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Tweaking.com Support & Help / Registry Backup - Weirdness on drive(s?) other than C:
« on: February 26, 2014, 09:17:03 am »
Hi,
First, a little background.. I've used ERUNT for years to backup my Windows' registry, but I recently got a new laptop with Win8.1, which ERUNT doesn't seem to properly back everything up. So I'm giving Tweaking.com's Registry Backup a try.. However, I'm set up in a specific way, using a very large library of hand crafted tools and utilities (both batch/cmd files and binary executables) which would be a major pain to go back and change them all at this point :-( Specifically, my drives are set up so that the C: drive is mainly for booting the OS, the files needed by the OS for normal operation, and *some* applications. I've moved my user profiles and the majority of applications to the D: (Data) and P: (Programs) drives, which I set up as additional partitions after trimming the C: drive down to just what it needs. Additionally, I've got another partition, the B: (Backup - And a throwback from when I used the B: drive for a IOMega Zip disk instead of a floppy drive) drive in which I have some critical backup/restore software and their data (including the metadata needed to restore the entire system from scratch, if need be).
Of course, I installed Registry Backup (RB) to this B: drive, and told it to use a dedicated folder on this drive for it's backup and data files. And this is where I seem to have my problem..
It looks like RB installed fine to the B: drive, and seems to start up fine, without any issues. However, when I click the button to backup manually now.. It creates a rift in the space-time continuum that seems to turn my B(ackup) drive in to a B(lack hole)! :-( First, VSS takes a long time to start (and the other problems persist even if I use the alternate method, either from the start, or by clicking the "I'm impatient" button): The B: drive just disappears, entirely and completely, from the system. RB spazzes out and fails to backup anything at all, and fails to even save a log file (it seems it can no longer find the B: drive anymore, either), File Explorer seems to think the drive has vanished, even the Disk Manager refuses to let me do anything with the B: partition. It still sees the partition, but it won't let me view it or assign it to a drive letter again. RB seems to fail because it cannot find the B: drive anymore, either--including not being able to save a log file (so I cannot provide a log file for you to look at!)
This seems to continue on even after RB fails to backup anything.. At first, I thought I would have to reboot to restore the universe to it's proper configuration.. But.. The moment I exited the RB application, my B: drive suddenly reappeared on it's own. I've tried this now four times, with the same results each time: As soon as I start the backup, the B: drive unmounts until I close RB. I tried to install RB to the C: drive and run it from there, but the same problem persists if I use the B: drive to store the data. Finally, I installed RB to the C: drive AND used the C: drive to store the RB data.. And everything worked beautifully without any problems.
So it would seem the RB does not like using anything but the C: drive, or whatever it is doing during it's backup prep-work, it's unmounting the other drive, even though it's trying to use the drive at the same time. Thankfully, it seems temporary and goes away as soon as the RB application terminates, so it seems very likely that the problem is within the RB code.
I have NOT tried RB with another drive, such as the D: or P: drives, but given it's behavior, I suspect the results would be much the same. I am not able to test this, though, as anything that unmounts D: or P: *will* bring my system to a crashing halt.. If need be, I can create a testing drive to test it on some other drive letter; Just let me know. I'll happily provide any other information to help diagnose the problem, too.
(*EDIT: Correction, I did try this on another temporary drive--using a USB "ThumbDrive", but not a hard disk partition, and had the same issues.*)
In the meantime, I'm working around the problem by backing up the registry to the C: drive, then copying the backup to the B: drive.. Just not sure how effective this would be if I need to restore, however.
Regards,
Cas
First, a little background.. I've used ERUNT for years to backup my Windows' registry, but I recently got a new laptop with Win8.1, which ERUNT doesn't seem to properly back everything up. So I'm giving Tweaking.com's Registry Backup a try.. However, I'm set up in a specific way, using a very large library of hand crafted tools and utilities (both batch/cmd files and binary executables) which would be a major pain to go back and change them all at this point :-( Specifically, my drives are set up so that the C: drive is mainly for booting the OS, the files needed by the OS for normal operation, and *some* applications. I've moved my user profiles and the majority of applications to the D: (Data) and P: (Programs) drives, which I set up as additional partitions after trimming the C: drive down to just what it needs. Additionally, I've got another partition, the B: (Backup - And a throwback from when I used the B: drive for a IOMega Zip disk instead of a floppy drive) drive in which I have some critical backup/restore software and their data (including the metadata needed to restore the entire system from scratch, if need be).
Of course, I installed Registry Backup (RB) to this B: drive, and told it to use a dedicated folder on this drive for it's backup and data files. And this is where I seem to have my problem..
It looks like RB installed fine to the B: drive, and seems to start up fine, without any issues. However, when I click the button to backup manually now.. It creates a rift in the space-time continuum that seems to turn my B(ackup) drive in to a B(lack hole)! :-( First, VSS takes a long time to start (and the other problems persist even if I use the alternate method, either from the start, or by clicking the "I'm impatient" button): The B: drive just disappears, entirely and completely, from the system. RB spazzes out and fails to backup anything at all, and fails to even save a log file (it seems it can no longer find the B: drive anymore, either), File Explorer seems to think the drive has vanished, even the Disk Manager refuses to let me do anything with the B: partition. It still sees the partition, but it won't let me view it or assign it to a drive letter again. RB seems to fail because it cannot find the B: drive anymore, either--including not being able to save a log file (so I cannot provide a log file for you to look at!)
This seems to continue on even after RB fails to backup anything.. At first, I thought I would have to reboot to restore the universe to it's proper configuration.. But.. The moment I exited the RB application, my B: drive suddenly reappeared on it's own. I've tried this now four times, with the same results each time: As soon as I start the backup, the B: drive unmounts until I close RB. I tried to install RB to the C: drive and run it from there, but the same problem persists if I use the B: drive to store the data. Finally, I installed RB to the C: drive AND used the C: drive to store the RB data.. And everything worked beautifully without any problems.
So it would seem the RB does not like using anything but the C: drive, or whatever it is doing during it's backup prep-work, it's unmounting the other drive, even though it's trying to use the drive at the same time. Thankfully, it seems temporary and goes away as soon as the RB application terminates, so it seems very likely that the problem is within the RB code.
I have NOT tried RB with another drive, such as the D: or P: drives, but given it's behavior, I suspect the results would be much the same. I am not able to test this, though, as anything that unmounts D: or P: *will* bring my system to a crashing halt.. If need be, I can create a testing drive to test it on some other drive letter; Just let me know. I'll happily provide any other information to help diagnose the problem, too.
(*EDIT: Correction, I did try this on another temporary drive--using a USB "ThumbDrive", but not a hard disk partition, and had the same issues.*)
In the meantime, I'm working around the problem by backing up the registry to the C: drive, then copying the backup to the B: drive.. Just not sure how effective this would be if I need to restore, however.
Regards,
Cas