DiskShadow Commands Example

A DiskShadow example is provided for reference when using VSS Hardware Provider.

In the example below, assume that a single virtual disk is served to a host and contains data. The volume is given a drive letter of "e:". The commands in the example will create a non-transportable shadow copy that will be automatically imported to the originating host.

These commands are performed on the host in a command window:

Command Description
diskshadow Opens the Diskshadow prompt.
DISKSHADOW set context persistent nowriters Sets a persistent shadow copy that will remain after the Diskshadow exit command and survives computer restarts.
DISKSHADOW add volume e: alias new1 Alias gives a name to the shadow ID as in information below.
DISKSHADOW create Creates a snapshot virtual disk on the DataCore Server and serves the virtual disk to the same host.
DISKSHADOW expose %new1% z:

Exposes shadow ID to the operating system and assigns the specified drive letter z:

DISKSHADOW delete shadows all Deletes the shadow copy and unserves and deletes the snapshot on the DataCore Server.
DISKSHADOW reset Clears all shadow ID aliases and resets DiskShadow to the default state.
DISKSHADOW exit Exits the Diskshadow prompt and returns to command prompt.