[Resolved] Backup failed with code 55 (Access Denied)

I am evaluating Comodo Backup Version 4.4.1 on a standalone PC running under Windows 10. I am the only user on the PC with full admin rights.

I created a custom profile to backup specific folders to a portable hard drive with ‘Simple copy’ format. All works according to expectations except that it keeps on ending with “Backup failed with code 55 (Access denied)”. The backup files are on the backup drive but the backup is not seen as successful.

I attempted several options: down scaling the backup profile to only 1 file; deleted all files on the portable drive and started from scratch; ensure I and Administrator have full control on the drive; etc …

I have searched the web and your help website with no success. Other people who experienced the same problem (on previous versions of Windows) were not answered - ignored as if they were never there.

I then contacted GeekBuddy. This turned out to be a complete waste of time. I was asked to submit an email which I did with no response what so ever.

I am very impressed with the possibilities and features of Comodo Backup and want to propose it to a local video club with many users. However, this error code and the lack of support to date makes it a complete No Go.

Can someone PLEASE help or direct me to possible help ?

Is there somewhere a user guide or tutorial to indicate what can cause this and what can be done to overcome the problem.

Johan Rothmann
Cape Town, South Africa

Have you tried running Comodo Backup with run as administrator right-click context-menu? In Windows 10 logging in under an administrator account doesn’t fully give you admin rights unless you specifically run an application with the run as administrator menu item. Also makes sure no other process is using the files you are trying to backup.

Yes, I did try to run Comodo Backup as Administrator. I have also created a profile with only one file for the backup, a file that is definitely not used by any app at the time.
Same result.
Is Comodo Backup ready/tested/released for Windows 10 ? Is this a unique problem experienced just by me ?

The newest version of CB was released back in October of 2014, many users are still using CB with little or no issues while others do experience problems. So your issue could be just specific to you. I guess you can ignore the warning if the backups are actually being completed despite the error message. But unfortunately it seems development/support is on hold for now.

I might have found a clue: after narrowing down the files in the backup, I could get some backups to complete successfully. Whenever there is the following message in the log display, the backup ends with the error 55 code:

Unable to process stream item C:\User\Folder\FileName.ext:Zone.Identifier:$DATA.

In this case the source file is a normal .xls file which can be opened and viewed without a problem, even from the backup destination after the “failed” backup. When this file is not included in the backup profile, the backup ends successfully.

Any ideas what “Zone.Identifier:$DATA” means and how it can be avoided ? There are many files that causes a similar message.

So it seems CB doesn’t like NTFS Alternate Data Streams here is another user who had the same issue with backups failing but a different error code. Just delete the streams using Microsofts Streams utility. You should be able to successfully backup files after and it won’t affect the files in a way that makes them unusable to view/edit.

Zone.Identifier is added by Windows to mark where a file came from e.g. Internet, Intranet, trusted or restricted sites.

I downloaded Microsoft’s Streams utility to delete the alternate data streams. Many streams were deleted, but the specific files that showed up in the Comodo Backup log, also gave an “Access Denied” error when trying to delete the streams. The solution was one of the following:
a) Change the file’s properties (remove the Read-only attribute), or
b) Save a different copy of the file (Save as from the specific app), or
c) Delete the file from the source

After doing one of the above for the files that showed the error, the Comodo Backup was successful. PROBLEM SOLVED!!!

Thanks for your assistance.