shadow Protect and solid state drives

Perhaps I should have asked first but have just placed an order for am OCZ 32GB Sata 2 solid state drive to be used with Windows Xp and C: Has anyone use used Shadow Protect to image SS drives. If the OS sees them as ordinary sata 2 drives is there likely to be a problem ?

 

Nor did I but unfortunately Storagecraft have just advised that at the moment SP will not work with any Solid date drive. Have sent an e-mail to cancel my order. If I'm too late looks like I will have an expensive door stop.

 

They won't be expensive doorstops . You can still use them as hard drives. You just cant back them up. (Most people dont back their hard drives, do they all have door stops?)

More seriously though, wouldn't SP work with SSDs?

 

I have looked at all the usual suspects ( Acronis, Paragon, Ghost) and none of them calim to be able to make an image of SSD. I wonder if this is because of the way data is randomly distributed ?

I had intended to use the SSD as C: and keep data on a western digital 1Tb.
most people don't back up drives I know but I do. I made and restored images at least 4 or 5 times today. If it is a choice between SP and a ss drive then SP wins. On the otherhand I do have an old pc I could use it in and then use Shadow Defender to freeze the system.

 

i cant see it making a difference tbh.
i may email paragon and ask since ocz solid state drives are half the price of the compeitor ones.
i cant see it making a difference.
its just another sata drive.
i wouldnt think they would need to say supports solid state drives.
alot of laptops have options of solid state drives these days.
from dell and other big companies.
so if imaging apps wont work on them they better hurry up and fix that.

 

Interesting!

Just tried to back up my USB flash drive which would have similar physical characteristics to a full sized SSD,both generally using NAND type flash memory.

Its recognised OK by SP as a regular drive-but in fact cant be backed up.

All these alternative methods-VSS and VSNAP failed.

The obvious reason would be that the flash memory which most SSDs have,cant be read by them.

 

Great idea Hairy. Very useful test. I do hope that SP and the others are working on this. SSD is going to replace HD very quickly and the thought of not being able to image C: is not good.

 

Hello,
Try and see.
BTW, how about PartImage or CloneZilla, try those too.
And if nothing works, the good ole Linux dd should.
Mrk

 

Hi Mrkvonic - Have just received ack from Overclockers that my order has been cancelled. could you explain more by what you mean "good ole Linux dd should"
? Is this a program that I can try ? I have various ssd external drives I could try

 

i have just backed up and restored my corsair flash voyager usb flash drive with paragon and worked without issues.
btw is this what you ordered?
or did you order the original core seris?
core 2 seris seems to be very new.
i found this quote interesting "IMPORTANT NOTE: Solid State Drives DO NOT require defragmentation. It may decrease the lifespan of the drive"

 

This is the one http://tinyurl.com/5f3sap might not be exactly the same ?

 

the slightly older ones.
core seris
these are the core 2 newer ones

 

Hello,

Here you go:
http://linux.die.net/man/1/dd

There's also a windows version, so you can try in windows:
http://unxutils.sourceforge.net/

Lots of GNU/Linux goodies for Windows ...

Mrk

 

I did try to backup the Flash drive using Paragon Drive Backup Express and the good news is that it does work quickly and effectively as mentioned-as regards backing up and restoring.

I think it would be safe to assume DBE would also backup a SSD.

Still available free here

 

Is it a legit offer?

Thanks

 

It downloaded and installed ok. made an image. bit slow but it is free so can't complain. But I couldn't get it to restore from within windows. Do I have to use the CD to restore ?

@Mrkvonic - thanks for the links

 

Yes -its a basic version with limited features as described here

I just used the Restore Wizard,not the CD.
Possibly the "archive location" got mixed up?
Worked OK,but slower than SP-dont think SP has anything to worry about.
Takes a bit of getting used to .

 

Thanks.

 

just used the free Paragon to make an image of a 1gb MP3 player. took a while but it worked.

Then Tried Shadow Protect from within windows - it failed to start.
Using the Shadow protect CD it worked but at a speed of 0.94 taking 1 min 36 sec to image 1 GB. The sixe of the image 0.92 gb and the time it took suggests that SP had to image the whole of the MP3 Player. I do hope that someone is working on this.

 

Latops featuring SSDs will become more popular. Maybe this will encourage SP to update this feature.

 

That's what worries me. 5 years from now only those who still use fax and video will still be using hard drives. The world is awash with cheap silicon and TSM http://www.superssd.com/ doesn't seem to be aimed at the home user.

 

FWIW Acronis 12 beta had no problem imaging my 1 gb mp3. Same speed as SP
but worked from within windows. able to mount image and play tracks so looks like a good image.