internal hard drives

Repa wrote:

Nice going, Fay. Think I'll give Macrium Reflect a try. Sounds pretty easy and straightforward, more so than DirectImage XML.

Fay wrote:

Repa,

Let me know what happens when you try it. As I said I did have not tried the resotere part on a multi - paritiotn disk contaianing an active partiton.

I did finally give Macrium Reflect a try and it is very easy to understand and use, but slow. I did restore a partition on one of my internal drives with no problem from the Macrium Rescue disk I created with Linus. Works fine.

Repa,

Glad you got it to work.

I made some more changes to the partitions on the drive in this computer (win 7). Decided I better create a new image file. Wanted to create it with both Macrium Reflect and the one inside windows - just to have an option.

I tried Macrium Reflect first, it ran and ran and ran. I was beginning to think something was wrong and there was, it finally timed out (or something) Can't remember the exact error.
So, I tried it with the image create inside of windows. It would not run either - got an error - again don't remember exactly what.

I was beginning to think I had messed something up witht the partitions. But, decided to give another try. I checked and found I had some things running I thought I had shut down. I shut down most things showing under applications - and tried again.

Macrium Reflect then ran ok and so did the windows version. I was relieved. I don't know what was interfering with them running, but whatever it was affected both. I don't not how long each ran - so I don't know which took the longest. Next time I run them I need to try to remember to check that out.

Did you create a rescue disk with Macrium Reflect? I think I told you before I did the Linux one - because I don't have the disk I need to do the other and it seemed simplest anyway. Haven't actually tried to do the restore on this computer, but it worked fine on the winxp computer.

Fay

fay47 wrote:

Did you create a rescue disk with Macrium Reflect? I think I told you before I did the Linux one - because I don't have the disk I need to do the other and it seemed simplest anyway. Haven't actually tried to do the restore on this computer, but it worked fine on the winxp computer.

Yes, that's exactly what I did - created the linux rescue disk, and used it to restore the partition. Works fine. I would guess that if you are imaging your C drive, you would need to have all applications stopped so the image doesn't change as the imaging process is taking place. I did an image of both my C drive and D drive on my Dell laptop with no problem. Took about 45 minutes on the C drive and about 1.5 hours on the D drive, if I remember correctly. Slow, but very straight forward and easy to use. I had to send the laptop back to Dell for a Depot repair - the NVIDIA chip for the laptop screen was going out on me, so I did the backup with Macrium Reflect and then removed all personal data, cookies, history, pictures, and favorites from the machine so no one could find userids, passwords, banking and investment info, personal photos, or see where we go on the internet, etc. I checked to see if I could see the backup files ok using the rescue disk I created for my desktop, and that worked fine.

I think my wife is in her second childhood - when we sent the Dell laptop off, she didn't last a day until she wanted to go out and get another laptop. She's become a game junky and acted like a person going through withdrawal symptoms. So, I got her another - an Acer with Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium. So far, I don't like Windows 7 as far as finding where to go to configure things the way I want them. I don't like the security restrictions on the user either, but did find how to activate the Administrator account so I could do more stuff, and also turn off that annoying message about "do you want this application to execute" or whatever. Why do they change everything you are familiar with just because it's a new operating system, I'll never understand. Took me a couple of days to get everything the way I wanted it because of that.

The computer works fine. It was cheap but well-built with quality hardware components, has a nice 15.6in display, 324GB SATA Hard drive, SD card input, fast (but not internet gaming fast, which we don't care about anyway) AMD 1.6GB E350 Fusion Technology Dual Core processor that is very cool, only 18 watts compared to the 35 watt Pentiums and other AMD processors. The laptop never feels warm, even after using it all day.

So, now that I have Windows 7 to look at, it should be easier for me to answer questions about it, and the network too, which I initially struggled with but finally got it working and communicating with the other computers on my network. The only thing I haven't figured out yet is how to access the C drive on the Windows 7 machine from an XP machine like I can between my XP machines. I get access denied even though I have the C drive shared with everyone, but I can access the shared folders on the C drive of the Win 7 machine fine from my XP machines. I can access all the shared drives on my XP machines from the Windows 7 machine, as well as all the shared folders on those drives. So, that's good enough for now until I can find out how the Windows 7 security system is blocking me from accessing a shared drive on its machine even though I can access the folders on that drive, and whether I can do anything about it without compromising the security of the system.

Repa,

Yep, I finally get used to something and then they have to change it. But I hope to have this computer a long time and hope I will not have any need of upgrading the OS - guess only time will tell.

I think I am rather addicted to the computer myself. I don't play the types of games that most do. But I do play spider - actually I can kind of almost put my brain in neutral when I do that - cause I don't play it very seriously. I would have computer withdrawal if I had to be without mine. At least for now - I have my old computer as a backup.
A friend of mine finally talked me into setting up a Facebook account. Still not to sure about it, have my security on it set where only friends can see most of my stuff.

I don't play around as much with my computer as I might if I were not working - just don't have the energy most of the time. My work is kind of sporadice, will be busy for a while then nothing to do for a while. WHen I don't have antyhing to do for work, then I play around with mine more. RIght now I am kind of buy at work not sure for how long. Sometimes thouh something comes up that I am really concerned about and I do try to check that out. I wanted to try to be sure I could restore in case of a hard drive crash. I know the chances of that happening are pretty high since I had it happen twice on the other computer.

I played around just a small amount with sharing files between my xp computer and the 7 computer. Can't remember but seems like I did have some problems. But I ended up creating a couple of partitions on my hard drive for my data - so I don't put much on C. But my e-mail etc still foes on C - I have not tried to change that. What do you do on that?

fay47 wrote:

But my e-mail etc still foes on C - I have not tried to change that. What do you do on that?

I don't use Outlook or Outlook Express for email. I use hotmail and gmail and have all my contacts on hotmail so I don't have to worry about backing up the address book. On XP, that stuff is in Documents and Settings, and even though you check it for sharing files and folders on the network, the security system won't allow it for whatever reason. I might check on this when I have time and see if there is a way around it, just for grins.

Fay, last night I discovered how to share the C drive, or any drive on Windows 7 over the network. There is a change in Windows 7 with regard to sharing the C drive. The default security template no longer include "Everyone," which is not the case in XP. In order to share C drive with no authentication, you have to add "Everyone" to Security. To do that:

1. right click on the C drive or any drive you want to share, (on the Windows 7 machine)

2. click on "Share With" then "Advanced Sharing"

3. Set the drive up to share as you would for a folder, adding "Everyone" if it isn't already there, and giving Everyone Full Control, Read and Write privileges

4. Then, click on the Security tab, edit,

5. add Everyone and allow Full Control to Security.

Now, go look at the Windows XP machine and you should see the contents of the C drive or whatever you just shared.

This should work for restricted folders like Documents and Settings or Program Files on Windows 7 also, but I haven't tried that yet.

Update: just tried it on Documents and Settings. It works!

Reap,

Tried following your instructions for sharing the C drive.
When I went to my network places on my XP computer - I could see the drive and when I opened it I could see part but not all the contents.

Tried shairng USers. Could see the suers folder but could not getinto all the user folders only part of them. Seems they had to have a password before I could get into them.

Tried sharing Documents and Settings - but it said I couldn't. Dind't Users kind of take its palce on Win 7?

I went back and chnage C to not share - not sure if it should be left to share the whole drive?

Fay

Guess, I'll have to come back to this some time later when I feel more like messing with it. The security stuff really confuses me and I don't want to mess up and get it set to make it easier for someone to hack into.

Thanks for all you help. I'll be interested in any other inforrmation you come up with.

Fay

Ok, I've got this figured out for Windows 7. Here's what you have to do to get access to folders you don't have access to, regardless of whether you want to share them or not:

1. Right-click on the folder and select the Security tab, select "Everyone" and click on the Advanced button :



You will get the following window:



2. Note that the first entry is “Deny Everyone.” The permission setting indicates you can see the folder but you can't see what's in it. You need to change “Deny Everyone” to “Allow Everyone.” To do this:
3. Click on the line that says Deny Everyone and Click “Change Permissions.” You will get the following window:



4. Make sure “Deny Everyone” is highlighted, and if it's not, click on it. Click the “Edit” button. You will get the following window:



5. If “Everyone” is not highlighted, click on it and then under "Allow" click the box next to “Full Control.” This will fill in all the boxes under "Allow" with check marks except the last box.
6. Click Ok > Click Ok. This gets you back to the first window (“Folder Name” Properties):



7. If you don't want to share the folder, click Close.
8. If you want to share the folder, Click the Sharing tab, click Advanced Sharing. You get the following window:



9. Check the box beside “Share this folder.” Click the Permissions button. You get the following window:



10. If “Everyone” isn't highlighted, click on it to highlight it. Under “Allow”, Click the box beside “Full Control.” All boxes should now show checks under “Allow.”
11. Click Ok, Click Ok, Click Close.

12. Your folder should now be available to other computers on your network.

Hi Repa,

I haven't a chance to try it yet, but I will when I can.

Thanks,
Fay

Repa,

I just gave it a try. I was able to share the MyDocuments folder for the users I was logged it as (as an administrator). But when I tried it on another users folder - I got an error. So I guess you can only doe it for the user you are logged in as - or am I doing soemthing wrong. THat is ok, I don't really have a need to do it was just trying it out and wondering if I am doing soemthing wrong.

Also, just a question. Waht is the affectin of sahring for Everyone - with full controll. What does Everyone apply to. Is that jsut for people on the local network or am I going to be at risk by using that?

Thanks
Fay

When you can't access a folder in your current user account, you have to take "Ownership" of the folder in order to assign access to your account and other user accounts on your computer, or to "Everyone" if you want to share the folder on your Local Area Network (LAN). I think I did this in the "real" Administrator account as this account gives you powers you don't have in your current account, even though it is an administrator account. In the "real" Administrator account, you can do just about anything you want to do if you know how. To access the Administrator account:

1. Right-Click on the CMD Prompt and select "Run as administrator"

2. Type the following on the cmd prompt line at the flashing cursor:

net user administrator /active:yes

3. Log off your current account. The Windows logon screen will appear with your current account and the Administrator account. Select the Administrator account to logon.

Note: if you plan to keep the Administrator Account active, I suggest you assign a strong password to it. I don't keep it active and therefore did not assign a password. I'll explain how to deactivate it near the end of this post.

In the Administrator account, select the folder(s) you want access to but couldn't in your normal user account. If you still don't have access, or have access but cannot Share the folder with other users or your Local Area Network, you will have to take "Ownership" of the folder(s). To do that, the following link explains step-by-step how to do it:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc753659.aspx

Once you take ownership, you can assign permissions to other users or Everyone if you want to share it on your LAN.

When you are finished using the Administrator account, you should deactivate it unless you assign it a strong password. To do this:

1. Log off the Administrator account. The Windows Logon screen will appear.

2. Logon to your normal user account.

3. Right-Click on the CMD Prompt and select "Run as administrator"

4. Type the following on the cmd prompt line at the flashing cursor:

net user administrator /active:no

The "real" Administrator account is now deactivated. You should be able to access the folder(s) you took ownership of in the Administrator account and assigned permissions to other users or "Everyone" if that is what you did.

Assigning full control of folders on your computer to "Everyone" allows all other user accounts on your computer and other computers on your LAN that are members of your workgroup to access the folders that you assign Network Folder Sharing to. The default name of the LAN workgroup is "Workgroup", so be sure you use a different name for the workgroup on your LAN other than "Workgroup" and you shouldn't have any worries about someone getting in from outside your LAN or your workgroup. Do make sure you have your Local Area Network behind a router. If you don't have a router, get one and don't network share your printer and folders on the LAN until you do.

Repa,

I'll have to come back to this when I have to time to mess with it. I need to print this off and file it so I'll have it. I'll never remember it.

I am not concerned about anyone on my LAN actually I am the only one. I do have a router and have all 3 computer connected to it. My work computer and my 2 computers, I don't share anything with the work computer thru the work group. The office set it up,
I'll have to remember to change the workgroup name for my 2 computers.

I had heard something about the "real" administrator account, but don't really know much about it. When I get the chance I'll have to come back and give this all a try. As I said, it is nothing I really need to do at this point just want to learn about it,

After I try this out I'll let you know how it goes - just not sire when that will be.

Thanks a lot for the information!!!!

Fay

Repa,

I saw you set up the tutoiral for sharing - I thought about asking you to do that - so we'll know where to go to look for it.

Thanks for doing that.

Fay

You're welcome, Fay. When you go through it, let me know if you have any problems with understanding a step, or if something doesn't work as expected. I think I got everything right, but if I didn't, I'll need to know so I can correct it. Also, if I need to make something clearer, let me know.

Repa,

I'll let you know when I get a chance to get back to it.

Thanks again,
Fay

Just thought I'd mention that I used Easeus to shrink my M drive and expand my L drive on my spare internal hard drive on my desktop computer - worked like a charm and didn't take very long! Then I deleted everything on the L drive and restored it from a Macrium Reflect image. Also worked like a charm! Then, shrunk my C drive on my new Acer laptop to create unallocated space for another partition, using the Windows 7 Disk Manager. No problems, and did the tasks very quickly. I now have a C and D partition on my Acer Laptop!

Windows 7 Disk Manager and File and Image Backup seem to work as advertised, as well as Macrium Reflect and Easeus. Macrium Reflect and Windows 7 File Backup and Image Backup are pretty slow, but both are easy to use and seem to do the job.

HP Repa

Yeah, I think Easesus and Macrium Reflect will work fine for my XP machine, and the built in tools will for what I need to do on my Win 7machine - and probably also Macrium Reflect will for ok on my Win 7 machine. I have created images with both for my WIn 7 machine to increase my chances of getting something to work in case of trouble.
When I first created a partition for my data on Win7 - I could not make it as large as I would have because I could not shrink my C drive enough, but I have plenty of room. I actually went back and split the partition I had made for my personal data and made 2 partitions of it - to hold different types of information. I don't store a lot of large files so as of now - I have plenty of room on all partitions.

I do plan on coming back and playing with the sharing some more - just don't have the energy right now so not sure when that will be. But I'll be sure and let you know how it goes after I do.

Fay

Fay, the reason you couldn't shrink the C drive on Win 7 is because there are unmovable system files (System Restore and the Paging File for Virtual Memory) that are placed some distance out on the disk from your other files. If you want to shrink the C partition to get more unallocated space so you can increase the size of your other partition, do the following:

1. Turn off System Restore and delete (use the Delete button) your restore files in Win7 (you have to do both in Win 7, unlike XP where you only have to turn off System Restore). Move the slider for your allocated restore space to the extreme left.

2. Select "No paging file" for your virtual memory,

3. Now, do a defrag on the C drive. I recommend using Auslogics Disk Defrag for doing this using the "Defrag and Optimize" feature. If you don't have this application, you can download it here (don't choose to install the Ask Toolbar when offered during the setup):

http://majorgeeks.com/Auslogics_Disk_Defrag_d5266.html

4. Using Windows 7 Disk management, you should now be able to shrink the C partition to get the unallocated space you need to increase the size of your other partition.

5. When done changing your partition size, turn your Paging File back on, turn on System Restore, readjust the slider for your allocated restore space, and create a new restore point.

On my Win7 machine, I checked to see how much I could shrink the C drive of 320GB before doing the above steps, and I could only shrink it to 149GB. After doing the above steps, I could shrink it to 34GB, but that would have left me no space on the C drive, so I made the partition 61GB, giving me 27GB of free space. I have most of what I want on this machine now, so that gives me plenty of extra space for applications.

I'm assuming you know where everything is in order to do the above steps. If you need further directions, let me know.

Repa,

Well, I managed to follow you instructions and shrink my C partition. But when I go to extend the partions I created for my data, Extend Volume is grayed out - so what is my problem?


Thanks,
Fay

Repa,

I think the reason I could not use the Win7 tools to expand the partitions I had created earlier is that when I shrunk the C partition the unused space was not in a location that could be used by the WIN7 tool to expand those partitions. I had EASUS on my win xp computer but not this one. I downloaded it on this computer. It allowed me to move the partitions around to put the unused space at the end of the partition I wanted to expand - and then expand the partition.

So, I got it done - I used WIN7 tools to shrink the C partition but then had to use EASUS to move the unallocated space and then I expanded my other partition.

Thanks for all the information. So much to learn - and trouble with me - I forget

Fay

I think I have the partitions on my win7 machine about the way I want them for now.

Repa, thanks for all your instructions.
I also used the Auslogica DisDefrag to defrag my external pockedt drive. I did the defrag and optomize. I have no idea what the optomize part does - guess I should do some reading about that. It took over 7 hours to finish!!!! wow - I did not expect it to take that long. But that is where I keep my system image and bakup files - and it appeared those were the things where it took a long time.

Still a lot to learn.

Fay

Fay, optimize ususally does take longer that just a normal defrag, but that is because the application compresses the files and tries to put everything in the same location on the disk so you don't have fragments of unused space all over your disk. I use it because it does a really good job and it is very fast compared to the Windows defrag. It only takes a couple of minutes or less to defrag my C drive, even with optimize on, although I try to remember to do it weekly, so that probably keeps things pretty organized. I did notice that it slowed down considerably on the external drive where all my backups and images are, perhaps taking a couple of hours or so - don't remember, but nothing like 7 hours. Maybe your disk wasn't well organized to start with and will go faster next time - I don't know.

Repa,

When I ran the utilityon the C drive - it did not take too long. Can't remember just how long - but it was ok.

The on it tokk 7 hours on is a USB drive -so that may have been part of the reason. When it was running - I watched it for a while - and it seemed when it was working on the bakukps and or/ images files is when it really took a long time.
That drive probably gets pretty fragmented. I'll run the utility on it again someitime and see how it goes - may try it with both the optimized and witthout it. THat drive is mainly for my backups - so I really don't read it much - just mainly store files to it.

Thanks,
Fay