How to update a program that is on Non-C drive

[rickscript]

Hi,
I set up my system to separate the operating system from the majority of my programs and documents based upon some written material I read that made a great case for it. My set up is thus:

Master Drive
C-Drive partitioned as primary active-contains Win XP
and a limited set of programs
D-Drive partitioned as logical- contains almost all programs
E-Drive partitioned as logical- contains all documents
My Slave drive is for raw and edited video

Okay, I want to apply an update/patch to a program that is residing on D Drive (it's Drive Image from Symantec) and when I try to run the update I keep getting an error message that this is a patch update, not an install and I would have to install the program first. In other words, it is always expected that the program will be found on C-drive and it can't handle any deviation. It is an unzipped file to an .exe update so I can't really do much with it other than initiate it and it aborts every time.

There must be a way to point this thing in the right direction, i just don't know what it is. I thought of moving the patch into the programs folder on D Drive or maybe it can be done somehow with a command line or the run menu from the start menu. Anybody face this before and know how to do it?

 

[franklin97355]

Have you contacted Symantec yet?

 

[rickscript]

To Franklin97355
If this product were still being supported by PowerQuest I would have contacted them without hesitation. Since it has been acquired by Symantec, I can't imagine a bigger exercise in futility. I use both Drive Image and Partition Magic. PowerQuest was always very responsive and helpful-a stark contrast to Symantec. I have tried numerous times in the past to contact Symantec with questions about these 2 programs. Even after multiple requests, by e-mail, to Symantec, I received either a. no answer b. an reply 10-14 days after the request or C. a late reply with a stock answer consisting of a reference to the FAQ's or KB. This is not what a user wants or needs when a specific error message is preventing him from re-booting with an image he thought was good and had even been checked prior to making a decision to re-load the OS.

Symantec does a reasonably decent job of support with anti-virus products, but with anything else they are completely useless. Their reason seems to be clear; they bought a product that competes, directly, with one of their own (Drive Image vs. the New Ghost 9.0). Supporting Drive Image is not in their own interests, but we are left holding the proverbial bag. I made the decision, after my experiences with them earlier, to drop Norton AV and I vow to never buy another Norton/Symantec product as long as I am walking. The result is an annual savings, a better runing system (my replacement isn't nearly the resource hog that NAV is) and a good feeling of not supporting a company with these principles.

Okay enough with the editorials. My question remains how to use an update to a program when the program does not reside in the typical and very cliched C:/program files folder. I can't believe that there isn't a way to do this. Hackers can break the best-laid security and there is no way to "point" the update to the true location of the program it's meant to update? Since when are we willing to concede the right to place a program anywhere on our system that we want? If we all march, lock-step in the time-worn procedure of putting the O.S. and programs in the C drive, documents in My Documents etc. it certainly makes breaching security easier for whoever has that intent. It also makes backing up everything a harder process than it needs to be. I have tried putting the update file into the folder where the actual program is located and running it from there. That produced the exact same result-in other words it can't even find it's foldermate/roommate. I tried to run it form a command line but that was no help. It's executing steps leave no chance for user intervention before it aborts. So does anybody have any ideas on this? I can't be the only one who has ever faced this.

 

[wcburton]

Was the program originally installed to C: and then moved to D: ? If so, perhaps there is a registry setting that is still pointing to the old location.

Another wild guess would be to add the location of the program (Drive Image) to the path statement.

Yet another wild guess is to check / change the registry setting that controls default location for new programs:
ProgramFilesDir in HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\

Let me know if any of those help. (And yes, I liked PowerQuest better than Symantec also.)

 

[rickscript]

wcburton
Thanks for your reply and suggestions. I had drive image installed, at one time on the C drive but that was a long time ago and it was a different physical disk drive and several re-loads ago. I already have the default location for new program installs set to D drive (from a reg tweak at KellysKorner). So those 2 are already covered.
The middle suggestion I am not sure I fully understand. I understand what a path is and my shortcuts to drive image, with full path, all work fine. But a path statement? I only have the downloaded .exe file from Symantec and other than click to open it and execute it, I don't know what else I can do. Perhaps you could explain that one a bit more fully. It might be the right idea, I don't know.

 

[wcburton]

That path suggestion probably won't work but just be sure here are the details.

I am refering to the path environment variable. It can be modified by going into "System Properties" (right click My Computer and choose Properties). Go to the Advanced tab and click the "Environment Variables" option. Add a semi-colon and then the directory location to the end of the current path.

By now you are hopefully saying - "Oh, that path".

If that does not do it then it could be that the programmer who wrote the patch install was stupid enough to think that people would not install the program in other than the standard default location.

Which patch are you trying to apply? (which version of Drive Image?)

 

[rickscript]

The update takers Drive Image from 7.0 to 7.03 and it is a large patch/update (52 MB or so I think). I think you were right the first time- they were stupid enough to think everybody will install to C drive. I have decided this is a good time to upgrade to Acronis TrueImage and dump Symantec. Now I only have to deal with them if I have a Partition Magic problem. When that happens, Symantec will be out of my life for good, wait, that's not strong enough...out of my life for GREAT!

 

[micker377]

I have a very secure system - sometimes too secure. Some programs have to update or, patch in safe mode. Give that a try.