First Defense Question

[WilliamP]

Ok I have installed my new hard drive and First Defense ISR . I have made a secondary snapshot. Now that I have two snapshots on the drive can I run defrag. I have XP Home Edition.

[ronjor]

{QUOTE-> Ok I have installed my new hard drive and First Defense ISR . I have made a secondary snapshot. Now that I have two snapshots on the drive can I run defrag. I have XP Home Edition. <-QUOTE}

WilliamP

I don't have First Defense on my computer yet but I don't see why not. I did trial it.
Did you defrag first before doing the snapshots? And they also say you can disable sys restore to reduce the size of the snapshot.

[WilliamP]

I defraged before making the snapshot. I didn't disable system restore. After the secondary snapshot was finished I rebooted to the secondary . It worked great . You couldn't tell the difference.

[Acadia]

If you are using the built-in Windows defragger, Yes, you will have no problems. If you read the FAQ and Knowledgebase at Raxco, http://www.raxco.com/support/windows/SupportOptions.cfm
, you will see that some third-party defraggers move the $ISR.BIN which FD-ISR creates. The location of this file is recorded in the Master Boot Record (MBR) which FD jealously guards. When these defraggers move this file FD loses the pre-boot screen, or something like that. You can either use one of the later versions of Raxco's own defragger PerfectDisk which is designed to leave this bin file alone, or use the built-in MS defragger which never messes with this special file in the first place. It was one of Raxco's tech support people who told me that it was safe to defrag using the MS utility and I have now used it many times without incident. Good luck.

Acadia

[Peter2150]

Hi All

I defrag all the time with First Defense. I have turned off System Restore. Seems unnecessary with First Defense.

Also in a conversation with one of the tech support folks I asked about having the $isr.bin moved, as if you use a disk image program and then restore certainly that file will be moved. As I recall he said that when the file is moved the first boot the preboot won't be there but once you get all the way up, First Defense will have located the file, and the preboot will be there from then on. I have chosen to avoid testing this.

Pete

[WilliamP]

Hi Peter. When defrag is run is it going to defrag both snapshots?

[Acadia]

{QUOTE-> When defrag is run is it going to defrag both snapshots? <-QUOTE}

According to the Raxco tech support person that I corresponded with, Yes, the ENTIRE hard drive is defragged including ALL snapshots.

Acadia

[Peter2150]

Yes and the snapshots are not kept separately. If you smart placement which I recommend, then the files are place based on the recent modifications dates. This causes the files of all snapshots to be intermixed. This has never caused me any problems whatsoever.

Pete

[WilliamP]

I would have thought the secondary snapshot would be seperated from the primary. I have another question dealing with scheduling Backups. My understang is, if I schedule a weekly backup from the Primary to the secondary it will only change the files that have been changed. First,is that correct? Then,what about files that have been deleted from the primary snapshot? Are they removed from the secondary? And what were you talking about [smart placement]? I don't remember seeing anything about that when I created the secondary.

[Acadia]

Yes, when you update a previously created snapshot, ALL changes are recorded. All files that have been added are added, all files that have been deleted are deleted, all files that have been changed are changed. After you update a snapshot, that snapshot and whatever snapshot you used to update it with ARE IDENTICAL except for the paging file, temp files, hibernation file and I believe the Recycle bin (even the exceptions make sense in this program). FD does not copy the paging file, temp files, hibernation file or Recycle bin; otherwise those two snapshot are NOW IDENTICAL in every other way.

Peter, I thought I knew FirstDefense but you'll have to explain Smart Placement to me too. ???

Acadia

[WilliamP]

Thank you Acadia. I like that! I really like this FD-ISR.

[Acadia]

Yes, this is now my all-time-favorite software program PERIOD!! I edited my above post, I need Peter to explain Smart Placement to me too!

Acadia

[WilliamP]

It will not let me schedule a backup. When I click on finish I get a popup saying saying [Unable to establish existence of the account specified].

[Acadia]

William, unless Peter knows the answer, I'm afraid you'll have to contact tech support for that one, I never use scheduling. Raxco tech support is EXCELLENT, among the best that I have ever seen.

Acadia

[WilliamP]

Thank you Acadia.

[Don Pelotas]

{QUOTE-> I need Peter to explain Smart Placement to me too!
Acadia <-QUOTE}
Acadia, i think Peter is referring to the "Smartplacement Defragment" in PerfectDisk. :)

BTW. I like FirstDefence a lot too, it makes it so easy to roll back, if i've had one of my "moments". ;) ;D

[WilliamP]

Finally got it figured out. When my wife originally set up the Admin Account she put in a password and forgot it. I just had to figure out the password. So I now have it working.

[Acadia]

{QUOTE-> Acadia, i think Peter is referring to the "Smartplacement Defragment" in PerfectDisk. :)
<-QUOTE}

Wheeew, thank you Don, for a moment there I thought I had missed an entire section of the FD manual or something!

Acadia

[Peter2150]

Hi Guys

Yep, Smart Placement is in Perfect Disk. What I was refering to is when Perfect Disk runs, it doesn't isolate files by the FD-ISR snapshot, but when you use SmartPlacement in PerfectDisk it combines the snapshots.

Hopefully this is making sense.

Pete

I know Acadia will keep me honest on FD-ISR stuff ;D

PS. I never use scheduling either.

[WilliamP]

Why don't you guys use the scheduling?

[Acadia]

{QUOTE-> Why don't you guys use the scheduling? <-QUOTE}
I just prefer to do things manually. I have even turned off all the automatic updating on my AV and AT, I simply enjoy doing it myself and watching those things update (yeah, I know, "Acadia, you’ve got to get yourself a life" ;D )

Acadia

[WilliamP]

Do you run your AV ,AT scans manually? I run NOD by schedule . TDS3 is run manual. Takes a long time. NOD update auto but I allways ck to make sure.

[Acadia]

I run EVERYTHING manually, but that's just me, one man's poison is another man's meat. ;)

Acadia

[Peter2150]

I also run everything manually. Reason I do it is S**T happens. And when it does it can be very helpful to see what it was. I will start something running, grab a book and just keep an eye on the puter.

I have a friend who sets up everything in scheduler and lets it all run at night.
Fine if there are no problems, but if there is..... ugh.

Of course this is one of the beauties of First Defense.

I guess with computers I am a dog who won't change his ways. Works for me.

[Stro]

I’m seriously considering purchasing Raxco’s First Defense-ISR based on the praise I’ve read especially from William P, Peter2150, Acadia and bluekey23. I’m hoping some of those folks read this and can offer advice and the two topics below. I cannot find answers in the Raxco FAQs and the website’s knowledge base search also yielded nothing.

BTW, I’m responsible for maintaining three family PCs all of which run either Windows XP Pro or Home, and all run Norton SystemWorks 2004 (containing GoBack Personal Edition and the Speed Disk defragmentation program). All PCs have plenty of memory, speed and hard drive capacity.

My first question concerns the relationship between FD-ISR and defrag program.
Does anyone know if the SpeedDisk defragger in my SystemWorks 2004 is compatible with FD-ISR snapshots? Speed Disk has an option into which you can enter the names of files you want to be “unmovable.” Click this option and Speed Disk brings up a Windows Explorer style window in which you can browse and find the file(s) you want Speed Disk to treat as unmovable. But can you find FD-ISR’s $SR.BIN snapshot file, or is it hidden? I cannot find GoBack’s GOBACKIO.BIN back-up file in this browser screen. In fact, I cannot locate GOBACKIO.BIN on the PC using the Windows search function with all hidden/system files revealed. So if I cannot find $SR.BIN either, then I cannot prevent Speed Disk from defragging the file. (BTW, one of Symantec’s online Knowledge Base articles states, “ By default, Norton Speed Disk 2002 and later will not attempt to defragment Gobackio.bin. You do not have to do anything.” Interestingly, the SystemWorks manual accompanying the CD makes absolutely no reference to the relationship between the defrag program and the Gobackio.bin file.)

In an earlier post Acadia stated that the internal Windows XP defrag program was safe to use with FD-ISR snapshots. Does this mean the Windows defrag program will NOT defrag FD-ISR’s $SR.BIN file?

My second question concerns how FD-ISR works on a partitioned hard drive. I’m considering partitioning my hard drive (everything is in C: right now) with the operating system in C:, programs in D:, etc, in order to make disk imaging backups more efficient (when I get around to implementing them). So the question here is….does FD-ISR backup the entire hard drive regardless of how its partitioned, or does FD-ISR make snapshots of one partition at a time? Anything to be forewarned about here?

I’ll look forward to, and appreciate, your input.

Best regards,
Stro

[worldcitizen]

I'm interested in FD too but I already have True Image so what would I need First Defense for?

Anyone want to explain why there are so many restrictions (defrag etc) that one has to be aware of (as well as imaging)? A simple stright and forward back-up and restore utillity FD is not so I wonder why all the fuss and why some are saying it's so good. Maybe they haven't tried the others so are speaking from ignorance but I find it very strange that a program that has you worried about defrags as well as imaging can be anything but a pain as I forget often and if I do then FD will stuff up. Is this really what it's being made out to be by some or is it only a very few who are saying this, unaware of the many excellent programs out there which one doesn't have to 'keep an eye' on for defragging and imaging conflicts.

Dave

[Acadia]

{QUOTE-> My first question concerns the relationship between FD-ISR and defrag program. Does anyone know if the SpeedDisk defragger in my SystemWorks 2004 is compatible with FD-ISR snapshots? <-QUOTE}
Good question. Personally, I would email Raxco tech support. I had a ton of questions before I purchased their product and they answered everyone very quickly AND that excellent support also continued AFTER I purchased FD.

{QUOTE-> But can you find FD-ISR’s $SR.BIN snapshot file, or is it hidden? So if I cannot find $SR.BIN either, then I cannot prevent Speed Disk from defragging the file.
In an earlier post Acadia stated that the internal Windows XP defrag program was safe to use with FD-ISR snapshots. Does this mean the Windows defrag program will NOT defrag FD-ISR’s $SR.BIN file?
<-QUOTE}
You can see the snapshot file but they are closed. In reality they will of course probably be several gigabytes in size but the right-click properties will show up as zero in size. This is one of the attributes of the NT filing system that enables FD to perform its magic, the ability to keep everything inside those files hidden. According to Greg Hayes, one of the Raxco tech support people, ALL of the snapshots get defragged when you run a defragger, not just the snapshot that you are using; I personally asked him that one myself.

{QUOTE-> My second question concerns how FD-ISR works on a partitioned hard drive. ….does FD-ISR backup the entire hard drive regardless of how its partitioned, or does FD-ISR make snapshots of one partition at a time? <-QUOTE}
Even though my drive is not partitioned, I also asked about partitioning before I purchased FD and Greg said that, Yes, FD is compatible with partitioning programs. Firstdefense ONLY backs up the c:drive and that backup is also CONTAINED in the c:drive; no other partitions are used or effected in any way. No other partitions are backed up and you cannot store any snapshots on another partition; EVERYTHING happens on the c:drive only, similar to Goback. I hear rumor that a future FD version will allow storing the unused snapshots on another partition or something like that.

Don’t be bashful about emailing Raxco with any question, they are great. Good luck.

Acadia

[Acadia]

{QUOTE-> I'm interested in FD too but I already have True Image so what would I need First Defense for?
<-QUOTE}
You may not need FD, it is not for everybody, what program is? FD jealously guards the Master Boot Record, as does Goback, which some defrag programs move, that is when you can have problems, albeit just minor ones. The built-in MS defragger does not touch the MBR, so is perfectly safe to use. Actually, with the exception of Goback which is automatic, FD is the easiest backup type program I have ever used and much more flexible than Goback or TrueImage. You can have separate configurations of your system on your computer, ready to call up at any time. Right now at this moment, I can go back to a configuration that does not have SP2 if I want too. You can have different anti-viruses EVEN DIFFERENT OPERATING SYSTEMS, only catch being that they must all be NTFS. It is quite literally like having completely different computers and it makes you fearless, willing to experiment with anything; FD was originally developed as a way to bring you out of a no-boot situation. The only thing that FD can not save you from is a physical hard drive breakage; the future version of FD should be able to save you even from that as long as the different partition also means a different hard drive.

I have switched back and forth among my TEN different c:drives many dozens of time and have yet to encounter one single problem or error message.

Acadia

[nick s]

Hi worldcitizen,

I believe that FD, like GoBack, use a .bin file to store "snapshots". If the .bin file gets trashed, then you lose everything. So there is concern about properly defragmenting it. Users have similar concerns about defragging standard image files (TI, Ghost, BootIt NG...). I am also thinking about getting FD. If I do, I will continue to image the drive itself using a Ghost 2003 or BootIt NG boot CD.

Nick

[Acadia]

{QUOTE-> If I do, I will continue to image the drive itself using a Ghost 2003 or BootIt NG boot CD.
<-QUOTE}


Indeed, I make a complete image of EVERYTHING using both True Image and Drive Image; because of FD I've never had to do a restore from either of those programs but I still make backups in case of total hard drive failure.

Acadia

[worldcitizen]

Arcadia - thanks for your reply and I liked your answers.

If you don't mind I have one important question. I like the idea of being able to 'switch' between configurations but how long does the switch take? Does it take a long time to restore a snapshot? Does it take a long time to take a snapshot? Is this just another imaging program? True image uses a similar concept where you use a 'Secure Zone' to create a snapshot which can be accessed at boot up using the F1 key. What's the difference between the two if there is any?

I'm interested in buying but not unless there is some distinct advantage I get over True image while keeping TI for back-up images on other drives.

Also, are Raxco coming out with a new version of FD soon?

Thanks

Dave

[Acadia]

Worldcitizen,

It takes a couple of minutes to switch snapshots. It can take several minutes to restore a snapshot depending upon what you are doing and how old or recent (how far apart in time) the two snapshots are from each other. It takes about 9 minutes for me to make a brand new snapshot about 3.5 gigabytes in size but I have a newer faster processor. Not sure about your Secure Zone question, I use an older version of TrueImage, 6.0, does that have Secure Zone? You can try FD for free. I suggest going to the Raxco site and studying both the FAQ and Knowledgebase. Also they have a couple of PFD files you can download and study, at least they use to.

Acadia

EDIT: I do not know the time frame for the new version.

[worldcitizen]

Let's just say I install FD and take a snapshot and I turn on the FD booting option. Then I get hard drive corruption and can't restore any snapshot. How do I disable the FD Master Boot Record MANUALLY so I can have access to my hard drive again because if I can't get into Windows and can't restore an image from say True Image because of the MBR then I'm stuffed aren't I?

And if the MBR is written to how will I be able to re-install Windows because the MBR may not be able to be removed without accessing FD?

I'm writing this because once I forgot to uninstall GoBack and did a re-install of Windows and it wouldn't boot because the MBR still had GoBack's boot menu on it and I had to take my PC to the shop who charged me $55 to clean the MBR. It was then I became very weary of programs changing the MBR because undoing it can be a real problem and you can lose all functionality of your pc if you don't know how to fix the problem.

Dave

[worldcitizen]

This is taken from Raxco's site:

If you perform a boot time defrag pass and $ISR.BIN is "moved" by a defragmenter, then the MBR code will no longer find $ISR.BIN at the location specified in the MBR and you may have problems rebooting your system.

So I personally would 'read between the lines' before buying this product because it could cause your PC not to reboot if you're not careful or are unaware of the 'dangers of defragging' which everyone does.

Yet I didn't see Raxco going out of their way to inform users about this possible 'catastrophe' if you use a defragger. Most users would use their defragger without even thinking and there lies the danger. If they can't reboot then they will be up the creek.

Any thoughts on this? I'm bound to forget to exclude the file and I defrag many times. So this program can very well do the opposite of what it's for if you defrag your hard drive. Hmmmmmm not sure what to make of this but it doesn't look that appealing anymore.

Any comments would be very much appreciated.

Dave

[nick s]

From reading I have performed a boot time defrag (Diskeeper, O&O Defrag, PerfectDisk) and now my system will no longer boot. What happened? (http://www.raxco.com/support/windows/fdisr/fdisr_faqs.cfm#22), it looks like your system will boot if the .bin file has been moved, but you will have to reboot again to have access to the FD pre-boot environment and other snapshots.

Nick

[worldcitizen]

Thanks Nick - that's re- assuring because I panick if I can't boot. Now that's solved next question (before buying).

What happens if I re-install Windows forgetting to turn off the FD boot MBR?
Will my PC be unbootable?

What happens if I try and restore a True Image file and forget to turn off the FD boot MBR?
Will my PC be unbootable?

I get busy and sometimes just don't think ahead and if I forget I want to have some assurance that I can get back into my PC without calling a mechanic.

Thanks Nick

Dave

[Peter2150]

Have to jump in here. First the defragging. I use Raxco's Perfect Disk and it is a non issue as related to FD-ISR. can't say for other defraggers.

Note that FD-ISR does not store data in a bin file like goback. Each snapshot has a complete copy of your C: drive. Switching snapshots is a matter of rebooting. Once you are in an alternate snapshot you can mess around in your system area just lilke normal, except it is the snapshot files you are actually looking at.

Why I like it better than goback is that goback can overrun it's history and then you can't get back to a point in time. WIth FD-ISR that isn't an issue.
For other than a hard disk crash recovery is so much quicker than backups.

Some examples.

Installed a beta of some software, and windows wouldn't boot. Tried twice and finally booted to the backup snapshot. 2 minute copy and reboot and all was well.

Was running a registry cleaner and system hung. Rebooted and the result was UGLY. Booted to backup snapshot copied and all was well in 3 minutes.

Wanted to test a "name" brand security suite that has a reputation for being a mess to uninstall. After testing it took 3 minutes to make it like it never happened.

But yes there is a price in that I do pay attention to what I am doing. Anytime I do an FD-ISR copy I disable both AV and ProcessGuard. Also when I do any disk imaging I do disable FD-ISR preboot. These precautions just avoid problems. Kind of like driving a car. You do have to pay attention to some details.

In summary at this point I wouldn't be without FD-ISR.

Pete

[worldcitizen]

Thanks Pete.

So I have to turn of Process Guard and my Av too? Why is that?


I'm getting a bit confused about all the rules here. Anything else I need to know about FD? I'm thinking about buying it but I want to make sure it's going to be worth it and not cause me endless problems.

Dave

[worldcitizen]

I still need to know why I have to turn off PG and other AV software. What happens if I don't?

Also can I re-install Windows and still keep my current snapshot? That's a real winner for me if I can do that. It sounds impossible but if it can be done I'm interested in hearing anyone's individual experiences.

Thanks

Dave

[nick s]

{QUOTE-> What happens if I re-install Windows forgetting to turn off the FD boot MBR? Will my PC be unbootable? <-QUOTE}Assuming that you are formatting and reinstalling Windows, knowing that you will lose your .bin file, then I believe the Windows install resets your MBR. If it does not, then you can reset the MBR manually by booting from the XP CD, go into the recovery console, and use the "fixmbr" command.
{QUOTE-> What happens if I try and restore a True Image file and forget to turn off the FD boot MBR?
Will my PC be unbootable? <-QUOTE}When I image my drive, I usually include the MBR. Been a while since I used TI, but it should have that option.

Nick

[nick s]

{QUOTE-> Also can I re-install Windows and still keep my current snapshot? That's a real winner for me if I can do that. <-QUOTE}Looks like Raxco has a procedure for doing it: How do I install a "fresh install" OS system? (http://www.raxco.com/support/windows/fdisr/fdisr_faqs.cfm#14). I will try it out in the next day or two and see how it works.

Nick

[Peter2150]

Hi Dave

I disable PG because I don't want anything locking files when I copy with FD-ISR or image. PG does do self protection and I know FD-ISR will generate errors with PG files. I turn off the AV monitoring as I don't need it for this purpose and why have it check every file that gets copied. It is a speed issue.

As for disabling the preboot for imaging, in theory with the latest FD version that is unnecessary, but in talking with the techs at Raxco they pointed out that what you are doing with an image is hopefully being able to restore to a new disk with a bootable system. Just is a precaution to have the MBR unincumbered, and therefore it is just safer to turn off the pre boot option in FD which removes it from the MBR. If you follow all the posts relative to imaging, there are enough problems, so I just remove any potential obstacles.

Is FD-ISR worth it. To me, I wouldn't be without it.

Pete

[worldcitizen]

Thanks Pete.

I use Diskeeper so how do I configure FD so that there are no conflicts with Diskeeper?

Dave

[Acadia]

This from the Raxco website:

"If you are running Diskeeper or O&O Defrag, please contact the software manufacturer for assistance with excluding $ISR.BIN from being "moved" during a boot time defrag.

The Master Boot Record (MBR) code has been enhanced to handle the situation where $ISR.BIN has been moved - such as with an offline disk defragmenter or a drive imaging program. If $ISR.BIN is not found at the expected location, the system boots without the pre- boot screen. When the service starts, it will correct the location in the MBR and so the next boot will have the pre-boot as usual."

Acadia

[Peter2150]

{QUOTE-> Thanks Pete.

I use Diskeeper so how do I configure FD so that there are no conflicts with Diskeeper?

Dave <-QUOTE}

Hi Dave

To be honest I am not sure. Look in help for how to exclude files. If nothing there then contact diskkeeper techsupport. Surely they can help you.

Pete

[worldcitizen]

OK so I ended up buying it but now can I do a defrag without being unable to reboot? I mean in Windows - not a boot time defrag (I never do those)

What happened was I got Perfect Disk upgrade yesterday from 6 to 7 using the code EVENBETTER and it cost me only $15. Then today I was toying with getting First Defense using the promotional code which would have cost me $35. But then, just about 5 minutes before buying I got an email from Raxco thanking me for buying Perfect Disk and offering me another promotional code but this time for 50% off!!! So WOW yeah I took it. First Defense only cost me $22.50!!

Now I want to defrag my hard drive using Diskeeper because it's faster for my purposes (in between 3d games) but does the MBR issue refer only to BOOT TIME defrag or Windows defrag also? Because if it only refers to boot time defrag then I can use Perfect Disk when I decide to do one of those (maybe next year) but for Windows defrags I find Diskeeper much faster.

Any comments would be appreciated.

Dave

[worldcitizen]

Another question. I've made my 1st back-up. If I boot into that back-up and I uninstall programs will they be lost from the back-up?

Dave

[Acadia]

At the time that you make a back up, that back up and your Primary Snapshot are IDENTICAL in every way except for the paging file, hibernate file and tmp files; those three items are NOT backed up (even the exceptions make sense).

When you boot back into your backup, that back up now becomes YOUR REAL c:drive. All snapshots carry equal weight, whichever one you are in IS your c:drive, all the other snapshots cease to exist as far as we're concerned. So if you boot back into your backup and delete a program, that program is deleted ONLY FOR THAT SNAPSHOT. Your primary snapshot would still have that program unless you then use the Backup snapshot to UPDATE your Primary snapshot.

You can use any snapshot to update any other snapshot. Once you use one snapshot to update another, they are now identical (minus the paging file, hibernate file, and tmp. files).

You got a good deal on those programs. By the way, Perfect Disk is especially designed to be perfectly compatible with FirstDefense, will not mess you up at all. Good luck and hope you enjoy.

Acadia

[worldcitizen]

Thanks Acadia. Any tips or hints are most appreciated.

Dave

[Acadia]

Right before I am going to make a major change in my system like installing a new program or even SP2, I bring one of my backups completely up to date using my Primary snapshot to update that particular backup. So now that particular backup and my Primary are identical.

Then using my Primary I can install the new program or whatever. This is what I did with SP2. Initially I had a minor problem with SP2 on my Primary. So I was able to go back to a backup and update my Primary using that backup and retrieve my pre-SP2 setup; it was literally as if SP2 had never been installed.

Another thing that I do quite often is simply use one of the backups to experiment with new programs. FirstDefense really does make you fearless. I’ve used backups to experiment with anti-Trojans and Firefox among others. That way your Primary is still kept in its pristine condition until you are satisfied that a new program will not hose you, but even if it does, you still have one of the backups you can fall back upon that you can use to update your Primary and get you back to "normal".

This is a “thinking man’s” program, not for dummies, because it is so flexible and you can do so much with it. Enjoy.

Acadia

[Peter2150]

Hi Dave

I use PerfectDisk 7 along with FirstDefense. As far as speed of defrag, I defrag last thing before shutdown at night. Do it every night, and when I do I just leave the system alone. Defrag usually takes between 1 and 3 minutes. I only do a reboot defrag when I see something needs it.

Pete

[worldcitizen]

Thanks again Acadia for your help. Does FD verify the snapshot, in other words could the snapshot be corrupt?

Any more suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks heaps.

Dave

[worldcitizen]

It was real weird. I was just about to buy the program in about 2 minutes when I checked my email and was offered the 50% discount. Saved $15 just by researching a bit longer!!

Dave

[Acadia]

{QUOTE-> Does FD verify the snapshot, <-QUOTE}

Yes, if you want it to. I'm doing this from memory, I believe it is under Options > Schedules > Preferences or something like that.

Acadia

[Peter2150]

Hi Dave

Yes you can verify, it is under Tools>options>Task>activity. I talked with Greg Hayes, Raxco Techsupport about this and he comment it is just as quick to boot to the snapshot and work in it a bit. As a routine I don't bother with the verify, and I have never once had an issue. So far the biggest danger I've found is forgetting where I am working. About the only way you can really tell at times you are in an alternate snapshot is to run the mouse of the systray icon.

Pete

[Stro]

Here is the contents of an email Greg Hayes from Raxco sent me today. I wasn't clear on some of this, perhaps other weren't either. He place quotation marks around my initial questions to him. He refers to SpeedDisk which is the Symantec defrag program as some of you know.


Strother,

Good Afternoon and thanks for contacting Raxco Software Support!

"wilderssecurity.com forum"

I am not familiar with that forum. When I get a chance, I'll check it out.

"I understand that FD-ISR snapshots can be moved by a defragging program, but the $ISR.BIN file should not (please correct me if this is not right)."

This was the case at one time. Earlier builds of FirstDefense (prior to Build 119) could possibly have an issue if a BOOT TIME defrag was performed on the computer and $ISR.BIN was "moved". If you are running current FirstDefense code (Build 122), then there is no longer an issue. I believe that the FD FAQ mentions this.

This was previously ONLY an issue if a boot time defrag was performed. SpeedDisk under Windows XP has no ability to perform a boot time defrag - hence it was never an issue with SpeedDisk prior to FD being updated to handle the case where the file was "moved".


"FD-ISR make a snapshot of the entire hard drive (all partitions) or only the C: partition?"

FD only snapshots the C: partition - it is designed to get the Windows operating system back up and running quickly.


Regards,

Greg Hayes
Systems Engineer
Microsoft MVP - Windows Server/File Systems
Raxco Software, Inc.
ghayes@raxco.com
Support on the Web: http://www.raxco.com/support/windows

[no13]

{QUOTE-> FD only snapshots the C: partition - it is designed to get the Windows operating system back up and running quickly.
<-QUOTE}
critically important, no?

[Peter2150]

I take that beyond what Greg said in that response which is why I have everything in one C:\ partition. First Defense can get me back up quickly no matter what gets screwed up. It is a beta testers dream.

[worldcitizen]

It's really terrific! I booted into my back-up in the same time I would normally boot. There is no build time like when restoring an image which makes life so much easier. Basically it works the same as multi-boot but is a duplicate of your primary drive and should anything go wrong you just boot up from the back-up. There you can copy the undamaged backup over the demaged OS and then you have 2 OS to boot from again.

Dave

[Peter2150]

{QUOTE-> It's really terrific!
Dave <-QUOTE}

YEP!!! ;D Wait til it saves your bacon, or you want to test something new, and it proves to be a real flake.

Pete

[Acadia]

Worldcitizen, glad to see that you like it. It did indeed save me from an unbootable situation when I downloaded a MS Critical Update in July; could not boot, simply went into a backup and repaired my Primary. 8) Good luck.

Acadia

[worldcitizen]

Acadia thanks for all your insights!

Today I updated my backup because I had many programs that had errors and needed updates to fix them. I fixed all the programs in my Primary, did an AV scan and an AS scan, turned off all my security software and updated my back-up.

Here are the results after I updated and booted into the back-up:

My AV had a bug and a fix I applied was also fixed in the update.

The latest level I had played in Far Cry was also there!

I had updated my ATI graphics drivers and the update was in the back-up.

I had to re-install PG and even allowances I gave were all in the back-up!!

A bug fix I applied to my email client was there too.

Installed programs were there and uninstalled programs were gone!!

It took a whopping 3 minutes and 50 seconds to do the update!!

How's that!!

Dave

[Acadia]

Yes, like I have said before, whenever you use ANY Snapshot to update another Snapshot, those two Snapshots will then be identical, minus the paging file, hibernate file and tmp files. Actually, if I remember correctly, I believe I remember Greg Hayes from Raxco tech support telling me that the Recycle bin is also NOT copied. But other then those 3 or 4 things, those two Snapshots should be identical in every way. See ya.

Acadia

EDIT: And you can use ANY snapshot to update ANY other, just be careful because once you've updated a Snapshot using another, then it's too late to goback if you've accidently deleted something during that update! ;)

[Stro]

Where is the users manual for First Defense? Is it a pdf file in the software download or on the CD? Are there any advantages to purchasing FD via download from Raxco vs purchasing the CD from a third party vendor?

By the way, I was curious about how you download FD a second time if you need to (for example, due to a hard drive failure you have to reload all software onto a new hard drive). A Raxco customer service rep told me you would need to call them to arrange for a second download. They would probably send you a link in an email.

Regards,
Stro

[Acadia]

There is a Help Manual with the program located in the menu. There are some, or at least there were, some PDF files to download for studying but they were not the actual Help Manual that comes with the software. I also learned a lot about FD before I purchased it by studying the FAQ and Knowledgebase on the Raxco website.

I personally would purchase the program online because you are then assured of getting the latest build. Good luck.

Acadia

EDIT: www.raxco.com/support/windows/kb_index.cfm#FDISR
www.raxco.com/support/windows/fdisr/fdisr_faqs.cfm