How are you primarily using FirstDefense-ISR?

[Leapfrog Software]

Greetings All,

I am curious as to how users are using their FirstDefense-ISR software. I am using it for high availabilty(freeze and archives) and to maintain an optimized snapshot for gaming. How are you using it?

[sukarof]

I use it basically the same way as you + I do beta testing too. I would also use it as a multipel build for multipel users, that is if there were any more users om my computer :) Would be perfect for that purpose too.

[starfish_001]

Basically the same here - just have 2 O/S at moment.

Also use Recvoery Commander instead of sys restore - had it before FD-ISR


I use TI for bare mental restore

[ErikAlbert]

I've read several posts about FD-ISR and if I would buy it, I would use it mainly for system recovery.
FD-ISR is faster than an Image Backup/Restore and saving time is an advantage at my age.
It depends on how much I will need FD-ISR, time will tell.
For the moment Image Backup/Restore is enough for me and it's certainly not a waste of money, with or without internet connection.

[Peter2150]

I am using it for Disaster Recovery in conjunction with Beta testisng. Also use the Archiving as a backup medium.

Pete

[spm]

I decided to give FD-ISR a try today. Test system contained about 20GB of data, and I anchored about 3GB of this before making an initial 'secondary' snapshot. 15 mins into the snapshot creation, FD-ISR estimated the time to complete at around 3 more hours. Mmm. I didn't hang around, but stopped and uninstalled FD-ISR.

I can create a complete drive image to an external drive in 30 mins. OK, so it will take longer for me to restore from the image, but if it takes 3 hours to create a snaphot with FD-ISR, who cares? So what's the big deal with FD-ISR?

[Leapfrog Software]

Greetings spm,

3 hours ! Wow. During a copy the FD-ISR copy engine is at the mercy of the hardware to transfer the data as fast as it can. Many things can effect this. Available RAM and the fragmentation level of the disk are the most common. I am running a 2.4Ghz P4 w/1GB RAM, 2 80Gb IDE drives in a RAID0 configuration and see ~5000-6000 Kb/sec transfer speeds. If you contact their technical support department they can assist.

btw: Once the first copy is made, all succedent copies are differential, thus reducing the time to update a snapshot to only the changes in the source snapshot.

I hope that helps.

[starfish_001]

{QUOTE-> I decided to give FD-ISR a try today. Test system contained about 20GB of data, and I anchored about 3GB of this before making an initial 'secondary' snapshot. 15 mins into the snapshot creation, FD-ISR estimated the time to complete at around 3 more hours. Mmm. I didn't hang around, but stopped and uninstalled FD-ISR.

I can create a complete drive image to an external drive in 30 mins. OK, so it will take longer for me to restore from the image, but if it takes 3 hours to create a snaphot with FD-ISR, who cares? So what's the big deal with FD-ISR? <-QUOTE}


I have big snap shot like you and they do take a long time to create but they are full uncompressed hidden copies. Updating does not take long.

Oh it is a bit faster if you change the priority to high

I to use TI to make external images and yes it is quick but FD guess you the ablility to run O/S in different states and switch in an instant. Great for testing betas etc

For me this is one of the best things I have bought

[spm]

{QUOTE-> 3 hours ! Wow. During a copy the FD-ISR copy engine is at the mercy of the hardware to transfer the data as fast as it can. Many things can effect this. Available RAM and the fragmentation level of the disk are the most common. I am running a 2.4Ghz P4 w/1GB RAM, 2 80Gb IDE drives in a RAID0 configuration and see ~5000-6000 Kb/sec transfer speeds. If you contact their technical support department they can assist. <-QUOTE}
My test system runs a 3GHz P4, 512MB RAM, 80GB IDE. For testing purposes, I ran 'clean', with all apps, incl. a/v, etc., unloaded or disabled.

{QUOTE-> btw: Once the first copy is made, all succedent copies are differential, thus reducing the time to update a snapshot to only the changes in the source snapshot. <-QUOTE}
Sure, I appreciate that. That said, first impressions are key. I might give it another chance sometime, if and when I have a few hours to spare.

[Acadia]

I use it for recovery and for testing new toys. Creating a new Snapshot, about 4-5 gig, takes between 9-12 minutes. Updating an already created Snapshot takes between 2-4 minutes. Creating or updating an Archive Snapshot on my other hard drive is MUCH faster.

Acadia

[Leapfrog Software]

Arcadia, what type and capacity hard drives are you using? What transfer rates are you seeing (Kb/Sec)?

[Peter2150]

{QUOTE-> I decided to give FD-ISR a try today. Test system contained about 20GB of data, and I anchored about 3GB of this before making an initial 'secondary' snapshot. 15 mins into the snapshot creation, FD-ISR estimated the time to complete at around 3 more hours. Mmm. I didn't hang around, but stopped and uninstalled FD-ISR.

I can create a complete drive image to an external drive in 30 mins. OK, so it will take longer for me to restore from the image, but if it takes 3 hours to create a snaphot with FD-ISR, who cares? So what's the big deal with FD-ISR? <-QUOTE}

Hi SPM

That time does seem awfully high to me. It takes me about 35 minutes to create a new snapshot on the same disk (13GB), but after that the refreshes take an average of 5 minutes.

What is the big deal you ask. Simply this. I do a let of beta testing, as you know. Before I install a new beta I refresh my other snapshot(5 minutes as opposed to 30minute). Then if, and I've had it happen, a beta trashes the system, again the recovery is 5 minutes as opposed to however long an image recovery takes. That time difference is significant to me.

Note, I haven't actually created a new snapshot in months.

Pete

[spm]

{QUOTE-> Hi SPM

That time does seem awfully high to me. It takes me about 35 minutes to create a new snapshot on the same disk (13GB), but after that the refreshes take an average of 5 minutes.

What is the big deal you ask. Simply this. I do a let of beta testing, as you know. Before I install a new beta I refresh my other snapshot(5 minutes as opposed to 30minute). Then if, and I've had it happen, a beta trashes the system, again the recovery is 5 minutes as opposed to however long an image recovery takes. That time difference is significant to me.

Note, I haven't actually created a new snapshot in months.

Pete <-QUOTE}
I do appreciate the value of something like FD-ISR, but given the times I encountered it simply wouldn't make sense. That said, my last image backup started horribly slow (a prognosis of approx 4 hours), so I rebooted and tried again. That time, it returned to its normal 30-40 mins.

I suspect another product - of common interest to us - which I was testing at the time. As and when I get the time, I will give FD-ISR another chance.

[Acadia]

Ok, I just created my first Snapshot from scratch in a while. It was an Archive Snapshot on another hard drive. It ended up being 4.03 gig (compressed) and took exactly 9 minutes 0 seconds.

Acadia

[Leapfrog Software]

Greetings Acadia,

Those are very good speeds. Your average would be ~7400 kb/s. Not bad at all.

[betauser2]

I primarily use FirstDefence-ISR for trialing software before I buy. But I bought it for Disaster Recovery (luckily I am not prone to many disasters) so use for it has changed. Currently I'm trialling Norton IS 2006 on one snapshot and Panda 2006 on another. This is the reason why I value this FD-ISR so much I value and appreciate more now than when I purchased it.

I've selected beta testing/ sandbox (poll) as this is the closest.

[Bdiamond]

Using WinXP with a 1.6GHz Pentium4 and 1.0Gb installed memory, it took 15min to install a 3 Gbyte Primary Snapshot. A secondary update took 8 min. These measurements were taken following a format of an 80 Gbyte HD.

[bigc73542]

I am useing it for system recovery, haven't had to use it yet though. I created a snapshot in about 55 mins. on a 100gb Hdd with 13.5 gigs used on the c drive partition and nine gb on norton ghost partition. It seems like a reasonable time considering that I have over 320.000 files on the C partition alone. and then the same on the G partition. not counting sys restore.

bigc

[Blackcat]

Disaster recovery, beta-testing/testing of new software and using the Archive function as backup.

Further since I like swapping primary AV's around I can install AV's on different snapshots without potential conflicts. Currently running KAV 5, Dr Web and VBA32 on separate snapshots.

[dallen]

I am using it for High Availability/Recovery and in combination with Image for Windows/DOS (http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/imagew.html) the two make me feel invulnerable.
I hear a lot of people in this forum talking about Acronis. Personally I have no experience with their software, have not even seen a screenshot. However, I have have a bad experience with the latest Ghost product. To the best of my knowledge Ghost and Acronis have one thing in common. They both operate within windows and try to take a still shot of a moving image. I like Image for Windows/DOS because you can take an image from within DOS and this allows you to get a still shot and in my opinion a more reliable image.

[crofttk]

Hi, folks ! I'm glad to finally see a dedicated forum for FDISR and will be visiting regularly !

I use FDISR for disaster recovery, beta testing/sandbox, AND, as I just completed a couple of days ago, for periodically (once a year ?) rebuilding my Windows XP OS snapshot from scratch and ditching the old primary snapshot. I keep staggered primary snapshot copies plus a "virgin" Win XP snapshot on my system drive and archives on an external USB drive.

I too have seen long projected completion times when creating initial snapshots, but those projections usually resolve themselves within the first 5 minutes or so into something much more reasonable. This typically happens if my system hard drive is heavily fragmented, nearly full, or if I have multiple or resource intensive tasks running in parallel.

I just created several new snapshots since I implemented the new one and from the log I see that the average speed was around 5640 KB/sec for creating a snapshot on the system drive (a 7.74 GB snapshot in 24 minutes) and 4300 KB/sec for archiving a snapshot to the external USB drive. (Nah, I don't do data anchoring since I keep all data in a separate partition).

My typical daily secondary snapshot updates are only 0.25 to 0.5 GB and take around 1 to 1.5 minutes.

I'm running FDISR on a Dell Optiplex GX-260 with a Powerleap upgraded P4 Intel CPU at 3.2 GHz w/ HT and 2 GB of RAM. I've got 2 x 250 GB SATA internal hard drives and 2 external USB drives - 320 GB and 400 GB. This is networked with 3 other PCs in my home (Netgear 10/100 VPN firewall router) and I use Retrospect for a file based backup of all machines nightly.

Oh yeah, and I have FDISR & PerfectDisk installed (and, yes, licensed ! 8)) on all 4 of my PCs. I've been a RAXCO FDISR and PerfectDisk customer since around 2002 or so.

P.S. I also toss the occasional IFW/IFD image of both internal disks onto one of the external drives for good measure.

[worldcitizen]

I've had FDISR for a while but stopped using it when I bought Kaspersky Pro. I know there is a workaround now but still don't feel safe using it in case I turn on NTFS streams by accident and can't boot.

Also I am always reluctant to use any programs which change the MBR after a bad experience with GoBack years ago. I forgot to uninstall GB before I re-installed Windows and couldn't boot. Had to take the PC to a shop costing me $55 to get it going again. Since then I'm wary of programs which may change the MBR and can cause my PC to get stuck in a loop at boot if I do something wrong.

Is it safe a idiot proof?

Dave

[dallen]

{QUOTE->
Is it safe a idiot proof?
Dave <-QUOTE}
Dave,
I'm pretty stupid and FDISR has withstood everything I can throw at it. Combine FDISR with Image for DOS/Windows and even a caveman can be trusted with your computer.

[worldcitizen]

Hi Dallen,

Thanks for the encouragement.

I wonder what would happen if I accidentally re-installed XP over First Defense. Would I be able to boot? I tend to forget those things.

What AV are you using? My subscription for Kaspersky is up. Happy with it but is there anything new on the horizon worth getting? What about DCS? They were supposed to be bringing out some new program ages ago but nothing so far. Are they still in the business?

Cheers

Dave

[Acadia]

worldcitizen, with FD there is never any need to reinstall XP, just keep a freshly installed XP snapshot somewhere. There are even instructions at the Raxco website on how to do a clean install of XP on an already "polluted" system.

Acadia

[Peter2150]

{QUOTE-> Hi Dallen,

Thanks for the encouragement.

I wonder what would happen if I accidentally re-installed XP over First Defense. Would I be able to boot? I tend to forget those things.

What AV are you using? My subscription for Kaspersky is up. Happy with it but is there anything new on the horizon worth getting? What about DCS? They were supposed to be bringing out some new program ages ago but nothing so far. Are they still in the business?

Cheers

Dave <-QUOTE}

HI Dave

I agree with Acadia, don't see why you'd ever reinstall Windows. Couple of points.

1) I still disable the preboot on FDISR when I image. This removes it from the MBR so the MBR is clean on the image. I don't think it's necessary, but I give imaging all the help I can.

2) Kaspersky. I'd renew. First I've been using Kaspersky 5.0 with FDISR with no problem. THe only thing is if you have KAV 5.0 already installed and have IStreams turned on, you will need to remove KAV and the ADS's. Then install FDISR, followed by KAV 5.0 with Istreams turned off. Works fine. BUT, there is even better news. I've been beta testing KAV 6.0, and it no longer uses ADS, but a data base. Fine with FDISR. I am loving KAV 6.0 because with the new Iswift technology once I've done my first scan which takes sligthtly over an hour, subsequent scans take about 5 minutes. They are very very close to releasing 6.0

Hope this helps.

Pete

[dallen]

{QUOTE-> What AV are you using? My subscription for Kaspersky is up. Happy with it but is there anything new on the horizon worth getting? <-QUOTE}
I still use Symantec's Norton AV 2006, but Peter2150 has just about converted me to KAV...I will probably wait until I see version 6 to make my decision. Two softwares that I've remained loyal to are Zone Alarm and Norton.
{QUOTE-> What about DCS? They were supposed to be bringing out some new program ages ago but nothing so far. Are they still in the business?
<-QUOTE}
I do not follow DCS any more. Until they do something that attracts my attention, I have written them off. In my opinion, you are wasting time considering FDISR as it should already be a critical part of your system. If you haven't looked at Image for DOS / Image for Windows you should seriously consider these Terabyte Unlimited products as well. Raxco and Terabyte Unlimited are two quality software companies. Good luck!!!

[crofttk]

{QUOTE-> ... Raxco and Terabyte Unlimited are two quality software companies.... <-QUOTE}AMEN !

[Dazed_and_Confused]

I just noticed that Leapfrog joined the Wilders forum (I admit I have not been around much lately ::)). I use just about all products from companies hosting their support forum here at Wilders, and have found all to be very good. So naturally I wanted to see what FD actually does.

{QUOTE-> ...To the best of my knowledge Ghost and Acronis have one thing in common. They both operate within windows and try to take a still shot of a moving image. I like Image for Windows/DOS because you can take an image from within DOS and this allows you to get a still shot and in my opinion a more reliable image. <-QUOTE}

dallen - Hello again. :)

Like you, I use Acronis TI, but I have found it to be very trustworthy. What does FD do that TI does not? They sound very similar. From what I've read, it sounds like having both would be backup overkill (if not incompatible).

Thanks.

[worldcitizen]

{QUOTE->
I do not follow DCS any more. <-QUOTE}

Are DCS still around because I haven't heard anything from them for months now. Have they gone out of business?

Dave

[dallen]

{QUOTE->
dallen - Hello again. :)

Like you, I use Acronis TI, but I have found it to be very trustworthy. What does FD do that TI does not? They sound very similar. From what I've read, it sounds like having both would be backup overkill (if not incompatible).

Thanks. <-QUOTE}Hello Dazed_and_Confused. It's nice to see you here again. Regarding Acronis TI, I think that I haven't made myself clear. As a point of clarification, I do not use Acronis TI and never have. Not to take anything away from Acronis because I cannot speak intellectually about it, I use FDISR in combination with Image for Windows/DOS. Image for Windows/DOS has been criticized for its simplicity; however, I'm a simple kind of guy and I feel it's a shame that a software without all the bells and whistles that simply does what it claims to do and does it very well, suffers in reviews because of it. Regardless of what imaging software you use, it is my educated opinion that FDISR, as a virtually instantaneous recovery program compliments imaging software to not only provide redundancy, but rather to reduce recovery time in the event of a mishap. You would be wise to add FDISR to your arsenal. [Disclaimer: sorry if my spelling is off, but www.webster.com seems down right now and I suck at spelling]
{QUOTE->
Are DCS still around because I haven't heard anything from them for months now. Have they gone out of business?
<-QUOTE}Dave, the topic of this thread has nothing to do with DCS. Please do not take this as a scolding. I just want to respect the structure of the forum. You know that I respect you very much, as we've exchanged similar thoughts on the topic of DCS. I will reitterate a point I've made in other threads in saying that I consider DCS not to be a going concern until they prove to me otherwise and it doesn't look like they are are on any sort of vector to do so.

[worldcitizen]

Dallen,

I always read carefully what you say about anything Dallen because you have a VERY good habit of looking into things with your own mind and will give as impartial a judgement as we can get. You call a spade a spade and do not beat around the bush and I have time for people like that. People who show honesty and frankness are rare nowadays. We get nowhere without a questioning mind.

I have a problem which I need you advice. I have First Defense ISR on my desktop uinstalled. I've made an image with True Image as it has always saved my bacon except once when my memory was faulty.

My problem is that I'm very keen to install FD but concerned about booting issues if I forget to uinstall it before restoring a True Image. I am very simple and sometimes if I can't get into Windows I'll just go straight for the image and restore. I forgot once with Goback and re-installed Windows and it cost me $55 at the time to get Windows to boot. So if I install FD and forget to uninstall it and restore an image from TI will I be able to boot or will my pc be caught in an infinite loop?

Best Regards

Dave

[dallen]

Dave,
Thank you for your kind words. It's people like yourself that appreciate my presence here that motivated me to stick with this forum through times when I felt less then welcome. Thank you.

Regarding your hypothetical, to be honest you have asked a question that I cannot answer with certainty. I really cannot speak about Acronis; however, I have read in this forum from people smarter than myself that have commented on using FDISR with imaging software. What has been said, and seems to make sense to me, is that with FDISR installed you would want to simply disable the pre-boot prior to taking your baseline image. That will remove FDISR from the MBR. This step seems unnecessary, but safer.

Dave, I would get FDISR if I were you. When you do, you should install it, then disable the pre-boot and take a baseline image. Once you have that image. I would immediately try restoring the image to verify that it is good. If you can I would keep both an image before the installation of FDISR and one after. Once you have confirmed that you have good images then you should be safe. From there I would image periodically and begin using FDISR's snapshot functionality as a primary system recovery. Literally, instead of having to utilize your images to recover your system, you will simply hit a few keys and you'll be up and running. Of course, you will always have your images just in case.

[Acadia]

{QUOTE-> Dave,
Literally, instead of having to utilize your images to recover your system, you will simply hit a few keys and you'll be up and running. Of course, you will always have your images just in case. <-QUOTE}
Exactly. With FD, and the other instant recovery programs, you should never even need to use TI except in event of total hard drive failure. With that one exception, hard drive failure, all of the instant recovery programs that I am familiar with do the job of recovery faster and more reliably that the traditional imaging programs. 8)

Acadia

[Peter2150]

Hi Dave

I have have trashed my system about as badly as one can. For example having to do a power reset while running a registry cleaner. UGH. Also once did such a great job that I couldn't even get into safe mode. First Defense made recovery a 5 minute exercise.

I would follow Dallen's advice and disable preboot whenever you image. The support folks say it isn't necessary, but I would still do it. Just remember to turn it back on. Other than that the only impact on imaging is it takes a bit longer because you have extra files.

Also note you can use First Defense as an additional backup option.

and finally I have to tell you Raxco and Leapfrog combined provide terrific support.

Pete

[worldcitizen]

Dallen,

I've got a note on my desktop that says 'Install FD' so I better get around to doing it since you all say it's that good.

Can I keep snapshots on another hard drive? I heard that this is a new option that's been added, is this true?

Same here Dallen. This is a great forum because there are so many other products to learn about. I used to get upset about a 'certain dead horse' so I've decided to stop flogging the dead horse and bury it instead. That way the air is less polluted and the animal lovers will leave us alone.

Cheers

Dave

[Acadia]

{QUOTE-> Can I keep snapshots on another hard drive? I heard that this is a new option that's been added, is this true? <-QUOTE}
Yes, it's true and it works great, but please note that these snapshots are NOT bootable; can only be used for backing up and updating.

http://www.raxco.com/support/windows/updates.cfm#FDISR

Acadia

[worldcitizen]

Acadia,

I don't understand. FD can't use the snapshots if they are on another drive?

Dave

[Acadia]

You can use them in every way except booting into them. For example, if you wanted to backup your primary but did not want to use your regular hard drive, you can create the backup onto another hard drive; FD calls these "Archived" Snapshots. If you muff up your Primary Snapshot and need to fix it, and you want to use the Archive that you created, you would need to jump into a third snapshot.

An example of this: You have three Snapshots total. One is your Primary that you always use. A second one that you also created on your regular hard drive you have named Secondary. Finally, you create a third Snapshot on another hard drive and you name it Archive of Primary. Suddenly you muff up your Primary Snapshot so badly that you cannot even boot into it. You now boot into your Secondary Snapshot and from there you use the Archive of Primary to update and recover the Primary. Now you can boot back into the completely fixed Primary.

One nice thing about using the Archived Snapshots on another hard drive is that updating and recovering goes much faster since you now have two hard drives instead of one doing all the work. Good luck.

Acadia

[worldcitizen]

Arcadia,

Thanks. Is there any way your post can be made a sticky for reference?

Also, what about RAID? Can FD handle that? I never use RAID because one disk error and I lose everything but if FD can restore a RAID array then I might go ahead and create one.

Thanks

Dave

[Peter2150]

{QUOTE-> Arcadia,

Thanks. Is there any way your post can be made a sticky for reference?

Also, what about RAID? Can FD handle that? I never use RAID because one disk error and I lose everything but if FD can restore a RAID array then I might go ahead and create one.

Thanks

Dave <-QUOTE}

HI Dave

I am using First Defense on my laptop which has a raid 0 configuration. Works like a champ. I'd just be sure you have a good raid setup.

Pete

[dallen]

{QUOTE-> Arcadia,

Thanks. Is there any way your post can be made a sticky for reference?

Also, what about RAID? Can FD handle that? I never use RAID because one disk error and I lose everything but if FD can restore a RAID array then I might go ahead and create one.

Thanks

Dave <-QUOTE}
Dave, FDISR works under RAID. FDISR, will cause you to think about your system entirely differently. You will become fearless and you will not hesitate to experiment. You will regain control over your system.

[worldcitizen]

Hi Dallen,

That sounds great. I've always refrained from using RAID because the one time I used it a disk error lost all my data and so I never bothered with it again but I would rather avail myself of technology that can improve my disk speed.

Dave

[dallen]

{QUOTE-> Hi Dallen,

That sounds great. I've always refrained from using RAID because the one time I used it a disk error lost all my data and so I never bothered with it again but I would rather avail myself of technology that can improve my disk speed.

Dave <-QUOTE}
Personally,
I've found RAID to work well. I will caution you, however. If you are thinking about installing FDISR, archiving a snapshot to an external hard drive, creating a RAID (either 1 or 0, it seems that you are contemplating RAID 0 which is what I prefer), then installing Windows, installing FDISR, and finally attempting to restore your system by using that archived image; I do not know if that will work. Based on what I've read, I think it will but with a caveat. You may need to re-activate certain software, including but not limited to Windows, Office, Anti-Virus software. Then again, it may not work because I've never done anything like that, nor have I read about anyone successfuly doing such a thing.

[worldcitizen]

Peter,

What I meant when I asked whether FD worked with RAID was whether you could boot from the other snapshot if your primary got corrupted like you normally would using FD except that your using RAID.

Dave

[Peter2150]

{QUOTE-> Peter,

What I meant when I asked whether FD worked with RAID was whether you could boot from the other snapshot if your primary got corrupted like you normally would using FD except that your using RAID.

Dave <-QUOTE}

You sure can. I've trashed the laptop along with my desktop. The raid 0 on the laptop was not an issue. FDISR works fine.

Pete

[dallen]

{QUOTE-> Peter,

What I meant when I asked whether FD worked with RAID was whether you could boot from the other snapshot if your primary got corrupted like you normally would using FD except that your using RAID.

Dave <-QUOTE}
Enough with the questions Dave...just buy the damn thing and install it!!!

[worldcitizen]

Is it compatible with NOD 32.

I bought it and only have to install it. Any suggestions as to what things I should do on first installation?

Dave

[dallen]

Peter2150,
Can you help my friend Dave? He's asking good questions that i do not know the answer to. I would like to help you with that Dave, but I have no experience with NOD32.

[bigc73542]

{QUOTE-> Is it compatible with NOD 32.

I bought it and only have to install it. Any suggestions as to what things I should do on first installation?

Dave <-QUOTE}


Yes it is. and the first thing to do after first install is create a snapshot. it will lead you right through it the first time.

[worldcitizen]

bigc73542,

Great! Thanks very much for that!

Dave

[Acadia]

NOD works with FirstDefense, the only thing is that NOD will scan EVERY snapshot, not just the one that you are in. Some people like that, some don't. I have the maximum allowable 10 snapshots, so scanning my drive with NOD takes 10 times longer than it usually would. I got around that by making a custom scan which included every folder on my entire c:drive minus the FD folder.

Acadia

[worldcitizen]

Acadia,

Can't I just exclude it?

Dave

[Blackcat]

{QUOTE-> Acadia,

Can't I just exclude it?

Dave <-QUOTE}
Exclude does not work.

McAfee and Norton also scan ALL snapshots.

As Acadia mentioned, since FD creates a hidden folder called $ISR on the C drive, a possible workaround is as follows.

You could deselect the C: drive, and then add in each of the folders on the C: drive (except of course the
$ISR one).

A bit time-consuming, but you would only need to do it once as you can then save these settings for subsequent scans.

[Acadia]

NOD only has an exclude for Realtime scanning, not for On-Demand scanning.

Acadia

[worldcitizen]

FD as I understand it has an option to update snapshots from your primary to your secondary and vica versa right? So my question is how often should you update the snapshots so they don't remain too outdated in case the one you're using gets corrupted?

So for example, if I install umpteen dozen games and don't update my other snapshot then if I have a crash and can no longer use the current snapshot then I would have to re-install all those games again after booting to the secondary right? So shouldn't I keep it fairly up to date?

How often is adviseable? A day or 2?

Dave

[Acadia]

How often you update is an individual thing, totally up to you. I personally update at least once a day; I have 10 snapshots on my primary hard drive and six on my secondary. I like to be able to choose how far back in time I can go if I have a problem, plus I use a couple of snapshots just for experimenting with new software, plus two for doing my annual taxes.

Yes, you can use ANY snapshot to update ANY other. You just have to get out of a snapshot if you want to update it. You can stay in a snapshot if you are using it to update another, but you cannot stay in a snapshot that you want to restore or recover, you've got to go somewhere else, then you can come back after it is fixed. ;)

Acadia

[Peter2150]

{QUOTE-> How often you update is an individual thing, totally up to you. I personally update at least once a day; I have 10 snapshots on my primary hard drive and six on my secondary. I like to be able to choose how far back in time I can go if I have a problem, plus I use a couple of snapshots just for experimenting with new software, plus two for doing my annual taxes.

Yes, you can use ANY snapshot to update ANY other. You just have to get out of a snapshot if you want to update it. You can stay in a snapshot if you are using it to update another, but you cannot stay in a snapshot that you want to restore or recover, you've got to go somewhere else, then you can come back after it is fixed. ;)

Acadia <-QUOTE}

I concur Dave. What I would do is at the end of the day, if I have no reason to suspect any issues, I would refresh snapshots then. I would also refresh an archive on external drive if you have one.

Pete

[crofttk]

Yep, whatever fits and meets your needs, Dave. I'll save myself some breath (I just got done with today's workout on the elliptical trainer) and just show you what my snapshot storage and schedule looks like:

[Acadia]

Hey, crofttk, I like that skin, is that from WindowBlinds or some other such program?

Acadia

[crofttk]

{QUOTE-> Hey, crofttk, I like that skin, is that from WindowBlinds or some other such program?

Acadia <-QUOTE}Yep, WindowBlinds 5. It's one of the better behaved skins: "Cyclops", by Mike Bryant.8)

[Peter2150]

Hey Dave

One other thing I always do, is refresh a snapshot before installing/uninstalling anything. That way when something goes wrong......

Pete

[TonyW]

Crofttk, I'm a little confused by your scheduled snapshots in your screenshot. You have schedules to take a snapshot of the Primary at 9am, 9.15, 9.30 and 9.45 daily, which means they are exact copies of the Primary at that point in time. What I don't understand is how can they be 1-day old, 2-day old, 3-day old etc. snapshots?

[worldcitizen]

I've already purchased an external drive and am waiting delivery so I'll be able to have a good many archives. Then I'll be able to have a good rescue system.

Dave

[crofttk]

{QUOTE-> Crofttk, I'm a little confused by your scheduled snapshots in your screenshot. You have schedules to take a snapshot of the Primary at 9am, 9.15, 9.30 and 9.45 daily, which means they are exact copies of the Primary at that point in time. What I don't understand is how can they be 1-day old, 2-day old, 3-day old etc. snapshots? <-QUOTE}Hehehe...Well I set the trap and TonyW went for it.:lurking: Seriously, though, TonyW, that shows that you are keenly observant ! Good question.

The missing piece of information here and solution to the riddle is that only the "1-DAY Old Copy..." is captured by actually copying the Primary Snapshot. Then, the "2-DAY Old Copy..." is captured by copying the "1-DAY Old Copy..." (NOT the Primary Snapshot !), and so on, until, finally, the "5-DAY Old Archive..." is captured by copying the "4-DAY Old Copy...". The way that the scheduled times are in a kind of "reverse order" is a subtle clue here.

Visually, here are the results (only 3 days) after implementing this new schedule:

176377

Notice that the cycle has not quite completed yet only three days in and the "4-DAY Old Copy..." is not 4 days old yet !

The WEEKLY, BI-WEEKLY, and MONTHLY snapshots ARE captured by copying the Primary Snapshot, and as often as their name implies, on a more conventional schedule.

Hope that all makes sense ! :P

And now...you know the rest of the story....
Paul Harvey..... Good day !

(Don't worry, those 2 lines only work for those who have listened to Paul Harvey on the radio, I don't even know if he's still around.)

P.S. For the REALLY critical observer, the snapshot ages are not really all consistent as of today because I changed my Windows password the day before yesterday and haven't yet updated the password on all scheduled tasks, including the FDISR copy schedule. :-[

[Peter2150]

I am in awe. All I ever use is one secondary snapshot on disk, and one archive externally.

[crofttk]

http://smilies.sofrayt.com/%5E/k/peepwall.gif Well, don't forget: Acadia uses 10 snapshots and 6 archives !! :lurking:

[dallen]

crofttk,
I thought I was a nerd...just kidding. I admire your setup. The thought that went into that setup is quite ingenious.

[crofttk]

Awwww, shucks ...
(Thanks, dallen)

[worldcitizen]

Question: OK I've purchased & installed FD and created a snapshot.

Now, say I want to create a special 'entertainment room' with nothing but entertainment (even delete my wife's account to save space on the snapshhot)- games, music, movies and fun and nothing else and boot to this snapshot when I wanted to be entertained. Is this possible? How best can I go about it?

Cheers

Dave

[worldcitizen]

I have another important question.

I haven't booted into any snapshot yet. Now if I install software and games etc, etc. and boot to my secondary snapshot and and boot back into my primary snapshot will everything I installed be lost or is my primary snapshot never changed unless I add or take away or update over it with my secondary?

This is getting like chess and I am better at draughts/checkers.

Dave

[Acadia]

No, worldcitizen, FirstDefense is not like Rollback RX, so everything will still be there when you return to the Primary; you never need to "save" anything, you can treat every Snapshot just as if it were an ordinary c:drive. Test it: just create a test Word document then boot into another Snapshot, then come back; you will see that the test Word doc is still there. 8)

Acadia

[Acadia]

{QUOTE-> Is this possible? How best can I go about it?
<-QUOTE}
That pretty much is up to you, however you want to do it. Remember, anything that you do to a Snapshot will NOT affect the others, so you can go ahead and fell free to experiment all you want. If you delete too much stuff and hose your system, only that one Snapshot will be hosed and you can boot into one of the others and restore the hosed one and start over.

Acadia

[worldcitizen]

That's terrific! Thanks Acadia.

Dave

[Peter2150]

Hi Dave

You will be absolutely amazed at how badly you can trash you system and then easily recover. I've trashed the registry(really bad thing to do),
I've done so well at a trash job, I couldn't even boot to safe mode, and yet FDISR made recovery a 5 minute exercise. You will feel a bit leary until this happens, and then you will join the ranks of the amazed.

Pete

[Acadia]

{QUOTE-> ... and then you will join the ranks of the amazed. <-QUOTE}
:thumb:

Acadia

[worldcitizen]

Thanks Pete,

Also, is it ok to have True Image installed at the same time? TI some kind of Zone where it keeps copies of the hard drive and you can access it on boot up but I never use it. But can I have TI installed so I can make images sometimes to save on another hard drive? Will it conflict?

I've always been very reluctant to use programs which change the MBR because once I re-installed Windows without 1st uninstalling Goback and my PC got stuck at the GoBack menu and at that time I had to take it to a store to have it removed and it cost me $55. What happens if I forget and restore an image from TI over my C drive without 1st removing FDISR?

Thanks again,

Dave

[Acadia]

WC, hopefully Peter can answer that one for you. I have both on my system and I have MADE lots of images with TruImage but have never had to RESTORE any ... because of FirstDefense!

Acadia

[bigc73542]

This is just a little info about something that happened to me five days ago. I just bought a new computer the 7th of march and I had several snapshots created with a different antivirus installed on each one. I decided to remove computer associates Internet security suite off of the third snapshot. when I deleted the Ca av it needed to reboot so after the reboot I got a black screen saying a sys.HAL.dll was missing and it could not find the operating system. No problem I rebooted so I could just pick another snapshot and be back to normal, well that didn't happen. When I did the F1 procedure to get to the other snapshots I got the message that FDISR encountered an error and could not open. I tried several times with the same results. the uninstall of the ca av hosed my whole system, even the restore discs I created were not recognized anything on the Hdd was not assesable anymore. The maker of my comp. sent me another XP OS disc and I had to completely replace the os with a another fresh one. The moral of the story is don't ever uninstall ca av and don't have blind faith when it comes to the information you have stored on your comp. Even with all of the back up programs and even with FDISR which I really do like a lot you still have the chance of loosing it all. If the makers of my comp had not sent me a new XP os disc I would have been out a couple of hundred dollars for a new copy of XP.

This is not a rant against any product just a heads up that even with all of the software available windows can still kick you in the butt.

bigc

[Acadia]

Should this be reported to FirstDefense? As I understand it, unless the MBR is hosed, FirstDefense should work no matter what! I am a bit puzzled by this. ???

Acadia

[bigc73542]

When this happened I even lost the bios screen on boot up that allows you to choose safe mode and entry to the bios so I don't think even FDISR had a chance. I had ca av do something sort of like this before but sys restore fixed it but this time it really did a job. The FDISR screen displayed but it could not open the program as the hdd was not assessable. It is the first time I have seen a comp react just like this in the several decades I have been repairing them, It just shut down the Hdd and that was it.

[worldcitizen]

So it's unsafe to uninstall software while using FDISR?

How would I get my machine up and running if it couldn't boot and I couldn't uninstall FD?

Dave

[crofttk]

{QUOTE-> So it's unsafe to uninstall software while using FDISR?... <-QUOTE}Generally NO. But, it would be prudent to disable the pre-boot if you're going to do installation/uninstallation of programs which modify your MBR or if backing up/restoring with some other backup/imaging software.

[bigc73542]

{QUOTE-> So it's unsafe to uninstall software while using FDISR?

How would I get my machine up and running if it couldn't boot and I couldn't uninstall FD?

Dave <-QUOTE}


I have uninstalled and installed lots of software with FDISR installed. But the program that caused my problem has caused me problems even before FDISR had been put on my comp. I think FDISR is one of the best softwares available.

[dallen]

{QUOTE->
This is getting like chess and I am better at draughts/checkers.

Dave <-QUOTE}
I am awesome at checkers, but I suck at chess. Maybe my mind is just way too simple.

Anyway, if you are anything like me Dave, the moment you come to realize the capabilities of this software you will gain a huge amount of confidence. It shifts the paradigm.

[Peter2150]

Lets see if I can remember all the questions.

1) Re true image, I don't have any problem, but I didn't and wouldn't install the Acronis Secure Zone. Seems pointless to have the images on the same drive. I've always disabled preboot when taking images. I don't ever normally see any reason to restore an image with FD. I don't think it's an issue with restoring a new drive.

I would never disable preboot installing or uninstalling software. That would be self defeating in my opinion. Also I would never ever ever install a 2nd program that modifies the MBR. That almost ensures disaster.

I've trashed my system to the point that I couldn't even get to safe mode, but the preboot intercept still worked and I could boot to another snapshot.

Even with the current problem I am having with FDISR on my desktop(It wouldn't boot to another snapshot) it still boots windows. Sounds like CA may have trashed the first couple of tracks and wiped out the mbr. Mental note to self. Scratch CA.

Pete

[crofttk]

{QUOTE-> ...I would never disable preboot installing or uninstalling software. That would be self defeating in my opinion.... <-QUOTE}I normally wouldn't either, but I would if installing another program that modifies the MBR -- I know you wouldn't do that Pete.
{QUOTE-> ...Also I would never ever ever install a 2nd program that modifies the MBR. That almost ensures disaster.... <-QUOTE}Well, "different strokes....", as they say. I have BootitNG and FDISR installed on my machine and that's never been a problem. I disabled FDISR's pre-boot before installing BING and re-enabled it afterwards. Now, if I want to boot into BING, I disable FDISR's pre-boot, reboot and there it is. I've done successful restores with both programs.

Granted, with BING using EMBR, maybe there's something special about that allowing co-existence w/ FDISR, I don't have a clue. All I know is that it works fine.

Maybe BING is the ONLY program that allows this and that practice is otherwise risky.

[bcronin]

I'm still struggling to understand what FirstDefense ISR actually does.

I use Acronis TI once a week to create a full image, and every other day to create an incremental image. The images are stored on a second hard drive. So, I can always go back to "yesterday". I do this on each of my 3 PC's. Plus, I use EMC Retrospect once a week to do a file-by-file backup of all three PC's (over the network) to my NAS box.

How would I benefit from FD ISR?

[dallen]

I am familiar with programs that you mention (TI & EMC), but have never used either of them, although I have read about them and I have heard what people say about them. They seem to be very good softwares. That being said, I think you would save a lot of time using FD-ISR. When I say that, I meam that you will save time when you create you "incremental backup" and if you ever have to restore your system.

Hopefully, someone with more first hand knowledge of your programs will give you a more detailed answer.

[Peter2150]

{QUOTE-> I'm still struggling to understand what FirstDefense ISR actually does.

I use Acronis TI once a week to create a full image, and every other day to create an incremental image. The images are stored on a second hard drive. So, I can always go back to "yesterday". I do this on each of my 3 PC's. Plus, I use EMC Retrospect once a week to do a file-by-file backup of all three PC's (over the network) to my NAS box.

How would I benefit from FD ISR? <-QUOTE}

Hi bcronin

To give you an example, let me give you a couple of scenario's and think what you'd have to do in each one.

1) Your system boots up almost all the way and then BSOD's. Does this
consistently

2) You can't log in at all but can boot to safe mode.

3) You can't even boot into safe mode.

4) You are running a registry cleaner and the system freezes. You have to
do a power reset. Result is UGLY.

I've had each and every one of these experiences. To fix everyone of them all I do is reboot, and right at boot hit F1 and select my rollback snapshot and boot into that. Then do a snapshot refresh fixing my primary snapshot, and boot back into the primary. Whole thing takes less then 5 minutes.

In the normal course of working, before any significant system changes, I just refresh my secondary snapshot which takes less the 5 minutes. You can have up to 10 snapshot.

Additionally you can have Archives on external disk drives. You can refresh back and forth with these. I also use them as an alternative to traditional imaging. Best part, is using them as a backup tool you can test non destructively. Another words restore an image and it wipes your drive. If the image fails you are ....... You can test a FDISR snapshot without that risk.

Hope this helps a bit.

Pete

[Acadia]

You can use a Snapshot to experiment with different softwares, potential new anti-virus or new browsers, have completely different configurations of your system. The Snapshots remain separated from one another and cannot effect each other, so you can experiment to you hearts content without fear of hosing your system, and this is NOT a virtual reality program; whatever Snapshot you are in at the time is your REAL c:drive, not a virtual c:drive.

Acadia

[wilbertnl]

{QUOTE-> I'm still struggling to understand what FirstDefense ISR actually does. <-QUOTE}
I do understand your struggle, bcronin.
For recovery or test purposes I also use Acronis TrueImage or Farstone Restore-it.

ISR is different because it actually creates an exact copy of your current installation (files and settings) on your disk. And you are able to select that copy to boot from anytime.
Because the copy is already there, you don't need to re-image your system.
That is where the 'Immediate' in ISR comes from.

You would be able to schedule daily updates of your copy and weekly archives to an external drive. All automatic if you want.

I find the term snapshot confusing, because to me that is fixed in time, like a screen snaphot. I prefer to think of it as virtual partition.

[Brian N]

Impressive piece of software. Looks like I'll have to format my drive and a make a 'virgin' archive and snapshot, just to make it as bugfree as possible.

I'm not sure if it's the theme I'm using or not, but it doesn't seem to work with FDISR (or vice/versa), only if I use the regular one in XP.

Anyways I'm gonna try out my new toy, see what it can ;)

[wilbertnl]

{QUOTE-> I'm not sure if it's the theme I'm using or not, but it doesn't seem to work with FDISR (or vice/versa), only if I use the regular one in XP. <-QUOTE}
I'm having the same experience with different xpstyles as well.
Seems like FD-ISR isn't themes friendly. :o

[phasechange]

{QUOTE-> I'm having the same experience with different xpstyles as well.
Seems like FD-ISR isn't themes friendly. :o <-QUOTE}

Windowblinds users have the option to exclude a program from skinning.

[ErikAlbert]

As I said before any image backup software is a boring software, but a MUST in your system. If I ever have to choose between image backup software and snapshot software, I keep my image backup software. Of course I will never have to make that choice.
I choosed "Acronis True Image + FirstDefense-ISR", but it could have been "BootItNG/IFW/IFD + RollbackRx".
For me it was very important that ATI was able to backup/restore my system partition, including all my FDISR-snapshots without any problem and although I had problems in the beginning, due to "me" (not ATI/FDISR) all these problems are gone.

There was a short period, in which I believed that I had to enable/disable my FDISR Pre-boot Screen during ATI-activities, but that isn't true. I never enable/disable my Pre-boot Screen in FDISR during any ATI-activities, because it's simply unnecessary.

There was a short period, in which I believed that the primary snapshot was different from other snapshots (02 upto 10) and that it was essential to keep it, but that wasn't true either. All snapshots are EQUAL. If there is one special snapshot, it's the ACTIVE snapshot and that can be any snapshot (01 upto 10).

There was a short period, in which I believed that the primary snapshot was determinative for your system partition, when you UNinstalled FDISR, but that wasn't true either. Your ACTIVE snapshot is determinative for your system partition, when you remove FDISR completely from your system partition and REMEMBER this if you don't want to lose any installed software.

There was a short period, in which I believed that you could have more than one frozen snapshot, also that isn't true. There is only ONE frozen snapshot possible, which can be an ACTIVE snapshot (green) or an INACTIVE snapshot (yellow), but you can NEVER have two or more frozen snapshots. This was a problem for me in my plans, but I found another solution to freeze more than one snapshots.

All this has been tested by me personally and I do NOT expect from other members to believe me, test it YOURSELF and if you are able to prove the opposite, I'm all ears.

There isn't much difference between "Archive/Restore" and "Import/Export", they both work with .ARX-files (= Archived Snapshots), UNLESS you are planning to use DVD/CD's as a backup/archive medium, which is IMO a bad idea.
I also use DVD/CD's as a backup/archive medium, but always as a TEMPORARY or SECOND one, never as a MAIN one.
Another internal harddisk and certainly an external harddisk or removable harddisks are the only reliable backup media for harddisks IMHO.
Don't trust DVD/CD packet writing, like DirectCD (Roxio) or InCD (Nero), BURN your DVD/CD's. Packet writing (DVD/CD) looks very good and handy, because you have the same possibilities with DVD/CD's as a floppy diskette, but my experience is that packet writing is less reliable, than burning DVD/CD's.

Except for the Import/Export-function (= Archive/Restore-function for me), I'm going to use any other function of FDISR in the near future.
ATI is too boring for me, but FDISR is a very interesting software that requires imagination and intelligence.
I'm still thinking about how to use FDISR, but my intuition tells me there is alot more than just using FDISR for testing new softwares and getting out of trouble, when something goes wrong. Every experienced FDISR-user knows for sure that FDISR does a better job than Windows System Restore and we all have examples enough, where Window System Restore would have failed.
Frankly, I'm not surprised that experienced member "Acadia" uses all 10 snapshots, I'm not that far yet, but I need already three PERMANENT snapshots in my mind.
One thing I know for sure : anyone who ditches FDISR is CRAZY.

[Acadia]

{QUOTE->
Frankly, I'm not surprised that experienced member "Acadia" uses all 10 snapshots, I'm not that far yet, but I need already three PERMANENT snapshots in my mind.
<-QUOTE}
The more Snapshots, the larger the playground! ;D

Acadia

[TonyW]

It depends how much space you have. With more space available to you, you can afford to create extra snapshots, but then it also depends why you want to do that. Some people just use the program as a backup - one main snapshot and a backup snapshot. Others want to test software so create snapshots in order to do so, limited to the space they have.

[Acadia]

TonyW is correct. It obviously depends upon your c:drive size. Obviously, you must figure ten times whatever. Enjoy as many of the 10 bootable Snaps as you can! :)

Acadia

[cthorpe]

I just started using the FDISR trial (as soon as I get home I'm going to order a copy). I plan on using it to test and fiddle around with security applications, beta software, and general disaster recovery. I also have Acronis True Image as well, though I will probably get less and less use out of that program now. I had been using it for testing, and it took a loooooong time to create and restore from.

I don't know if the users who asked about ATI and FDISR are still looking for answers, but hopefully I can help... As far as I can tell, when you create an image of a drive or partition, ATI includes a copy of the MBR in the image. So if you have an image that was created before FDISR was installed, and you want to restore it and be able to boot, you would tell ATI to restore the MBR along with the contents of the drive/partition. If you don't tell it to restore the MBR, you might have trouble booting. That would also mean that if you were to make an image of a drive that has FDISR installed and running on it, you would be able to restore the system back into the state with FDISR preboot running by restoring the image and the MBR.

[twl845]

SPM, In post #6 you say that you were doing a snapshot anchored with 20GB of data, and 15 minutes into it the estimated run time was 3 hours. You might have hung around, because as I was doing an almost identical snapshot with 18.5 GB, it also said 3 hours early in the snapshot. But as the snapshot progressed the estimated time changed a few times until it finally finished in 1 hour.;)

[rwt325]

I am trying a trial version of FirstDefense and have made the first copy. However I did not see options for selection of a disk partition or external disk to make a copy to.
In fact I don't know where the copy is housed now. Would I have a choice of where to make my copy in the licenced version?.
Thanks for your help.

[ErikAlbert]

{QUOTE-> I am trying a trial version of FirstDefense and have made the first copy. However I did not see options for selection of a disk partition or external disk to make a copy to.
In fact I don't know where the copy is housed now. Would I have a choice of where to make my copy in the licenced version?.
Thanks for your help. <-QUOTE}
I assume you are talking about copy/update from one snapshot to new snapshot.
All created snapshots are stored on the same partition, where FDISR is installed, which is usually partition [C:]
Only archived snapshots can be stored on another partition.

If you want to create an archive and you want to select a partition, use the function "Export Snapshot".

[rwt325]

Thank you EricAmbler.

I do not have an Export option anywhere on my menu. There is no indication where my 18 GB image is stored. Original took 1hr 45min to make, the only update (.71GB) took 7 minutes. The log says everything was completed successfully.
The only folder I can find on C:\ is %ISR, but it is only 18 MB. It was also recorded simultaneously on USB drive J:\, without my intervention.
I cannot find any trace of FirstDefense in my Program Files, or anywhere else on my drive C.

[ErikAlbert]

Tell me first which FirstDefense-ISR you are using.
FirstDefense-ISR PC RESCUE or FirstDefense-ISR ? There is a huge difference between both.

If you are using FDISR PC RESCUE and you want to boot in the Rescue Snapshot
1. Click on "Actions"
2. Click on "Boot to Rescue Area" and you will boot in the Rescue Snapshot
OR
Press the F1-key during reboot in the Pre-boot screen.

FDISR PC RESCUE has only two snapshots Active and Rescue.
The Active is your work snapshot for daily use.
The Rescue is for saving the Active, if the Active is in trouble.
The icon in the system tray will tell you in which snapshot you are.

These are the manuals of FDISR PC RESCUE
http://www.horizondatasys.com/323511.ihtml
Download them and read them.

[rwt325]

Hi EricAlbert,
First of all I apologize for mangling your name. Secondly I am grateful for your continuing interest and help. I have the FirstDefense PC Rescue, the trial version when licensed costs $39.

Perhaps I expected something more complicated. I take it that the only way to access your archive is to boot into it. I take it that you will automatically boot into the latest update. I will study the manual to understand the product better.
Once again thank you for your help.

[ErikAlbert]

{QUOTE-> Hi EricAlbert,
First of all I apologize for mangling your name. Secondly I am grateful for your continuing interest and help. I have the FirstDefense PC Rescue, the trial version when licensed costs $39.

Perhaps I expected something more complicated. I take it that the only way to access your archive is to boot into it. I take it that you will automatically boot into the latest update. I will study the manual to understand the product better.
Once again thank you for your help. <-QUOTE}
In FirstDefense PC Rescue you don't have archives, you only have two snapshots : Active and Rescue.
You have to keep your Rescue healthy and malware-free with your security softwares. Each time when your Active is in trouble, you can save it with your Rescue by using the F1 key (Pre-boot) and copy/update from Rescue to Active.
In a normal situation you copy/update from Active to Rescue to keep your Rescue up-to-date every day, but run your scanners first.

You can also test new softwares in Active, if you want to get rid of them, boot to Rescue and copy/update from Rescue to Active and boot back in Active and the tested softwares will be gone completely as nothing happened.

Read also about "anchoring", you can reduce the size of your Active and Rescue this way.
I hope this helps.

PS: the terminated FirstDefense-ISR was more complicated, but FDISR PC Rescue is quite simple and very practical once you understand how it works.

[raakii]

For using multiple config for differnt users i find FD-ISR irreplaceable.I use imaging in normal use for disaster recovery.

[Minimax2000]

FD-ISR is being used for High Availability/Disaster Recovery and Software Development.

[EASTER]

{QUOTE-> For using multiple config for differnt users i find FD-ISR irreplaceable.I use imaging in normal use for disaster recovery. <-QUOTE}

I been using FD-ISR ( Classic ) also but not exclusively as an imaging program although that wasn't it's intended purpose, but it operates strikingly similar to restoring an image app per it's archives flexibility that converts back into a working system again (snapshot), complete with all files/folders/settings totally intact.

This makes it an invaluable resource and a most reputable compliment as a surragate replacement for the imaging app i normally use, DriveSnapshot.

LEAPFROG jumped well ahead of the common technical curve when they designed it in such a manner from which it was first distributed, and it remains to this day unmatched! :thumb:

EASTER

[icr]

I am new to FD-ISR I mostly use for beta testing security applications and another snapshot for Gaming(with no AVs and other security softwares installed)

[benton4]

I use it mainly as a testing area for new software- if something goes wrong, like programs not playing together nicely, I can reboot to a clean snapshot.

[demoneye]

here is for "just in case" system run on same snap for long time , Fdisr is if something goes wrong , for testing software i use Eaz Fix which is faster and can EASY hold lots pf pc state for me to test :)