Symptoms

Error appeared during VSS backup


Cause

High I/O or low system resources


Workaround

For VSS, Microsoft have a hard-coded 60 seconds timeout for snapshot generation. If the target machine has lack of resource or too busy (I/O etc.) so that it cannot be finished within 60 seconds, then the error:
"The writer failed due to a timeout between freeze and thaw" will be reported.

A typical scenario is, if disk cache (write and/or read) is turned off, it would be a high chance to end up that the snapshot cannot be finished within 60 seconds. There are also other reasons that may slowdown the snapshot creation, like busy I/O, short of memory, busy CPU etc.

Suggestions:
1. Turn on disk cache
2. Have enough resources for the OS to perform snapshot efficiently
3. The following KB addresses similar issue: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2996928