Migrating C: drive shadow storage to D:

[Apodida]

I think I've found out what's been reducing the lifetime of my SSD C: drive — Shadow Storage.
Whenever a backup is taken, a Shadow Copy is made. I listed the shadow storage for C:

Shadow Copy Storage association
For volume: (C😉\\?\Volume{c2c652c6-d80b-11dd-ac5f-806e6f6e6963}\
Shadow Copy Storage volume: (C😉\\?\Volume{c2c652c6-d80b-11dd-ac5f-806e6f6e6963}\
Used Shadow Copy Storage space: 1.543 GB (0%)
Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space: 1.984 GB (0%)
Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: 11.914 GB (4%)

So, every time I backup C: the shadow is created on C: and this is reducing the SSD Lifetime. I'm "hoist by my own petard"!!!

I can see that shadow storage doesn't have to be on the same volume as the source, so I'm thinking of moving my C: shadow storage from SSD C: to Rotating D: or even USB3 disk array N:

This is new territory for me (I understand the concepts behind shadow storage, but not the practicalities). So, does anyone have any comments on my plan?

Incidentally, I've changed "C:" to "C;" in places, to avoid interpretation as smileys. Is there a blanket way of turning smileys off, for the POST I'm writing? That is, I don't particularly want them off all the time.

I've posted a similar request on Windows SevenForums, so if you read that as well, you'll get Deja Vu all over again (Yogi Berra quote)

 

[hang-the-9]

If you are allowed to move it, there would be with no issues with moving it, although I'd avoid external drive for what is basically a system file.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee923636(v=ws.10).aspx look towards the bottom about "diff area", you can have it on any local volume.

This http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd364933(WS.10).aspx has instructions on how to move the storage for shadow copy.

 

[Apodida]

Hmm... I've found a complete showstopper. vssadmin/? shows:
Delete Shadows - Delete volume shadow copies
List Providers - List registered volume shadow copy providers
List Shadows - List existing volume shadow copies
List ShadowStorage - List volume shadow copy storage associations
List Volumes - List volumes eligible for shadow copies
List Writers - List subscribed volume shadow copy writers
Resize ShadowStorage - Resize a volume shadow copy storage association

You'll notice that I'm missing the "Add Shadowstorage" (and "Delete ShadowStorage", for that matter).
I discovered that I could use the WMIC command, and that exposes a SHADOWSTORAGE command, but its syntax is arcane, and not documented as far as I can tell.

I almost managed to create a new Shadowstorage area, but the command was rejected with the error message:

Description = Not Found

I added: ,Description="Added by Steve Swift" but this made no difference. At this point I'm stuck.