Drive Image of Eaz Fix? Any experiences

[aigle]

I have installed Eaz Fix from GAOD. I used it tio protect just my C partition. Using its Drive Image function I have made an image of my C partition. I assume it must backup all the snapshots and MBR, Eaz Fix itself etc. Am I true.

Image creation was fine from both within windows and via Recovery CD. I used non-OS partition of same internal HD as a destination place for images.

However I am not confident to try the recovery itself. Before I go for it I want to ask if anyone tried its Drive Image part and was it able to restore images adequately.

Thanks

[Peter2150]

-{ Quote: "I have installed Eaz Fix from GAOD. I used it tio protect just my C partition. Using its Drive Image function I have made an image of my C partition. I assume it must backup all the snapshots and MBR, Eaz Fix itself etc. Am I true.

Image creation was fine from both within windows and via Recovery CD. I used non-OS partition of same internal HD as a destination place for images.

However I am not confident to try the recovery itself. Before I go for it I want to ask if anyone tried its Drive Image part and was it able to restore images adequately.

Thanks" }-

Hi Aigle

Assuming you have a good image of your system prior to installing, you could try the restore. If it's a mess it might be telling you something about leaving it on your system anyway. Just a thought.

Pete

PS The thread about Eazfix free for a day does discuss how the guys imaged it to protect the install.

[aigle]

Thanks Peter!-{ Quote: "Assuming you have a good image of your system prior to installing, you could try the restore. If it's a mess it might be telling you something about leaving it on your system anyway. Just a thought." }-Yes I have but was thinking I might loose atleast EazFix itself if it fails.

-{ Quote: "
PS The thread about Eazfix free for a day does discuss how the guys imaged it to protect the install." }-
You mean DriveSnapshot?

Actually i was especially interested about the users experiences with built in utility DriveImage!

[nexstar]

-{ Quote: "Thanks Peter!Yes I have but was thinking I might loose atleast EazFix itself if it fails.


You mean DriveSnapshot?

Actually i was especially interested about the users experiences with built in utility DriveImage!" }-
The in-built imaging will only save the current snapshot and you will need to re-install and re-activate Eaz-Fix when it restores.

I have tried out the imaging and, whilst it did work, it was a bit hit and miss as to what devices it recognised. If it likes your hardware then it's probably fine but don't use it for the free Eaz-Fix as you will lose your activation.

Graham

[sukarof]

-{ Quote: "The in-built imaging will only save the current snapshot and you will need to re-install and re-activate Eaz-Fix when it restores.
/QUOTE]


Wtf!? I am sure I´ve read somewhere that the built in imaging does preserve all the snapshots. (of course I cant find where I read it now)
But if you have tested it I wont argue with you, but then the purpose of the drive image built into EAZ-FIX is pointless imo and very discouraging.
I thought that it was very smart of them to include the imaging software since many, if not all?, users find a image of all the snapshots the natural way of doing images...well, well I guess you cant have it all. Thanks for the info though. Now I dont have to loose the free key, and waste time just because it wont make a proper image.
A true imaging software makes a perfect clone of the drive, meaning that when you restore the image you should get a perfect image; just restore and go as if nothing has happened.

[aigle]

I totally agree with you. What,s the fun of having this imaging option if it will not backup ALL the snapshots? That,s very disappointing!

Sadly I am not even able to use EAZ Clone, it doesn,t workk while it used to work with older versions of Eaz Fix.

BTW another question, I can,t remember but probably i read somewhere here that Paragon can restore all snapshots( not sure though at all). Anyone rememebers.

[rendez2k]

-{ Quote: "I totally agree with you. What,s the fun of having this imaging option if it will not backup ALL the snapshots? That,s very disappointing!

Sadly I am not even able to use EAZ Clone, it doesn,t workk while it used to work with older versions of Eaz Fix.

BTW another question, I can,t remember but probably i read somewhere here that Paragon can restore all snapshots( not sure though at all). Anyone rememebers." }-

Likewise, I'd like to know if ATI 11 can back up Eaz Fix properly as thats currently what I'm using to take my daily images.

[farmerlee]

Sadly the built in drive image cannot backup all your snapshots, just the one you are currently in.
Trueimage 11 can backup eaz-fix and all snapshots. You simply do a sector by sector backup. The only downside to this method is the backup image size is a lot bigger. For example I installed eaz-fix on my mothers laptop, a normal image size is around 2 gig, a sector by sector image is around 8 gig.

[rendez2k]

-{ Quote: "Sadly the built in drive image cannot backup all your snapshots, just the one you are currently in.
Trueimage 11 can backup eaz-fix and all snapshots. You simply do a sector by sector backup. The only downside to this method is the backup image size is a lot bigger. For example I installed eaz-fix on my mothers laptop, a normal image size is around 2 gig, a sector by sector image is around 8 gig." }-

So presumably then, the daily ATi backups I'm doing are a waste of time? What would happen if I actually restored a non sector by sector backup?

[markymoo]

@rendez2k
in a word no Eaz-Fix installed or running if you did that.

[rendez2k]

-{ Quote: "@rendez2k
in a word no Eaz-Fix installed or running if you did that. in fact all your windows but without Eaz-Fix" }-

Some Windows would work? I need to get a spare HDD to test!

If I took a one of back up today of the MBR with say MBRWiz (as discussed in another thread) would that suffice to get Eaz-Fix working again? Or would I need to be taking daily snapshots along with ATI? I assume ATI can't back up the MBR?

[farmerlee]

Yes your windows would work after a standard recovery but eaz-fix would be corrupted. I've never tried the method you mentioned, it could possibly recover the eaz-fix app but you would still lose all other snapshots.

[Jo Ann]

-{ Quote: "Likewise, I'd like to know if ATI 11 can back up Eaz Fix properly as thats currently what I'm using to take my daily images." }-
You (and aigle) should do a search for posts by appster in this forum (around Nov-Dec '07). He proved that ATI 11 and Paragon HDM can do the job completely and reliably when used from their boot CD's with the sector-by-sector option (without the need for a separate MBR utility).

[appster]

-{ Quote: "You (and aigle) should do a search for posts by appster in this forum (around Nov-Dec '07). He proved that ATI 11 and Paragon HDM can do the job completely and reliably when used from their boot CD's with the sector-by-sector option (without the need for a separate MBR utility)." }-
That's correct... I've borrowed and used ATI v11 and Paragon HDM v8.5 a few times to backup and restore my RB system partition (as reported in past threads). While I had settled on Drive Snapshot as my regular backup, the other 2 proved themselves very capable of doing a complete job of backup and recovery (i.e., no special handling of the MBR was necessary) when the backup was run from their recovery CD in 'sbs-mode'.

When the RB/EF developer enhances its Drive Image program to where it makes it more convenient to just use one product for both snapshots and backup images (that capture all snapshots), I'll probably climb on their "v8.x bandwagon'. Until then, v7.2.1 creates and restores flawless snapshots for me, as does DS (for image backups and restores)! ;)

[markymoo]

rendez2k

when i said all your windows i meant just the windows your in. i was speaking metaphorically. if you have several snapshots only the windows you currently in will be backed up if you take an image. if you dont do a sector by sector backup then Eaz-Fix won't work as several users have said.

[sukarof]

I have done one restore with Drive Image included in EAZ-FIX and it didnt go well.
It seems it is Linux boot cd. Everything went fine until the reboot after the restore.
When EAZ-FIX boot window appeared it warned me of "Improper shutdown" ??? and that it is gonna check disks.
Next error message says:
-{ Quote: "" Failed to verify Big Table (16) 1-0 Begin number 845D"" }- and after accepting that it gives hundred of prompts with basicly the same message, except the Big table number and the "1-0" changes. After confirming these messages for a couple of minutes I got bored and stopped the booting process and restored a image I´ve don with Norton Ghost 12.

NG12 did restore without probelms (except the MBR which made me have to reinstall EAZ-FIX.)

I have a very simple rule when I try Imaging tools: If they dont restore without problems the first time I do a restore, then they are useless (in my machine) I shouldnt have to tweak anything to make them work. Luckily there are a couple Imaging software that do exactly that.

*edit*

I did another restore and saw where I did go wrong. I checked the "restore sector by sector" in vain thinking that it would preserve the snapshots, after all EF FAQ says that you should use a sector based backup if you want to keep the snapshots. So I thought that that was handy and that option to restore sector by sector was there for a reason, but I was wrong :)
The second restore without changing anything in the restore environment did work. But it will destroy the EAZ-FIX installation so you have to reinstall EF again after the restore.

[aigle]

-{ Quote: "I checked the "restore sector by sector" in vain thinking that it would preserve the snapshots, after all EF FAQ says that you should use a sector based backup if you want to keep the snapshots. So I thought that that was handy and that option to restore sector by sector was there for a reason" }-

Hi, thanks for sharing ur testing.

By the way, I saw the option "restore sector by sector" but there is no such option "backup sector by sector" or did i miss it?

Also can u give the link to FAQ?

Thanks

[sukarof]

-{ Quote: "Hi, thanks for sharing ur testing.

By the way, I saw the option "restore sector by sector" but there is no such option "backup sector by sector" or did i miss it?

Also can u give the link to FAQ?

Thanks" }-

No I dont think you missed the option to backup sector by sector in Drive image, if it is there it is well hidden, I didnt see it either.
Here (http://kb.eazsolutions.com/article.php?id=172)is the part of Knowledge base that explains the sector by sector thing

-{ Quote: "However, most drive cloning software offers a sector-based backup option. When you run a cloning software in the sector-based mode, it dumps every sector on the hard drive to a image file. Because EAZ-FIX snapshots exist as sectors on the hard drive, the snapshot will be included in a sector-based backup." }-

My italic. Most image drive clonings systems offer that, but not the one included in EAZ-FIX. EAZ-FIX is one of the very few applications that actually needs the sector by sector backup. That is sort of funny imo :D

Well I´ve gone back to my FDISR image and I will contemplate over if EAZ-FIX is worth all the hassle. I noticed that I jumped between snapshots quite often, and it doesnt feel like EF is supposed to be used that way. For example incrementals in imaging software got confused when it discovered that there where snapshots from the future. If one is to keep a good image you have to update the baseline very often (=loosing all other snapshots), and that doesnt suite me because I like to have different computer configurations to play with. Only the original FDISR can provide that flexibility. Not to mention that you can use different OS´s in it too.
I once more thank Meriadoc for reminding of GAOTD, I was only a few inches from buying it even though I felt I hadnt evaluated it enough. With the free key I got a couple of more days to evaluate and make my decision.

[aigle]

-{ Quote: "No I dont think you missed the option to backup sector by sector in Drive image, if it is there it is well hidden, I didnt see it either." }-
It,s not there, that,s bad. They must have included it. What,s the fun of having this option in retore when the option is not there in bckup. Very strange unless it does backup sector by sector by default. But I read on the site that it does sector by sector image in case of unknown file format. That means for known file formats( NTFS, FAT32 etc) imaging is not sector by sector. So u can,t change the defualt settings in case of known file formats!

-{ Quote: "
My italic. Most image drive clonings systems offer that, but not the one included in EAZ-FIX. EAZ-FIX is one of the very few applications that actually needs the sector by sector backup. That is sort of funny imo :D
" }-Indeed funny!
By the way, in the past i have used their old software Eaz Clone to backup all snapshots but it failed on this version, they probably changed something.

[aigle]

-{ Quote: "
Well I´ve gone back to my FDISR image and I will contemplate over if EAZ-FIX is worth all the hassle. I noticed that I jumped between snapshots quite often, and it doesnt feel like EF is supposed to be used that way. For example incrementals in imaging software got confused when it discovered that there where snapshots from the future. If one is to keep a good image you have to update the baseline very often (=loosing all other snapshots), and that doesnt suite me because I like to have different computer configurations to play with. Only the original FDISR can provide that flexibility. Not to mention that you can use different OS´s in it too.
I once more thank Meriadoc for reminding of GAOTD, I was only a few inches from buying it even though I felt I hadnt evaluated it enough. With the free key I got a couple of more days to evaluate and make my decision." }-

Actualy FDISR verus Eaz Fix, to me:

FDISR advantages:

No conflicts as it doesn,t interfere with system in real time all the time.
Current snapshot retains its state when u reboot to another one ( in EazFix u have to take a new snapshot before rebooting to another to keep ur current state)- though it might be a disadvantage for some. U have to be used to for each routine.
Good imaging support
Every snapshot is independent
U can backup/ restore external archives
More stable


FDISR Disadvantages:

Large space
More time for snapshots
Only one frozen snapshot
Relatively more vulnerable to malware

IMO if u do a lot of testing etc and don,t have/ don,t want to use VM, Eaz-Fix is good. Otherwise FDISR is better. But u can,t find it anymore, even on GAOD.;D

[sukarof]

Personally I only find the long time it takes to make a snapshot as the only disadvantage compared to EAZ-FIX (hard drives are cheap today :) ).

In EA it was so easy to test software and windows updates. I still cant install SP1RC for Vista, it isnt compatible with (my) Vista ::) I tried to remove software and updates and EA saved me the time to reinstall them all (well faster than FDISR) when SP1 still wouldnt install. I will miss that you can have many different snapshots with different configurations to test. But at the end of a day, you have to have a solid snapshot to return to and EF cant give that (you have to update the baseline sooner or later and then you loose all the other configurations.)
EF isnt for the semi seriuos tester like me that wants to test software in many different ways fast.

If I didnt have this compulsion to test stuff I guess would´ve bought it.

[aigle]

-{ Quote: " But at the end of a day, you have to have a solid snapshot to return to and EF cant give that (you have to update the baseline sooner or later and then you loose all the other configurations.)
" }-Eaz fix if runs well on ur system it will be solid ofcourse. If not, u will know very soon. So if it works, it just works most of time.

No need to return to a new baseline, u can keep so many snapshots.

BTW I forgot to mention one more drwback of Eaz Fix... Slow boot( takes more time than FDISR).

[sukarof]

-{ Quote: "

No need to return to a new baseline, u can keep so many snapshots.

" }-

The only way to reclaim space (from software that wasnt installed in any snapshots anymore) was to update the baseline so EF could re calculate the space, otherwise the space was locked and couldnt be used. A simple defrag did not reclaim the space from files that wasnt used anymore.
Is there another way to reclaim the space?
Even though I said hard drives are cheap today :) I do want to use it for something and not waste it.

[farmerlee]

-{ Quote: "Eaz fix if runs well on ur system it will be solid ofcourse. If not, u will know very soon. So if it works, it just works most of time.

No need to return to a new baseline, u can keep so many snapshots.

BTW I forgot to mention one more drwback of Eaz Fix... Slow boot( takes more time than FDISR)." }-
Only slightly slower when switching between snapshots from my experience. However It makes up for it with the speed in which it takes snapshots.

O/T - Another cool thing i've just found out is eaz-fix works fine alongside a windows/linux dual boot setup.

[aigle]

Not recaliming space is a bug that means it,s not working OK on ur system. One thing I am doing is that I am not deleting snapshots manually while in windows. I just unlock them and they get auto-deleted during boot after a specified time- say one week.

Also no defragging while in Windows by Eaz fix built in snapshot defragger and no other defragging at all.

[rendez2k]

-{ Quote: "That's correct... I've borrowed and used ATI v11 and Paragon HDM v8.5 a few times to backup and restore my RB system partition (as reported in past threads). While I had settled on Drive Snapshot as my regular backup, the other 2 proved themselves very capable of doing a complete job of backup and recovery (i.e., no special handling of the MBR was necessary) when the backup was run from their recovery CD in 'sbs-mode'.

When the RB/EF developer enhances its Drive Image program to where it makes it more convenient to just use one product for both snapshots and backup images (that capture all snapshots), I'll probably climb on their "v8.x bandwagon'. Until then, v7.2.1 creates and restores flawless snapshots for me, as does DS (for image backups and restores)! ;)" }-

Does Drive Snapshot back up the MBR and all EF snapshots? I assume as per the others this is also only possible from the supplied DOS boot disk? From what I can gather, it does sector by sector imaging directly from Windows complete with MBR backup?

Also, when using Sector by Sector imaging, if the source drive has say 150gb used (from a 200gb drive), does the destination drive also need 150gb or 200gb spare, or is the image still compressed as with a normal backup?

[appster]

Yes. You must bootup in DOS or in a 'PE' environment (my preference). Then you can run DS from anywhere (selecting Maintenance Mode) and it will backup all EF/RB snapshots and the entire MBR. ;)

DS always attempts to compress the image it creates so the resulting image is usually quite a bit smaller than the source (how much smaller depends on how compressible the source files are)!

[rendez2k]

Thanks appster. I notice however that there is a "Maintenance Mode" under advanced options in Windows (http://www.drivesnapshot.de/en/advbac.htm)...

"This saves each and every cluster on the disk, ignoring the free space information.

This has its use if you are trying some 'Data Recovery' Tool to recover some data from a damaged disk, but want to be able to restore the original state in case the 'recovery' fails. "

Is this not the same thing?

[appster]

Actually, I never ran Maint Mode from within WinXP because other users here have tried that (markymoo and nexstar I believe) and reported that DS did not do the job when run from within WinXP, even when using Maint Mode... While I don't know for certain why that is, I suspect it has to do with faithfully imagng the EF/RB modified MBR.