Shadow Copies on Laptop

Hi, (just registered)


On my Notebook (spec below), I’m trying to shadow copy Volumes C and E to the separate internal HDD Volume D.
I understand VSS requires Dynamic Disks. Diskmgmt.msc (command prompt/administrator) shows all drives as basic type. Right clicking on any of them does not offer ‘Conversion to Dynamic Disk’, and Properties don’t show a Shadow Copies tab.

Questions:
1. How do I convert from Basic to Dynamic disks on my mobile computer?
2. Do both source and target drives have to be Basic type?

HP HDX18 Notebook PC:
· Vista Ultimate (64bit, Ver. 6.0.6002, SP 2, Bld. 6002)
· 8GB RAM
· Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Extreme CPU Q9300 @ 2.53GHz, 2534 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
· 320MB HDD (C, E), NTFS, Basic, 144GB used
· 320MB HDD (D) , NTFS, Basic, 272GB free

TIA for any help.

As far as I know the shadowstorage has to be on the partition from where the shadows are taken. And why do you need to change that anyhow especially as you still working off the same HDD in your configuration.
If you really want to backup your C: and E: to a safe place (external disk), you might want to consider imaging/ghosting. Here are some details: Ghosting approaches - summary because of popular demand « How-To Geek Forums

whs said:

As far as I know the shadowstorage has to be on the partition from where the shadows are taken. And why do you need to change that anyhow especially as you still working off the same HDD in your configuration.
If you really want to backup your C: and E: to a safe place (external disk), you might want to consider imaging/ghosting. Here are some details: Ghosting approaches - summary because of popular demand « How-To Geek Forums

Click to expand...

Thanks for the quick response.
My thought was to guard against failure of my primary drive (C,E) by periodic automatic shadow copies onto the second internal drive D. That way I can do shadow copies without having to lug around an external drive when I’m on the road. Shouldn’t VSS allow this in Vista64?

I doubt that you have 2 seperate drives in the laptop - at least I have never seen a laptop with 2 drives (problem of space). They are probably only seperate partitions on the same disk. If this disk goes on the blink, storing the shadows on a seperate partition would not help anyhow.

whs said:

I doubt that you have 2 seperate drives in the laptop - at least I have never seen a laptop with 2 drives (problem of space). They are probably only seperate partitions on the same disk. If this disk goes on the blink, storing the shadows on a seperate partition would not help anyhow.

Click to expand...

My HP HDX18 Notebook PC has a 17”x11“ foot print with an 18.5” display. In Device Manager it lists two separate Disk Drives: ST9320421AS ATA Device. In System Information they are separately listed with different numbers of partitions (C/E=2, D=1) and they have different SCSI Bus and Port numbers. With today’s HDD miniaturization, could I be the proud owner of one of the first twin drive laptops? If so, I guess my original question is still open.

vonk said:

whs said:

I doubt that you have 2 seperate drives in the laptop - at least I have never seen a laptop with 2 drives (problem of space). They are probably only seperate partitions on the same disk. If this disk goes on the blink, storing the shadows on a seperate partition would not help anyhow.

Click to expand...

My HP HDX18 Notebook PC has a 17”x11“ foot print with an 18.5” display. In Device Manager it lists two separate Disk Drives: ST9320421AS ATA Device. In System Information they are separately listed with different numbers of partitions (C/E=2, D=1) and they have different SCSI Bus and Port numbers. With today’s HDD miniaturization, could I be the proud owner of one of the first twin drive laptops? If so, I guess my original question is still open.

Click to expand...

Hmm, very good. That is the first 2 drive laptop I have heard of. But in that case I recommend again to look at imaging (see my link above). With VSS you will not be able to do what you aim for. I had done my system backups with Norton Ghost to my second internal disk too (on a desktop). But I switched to an external disk that I disconnect after backing up. Reason was that it is a lot safer in case of a malware attack. Possible malware attacks are probably the main reason to backup your system. That will always allow you to be able to recover.