Re: Xpress Recovery2 - The saga continues

"Daave" <dcwashNOSPAM@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:%23xgq54%23dJHA.1336@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Mickey Mouse" <Mickey@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:4L0cl.11602$cu.7323@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hi Brian,
Please don't misunderstand my next question. I don't mean any disrespect as I ask
in a most respectful way.
When it comes to this topic, do you know what you're talking about ? I've had a couple
replies and frankly those replies have come from some with little or no experiance re- XR2.

Just heard back from Gigabyte again.
Their response:
"The Unallocated space needs to be at least the same size as your system partition."

If that is Gigabyte's official response, it is safe to assume it is correct.

I believe they either mis-worded it in their reply or MM interpreted it in another form.

No, it must to be at the least, the same size as the total data on the
partition you're going to create the image for.

So, if I understand you,
If my OS + reg files + boot stuff + and all that other startup stuff
plus then my applications and every other damn thing else that gets installed onto my C: system partition
comes to say 5Gb, then my unallocated space should be minimum 5Gb. In which case I should make sure
that the unalllocated space I create is say, 10Gb to allow for future backup/image expansion.

If you say Yes to this, then I would have to say that's incorrect.

All Brian is saying is what the Gigabyte tech is saying. Why do you think it's incorrect?

I think not, I stated that the unallocated space needs to be at the least, the same size or larger as ONLY the data written to the disk to be imaged. Now either MM mis-worded the above or is still thinking in the way of the techs statement. I think the 5 GB mentioned was not intended to be the actual system partition size and was intended to be the total size of all data written to the drive.

I've tried many ways to get XR2 installed and going.
An example/
I've tried a C: primary partition of 300Gb and an 'unallocated space' of 100Gb

Unallocated *where*? On the destination drive? Or on the same physical disk (source disk) that C: resides?

It doesn't matter where the unallocated space is as long as it's in its own reserved Primary partition. Quoted from Gigabytes site, "For the use of Xpress Recovery2, a primary partition must be reserved."

Now the only thing at that time on my C: drive was my OS + Mobo drivers.
Adding those two together only comes to a few Gb's,,, maybe.
Now that 100Gb of 'unallocated space' should and is way, way big enough, right?

Wrong. Remember that the tech stated that "The Unallocated space needs to be at least the same size as your system partition." If your C: partition is 300 GB, then 100 GB of unallocated space on the destination drive is 200 GB too small. The unallocated space on the destination drive must be at least 300 GB in order to use that program. Of course, you may choose to run a different program that doesn't have this requirement. Or you can use a third-party program to resize your C: partition, shrinking it down to, say, 20 GB. If you were to do this, then the 100 GB of unallocated space on the destination drive would of course be more than sufficient.

Not correct unless you're going by what MM provided that the tech stated, which BTW I read into differently due to what's stated on Gigabytes site.
<quote>
Xpress Recovery2 will store the backup image file at the end of the hard disk,so user must reserve enough unallocated hard drive partition space in advance. (A minimum 4 GB is recommended but the actual space is dependent on the size of the data to be backed up)
</quote>

Note the wording "the actual space is dependent on the size of the data to be backed up".

Well I still get a message saying "Insufficient free HHD space to create the image Error 403".

The message is accurate. You need at least 300 GB of unallocated space on the destination HDD in order to accomplish what you are describing.

Not correct, unless the partition to be imaged is 300 GB or less. If in any way it was true and GBs of unused space were included in the image, they might as well toss the app in the trash and stay away from data backup developement.

If you want to make your life easier, don't use that program! Use either Acronis True Image or DriveImageXML. When you image with those programs, your destination hard drive doesn't need to have any unallocated space at all. Merely save the image archive -- plain and simple. Use compression and you won't need to use up such a large portion of the hard drive.

According to Gigabyte, if you take them literally, the 'unallocated space' in the above scenario should be
300Gb and not 100Gb's.

Yes.

Depends on which you believe is correct, the tech ot their site page.

In which case I might be able to reclaim some of the 'unallocatted space' AFTER
it's made it's own partition.

What do you mean by reclaim? The remainder *will* be unallocated space. If the destination hard drive is 500 GB and you don't have any partitions on there at all, then you have 500 GB of unallocated space. After you run your program, there will be one 300 GB partition and the rest will be 200 GB of unallocated space. You may do whatever you want with it. Create one or more partitions. Or do nothing at all.

And another little titbit I haven't mentioned yet which you might be interested in.
My main machine, the one I'm writing this on is also a gigabyte board.
On this machine I have two seperate physical hard drives. When I peek into disk management I see the following...

Disk 0 (E:)
Basic 149.04 GB NTFS (and it's a primary partition)
149.04 Gb Healthy
Online

Disk 1 (C:) (D:)
Basic 302.73 GB NTFS 361.33 GB NTFS 34.46GB
698.51 Gb Healthy (System) Healthy unallocted C: & D: are both Primary
Online

I am sure that 34.36 GB and 698.51 GB are reversed!

Now even with this machine I had the EXACT SAME PROBLEM, "not enough free hdd space to create image"

If you are tying to image E: (which is over 300 GB) onto the unallocated prtion of Disk 1, of course you'd have the same problem.

Just above E: shows to be 149.04 GB, which is less than 300 GB.

HOWEVER! I made E: 'active' and then for some reason XR2 installed and did it's thing.

What thing? What exactly happened?

I now have the following, after the system files and applications installed.

Disk 0 (E:)
Basic 149.04 GB NTFS (and it's a primary partition)
149.04 Gb Healthy (Active)
Online

Disk 1 (C:) (D:)
Basic 302.73 GB NTFS 361.33 GB NTFS 28.51GB 5.95GB
698.51 Gb Healthy (System) Healthy unallocted Healthy (EISA Configuration)
Remember, this only worked after making E: active.

The machine I want to install XR2 on only has one physical drive partitioned to C:300Gb & D:200Gb with 30Gb 'unallocated'
I'm wondering as I write this, can I, and what would happen if I made D: 'Active'?
Unfortunately, I won't have that machine back here for a few days
You know, mastering the Rubik's Cube was easier than this. I could walk away from this problem and live a happy life, but I'm
not going to let it go! Don't ya just luv a good puzzle
Getting to be a bit like a Sherlock Holmes novel though.

Do you have any other physcial hard drives other than the two in the PC? I was originally under the impression that you had a third (external) hard drive. If you want to make an image of E:, it should reside on a hard drive that is not in the same PC!



--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375


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Relevant Pages

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