StorageCraft's ShadowProtect

Robin Bignall wrote:

Is there anyone out there who uses this expensive but excellent product?

I have used it for some years, but I have never had to restore a
partitioned disk and W7 forces your system disk to be partitioned
whether you like it or not.

I want to replace my 300 gig system disk with a 512 gig SSD. I have no
idea how to go about it. Of course, I know I have to boot from the SC
boot disk, and then I have to restore "reserved" and "C:" (or the other
way around), without the system trying to reboot between them, and I
have to then make "reserved" active and bootable. But the precise
details of whether and how SP handles the partitioning and the restores
are a mystery.

Why am I asking here? I have lost my password to the SC forums where
the experts reside, and their "change password" mechanism simply does
not work.

Can anyone help?

Are you sure you can't do it with some other tool ?

Is it a matter of having paid for that tool, and wanting to see it in action ?

Both Seagate and Western Digital, provide tools for copying disks. As long
as one of the disks is Seagate (for the seagate tool) or WD (for the
Western Digital tool), the tool should run.

There are free Partition Manager applications for download on the web.

Free backup utilities (like Macrium Reflect).

Many backup utilities rely on VSS, which is capable of copying Windows 7
"hot", without a reboot. For example, I could use the Windows 7 "System
Image" capability, to backup Windows 7 to an external disk, plug in the
SSD, and restore to the SSD if I wanted. And I'd use the "Recovery Console"
CD that Microsoft tells you to burn, to do the restore of the System Image.

So in terms of performing the basic function, there are plenty of options.

But at this point, do you absolutely insist on the StorageCraft
product, or do you just want to get the job done ?

Some of the SSD manufacturers, will provide FAQ pages or a forum,
filled with details on what things to enable or disable, to
make "optimum" usage of an SSD. For example, you don't defragment
an SSD (and Windows 7 should refuse to do it). It should generally
cost you an evening of research, to learn a few things about
SSDs, before prepping yours.

Yes, you can "just copy it", and it'll work. But you could lose
half the peak performance by doing it that way. And Windows 7 already
knows some of the things necessary to make it work right (if you
install Windows 7 from scratch to an SSD).

Paul

Sorry no experience with Shadow Protect but have had satisfactory results
using Acronis, Windows Backup Restore and drive manufacturer tools on
restoring and/or cloning to existing and new drives for Win7.

Fyi...
Regarding Win7 separate system and boot partition
See:
http://www.mydigitallife.info/how-t...tallation/


...winston
msft mvp mail


"Robin Bignall" wrote in message
news:

Is there anyone out there who uses this expensive but excellent product?

I have used it for some years, but I have never had to restore a
partitioned disk and W7 forces your system disk to be partitioned
whether you like it or not.

I want to replace my 300 gig system disk with a 512 gig SSD. I have no
idea how to go about it. Of course, I know I have to boot from the SC
boot disk, and then I have to restore "reserved" and "C:" (or the other
way around), without the system trying to reboot between them, and I
have to then make "reserved" active and bootable. But the precise
details of whether and how SP handles the partitioning and the restores
are a mystery.

Why am I asking here? I have lost my password to the SC forums where
the experts reside, and their "change password" mechanism simply does
not work.

Can anyone help?
Robin Bignall
Herts, England

Robin Bignall wrote:

I have used it for some years, but I have never had to restore a
partitioned disk and W7 forces your system disk to be partitioned
whether you like it or not.

All Microsoft systems require that hard disks (system or otherwise) be
partitioned, dating back to the days of MS-DOS.

If you're saying that more than one partition on a disk is required by
Windows 7, that's not correct unless you're using Bitlocker.

Joe

On Sun, 1 Jul 2012 07:58:17 -0400, "Joe Morris"
wrote:

Robin Bignall wrote:

I have used it for some years, but I have never had to restore a
partitioned disk and W7 forces your system disk to be partitioned
whether you like it or not.

All Microsoft systems require that hard disks (system or otherwise) be
partitioned, dating back to the days of MS-DOS.

If you're saying that more than one partition on a disk is required by
Windows 7, that's not correct unless you're using Bitlocker.

I installed the XP system on a disk with one partition. When I
installed W7 32 system, it divided the system disk into two partitions.
I had no say in the matter. I have no idea what Bitlocker is. I
installed from a M$ W7 Ultimate disk.
Robin Bignall
Herts, England

On Sat, 30 Jun 2012 22:50:55 -0400, Paul wrote:

Robin Bignall wrote:

Is there anyone out there who uses this expensive but excellent product?

I have used it for some years, but I have never had to restore a
partitioned disk and W7 forces your system disk to be partitioned
whether you like it or not.

I want to replace my 300 gig system disk with a 512 gig SSD. I have no
idea how to go about it. Of course, I know I have to boot from the SC
boot disk, and then I have to restore "reserved" and "C:" (or the other
way around), without the system trying to reboot between them, and I
have to then make "reserved" active and bootable. But the precise
details of whether and how SP handles the partitioning and the restores
are a mystery.

Why am I asking here? I have lost my password to the SC forums where
the experts reside, and their "change password" mechanism simply does
not work.

Can anyone help?

Are you sure you can't do it with some other tool ?

I expect I can, but that's not the point.

Is it a matter of having paid for that tool, and wanting to see it in action ?

I've seen it in action over several years and am very happy with it. I
just don't know how to handle a system disk with more than one
partition.

Both Seagate and Western Digital, provide tools for copying disks. As long
as one of the disks is Seagate (for the seagate tool) or WD (for the
Western Digital tool), the tool should run.

There are free Partition Manager applications for download on the web.

Free backup utilities (like Macrium Reflect).

Many backup utilities rely on VSS, which is capable of copying Windows 7
"hot", without a reboot. For example, I could use the Windows 7 "System
Image" capability, to backup Windows 7 to an external disk, plug in the
SSD, and restore to the SSD if I wanted. And I'd use the "Recovery Console"
CD that Microsoft tells you to burn, to do the restore of the System Image.

So in terms of performing the basic function, there are plenty of options.

But at this point, do you absolutely insist on the StorageCraft
product, or do you just want to get the job done ?

StorageCraft. It's my backup tool of choice, I'm not in any hurry, and
I'd rather spend my time learning more about it than something else.

Some of the SSD manufacturers, will provide FAQ pages or a forum,
filled with details on what things to enable or disable, to
make "optimum" usage of an SSD. For example, you don't defragment
an SSD (and Windows 7 should refuse to do it). It should generally
cost you an evening of research, to learn a few things about
SSDs, before prepping yours.

Yes, you can "just copy it", and it'll work. But you could lose
half the peak performance by doing it that way. And Windows 7 already
knows some of the things necessary to make it work right (if you
install Windows 7 from scratch to an SSD).

Thanks for that.

Robin Bignall
Herts, England