How do "You" use FD-ISR

[screamer]

I was just wondering how different folks use FD-ISR. For instance: do you run in Secondary SnapShot, Primary SnapShot, a Created Run SnapShot??

Here's my method:

Run in Primary SS. This copies/updates to Daily SS every day. The Primary SS also copies/updates to Second Day SS every two days, and to Third Day SS every two days (one day after Second Day SS) Then there is Fourth Day SS which copies/updates every third day and finally there is Archive SS which copies/updates every Sunday from the Primary SS.
With this configuration I'm able to go back to yesterday, the day before yesterday, the day before that, or the previous Sunday. I also have an Archive of Primary SS on an external HDD that has a copy of a clean Win XP install.
I don't have a Test SS since I really don't test much SW. However if I -do install something and it goes wrong, I can go back several days to a clean SS.

[stapp]

How do "I" use FD-ISR?

At the moment, carefully! I tend to work in primary, have a secondary and now (thanks to Peter) have an external archive.
Just learning about this software and loving it.

[sukarof]

I have a primary snapshot that I use daily. One backup snapshot of the primary (and one archive updated weekly) I have one test snapshot that I use when i test software or sometimes malware. One snapshot (and archive) for games, a very basic configuration to avoid performance loss to run the games smoothly.

[Peter2150]

I have pared down to a simple setup. I do a lot of imaging in conjunction with FDISR. Also I am a single partition person. My objective was first ability to recover or undo an install. Speed of both FDISR and imaging is very important. Speed for imaging, implies keeping the drive space minimized.
Also I don't care about going back to yesterday, the day before, etc. So....

On my c: drive I have my Primary which of course has everything I run. Then I have a secondary which is a stripped All it contains is Windows, and enough to feel safe online. It's only purpose is to provide a bootable snapshot.

I also keep an Archive on my primary, both on my second internal drive, and one on my external drive. These are update frequently. Update time is around a minute. I also keep an archive of the secondary snapshot

So if I want to test a program, I first update my archive, and then install in the Primary. If I don't like it I boot to my secondary and update my primary from the archive. I

This setup also means that even if I have to restore from the image I took when I bought the system(which has FDISR), I can load the secondary from the archive, boot to it, and the bring the primary update from the archive.

I have thoroughly tested this approach and it works beautifully. Also if i want I can keep several different configurations in archives and switch back and forth easily.

Pete

[Peter2150]

I have pared down to a simple setup. I do a lot of imaging in conjunction with FDISR. Also I am a single partition person. My objective was first ability to recover or undo an install. Speed of both FDISR and imaging is very important. Speed for imaging, implies keeping the drive space minimized.
Also I don't care about going back to yesterday, the day before, etc. So....

On my c: drive I have my Primary which of course has everything I run. Then I have a secondary which is a stripped All it contains is Windows, and enough to feel safe online. It's only purpose is to provide a bootable snapshot.

I also keep an Archive on my primary, both on my second internal drive, and one on my external drive. These are update frequently. Update time is around a minute. I also keep an archive of the secondary snapshot

So if I want to test a program, I first update my archive, and then install in the Primary. If I don't like it I boot to my secondary and update my primary from the archive. I

This setup also means that even if I have to restore from the image I took when I bought the system(which has FDISR), I can load the secondary from the archive, boot to it, and the bring the primary update from the archive.

I have thoroughly tested this approach and it works beautifully. Also if i want I can keep several different configurations in archives and switch back and forth easily.

Pete

[Longboard]

Peter & sukarof have got it down.

I keep a couple of different config extra archives
There is little reason to move beyond 2 working snaps on disc and a couple of archives.

@sukarof: I have been trying out VMWare rather than FDISR, for some testing.
I have been a bit uncertain about "sandboxing" between different snapshots/boot options and malware .exes

Have you had anything "infect" snapshots other than the current working snap?

Regards.

[Horus37]

I'd be interested to know if the data anchoring leaves one open to infections if all you anchor is your my docs folder and favorites. It would be strange indeed if you could get infected from a vm running inside a snapshot to the point all the snapshots are bad.

[Longboard]

oooppss
that wasn't entirely clear:
I was asking about "cross infection" between FDISR snaps and overwriting any changes made to a test snapshot.
:-\

[asyland]

One Primary snapshot for everyday use and testing software. One Secondary snapshot the I update about once every two days from the Primary (provided all's well) or restore to the Primary should something go wrong.
One Gaming snapshot with minimal programs, services.
2 Archives of Primary on external HD: One made right after XP and FD-ISR install before I connected to the internet, and one I update about once a week.
1 Archive on external HD of Gaming snapshot also updated about once a week
No anchored files

[Longboard]

@asyland{QUOTE-> FD-ISR, LooknStop, Nod32, Ghost Security Suite, Boclean, IFW/BING, Sandboxie <-QUOTE}Nice.Just add Fox of Fire (i hope);) And nice rational FDISR useage. :thumb:

[asyland]

{QUOTE-> @asylandNice.Just add Fox of Fire (i hope);) And nice rational FDISR useage. :thumb: <-QUOTE}
Thanks. Firefox, absolutely, with NoScript, AdBlock Plus with G Updater, Form Fox, Cool Iris, and Shazou and a few others for fun.

[Peter2150]

{QUOTE-> oooppss
that wasn't entirely clear:
I was asking about "cross infection" between FDISR snaps and overwriting any changes made to a test snapshot.
:-\ <-QUOTE}

Hi Longboard

About the only way I can see would be something like what happened to me with KAV. Notice one day after a reboot, my system was a total flake. Booted to my secondary snapshot, and after reboot there it was bad. Hmm. Then I restored a tested good image from two days ago, and same thing with it. Same thing with my external archives. Talk about going nuts.

THen I figured the common demoninator. KAV was asking for a restart which mean it had downloaded a driver update. So I restored the image again, and this time turned off the modem, and rebooted. Set KAV to manual update, and problem was solved. They had a bad driver update it turned out.

So nothing is impossible, although for this to happen it would have to be something you universally use like KAV, and it would have to go bad.

Pete

[cthorpe]

I run a frozen snapshot most of the time with setting modifications and some hacks to get certain applications to write settings to another partition. My computer has never been so clean and so fast and responsive.

Ct

[Rilla927]

{QUOTE-> I run a frozen snapshot most of the time with setting modifications and some hacks to get certain applications to write settings to another partition. My computer has never been so clean and so fast and responsive.

Ct <-QUOTE} I have never done this yet myself.

You have to modify some settings in order to use a frozen snapshot.

[TonyW]

I work in Primary mostly with data anchoring set. There is a Test snapshot for beta-testing and a backup of the Primary. One other snapshot is a minimalistic OS setup that gets updated every second Tuesday of the month as well as the Primary.

[Horus37]

{QUOTE-> I have never done this yet myself.

You have to modify some settings in order to use a frozen snapshot. <-QUOTE}


What settings do you have to modify in order to use a frozen snapshot for daily web browsing etc??

[Peter2150]

{QUOTE-> What settings do you have to modify in order to use a frozen snapshot for daily web browsing etc?? <-QUOTE}

Horus

I would suggest you read, reread, and reread again the users manual. We all have done this, and I think it will answer many of your questions.

Pete

[Longboard]

{QUOTE-> Horus

I would suggest you read, reread, and reread again the users manual. We all have done this, and I think it will answer many of your questions.

Pete <-QUOTE}
LOL
Ihope so
No offence intended :)

[DVD+R]

What acctually put me off FDR was the fact that each snapshot reduces your hard drive capacity by the size of the primary snapshot each time, for instance Primay = *GB Secondary takes another 8GB and so on, so in effect a primary and secondary snapshot use up 16GB of space Far too much in my opinion,and they arnt as flexible with being able to defrag like with Rollback Rx
Just my personal experience,but each to his/her own :)

[Longboard]

No, very valid points.

I trialled Rollback ages ago and couldn't get it stable.
I think I still have a licence somewhere.

Apparently the newer versions are better. ??

On desktop With current HD 320G, and external 320G: little problem with space. !!

On a laptop with smaller HD options: if it really is OK now I think it would be a great option.

[chrome_sturmen]

I use first defense to confuse the shit out of myself- I leave myself messages that are half complete, with an annotation saying"boot to snapshot 3 and read the text document on the desktop" then when I do so, that document tells me to boot to snapshot number 2 to continue- so I boot around from snapshot to snapshot reading the message, then the last message tells me to boot back to the original snapshot, boot in my virtual machine, boot the third snapshot of isr, and read the end of the message, by which time im out of my mind ;(

[Horus37]

{QUOTE-> Horus

I would suggest you read, reread, and reread again the users manual. We all have done this, and I think it will answer many of your questions.

Pete <-QUOTE}


I've read the manual. It doesn't say what settings you are supposed to change in order to browse the internet while in a frozen snapshot. If so I'd like to know where in the manual it talks about that. I've been over it 3 times now.

[kennyboy]

{QUOTE-> What acctually put me off FDR was the fact that each snapshot reduces your hard drive capacity by the size of the primary snapshot each time, for instance Primay = *GB Secondary takes another 8GB and so on, so in effect a primary and secondary snapshot use up 16GB of space Far too much in my opinion,and they arnt as flexible with being able to defrag like with Rollback Rx
Just my personal experience,but each to his/her own :) <-QUOTE}

Please dont let that put you off trying FDR. I have to say that it is a quite amazing program and I have come to depend on it so much, I just dont know what I would do without it. It is quite startling what you can achieve, (or get away with in my case) and still end up with a usable machine.

I dont see defrag as a problem at all. I dont use the recommended Perfect disk but use Diskeeper, and just exclude ONE FILE, and have no problems AND a perfectly defragged disk.

[Peter2150]

{QUOTE-> I've read the manual. It doesn't say what settings you are supposed to change in order to browse the internet while in a frozen snapshot. If so I'd like to know where in the manual it talks about that. I've been over it 3 times now. <-QUOTE}

Horus

Get comfortable using the program in regular mode first. You don't need frozen snapshots to do that. But you do need to really understand the workings.

[Peter2150]

{QUOTE-> I use first defense to confuse the shit out of myself- I leave myself messages that are half complete, with an annotation saying"boot to snapshot 3 and read the text document on the desktop" then when I do so, that document tells me to boot to snapshot number 2 to continue- so I boot around from snapshot to snapshot reading the message, then the last message tells me to boot back to the original snapshot, boot in my virtual machine, boot the third snapshot of isr, and read the end of the message, by which time im out of my mind ;( <-QUOTE}

You have an overly complicated setup. I have 1 primary snapshot, and an archive of this primary snapshot, which I keep updated frequently. I also have only one secondary snapshot, which is a stripped down system. It's only purpose is to provide a place to boot to, so I can update the primary from the archive. Oh so simple, and oh so effective.

Pete

[Peter2150]

{QUOTE-> What acctually put me off FDR was the fact that each snapshot reduces your hard drive capacity by the size of the primary snapshot each time, for instance Primay = *GB Secondary takes another 8GB and so on, so in effect a primary and secondary snapshot use up 16GB of space Far too much in my opinion,and they arnt as flexible with being able to defrag like with Rollback Rx
Just my personal experience,but each to his/her own :) <-QUOTE}

See my post above. I also had instability issues with Rollback. Hopefully they've solve them, but frankly it makes me nervous having all disk IO going thru a kernel level driver. Also still not reading anything that makes me comfortable about imaging. FDISR's disk space is a small price, and if done right isn't bad.

[cthorpe]

As for using a frozen snapshot for normal daily use, you need to make sure that your applications know to save their settings, downloads, bookmarks, etc to another partition or to an anchored directory if you want the settings retained after a reboot. Be advised that this may not be for the faint of heart, and some people might be wary of the kind of changes I have done.

For Firefox, you could move your profile using the steps here to another partition:
http://www.mozilla.org/support/firefox/profile

For Thunderbird:
http://www.mozilla.org/support/thunderbird/profile

etc.

Some programs don't allow you to move their settings, or store them in the registry. These programs require a little more work and some advance thought on your part. If you know that the program stores configuration files in its own directory, a possibility might be installing it to another partition.

If it insists on storing settings, profiles, etc in the c:\documents and settings folders, then a possible fix would be using a program like sysinternals junction.exe to make a hard link in your filesystem. A hard link is like a shortcut that is essentially invisible to the program while it is running. I have a couple of hard links that point from C:\Documents and Settings\Application Data\Some Program to a folder on my D:\. The files that are written to C:\Documents and Settings\Application Data\Some Program by the program are actually written to the folder on the D:\ drive and are accessible by going to either the folder on the D:\ or by going to the hard link folder on the C:\. This way, changes are retained through reboots.

Programs that store their settings in the registry are problematic, and I am still looking for a good fix. Most likely the fix will involve batch files that export and import settings at shutdown and bootup.

[Peter2150]

Users should bare in mind what the frozen snapshot is intended to do. If you want to retain changes as you work, but want isolation, a separate snapshot probably would work better.

Frozen snapshots are ideal for school type uses, where they don't want to retain anything done during the day.

Pete

[screamer]

{QUOTE-> Horus

Get comfortable using the program in regular mode first. You don't need frozen snapshots to do that. But you do need to really understand the workings. <-QUOTE}

Horus

I agree w/ Pete. Get comfortable w/ the app first. You seem to be over-complicating things.

Start w/ a basic set up: Primary & Secondary SS. Keep an Archived SS of the Primary SS on an external HDD. Have it Copy / update (at your discretion).
I know you've read the manual, read it again! Then read it again. Eventually things will start to sink in. FD-ISR is so versatile that the possibilities are vast. Once you're comfortable w/ the app, you will find a way to set it up that will suite (sp?) your needs.

Then you can come back to this thread and post: How "You" use FD-ISR.

my 2 cents

[cthorpe]

{QUOTE-> Users should bare in mind what the frozen snapshot is intended to do. If you want to retain changes as you work, but want isolation, a separate snapshot probably would work better.

Frozen snapshots are ideal for school type uses, where they don't want to retain anything done during the day.
<-QUOTE}

The manual specifically talks about anchoring data before freezing, so clearly the sole intent of a frozen snapshot is not to reverse all changes when rebooting. The ideas I posted about are merely another way of achieving the same thing as anchoring, while providing the added benefit of moving data and settings off the primary partition and/or drive and onto a secondary partition and/or drive.

[Peter2150]

{QUOTE-> The manual specifically talks about anchoring data before freezing, so clearly the sole intent of a frozen snapshot is not to reverse all changes when rebooting. The ideas I posted about are merely another way of achieving the same thing as anchoring, while providing the added benefit of moving data and settings off the primary partition and/or drive and onto a secondary partition and/or drive. <-QUOTE}

Ah, so Anchored data is excluded by the Freeze. Didn't know that. Thanks for the correction.

Pete

[TonyW]

{QUOTE-> What acctually put me off FDR was the fact that each snapshot reduces your hard drive capacity by the size of the primary snapshot each time, for instance Primay = *GB Secondary takes another 8GB and so on <-QUOTE}I guess this is why Leapfrog introduced compression in the later builds to try reduce this somewhat.

[SourMilk]

I use the primary frozen only. My Documents folder and a download folder are on another hard drive. I only make Windows patch changes and program additions to the frozen primary shot. I also have an archive of the frozen primary on the other drive for safety sake.

SourMilk out

[TonyW]

{QUOTE->
Start w/ a basic set up: Primary & Secondary SS. Keep an Archived SS of the Primary SS on an external HDD. <-QUOTE}That's assuming people have an external HDD to hand. I don't, for example.

[mrfargoreed]

What I do is make a nice new fresh Windows installation. I then install drivers and adjust settings and configuration how I want them. My intention is to keep as much software as possible off of this installation. When everything is perfect, I install FDISR and make a snapshot, so I have a perfect backup if I need it.

I then make another two copies of the snapshot - one for testing software and one for working with movies/imaging/other memory hogging applications.

I then install most of my software on the original (Primary) snapshot, but I do not install firewall, AV or security software. I then make a copy of this and call it 'Programs'. It's one I use if I want to change my firewall or AV - I hate uninstalling a new firewall over an old one. The same with an antivirus.

Finally I add the security software on my Primary Snapshot and use that snapshot for surfing, P2P, email, etc - an everyday snapshot.

And that's it. Oh, and I never use Data Anchoring for My Documents. I figure many viruses like to hide in the My Documents folder so why bother to anchor it? I am sure that it is useful, but I don't really see the point of risking it into every snapshot.

It's a great piece of software and one I would not be without. :D

[screamer]

{QUOTE-> That's assuming people have an external HDD to hand. I don't, for example. <-QUOTE}

An external HDD is not an absolute, but it comes in handy "if" you have one. I suppose you could export the SS to CD / DVD to accomplish basically the same thing.
As we've seen throughout this thread: There's more than one way to skin a cat.

[ErikAlbert]

At this moment I use 2 permanent snapshots :

OFF-LINE SNAPSHOT for
- quiet working with MS Word, MS Excel, Notepad, Snagit and printing
- defragmentation with PerfectDisk
- backup/restore with Acronis True Image Home
- archive/restore snapshots with FDISR
- creating new snapshots
- burning CD's and DVD's (movies)

No internet, no disturbances, no troubles, faster, ... I love that snapshot.

ON-LINE FROZEN SNAPSHOT for internet activities.

[Long View]

If the SS is off line how do you update everything ? or do you just mean that you don't normally go on line when you are using this SS ?

[ErikAlbert]

{QUOTE-> If the SS is off line how do you update everything ? or do you just mean that you don't normally go on line when you are using this SS ? <-QUOTE}
My off-line snapshot doesn't contain any security software and these softwares require regular updatings because they would become useless after awhile.
I don't need these softwares because I disconnected the internet in Windows.

This off-line snapshot contains softwares that don't exist in my on-line snapshot, like
- PerfectDisk
- Acronis True Image Home
- nLite
- DVD Shrink
- CDBurnerXP
- ...

If I need to update these softwares, I boot in my on-line snapshot and download the latest version in my data partition [D:].
Then I boot back in my off-line snapshot and install the latest version.

I have access to my data partition [D:] in all snapshots on my system partition [C:] as an alternative for anchoring. I don't like anchoring.

I had several reasons to create that off-line snapshot :
I needed a quiet environment to do my work/hobbies without any disturbances. That was the main reason why I created this off-line snapshot.
I also like to keep my external harddisk off-line during archiving snapshots with FDISR and backup/restore with ATI.
I also do all my CD/DVD-work in this off-line snapshot.
If I need additional snapshots to test several different softwares of the same kind, I create these test snapshots in my off-line snapshot.

It's no secret that security softwares can be a pain for non-security softwares to do their job properly. I took that possibility away forever and everything works faster in my off-line snapshot.
I never have any problems in my off-line snapshot, my on-line snapshot is the troublemaker.

My off-line and on-line are totally different, so I don't have a rollback snapshot anymore. I use my off-line snapshot as a RECOVERY snapshot to get back in business if something goes wrong in my on-line snapshot.

[Long View]

Thanks

I'm just playing around with FD-ISR at the moment -trying to see what it can do and what it can't. I can certainly see that an offline snapshot might come in useful.

So far I have found that it is very easy ( for me at least) to forget the state of play of each snapshot.

[Acadia]

{QUOTE->
So far I have found that it is very easy ( for me at least) to forget the state of play of each snapshot. <-QUOTE}
Yup, with 16 Snapshots, I have to keep careful notes what each one contains! :wacko:

Acadia

[ErikAlbert]

Long View,
I always used the primary snapshot as rollback snapshot in the past, although FDISR recommends to use the secondary snapshot as rollback snapshot and the primary snapshot as working snapshot.
I find it more logical that the primary snapshot = rollback snapshot.
Since all snapshots are independent and can be renamed in FDISR, it doesn't matter which snapshot = rollback snapshot.
At this moment I don't have a rollback snapshot anymore and my first snapshot = recovery snapshot.

If you ever uninstall FDISR, boot in the snapshot you want to keep first and then uninstall FDISR.

And yes, recognizing snapshots can be a problem, if you have many of them like Acadia. In that case a good naming and description is necessary.

[Long View]

If I ever uninstall FD-ISR ? Have done so numerous times today. I'm still at the stage of trying to "break it if I can". I've just done an off line Perfect disk defrag on the second snapshot. Later I will try out some reg cleaners to see which if any cause problems. So far the program seems to have a very solid feel.

I'm still having difficulty in seeing any real difference between a primary snapshot and any other. certainly once the primary has been copied to I would have thought it was the same as any other and could be archived, deleted, restored etc.

To me it seems that there are only active and non active snapshots ? or am I wrong and the primary is different ?

[Acadia]

Whenever you use one Snapshot to update another, they are now IDENTICAL. Actually, to get super technical about it, four things are NOT copied, but even those four exceptions make sense: .tmp files, the Paging file, Recycle bin, and Hibernate file. To repeat, because this is such an important point for folks to realize, except for the four exceptions mentioned above, whenever you use one Snapshot, ANY Snapshot, to update another Snapshot, ANY snapshot, they are now IDENTICAL. 8)

Acadia

[Long View]

I believe you, I believe you.

It's just that after 3 years of using Acronis ( making and restoring multiple images in my sleep) I have to get my mind adjusted to a different way of doing things.

I must admit I still like to idea that with Acronis I am restoring to an empty partition. Kinda gives me a comfortable feeling that when restored the image is still the same as it was the last 25 times I restored it. Watching FD-ISR add, delete, change files makes me wonder -- what if one or two files get missed each time ? I also think I would prefer to "see" my snapshots - this is purely a psychological thing - I don't really like the concept of "trust me". I know its not possible but if I could I would like to run a binary comparison.

I know that I will get used to it after a few days more of playing.

[ErikAlbert]

{QUOTE-> If I ever uninstall FD-ISR ? Have done so numerous times today.
<-QUOTE}
It's not about uninstalling numerous times. Uninstalling FDISR is EASY.
It's about what is left after uninstalling FDISR. You probably didn't see it, because all your snapshots were identical and created by copy/update the primary.
The first time I created 10 identical snapshots and then I tried to create the eleventh snapshot.
That's when I realized that the copy/update wizard isn't just a wizard. This wizard doesn't display any source or target snapshot that is technically impossible to use and that's a kind of safety for the user.
The only mistake the user still can make, is choosing the wrong source and/or target snapshot.

[Peter2150]

{QUOTE-> I believe you, I believe you.

It's just that after 3 years of using Acronis ( making and restoring multiple images in my sleep) I have to get my mind adjusted to a different way of doing things.

I must admit I still like to idea that with Acronis I am restoring to an empty partition. Kinda gives me a comfortable feeling that when restored the image is still the same as it was the last 25 times I restored it. Watching FD-ISR add, delete, change files makes me wonder -- what if one or two files get missed each time ? I also think I would prefer to "see" my snapshots - this is purely a psychological thing - I don't really like the concept of "trust me". I know its not possible but if I could I would like to run a binary comparison.

I know that I will get used to it after a few days more of playing. <-QUOTE}

I can suggest a test to give you confidence.

1. Image your system so you know if all else fails.....
2. Have a primary and secondary snapshot, and make them the same with copy/update.
3. Boot into either snapshot. Fire up a registry cleaner, and set it on auto pilot. While it is cleaning do a power reset. That should do an effective trash job on your system.
4. Reboot and using the F1 boot into your other good snapshot. Copy/update to the trashed one.
5. Boot back into the trashed one, and voilla, it is good again.:D

You have to love it.

Pete

[asyland]

My setup is very much like Peter2150's. I have a Primary snapshot, that I use for everyday stuff. I also have a Gaming snapshot, just XP, basic security, and whatever game I'm playing. I keep archives of both on an internal and external HD. If I test a new program on the Primary, and decide not to keep it, I boot into Gaming, and copy my Pimary archive over the Primary snap.
When I'm done playing a game, I boot into Primary snap and copy the Gaming archive over the Gaming snap, completely erasing the game I've just played. This way I always have a nice, clean gaming profile without any garbage left behind from past game installs. I then boot into the clean Gaming snapshot, install any XP or security updates, and update the gaming archive.
I can also use this Gaming archive for a default Primary snapshot, should something go wrong with both my current Primary snap and the Primary archive
I find this gives me the maximum amount of usage and flexiblity with a minimum of snapshots and archives.

[Long View]

{QUOTE->

I never use Data Anchoring for My Documents. I figure many viruses like to hide in the My Documents folder so why bother to anchor it?

<-QUOTE}

Slightly off topic

I haven't tried Data Anchoring as I keep My Documents and all data on another partition.

As I am about to change to another machine - with 2 Physical hard drives - I had intended to put My Documents on the second drive and use Acronis to image data and to use FD-ISR to create a number of snapshots of C: only.

Even though I have no problems with Virus or spyware I'm assuming that by having data on none operating system drive that I am somehow safer ? or are
the bad guys able to attack my data even on a separate drive ?

[ErikAlbert]

Difficult question, it depends on how and for what the malware is programmed.
Even a malicious destructive screensaver can format your data partition, while you are looking at the screensaver.

I know one thing for sure : a program can do anything with your computer, because that's the only way you can talk to a computer and many malwares are programs. I don't think it makes a difference for malware, if your data is stored on C or D, at least not in theory.

[Peter2150]

{QUOTE-> Slightly off topic

I haven't tried Data Anchoring as I keep My Documents and all data on another partition.

As I am about to change to another machine - with 2 Physical hard drives - I had intended to put My Documents on the second drive and use Acronis to image data and to use FD-ISR to create a number of snapshots of C: only.

Even though I have no problems with Virus or spyware I'm assuming that by having data on none operating system drive that I am somehow safer ? or are
the bad guys able to attack my data even on a separate drive ? <-QUOTE}

Hi Longview

I've only ever had one partition with everything on one drive. I had absolutely no problems this way.

Pete

[cthorpe]

{QUOTE->
As I am about to change to another machine - with 2 Physical hard drives - I had intended to put My Documents on the second drive and use Acronis to image data and to use FD-ISR to create a number of snapshots of C: only.

Even though I have no problems with Virus or spyware I'm assuming that by having data on none operating system drive that I am somehow safer ? or are
the bad guys able to attack my data even on a separate drive ? <-QUOTE}

I don't think it's necessarily safer, but it may be more efficient as far as backing up and restoring images, etc. I have my data on a separate partition, and I back it up regularly to an external drive. I don't have to worry about backing anything up on my main OS partition unless I install a major application or do significant updates. When that happens, I make an Acronis image of my C partition. If something were to happen to that drive, I could restore the most recent image, and immediately have access to my data.

It just seems more convenient :)

C

[ErikAlbert]

{QUOTE-> I don't think it's necessarily safer, but it may be more efficient as far as backing up and restoring images, etc. I have my data on a separate partition, and I back it up regularly to an external drive. I don't have to worry about backing anything up on my main OS partition unless I install a major application or do significant updates. When that happens, I make an Acronis image of my C partition. If something were to happen to that drive, I could restore the most recent image, and immediately have access to my data.

It just seems more convenient :)

C <-QUOTE}
I do exactly the same thing :
- no anchoring needed and you have access to your data in each snapshot
- you can backup system and data partition separately
- you can keep your data files up-to-date, including "today", even when your system partition needs to be restored completely
- total freedom on your system partition without being worried about your data anymore, which is very reassuring.
- you can use the same backup software for each partition

[Peter2150]

I don't, and don't find it either unsafe or inconvenient.;D Just a matter of choice.

[Long View]

Not sure if I made myself clear here. I was wondering if a virus/spyware bad things can jump from one partition to another. The point was made about vuruses being stored in my docs. well if my docs are stored on another partition can a virus get there ? and then what id my docs are stored on a completely separate drive - would that make it more difficult ?

This is all academic. I haven't seen anything more dangerous that a tracking cookie in years but it would be nice to think that if something bad did get in it could only damage a partition or drive that FD-ISR and or Acronis could simply replace.

[ErikAlbert]

{QUOTE-> Not sure if I made myself clear here. I was wondering if a virus/spyware bad things can jump from one partition to another. The point was made about vuruses being stored in my docs. well if my docs are stored on another partition can a virus get there ? and then what id my docs are stored on a completely separate drive - would that make it more difficult ?

This is all academic. I haven't seen anything more dangerous that a tracking cookie in years but it would be nice to think that if something bad did get in it could only damage a partition or drive that FD-ISR and or Acronis could simply replace. <-QUOTE}
In theory everything is possible, nothing surprises me anymore.
You can also ask yourself, if a malware can jump from one snapshot to another snapshot. If my off-line snapshot ever gets infected, I have the proof that a malware can jump from my on-line snapshot to my off-line snapshot.

In practice I'm not really worried about malware, because my RECOVERY is much stronger than all these malwares together and it will be even stronger after my re-installation from scratch.
I paid alot of attention to recovery, more than to anti-malware, because that's my only reliable weapon against malware.
I just use anti-malware softwares to save the period between two reboots, but I don't trust them, although some of them are pretty good and understandable for me, they are never complete.
The bad guys can't do much, if I replace my "infected" system with a healthy system during EACH reboot.
Besides, I don't like the way how the good guys fight against the bad guys, they fight like sissies IMO. They are more interested in earning money, than anything else.

[EASTER.2010]

Successfully buiding on 4 snapshots here. 2 are heavily loaded and i update them back & forth accordingly, the other 2 are somewhat minimal in capacity to keep things simple but for the most part i make the Primary snapshot the most used.

Now i also exported a complete snapshot off-drive to another as well as created archives and have them somewhat orderly ATM.

I did not pay attention to exporting over an export and instead done a Windows Copy/Paste to one of them, is that a problem? I mean is it a function that will yield the same results?

I will never use another lousy floppy again like i did tonight. I don't care where you get them from you have to be very wary of them anymore. All i did was use Morgud's wipe disk to clear another drive and ended up with more aggravation then it was worth. That'll teach me next time to just let PARAGON handle it from the GUI. Now even though my BIOS recognizes the drive it prevents any snapshots from loading. I thought for a moment i committed a cardinal sin in that lame brain move of mine. Lucky for me though, it just required unplugging the other drive and replacing it with one that is normal. Any snapshot boots up fine after that. What a ticked off puppy i was when i learned that after using HIREN'S boot CD that the floppy somehow PASSWORD PROTECTED the stupid drive from access, how ignorant can you be to want to do that? Took 20 programs on the CD to finally get to just one that give me the truth about what the heck was happening. All other Hiren's programs (lot of them really good) only would return an INVALID FILE SYSTEM error or Hard Drive I/O error >:(

Here we are well along into the 21st century and you still have to jump thru twenty hoops of programs before you find out what the heck is making a problem. I dunno care now if i throw the drive into the Ohio River and watch it sink, because at least i pulled off all the most important programs and lodged them safely to an alternate partition before trying to wipe with that lousy floppy. Lesson learned, temper burned. >:(

[ErikAlbert]

Easter,
Do you use "export" to create archived snapshots or do you use "copy/update" to create archived snapshots ?

If you don't work with DVD/CD, you don't use "export", you use "copy/update" from snapshot to (new) archive.

[EASTER.2010]

I did just as i mentioned, blindly maybe and on a whim it would work too, but i see the point that archives are snapshots in compressed form, readily available for use and easily if not quickly updated.

This program is the bomb. A real trooper when things look their worse.

{QUOTE-> If you don't work with DVD/CD, you don't use "export", you use "copy/update" from snapshot to (new) archive. <-QUOTE}

I never use plastic anymore, too fragile and corruptable. Only METAL!

[ErikAlbert]

{QUOTE-> I never use plastic anymore, too fragile and corruptable. Only METAL! <-QUOTE}
That doesn't answer my question, I repeat : "Do you use export or copy/update to create archived snapshots ?"

[EASTER.2010]

{QUOTE-> "Do you use export or copy/update to create archived snapshots ?" <-QUOTE}

NO, i use Copy/Update to create .arx. I see the export feature as a way to transfer the whole snapshot as it already resides in the $ISR folder and a means to and end, which is moving it out of reach from any possible tampering should anything make it's way to it.

[ErikAlbert]

{QUOTE-> NO, i use Copy/Update to create .arx. I see the export feature as a way to transfer the whole snapshot as it already resides in the $ISR folder and a means to and end, which is moving it out of reach from any possible tampering should anything make it's way to it. <-QUOTE}
OK. But it is confusing to use the word "export", because that word is also used in FDISR. You better use "archive" (= copy/update), otherwise everybody will think you are using the feature "Export Snapshot" to archive snapshots.

"Export Snapshot" also produces an .ARX-file, just like copy/update.

Although I never tested this, it could be possible that there is a difference between "Export Snapshot" and "Copy/Update". The result is the same, but is everything after that the same ? I have doubts about that.
"Copy/Update" updates an existing archive also and that works very fast. Does that happen with "Export Snapshot" also ? I'm not sure about that.

[EASTER.2010]

To be honest i dunno yet, maybe Peter2150 could enlighten us to that since he turns this every which way but up and reports astounding results in most his experiments.

I know one thing, FD-ISR pulled my tail out of a sling tonight. I don't know how i get tangled up in some of these messes when all i want to do is CLONE/IMAGE to another drive than wipe that drive. Guess my choice of programs are not always up to snuff, at least this one wasn't, thats for sure.

I ran into something almost as similar by innocently trusting a "free" Avira download once not long ago that claimed to make it possible for you to read NTFS file system from DOS. The screen looked really pro-like but the function fudged my hard drive and render it unbootable. Another glowing floppy experience, i'm staying away from them too for now on.

[ErikAlbert]

{QUOTE-> To be honest i dunno yet, maybe Peter2150 could enlighten us to that since he turns this every which way but up and reports astounding results in most his experiments.
<-QUOTE}
I don't think Peter ever tested this. Import/Export are only interesting if you archive snapshots on DVD/CD.
I didn't test it, because I hate DVD/CD for data storage, just like you and I would be surprised if Peter would entrust his business to a DVD or CD.
But it would be interesting to know how "Export Snapshot" really works in comparision with "Copy/Update" (Archive).

[Long View]

{QUOTE-> I hate DVD/CD for data storage, (Archive). <-QUOTE}

Just going slightly off topic

For data storage - I am happy to say that CD and DVD have had their day. I use a series of externals - which are so cheap now that I was able to pick up a 500 gig e-sata last week for even more back up.

BUT

I still have data for my business on CD from 1996 ( recorded with an HP 1x machine) and DVDs from 2002 on and almost without exception data can be restored. with good media ( taiyo yuden) and a BenQ I would argue that properly stored DVDs will last for decades ----- and they fit very nicely into a fire proof safe.... so when the bad guys have taken my externals the DVDs will still be there.

[ErikAlbert]

{QUOTE-> Just going slightly off topic

For data storage - I am happy to say that CD and DVD have had their day. I use a series of externals - which are so cheap now that I was able to pick up a 500 gig e-sata last week for even more back up.

BUT

I still have data for my business on CD from 1996 ( recorded with an HP 1x machine) and DVDs from 2002 on and almost without exception data can be restored. with good media ( taiyo yuden) and a BenQ I would argue that properly stored DVDs will last for decades ----- and they fit very nicely into a fire proof safe.... so when the bad guys have taken my externals the DVDs will still be there. <-QUOTE}
OK. I can live with that. Approved by Belgium. ;)

PS. :I also have Benq DW1640 DVD/CD-writer, but without taiyo yuden.
I will first learn how to pronounce it and then try to get them in Antwerp.

[lucas1985]

Erik,
These links may be useful:
Taiyo Yuden media (http://www.supermediastore.com/taiyo-yuden-dvd-plus-r-media.html?WT.mc_id=cjtext)
How To Choose CD/DVD Archival Media (http://adterrasperaspera.com/blog/2006/10/30/how-to-choose-cddvd-archival-media/)
:)

[ErikAlbert]

{QUOTE-> Erik,
These links may be useful:
Taiyo Yuden media (http://www.supermediastore.com/taiyo-yuden-dvd-plus-r-media.html?WT.mc_id=cjtext)
How To Choose CD/DVD Archival Media (http://adterrasperaspera.com/blog/2006/10/30/how-to-choose-cddvd-archival-media/)
:) <-QUOTE}
Thanks for the links. I will read them first and then translate them word by word in Dutch. ;)