jtara
03-10-07, 10:23 AM
I recently purchased an update to Hard Disk Manager 8.5 Pro. I'm posting here, though, because most of these are backup issues, and I assume the features are common to at least some versions of Drive Backup. I have a few questions unanswered by the documentation.
(1) So far, I have run only from the CD (in the past, I've preferred to run the DOS version, which I always put in it's own partition with other DOS utilities, such as BIOS update, etc.) While there seems to be a DOS version for 8.5 (the "safe mode" version?) I can't find any instructions for creating a DOS installation. Obviously, it will no longer fit on a floppy, but I don't care about that. Just want to get it into a directory that I can copy into my DOS partition.
(2) I am pleased to see that in 8.5 when doing a drive copy, you now modify the drive-letter mapping in the registry hive of the copy. I know this because there is a message displayed as it is doing it, and, as well, for the first time I've been able to backup my XP system and run from the backup without having to fiddle with drive letter changes before the system would run correctly. (I have oddball mnemonic drive letters - M: for music, I: for install images, P: for photographs, etc. What really goofs me up is my insistence on T: for temporary files, and V: for VM (pagefile). ;)
Anyway, this seems to work fine now, but... I cannot find any documentation. Is this done only on full drive copy, or individual partition copy as well? I guess it couldn't for the latter. What if there are two OS partitions (say, a hidden one as well) being copied? I like that this now works, but feel uneasy with not knowing under exactly what circumstances this is done.
(3) When I did a full drive copy, the last logical volume on the drive was expanded to use the rest of the free space on the drive! How do I avoid this? I unchecked the "proportional" box. All the volumes other than the last one on the copy are the correct size, free space between partitions is removed (as I wanted) but the last volume gets expanded. It seems to take it quite a bit of time to do this unnecessary bit, as well.
(4) You seem to not copy Boot Manager data exactly - or at all. (I am using Paragon Boot Manager). The drive I copied TO previously had a Windows Server 2003 installation as well as Windows XP. The drive I copied FROM had only Windows XP. After copying, on the copy, Boot Manager still says Windows Server 2003 in the menu - although it now boots Windows XP. I'm assuming it is the untouched Boot Manager that was originally on the disk that I copied to, and there was no copy made of the boot sector?
(1) So far, I have run only from the CD (in the past, I've preferred to run the DOS version, which I always put in it's own partition with other DOS utilities, such as BIOS update, etc.) While there seems to be a DOS version for 8.5 (the "safe mode" version?) I can't find any instructions for creating a DOS installation. Obviously, it will no longer fit on a floppy, but I don't care about that. Just want to get it into a directory that I can copy into my DOS partition.
(2) I am pleased to see that in 8.5 when doing a drive copy, you now modify the drive-letter mapping in the registry hive of the copy. I know this because there is a message displayed as it is doing it, and, as well, for the first time I've been able to backup my XP system and run from the backup without having to fiddle with drive letter changes before the system would run correctly. (I have oddball mnemonic drive letters - M: for music, I: for install images, P: for photographs, etc. What really goofs me up is my insistence on T: for temporary files, and V: for VM (pagefile). ;)
Anyway, this seems to work fine now, but... I cannot find any documentation. Is this done only on full drive copy, or individual partition copy as well? I guess it couldn't for the latter. What if there are two OS partitions (say, a hidden one as well) being copied? I like that this now works, but feel uneasy with not knowing under exactly what circumstances this is done.
(3) When I did a full drive copy, the last logical volume on the drive was expanded to use the rest of the free space on the drive! How do I avoid this? I unchecked the "proportional" box. All the volumes other than the last one on the copy are the correct size, free space between partitions is removed (as I wanted) but the last volume gets expanded. It seems to take it quite a bit of time to do this unnecessary bit, as well.
(4) You seem to not copy Boot Manager data exactly - or at all. (I am using Paragon Boot Manager). The drive I copied TO previously had a Windows Server 2003 installation as well as Windows XP. The drive I copied FROM had only Windows XP. After copying, on the copy, Boot Manager still says Windows Server 2003 in the menu - although it now boots Windows XP. I'm assuming it is the untouched Boot Manager that was originally on the disk that I copied to, and there was no copy made of the boot sector?