Drive Snapshot not Dead

[n8chavez]

Drive Snapshot is not dead. Yes, it has been a year since we've heard anything about it, or heard from Tom, but I know for a fact that version 1.40 will be released "soon". I actually have an RC right now. As of right now I do not know what the differences are, but I can tell you that the exe is now 276k. I'll post more as I get more info.

But this is very good news.

[zfactor]

win7 compatible??

[n8chavez]

-{ Quote: "win7 compatible??" }-

Indeed it will. I'm told that version 1.40 will focus on compatability. DS will be around for a while, I'm told.

:thumb:

[ambient_88]

-{ Quote: "Indeed it will. I'm told that version 1.40 will focus on compatability. DS will be around for a while, I'm told.

:thumb:" }-
Do you know if a bootable ISO will be included (like ShadowProtect's, Macirum's, etc.)?

[n8chavez]

-{ Quote: "Do you know if a bootable ISO will be included (like ShadowProtect's, Macirum's, etc.)?" }-


I do not believe so. If it were it would go against Tom's minimalist approach. But creating that disc is not hard to do. Please read this (http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=1445780&postcount=8). It should help.

[zfactor]

so can someone explain how ds differs from the rest minus being a tiny program..

[n8chavez]

-{ Quote: "so can someone explain how ds differs from the rest minus being a tiny program.." }-

There are a lot of way. It does not require installation, nor does it use background services that can interfere with your system and use resources. It is also completely portable, being that it is just one exe file; that one file can be placed on PE discs and bootable flash drives and be fully functional.

You might see the fact that it does not come with bootable rescue media as a negative, but I chose to view that as a positive. I can use PE discs, in particular Ultimate Boot Disc for Windows, which has a lot more features than just being able to restore your images.

[pot2pan]

It's very good news indeed! I am glad to hear that the minimal approach is maintained.

I need imaging software, not something that also promises to iron my shirts and take the dog for a walk.

As a result of the minimalist approach DS does disk imaging and recovery efficiently and reliably. That's all I want. Such reliability should be the rule in the disaster recovery industry, but unfortunately it is not always the case.

Placing the DS executable onto a PE disk to be able to restore the boot partition with the convenient Windows GUI if needed is no problem at all.

[kennyboy]

Another "where it differs" is in the fact that the .exe doesn't even need to be on the rescue disk. You can just boot with whichever disk you use, and browse to the .exe wherever you want to keep it and run it from there. So useful.

[Aaron Here]

-{ Quote: "I do not believe so. If it were it would go against Tom's minimalist approach. But creating that disc is not hard to do. Please read this (http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=1445780&postcount=8). It should help." }-
As a DS user over the past 2 years, I am definitely a 'fanboy', BUT I totally disagree with your reasoning for Tom not developing and including a bootable ('live' Windows) recovery CD. While it's true that you and I (as well as others here on Wilders) have had no difficulty downloading/generating our own boot CD, there are hundreds of thousands of potential users who would never consider doing that...

As I see it, the bottom-line for Tom dramatically improving end-user sales is to provide a completely 'turnkey' product. :isay:

[Brian K]

I don't think Tom is very interested in selling DS. A live CD restore is not mentioned anywhere on the website. Only a DOS restore.

For a beginner, it is too difficult to use and too expensive.

[Aaron Here]

-{ Quote: "I don't think Tom is very interested in selling DS. A live CD restore is not mentioned anywhere on the website. Only a DOS restore.

For a beginner, it is too difficult to use and too expensive." }-
Tom is not interested in selling DS? -- surely you can't be serious Brian! :P

[Brian K]

-{ Quote: " -- surely you can't be serious Brian! " }-
Aaron,

Well it doesn't look like a serious effort to me. The website is rarely updated and he is certainly restricting the number of people who would buy it. You and I can use it easily, but a beginner doing a DOS restore? They wouldn't know where to start. I agree with your earlier statement, the application needs to be much more user friendly to attract buyers and as it is the second most expensive image/restore app, the price doesn't help.

[n8chavez]

Brain, I disagree with you here. Remember that DS is a one man operation and does not have the luxury of having entire teams of people constantly working on it. That being said, I'm sure Tom is doing his best. He's told me that DS provides him with a comfortable living, which is the best any one programmer could hope to accomplish.

I find it odd that you criticize DS for being to difficult when you promote Image for Windows/Image for DOS and in particular TBOSDT, which is more difficult than anything a user could do with DS.

[Brian K]

-{ Quote: "
I find it odd that you criticize DS for being to difficult when you promote Image for Windows/Image for DOS and in particular TBOSDT, which is more difficult than anything a user could do with DS." }-
Nate,

TBOSDT is very difficult to use. But it is free and is not aimed at beginners. I think IFW and IFD are very easy to use and come with good documentation.

I like DS but if it was sold on a VistaPE CD so that restores could be done from a Windows environment, it would be far more attractive to beginners.

[n8chavez]

-{ Quote: "Nate,

TBOSDT is very difficult to use. But it is free and is not aimed at beginners. I think IFW and IFD are very easy to use and come with good documentation.

I like DS but if it was sold on a VistaPE CD so that restores could be done from a Windows environment, it would be far more attractive to beginners." }-

That is true. I know that Tom keeps an eye on Wilders, so he more than likely is aware of this thread. But if enough user email him and ask maybe he might consider it.

Also worth mentioning are the license fees that are attached to what you are asking. I know that wit any variation of PE Builder the user specifies their own installation media which is used to make the disk. That is not the case with, say, ShadowProtect, where there is nothing to build.

[pot2pan]

-{ Quote: "Another "where it differs" is in the fact that the .exe doesn't even need to be on the rescue disk..." }-
This is quite correct, however in practice I find it prudent to place the DS exe on the rescue disk to cater for the risk that the disk I need to restore is the one where snapshot.exe is and that disk cannot be read.

[ambient_88]

I am happy to pay for DS if Tom includes a bootable ISO. While I am certainly not a beginner, I am not inclined to make a boot disk myself. Surely, for the price Tom is charging for, he should at least include a bootable ISO.

[Aaron Here]

-{ Quote: "I like DS but if it was sold on a VistaPE CD so that restores could be done from a Windows environment, it would be far more attractive to beginners." }-
That was my point - well almost... There are hundreds of thousands of PC-literate end-users to whom I would not refer as 'beginners'. Most of these end-users do a decent job of installing and running apps on Windows, but they are not up to building a 'live' boot disk any more than they would be up to building their own PC.

My son falls into this category and from the very first time he used DS, he found its Windows GUI user-friendly, but was unable to cope with the recovery (DOS) diskette. Once I gave him a UBCD4Win (with snapshot.exe on it) he has had no problem restoring his backups. ;)

[nanana1]

-{ Quote: "I am happy to pay for DS if Tom includes a bootable ISO. While I am certainly not a beginner, I am not inclined to make a boot disk myself. Surely, for the price Tom is charging for, he should at least include a bootable ISO." }-

I wonder why not make an simple and minimal ISO image of a bootable DS CD and share with everyone here.:P

Anyone ? *puppy*

[n8chavez]

-{ Quote: "I wonder why not make an simple and minimal ISO image of a bootable DS CD and share with everyone here.:P

Anyone ? *puppy*" }-

Doing so would be illegal. PE discs are created with files the user already has, and paid for. Other vendors, such as ShadowProtect and Macrium Reflect has licensing fees they pay in order to provide uses with a bootable PE.

[nanana1]

Thanks for the reply. Didn't realize that and now understand why this is not available and had to be created by the individual user.:)

The wheel gets invented everyday.:P

[lodore]

I like drive snapshot but image for windows isnt much bigger in size and is constantly updated plus has two restore cd's included which are fantastic. it may look hard for the first restore but infact its very easy.
both programs proof how bloated programs like norton ghost and acronis are.

[mata7]

you can say whatever you want about bloated programs, but most user just want click one icon and start backup then click again and start restore whit out the need to go to 5 different forums to learn how backup and restore or how create a PE CD and thaws what sell, I use IFW/IFD, but this softwares looks like win95 plus they are very confuse to someone hows not a geek

i use IFW/IFD just in case of emergency cause Ghost never have a single problem on my pc and i restore everyday 2 to 4 times is just more simple one click backup, one click restore

is 2009 and i cant even use my mouse whit IFD unbelievable :-[

[MerleOne]

IMHO, there are two things missing from drive snapshot currently, beside the recovery bootable media topic already discussed here :
- the ability to handle exclusions from the GUI
- the ability, when running VISTA, to exclude the recovery files (\System Volume Information) without having to resort to dirty tricks such as changing the security parameters of this system folder.

Just my 2 cents...

[loli22]

-{ Quote: "Surely, for the price Tom is charging for, he should at least include a bootable ISO." }-

Absolutely

-{ Quote: "Other vendors, such as ShadowProtect and Macrium Reflect has licensing fees they pay in order to provide uses with a bootable PE." }-

i believe they use a linux rescue CD, linux = free (like free beer)

i dont mean to be rude, but i think whoever is making DS is a bit lazy to make a linux enviroment cd rescue, if he doesn't know how to do it, he can always sub-contract someone else to do it for him, after all the guy is doing business, and that's what i call "doing good business".

[pot2pan]

-{ Quote: "Absolutely
. . .
i believe they use a linux rescue CD, linux = free (like free beer)
" }-

Both Macrium Reflex (free) and Acronis use a Linux boot CD. Both have major problems with their recovery discs as drivers for new hardware are produced very late for Linux.

Reflex (commercial) and ShadowProtect provides Windows PE-based Boot CDs. Those are not free.

I don't think that Tom is likely to want to get into significant trouble with his commercial product, as Acronis has with True Image, by providing a Linux boot CD likely to generate lots of complaints from users of recent hardware.

[ambient_88]

-{ Quote: "Both Macrium Reflex (free) and Acronis use a Linux boot CD. Both have major problems with their recovery discs as drivers for new hardware are produced very late for Linux.

Reflex (commercial) and ShadowProtect provides Windows PE-based Boot CDs. Those are not free.

I don't think that Tom is likely to want to get into significant trouble with his commercial product, as Acronis has with True Image, by providing a Linux boot CD likely to generate lots of complaints from users of recent hardware." }-
Correction: it is called "Reflect". Also, the Linux Rescue CD of Reflect is compatible with a wide range of hardware. It might not be the same as a WinPE, but it's still pretty good.

[pot2pan]

-{ Quote: "Correction: it is called "Reflect". Also, the Linux Rescue CD of Reflect is compatible with a wide range of hardware. It might not be the same as a WinPE, but it's still pretty good." }-

Yes, it's "Reflect". My apologies.

I agree. A Linux boot CD will work with a large range of hardware. Therefore you can provide it with free products. Those unfortunate users for whom the CD does not work will not complain about it if it is not working on their hardware. If they do, you can redirect them to your commercial version. It's a win-win situation.

That's why Macrium provide Linux boot with their free version. For their paying customers they provide a Windows PE disk.

Acronis, which provides a commercial product with a Linux Boot CD probably wish they never did. You only have to refer to the old Acronis True Image board on this site to see the amount of angst (and anger among customers) that decision has generated.

[n8chavez]

Now that Windows 7 is out I think it's time for Drive Snapshot to officially support it, including excluding the swap and hibernation files. If there are any DS users out there that also use Windows 7 perhaps now would be a good time toi shoot me an email and coax him a little.

[MerleOne]

-{ Quote: "Now that Windows 7 is out I think it's time for Drive Snapshot to officially support it, including excluding the swap and hibernation files. If there are any DS users out there that also use Windows 7 perhaps now would be a good time toi shoot me an email and coax him a little." }-

Not yet but I will ! Also, DS should optionally exclude System Restore files, that were huge and useless under Vista (and very difficult to exclude with VISTA).
And propose an exclusion from GUI.