TeraByte Unlimited

I'm now using v4.3, but this has also happened with previous versions. I have 7 drives total in this PC, all SSD or NVMe SSD. On very rare occasions, I have had the image successfully created, but then failure on validation (byte-for-byte selected). When this happens, I have run sfc /scannow, which found and fixed corrupted files, then tried IFW again, and validation succeeded. Are corrupted files causing this to happen.
Similarly, I have had, again on very rare occasions, image creation aborted, then run sfc /scannow, and image creation completed successfully. How is IFW effected by corrupt system files?

You don't want to be doing that, you may be making issues worse, you need to check your memory. See https://www.terabyteunlimited.com/kb/kb ... e-message/

I never use VSS, only PHYLock. I've never had an issue following the procedure in my OP, and I've never had an issue in restoring an image. On Sunday I was spelunking into Windows innards and managed to make it unbootable. Restoring the image created by Task Scheduler at 2:00AM made everything right as rain. I have an ASUS MB and my understanding is that part of POST is a quick memory check. I'll run a memory test just to make sure, but my question was answered in the link you shared. IFW does indeed include the ability to reliably and accurately detect corruption of data from the source to the target and of the backup file itself. That is what I wanted to know.

you most likely have bad memory, a memory test may or not find it since it's intermittent. Personally, that's what typically what happens to this system, works a few years, then errors report off and on, one time out of many mem tests did a memtest fail, replace memory, fixed. Except once, the new memory did the same thing, had to get another set (just replaced them all), then fixed. systems that constantly crash/bsod/hang/etc.. typically have the mem test find it which makes it easy to figure out which module to replace.