TeraCopy has trouble working with some Macrium Reflect mounted images

[Clairvaux]

Callender,

Do you know whether PC Hunter uses Windows Explorer copy function ? Or does it have its own copy routine ?

 

[Clairvaux]

The only thing I moved from my C: drive to E: were my Documents, Music, and Pictures folders. That might have caused a problem if I wqs using Windows Backup but I don't and it hasn't been a problem for me when using Macrium Reflect and FFS.

I had a look at the Free File Sync site, and the amount of praise heaped upon it is impressive. How do you use it with Macrium ? Mount image / Restore select folders with Free File Sync ?

Just for fun, jumping from the FFS site I found this discussion, which tends to say you can't verify the integrity of a file after it's copied, and what do you mean by "verify", anyway ? Not that I understood the finer points of it, but it's the sort of thing that makes you think what the hell, let's copy the lot and be done with it.

 

[Clairvaux]

-- sources recommend not splitting Windows Prime [such as OS and/or Users and/or My Documents] into C-partition and D-partition operations. I left My Documents alone, and have been for years "tellling" each program to save its stuff onto D-partition.

There has been a loooong discussion over that in 7-Forums (and also elsewhere) verging to religious wars -- search for something like Kari + Tutorials + Sysprep -- and I've finally settled on this conclusion (not through personal technical knowledge, mind you, just trying to evaluate other people's opinion, adding it to my own, admittedly limited, user experience) :

• Those recommending against moving User profiles and ProgramData from C: to D: refer to a now obsolete technical note by Microsoft, which was true in Vista times but not anymore. This note is probably still online and is probably still misleading, in that it does not explicitly say that Windows 7, 8 and 10 have made this warning obsolete.
• Microsoft supports such a setup in practice even if it does not say so, since it provides tools to implement it, and has even eased the process as time went by.
• Setups with ProgramData and Users moved on D: work without a hitch (in spite of the Microsoft paper saying it's for "test environments" only).
• The only problem with such a configuration is you won't be able to upgrade from one Windows version to the other -- not to be confused with Windows Updates within your own version which work perfectly.
• This site (and probably others) provide instructions to undo the move, do the upgrade and redo the move if you really need to go from W7 to 8 -- or, God forbid, to 10 -- without reinstalling from scratch. This is a bit of a pain, but it can be done.

For what it's worth...

 

[Callender]

Callender,

Do you know whether PC Hunter uses Windows Explorer copy function ? Or does it have its own copy routine ?

I have to confess that I don't know. As far as I can work out it uses it's own copy function. However I tested it on locked system files without success.

Example:

Attempted to copy folder (C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\WebCache) containing locked system files using PCHunter:

Result:

​

It fails to copy locked system files Webcachev01.dat and Webcachev01.tmp even if those files are selected for copy individually.

Using another tool to force copy the same folder gives the desired results:

​

The folder copies but without the locked Webcachev01.dat and Webcachev01.tmp files. However they can be force copied.

Result:

​

 

[Clairvaux]

I use an Admin account with UAC disabled (UAC has been replaced by something else)

Nominated for über-geek award of the year.

 

[Callender]

I should explain that it's best to leave UAC enabled on it's highest level. Personally I use security software that doesn't let any new executable that does not already exist on my system run. It then scans the file and gives a report before prompting to allow, block or sandbox. It suits me. Once whitelisted I won't get bothered again by prompts when I run the file.

 

[Callender]

RE: moving User profiles and ProgramData from C: to D:

Well I used to do that and it does make sense. If windows won't boot you can restore your windows partition without loosing personal files right?

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

The only thing I moved from my C: drive to E: were my Documents, Music, and Pictures folders. That might have caused a problem if I wqs using Windows Backup but I don't and it hasn't been a problem for me when using Macrium Reflect and FFS.

I had a look at the Free File Sync site, and the amount of praise heaped upon it is impressive. How do you use it with Macrium ? Mount image / Restore select folders with Free File Sync ?

Just for fun, jumping from the FFS site I found this discussion, which tends to say you can't verify the integrity of a file after it's copied, and what do you mean by "verify", anyway ? Not that I understood the finer points of it, but it's the sort of thing that makes you think what the hell, let's copy the lot and be done with it.

Strictly speaking, I do not use Macrium Reflect (MR) with FFS. Both are used independently. I use MR to image my C: drive to back it up. Imaging is the only practical way to back up System (OS) files. However, imaging is very inefficient for backing up most data files. It takes too long and requires much too much storage space.

I keep my data segregated from my System. When I set up my desktop machine, I dragged my Documents, Music, and Pictures folders from my User folder on the C: drive (a 128GB Samsung 840 SSD) to my E: drive (a 2TB WD Black HDD). I have yet to mount an image since there is nothing there that I need to get at separately.

To back up my data on the E: drive (and the F: drive, another 2TB WD Black HDD), I use FFS and save the backup on 2TB WD Green HDDs that I use as external HDDs (I have a 3.5" HDD dock built into my computer). Normally, it is bad practice to save backups (in this case, images) on a drive that is installed in the machine being backed up but, since I backup my E: drive separately, I save my images to the E: drive to make restoring an image more convenient. The images get becked up whe the E: drive gets backed up.

FFS, when set to Mirror Mode, essentially makes a copy of the drive onto another drive. When updating the backup, FFS will compare the source drive to the backup drive to see what has changed, then will copy and paste changed and added files from the source drive to the backup drive and delete files on the backup drive that are no longer on the source drive.

I also have a Versioning drive (a 4TB WD Black HDD) in my machine. FFS has a feature, called Versioning, that will save data that gets deleted from a backup drive to a designated Versioning folder or drive. Versioning allows you to recover data that was deleted during a backup or earlier versions of changed files.

Another thing I use FFS for is to automatically backup my Favorites folder on my C: drive. I save the backup to a folder on the E: drive, which then gets backed up when the E: drive gets backed up. I also need to back up my App Data folder the same way but I haven't gotten around to setting it up (yet).

The FFS Verify hack I mentioned isn't officially sanctioned because it apparently caused problems on some systems but I haven't any problems with it. "Verify" means the program will check the file that was just copied to make sure the copy is identical to the original file.

Macrium Reflect has a similar function, only here it is sanctioned, where it will verify that an image just created doesn't have any errors in it.

 

[maxseven]

There has been a loooong discussion over that in 7-Forums (and also elsewhere) verging to religious wars -- search for something like Kari + Tutorials + Sysprep -- and I've finally settled on this conclusion (not through personal technical knowledge, mind you, just trying to evaluate other people's opinion, adding it to my own, admittedly limited, user experience) :

• Those recommending against moving User profiles and ProgramData from C: to D: refer to a now obsolete technical note by Microsoft, which was true in Vista times but not anymore. This note is probably still online and is probably still misleading, in that it does not explicitly say that Windows 7, 8 and 10 have made this warning obsolete.
• Microsoft supports such a setup in practice even if it does not say so, since it provides tools to implement it, and has even eased the process as time went by.
• Setups with ProgramData and Users moved on D: work without a hitch (in spite of the Microsoft paper saying it's for "test environments" only).
• The only problem with such a configuration is you won't be able to upgrade from one Windows version to the other -- not to be confused with Windows Updates within your own version which work perfectly.
• This site (and probably others) provide instructions to undo the move, do the upgrade and redo the move if you really need to go from W7 to 8 -- or, God forbid, to 10 -- without reinstalling from scratch. This is a bit of a pain, but it can be done.

For what it's worth...

RE: moving User profiles and ProgramData from C: to D:

Well I used to do that and it does make sense. If windows won't boot you can restore your windows partition without loosing personal files right?

This thread caught my eye because I have used TeraCopy for years, but I found this sidebar discussion to be very useful indeed so thanks fellas.

There are a couple of tutorials here on this subject, though it does seem that if all you want to do is move say a large Music or Pictures folder, then right-click, Properties, Location, Move may be all that is needed.

 

[Clairvaux]

Strictly speaking, I do not use Macrium Reflect (MR) with FFS [...]

Thanks, Lady Fitzgerald. I caught up with your post right now.

I've experimented with Free File Sync, and it's indeed an interesting piece of software. Too bad the help is rather thin on the ground. From the point of view of features and user interface, I find it's a draw between Free File Sync and Sync Back Free (paid version of the latter has more features). Both have their advantages. Free File Sync is better if you want to be able to compare source files and destination files visually at all times.

The FFS Verify hack I mentioned isn't officially sanctioned because it apparently caused problems on some systems but I haven't any problems with it.

Apparently it's sanctioned now. At least it's mentioned in the online help with no specific warning, among other options only accessible by modifying a file manually.