Imaging question.

I have started using Shadowprotect Desktop on my XP Pro w/SP3 pc.
I seem to be confused or I'm just missing a step or two when I install the image.
Best example is this-I made an image of C, which is my system drive.
I kept the image in another partition.
When the need arose, I installed the image to C drive and it worked as it was supposed to.
However, the programs that I had installed on D drive, as an example, no longer worked. I could see them but they damn well would not open.
I clicked on their links and saw a pop up box that either stated that the program wasn't on the pc or that it wouldn't open.
Fortunately they weren't full of important stuff.
But I need to be able to understand what I did wrong so that I can use my pc for more tha just an expensive web surfer.
Thanks.
Hugger

 

Have you tried making new shortcuts to the exe files on the "d" drive? does "d" drive still show up as "d" drive under "my computer?

As long as the registry entries are still in the c: drive, the programs on the other hard drive have to work.

I use "true image" a similar product to what you are using and somethings run into similar problems, where after I restore my c: drive the shortcuts to the programs installed on a different hard drive don't work. Everytime all I have to do is make new shortcuts to the exe files on the other hard drive and that fixes everything. Usually what happens is the drive letter on the other hard drive changes to something else "d" becomes "e" etc. But it's an easy fix.

 

When you restore from an image you are also restoring the registry so in effect any apps installed to D drive after the image is made will lose any reg settings required to run.

 

How do I make/restore shortcuts from the restored image to the programs in the other drive?
I was able to see the programs in E drive. They were there to look at. I could open them from 'My Computer' but only to see that they were there. I could not open them to use them no matter what I tried.
Hugger

 

open up the program folder on the other drive (your e: drive), now look for the exe file. right click on the exe file and create a shortcut, now drag this shortcut to your desktop. Everytime you doubleclick on the shortcut file your program will startup.

Once you install a program, only certain entries are made to the c: registry. You can install the program anywhere you want c:/program files or d:/program files etc. The exe file always stays with the program directory not with the registry. You can move your program files to an external drive and it will still work when you doubleclick on the exe file. (as long as the registry shows it was properly installed).

No need to reinstall the program. I have yet to encounter a situation where a shortcut to the exe file didn't start the program.

 

Is there a reason why "programs" are installed to another drive ? I have no problems with Xp and programs on C: and data on D: ( my docs + firefox profile)

I assume that you are installing programs to D: ? Are you saying that programs installed before you imaged C: will not work or only programs installed after you have imaged C: ?

 

Peter,
I replaced C with the image. The image worked. The links to C from E did not.

jonyjoe81,
I'm doing another image duringthe week. I'll try your suggestion.

Long View,
Unfortunately I was trying to set it up to be more secure. My plan was to put Office on a large empty partition/drive and music and pictures on another empty partition/drive.
I got that from reading here how others have set up their partitions.
My C drive is system, D is optical reader/writer and E through H are different sized drives for various programs.
I replaced what was on C with the image I had made. And that's when I ran into trouble.
I have also asked Storagecraft Support for some help.
Sometimes I feel like just cutting the plug.
Oh well....
Hugger

 

Maybe windows reassigned drive letters on first boot after the restore?
Check the properties of a shortcut and see if it shows the correct path to the program.

 

All,
I did look to see if there was a path and on some of the programs there were no paths.
This week I'll try again when I do another image.
One way or the other I'll let you know if I get this figured out.
Thanks for your efforts.
Hugger

 

Hugger,

The apps on E drive should work,but looks like the associations to C drive have gone.

Go to Admin Tools-Computer Management-Disk Management and check if E drive is recognised OK etc.

As jonyjoe81 said-if above OK go the the exec.files of each app which wont load in C.
Click on them to see if they will start.
If they will -then just send a shortcut to the C desktop.
Otherwise use the "Open with "option,from the desktop of C- right click when a relevant file comes up and force it to be opened by the exe. in E drive.

If none of this works ,probably you will have to reinstall the non loading apps.

 

Maybe I've just partially solved this problem.
My system is C drive.
If I boot from my iso disk so that I can install the image residing on a different image, then install that image on C drive, am I automaticall completely replacing what was on C or am I doing something wrong?
Cause that's how I did it.
Thanks.
Hugger

 

Pete,
Thanks for your help.
I just downloaded some programs and put them on different partitions.
After I do the image restore I post the results.
Hugger

 

I just did an image restore and noticed something this time.
I restored the image successfully again.
But while I was doing it I noticed that SP Desktop does not show my images as being in the same partition as they really are.
I searched around for a little while and found them on drive E instead of drive F.

When I chose the image to restore I restored the incremental one I had just made tonight. I think that would have restored the whole OS, not just a few files.
Please tell me if I did that wrong.
The links from programs in other drives are working this time and I have no idea why.
Thanks.
Hugger

 

The problem had something to do with the partitions. The technical end of it wasn't explained to me but I am not the only person this has happened to.
I was told to reformat all the drives except for C. If that didn't work, then wipe the disk and only format C when I install XP.
I've just done an image restore after having reformatted the partitions and the problem seems to be taken care of.
Thanks everybody for trying to help.
Hugger