Copying large amount of data between volumes on Windows 2008, fast method

Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 SP2 are the same operating system, just at a different service pack level (Windows Server 2008 started at the SP1 level because it was released quite a bit after Windows Vista and SP1 was already out).

Windows Server 2008 R2 is the server release of Windows 7, so it's version 6.1 of the O.S.; it introduces quite a lot of new features, because it's actually a new release of the system. This is a good place to start: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/whats-new.aspx.

There are also differences at the GUI level, because WS2008R2 uses the same new GUI introduced with Windows 7 (new taskbar, etc.).

Depending on what kind of applications you're developing, they may or may not encounter problems on different O.S. releases; you should definitely check MSDN.

The single most important point: Windows Server 2008 R2 exists only for 64-bit platforms, there's no x86 version anymore.

In particular, I'd be happy to create a VSS snapshot, mount it as a drive letter, and sync from there using something like SyncToy, but I can't find any way to mount a VSS snapshot.

Shadowspawn would do this, though, you'd have to invoke synctoy manually or invoke something else to keep the 'drive letter' open when you're done. Its based off hobocopy, which is also worth taking a look at.

I'd suggest pairing this up with robocopy (does acl aware copying) or something off this SU question - bvckup seems to fit the bill