Just to close this story off. Long post but a useful legal tidbit at the end.
It pays to persevere. I contacted the UK supplier about the program and they said 'send it back, we'll test it but if it's Ok then we'll send it back to you'. My response was that it was definitely faulty and that if they were going to test it then they needed to ensure that they tested it on the same configuration as mine. And that if I didn't get my money back the I'd take them to the small claims court.
The customer service rep's response was that Trading Standards had told them that, once the software seal was broken, then they were within their rights to refuse a refund! Well, that was like a red rag to a bull.
I did some research on the web and found a couple of other people in the same situation. A recent UK magazine review of a backup program from the same US software developer highlighted partition problems as well. I was also in communication directly with the US software developer tech support who had asked me to provide them with more details and that they'd get back to me....which they never did despite many, many polite reminders from me.
So documenting this all in the accompanying letter, I sent the software back fully expecting it to arrive back with me which it did. I refused delivery and planned my next action.
Speaking to Which Legal, they told me that to stand any chance of winning in the small claims court, I would have to engage the services of an independent expert etc etc which would be prohibitively expensive and no guarantee of me getting my money back. However, Which did say that under the revised version of the Sale of Goods Act, the suppliers have to detail to me how they went about testing the software which was news to me.
I wrote to the supplier requesting this information and continued to pester the US support.
Yesterday I received an email telling me that I'd get a refund !!
It pays to persevere.
