserved           128 MB   151 MB
  Partition 3    Primary            454 GB   279 MB
  Partition 4    Recovery           684 MB   455 GB
  Partition 5    Recovery           990 MB   455 GB
  Partition 6    Recovery            18 GB   456 GB
  Partition 7    Recovery          1399 MB   475 GB

DISKPART> list volume

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
  Volume 0     D                       DVD-ROM         0 B  No Media
  Volume 1     C   OS           NTFS   Partition    454 GB  Healthy    Boot
  Volume 2         ESP          FAT32  Partition    150 MB  Healthy    System
  Volume 3                      NTFS   Partition    684 MB  Healthy    Hidden
  Volume 4         WINRETOOLS   NTFS   Partition    990 MB  Healthy    Hidden
  Volume 5         Image        NTFS   Partition     18 GB  Healthy    Hidden
  Volume 6         DELLSUPPORT  NTFS   Partition   1399 MB  Healthy    Hidden
  Volume 7     K   Disk K:      NTFS   Partition    589 GB  Healthy
  Volume 8     L   Disk L:      NTFS   Partition    341 GB  Healthy    Pagefile
  Volume 9     P   My Book      NTFS   Partition   3726 GB  Healthy

DISKPART>

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Now I have changed drive letters this way, but I am NOT 100% sure you can with the OEM drive, here is the HELP for Assign:

=============

DISKPART> help assign

    Assigns a drive letter or mounted folder pathname to the volume with focus.

Syntax:  ASSIGN [LETTER=<D> | MOUNT=<PATH>] [NOERR]

    LETTER=<D>  The drive letter to assign to the volume.

    MOUNT=<PATH>

                The mounted folder pathname to assign to the volume.

    NOERR       For scripting only. When an error is encountered, DiskPart
                continues to process commands as if the error did not occur.
                Without the NOERR parameter, an error causes DiskPart to exit
                with an error code.

    If no drive letter or mounted folder is specified, the next available drive
    letter is assigned. If the drive letter or mounted folder is already in use,
    an error is generated.

    By using the ASSIGN command, you can change the drive letter associated
    with a removable drive.

    You cannot assign drive letters to boot volumes or
    volumes that contain the paging file. In addition, you cannot assign
    a drive letter to an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) partition
    unless booted to Windows PE, or any GUID Partition Table (GPT) partition
    other than a basic data partition, an ESP partition or a recovery
    partition.

    A volume must be selected for this operation to succeed.

Example:

    ASSIGN LETTER=D

==========

If so, you will have to see if there is another way in the back up program to do it?

I use 2 back up programs, and both, Acronis True Image and Macrium Reflect have no problem reading my boot drive:

Always include exact PC model and version of Windows in your posts. 

If you assign a drive letter to the recovery partition, you may make it unusable, even if you eventually remove the drive letter...

As suggested, try a different imaging app...

"As suggested, try a different imaging app."

I make daily images (of the complete C: drive) with Macrium Reflect and never a problem.

First off Run the Elevated command prompt. 

Second Run mountvol from that command prompt. 

At this point, it will list the GUID of each of the volumes on your PC, even if they do not have a drive letter assigned to them. 

Get the GUID of the Partition without the drive letter.

Last run chkdsk "\\?\Volume{GUID of the volume you want to check}"

     You can use /f or whatever flags you want on the volume to check.

To show you an output of what it looks like. 

@MastiffX  - Are you saying Macrium, which you use regularly, is suddenly giving you this error, or some other app?

BTW: You could try reverting to the latest previous Macrium image where you didn't get this error...

@RoHe​ 

"I make daily images (of the complete C: drive) with Macrium Reflect and never a problem." {Emphasis added}

IOW: I never had a problem.

The OP's problem is typically a result of making changes to the hidden partitions. These are intended to be untouched. These partitions are installed by Dell at their factory.

@MastiffX - Oops... I mistakenly thought you were the OP...

@JamieLinux​ 

Actually did that.  CHKDSK reported NO errors.

Tried to back up my PHONE to that drive and that backup failed as well.

I don't know what's going on.  The error (from EaseUS backup app) is ambiguous to me as to whether it's complaining about the source drive (C:) or the backup drive (E:) the the tech from EaseUS says it's complaining about the SOURCE drive.  If that's the case, why did my PHONE backup fail.

I'm baffled.

Thank you for all your suggestions.  Unfortunately, I am cheap and there is no longer a FREE version of Macrium Reflect and the paid versions are pretty expensive.  Not a fan of subscriptions.

Any other FREE backup programs anyone would recommend?

Use Macrium for 30 days, free, to see if it works before you worry about finding new software.  If Macrium doesn't work, then you know you probably have a hardware (drive) or Windows problem which you'll need to fix...

There are some sites that still have the free (not trial) version of Macrium Reflect available.  So Google for them.  And/or Google for other free imaging apps.  Just be careful where you download from.

If you happen to have an external (USB) Seagate drive, they free DiscWizard software to image your entire drive(s).  And Samsung may have free imaging software if your have an external Samsung drive.

Windows has a built-in back-up tool that can automatically save copies of your files to another drive or to the cloud.  Doesn't image the whole drive...

When using your backup program what permissions is it being run under, if this is an EaseUS?

EaseUS Todo Backup may fail to perform backup job due to insufficient permission of your current Windows account1. This issue may also occur when you try to change a normal backup to schedule1. To troubleshoot connection error in EaseUS Backup Center, you can try the following steps2:

1. Press “Win + R” to load Windows run dialog box and input gpedit.msc;
2. Navigate to Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options;
3. Find Network access: Sharing and security model for local accounts;
4. Double click to open this item and ensure the option Classic - local users authenticate as themselves is selected.