Disk Clone - drive letter assignment

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TeraMan
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Jan 06, 2021 7:16 pm

Disk Clone - drive letter assignment

Post by TeraMan »

I have a relatively simple situation but I can’t find straight forward solution for it.

Disk C: Main disk
Disk X: Clone of C:

I want to run a disk clone (i.e. IFW disk copy) periodically. I created a batch file that fires IFW and everything works as it should apart from one thing: the destination drive letter keeps changing from X: to E: after every copy.

I managed to address the problem with a diskpart script that changes the drive letter back to X: but I was wondering if there is a way to say to IFW to clone but keep the destination drive letter unchanged.

These are the files I use:

////////////// disk_clone.bat //////////////
@echo off
:: ------------------------------
"C:\Program Files (x86)\TeraByte Drive Image Backup and Restore Suite\imagew64.exe" /wait /copy /sd:{ ..... } /td:{ ..... } /fd /o /csig /rft /x /wco /chgvsn /vb /rwv
:: ------------------------------
diskpart /s script.diskpart.txt
label X: OS BACKUP
:: ------------------------------
DATE /T > "X:\Users\%USERNAME%\Desktop\BACKUP OS DISK.txt"
TIME /T >> "X:\Users\%USERNAME%\Desktop\BACKUP OS DISK.txt"
echo (flag file - it can be deleted) >> "X:\Users\%USERNAME%\Desktop\BACKUP OS DISK.txt"
:: ------------------------------

////////////// script.diskpart.txt //////////////
select volume 4
assign letter=X


Thank you!
TeraByte Support(PP)
Posts: 1644
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 12:51 am

Re: Disk Clone - drive letter assignment

Post by TeraByte Support(PP) »

Add the /csigut global option to retain the existing signature on the change.

imagew64.exe /wait /csigut /copy ....
TeraMan
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Jan 06, 2021 7:16 pm

Re: Disk Clone - drive letter assignment

Post by TeraMan »

TeraByte Support(PP) wrote:
> Add the /csigut global option to retain the existing signature on the
> change.
>
> imagew64.exe /wait /csigut /copy ....

I tried with this command line:
imagew64.exe /wait /csigut /copy /sd:{ ... } /td:{ ... } /fd /o /csig /rft /x /wco /chgvsn

but Windows 10 keeps changing the drive letter to E:

Is is possible that some other option conflicts with /csigut?
TeraByte Support(PP)
Posts: 1644
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 12:51 am

Re: Disk Clone - drive letter assignment

Post by TeraByte Support(PP) »

Keep the partition copy as simple as possible and try it. For example, try it without /rft, /chgvsn, and /x.
TeraMan
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Jan 06, 2021 7:16 pm

Re: Disk Clone - drive letter assignment

Post by TeraMan »

TeraByte Support(PP) wrote:
> Keep the partition copy as simple as possible and try it. For example, try
> it without /rft, /chgvsn, and /x.

I run the following command but unfortunately Windows 10 keeps changing the drive letter to E:

imagew64.exe /wait /csigut /copy /csig /fd /o /sd:w0 /td:w1

I tried inside a Hyper-V virtual machine with two vhdx drives (inside the VM they are C: and X:) and with an external USB drive but the result is the same.
TeraByte Support
Posts: 3598
Joined: Thu May 05, 2011 10:37 pm

Re: Disk Clone - drive letter assignment

Post by TeraByte Support »

it would get is own drive letter, you can't have two C: drives. It doesn't mean when you boot it, that partition would be C: and the other one E:
TeraByte Support(PP)
Posts: 1644
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 12:51 am

Re: Disk Clone - drive letter assignment

Post by TeraByte Support(PP) »

Is the drive GPT? If so, can you try just copying the Windows partition and using /utg instead of /csigut and don't use /csig.

For example: imagew64.exe /wait /utg /copy /fd /o /sd:w0@0x2 /td:w1@0x2
TeraMan
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Jan 06, 2021 7:16 pm

Re: Disk Clone - drive letter assignment

Post by TeraMan »

TeraByte Support(PP) wrote:
> Is the drive GPT?
Yes, it is a GPT drive.

> If so, can you try just copying the Windows partition and
> using /utg instead of /csigut and don't use /csig.
>
> For example: imagew64.exe /wait /utg /copy /fd /o /sd:w0@0x2 /td:w1@0x2

I tried with the following command line and it worked:
imagew64.exe /wait /utg /copy /fd /o /sd:w0@0x4 /td:w1@0x4 /wco

It is not exactly what I need though. The command line above clones a partition not the disk.

I tried with the free version of the program of a competitor and it didn't reset the drive letter so I would exclude it is a problem with my system. Having said that, it is possible that the program in question, operates a post-clone drive letter set: it saves the destination letter(s), it clones the disk and set the letter(s) back after the clone. Something similar to what I do with my diskpart script but embedded in the program itself.

Thank you!
TeraByte Support(PP)
Posts: 1644
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 12:51 am

Re: Disk Clone - drive letter assignment

Post by TeraByte Support(PP) »

You could copy each partition using a batch file with the commands for each. Though, if it's just a standard Windows drive, the other partitions rarely change.
TeraMan
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Jan 06, 2021 7:16 pm

Re: Disk Clone - drive letter assignment

Post by TeraMan »

TeraByte Support(PP) wrote:
> You could copy each partition using a batch file with the commands for
> each. Though, if it's just a standard Windows drive, the other partitions
> rarely change.

I thought about copying one partition at the time as well but it is probably simpler run the diskpart script after the disk copy.

Perhaps not many people use IFW as I do but the idea of saving the drive letters and restoring them after the clone it is something that TeraByte Unlimited may want to consider for future versions.
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