Volume Shadow Copy Service gone missing

  • Thread starter Thread starter Pierce Presley
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Pierce Presley

I'm trying to make the jump from Windows XP to Windows 7, and part of my
process is making a disk image so if things do go south, I can retrofit my
system. I'm using the highly recommended DriveImage XML, because it is
supposed to be able to do the image live. But to do that, it needs the Volume
Shadow Copy Service, and it's not there--in other words, when I pull up the
Services manager, it doesn't show up, not as disabled, not as manual, just
not at all. I have searched for a download or instructions for reinstalling
this service to no avail. (Of course part of the problem is that VSS has had
problems before, BSODs and such, and the Interwebs are clogged with answers
to those questions.)
So, how do I reinstall this service?
 
Pierce Presley said:
I'm trying to make the jump from Windows XP to Windows 7, and part of my
process is making a disk image so if things do go south, I can retrofit my
system. I'm using the highly recommended DriveImage XML, because it is
supposed to be able to do the image live. But to do that, it needs the
Volume
Shadow Copy Service, and it's not there--in other words, when I pull up
the
Services manager, it doesn't show up, not as disabled, not as manual, just
not at all. I have searched for a download or instructions for
reinstalling
this service to no avail. (Of course part of the problem is that VSS has
had
problems before, BSODs and such, and the Interwebs are clogged with
answers
to those questions.)
So, how do I reinstall this service?
Click to expand...

You'll be better off using something like Acronis True Image. There are free
versions from Western Digital and Seagate/Maxtor that work fine. I just did
similar to what you are trying, going from Vista to 7 and having an image to
retrofit to if I'm not happy with it.

That said, if you boot from something like the Ultimate Boot CD or Bert's
PE, you'll have access to DriveImage from there without even having to be in
the OS. It'll make an image just fine, and doesn't require any of the
Windows services to do so.

The reason I suggest True Image over DriveImage is that I was using DI and
was having a problem restoring an image back to a new drive. It kept telling
me that the image needed to go on a drive the same size or larger than the
original. I had made an image of my notebook's 320GB drive, and when I tried
to restore that image to an identical 320GB replacement drive, I got the
error message. Huh? 320GB isn't the same or larger than 320GB? It was an
identical replacement drive, right down to the revision level. Nothing I
could do would allow it to restore to the new drive. I contacted DI support,
but they couldn't/wouldn't help because it was the free version. Since I
could find nothing in their FAQ's or on the web to get me around the
problem, I decided to try the WD version of True Image since I have a WD
external drive that I use for images of my notebook and desktop PC's.
Shortly after I made another image of my notebook, the HDD crashed. I put a
new drive in, booted from the TI boot CD, and was back up and running Vista
in about an hour, like nothing had happened. I'm sold! Even if I had to buy
retail version, I'd stay with TI.

That's just my opinion and experience, other's may have varying degrees of
success or failure with either (or any) product.

SC Tom
 
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