Drive Snapshot bootable media!

[Brian K]

I've sorted out the Partition Structure issue if you want to try another CD.

[Cruise]

Originally Posted by Brian K

Despite all the hard work we've put in, I wouldn't suggest you buy DS. The TeraByte products have much more to offer and are licensed for 3 computers.

DS' license is also valid for 3 PCs, but DS costs almost twice as much as the Terabyte-trio.

[Brian K]

This is for the Dell.

call NTFS.bat

set target=DS_Dell\*.sna
for %%A in (D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z) do if exist %%A:\%target% set drive=%%A:
%drive%
CD DS_Dell
echo.
dir

echo.
set /p full=What is the full image filename?:
echo.
set /p diff=What is the diff image filename?:
echo.

choice /c:YN "Restore Partition Structure?"
IF ERRORLEVEL 2 GOTO no
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO yes
:yes
echo.
snapshot restore hd1 partitionstructure %full%

:no
snapshot restore hd1 auto %full% -y
snapshot restore hd1 auto %diff% -y
goto _end

:_abort
@echo AUTOEXEC: Aborted...
@echo.
@rem flow into "_end"
:_end

You will need to download...

http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-.../choice44x.zip

Unzip and go to the bin folder. Copy choice.exe (it is 6 kb) and delete everything else in the download.

When you have the ISO open in PowerISO, drag choice.exe into the same area that contains autoexec.bat. Save.

Edit... If you mistakenly press Y for "Restore Partition Structure?" you are given another chance to say N.

[Cruise]

Originally Posted by Brian K

I've sorted out the Partition Structure issue if you want to try another CD.

Brian,

Sure would, but it's almost 8 PM here and I'm ready to turn on the TV and veg. We can pick this up tomorrow, but it will have to wait until I get home from a job interview in the morning.

Cruise

[Brian K]

Already posted the update.

Good luck tomorrow.

[The Shadow]

Cruise,

I've been following this thread with interest, as Brian recently shared some of his knowledgeable IFD shortcuts with me.

Like you, I considered and trialled both DS and the IFW-IFD-IFL combo. While I found them both to be excellent I decided to buy the Terabyte Trio (as you refer to it) not because it cost less, but because it provides 3 different OS environments that can be used to restore its image. Imho that's huge!

Anyway, I didn't mean to detract from this interesting exercise, so I'll let it go at that.

TS

[Brian K]

Originally Posted by The Shadow

I didn't mean to detract from this interesting exercise,

TS,

Please join in.

Another plus for the TeraByte trio (I like the term) is you also get TBOSDT Pro which can do amazing things.

[The Shadow]

Originally Posted by Brian K

TS,

Please join in.

Another plus for the TeraByte trio (I like the term) is you also get TBOSDT Pro which can do amazing things.

Brian,

Thanks for welcoming me to join in on this discussion, but I really don't have a lot to contribute as far as DS goes. In a prior post, TonioRoffo wondered why mess with DOS when you can boot with a 'PE' disk and use DS from a Windows environment. I can answer that from my own recent experience. After experiencing a BSOD, WinPE coudn't even see my C-partition, whereas both DOS and Linux could (and saved my bacon)!

TS

PS. I haven't even given TBOSDT a look yet.

[Brian K]

I have 30 primary partitions on my first HD. WinPE can see 4. The TeraByte trio can see 30.

[Brian K]

Some things TBOSDT Pro can do...

Edit the registry of a non booting OS
save and restore the registry
Remove the Win7 SRP
Install storage controller drivers to a non booting OS (for Hardware Independent Restore)
Remove all drivers from a non booting OS
change the HAL in a non booting OS
change drive letters in a non booting OS
copy files to a non booting OS
explore files and folders in a non booting OS
expand virtual machines
copy and restore the MBR
Set a partition active
Set the CHS values for a partition entry
Set the NT disk signature
copy a partition to a file and boot from it
copy a partition and create a virtual machine
boot WinXP from a USB HD

[TonioRoffo]

Originally Posted by The Shadow

TonioRoffo wondered why mess with DOS when you can boot with a 'PE' disk and use DS from a Windows environment. I can answer that from my own recent experience. After experiencing a BSOD, WinPE coudn't even see my C-partition, whereas both DOS and Linux could (and saved my bacon)!

That's because your WinPE lacked the mass storage driver needed to access your drive. My document show how easy it is to load a driver into the Win7 installer environment.

Making it automatic, that's another story

[TonioRoffo]

Originally Posted by Brian K

Some things TBOSDT Pro can do...

Edit the registry of a non booting OS - Win7CD standard regedit can do this (mounting hives)
save and restore the registry - DS+Win7CD combo Easy if you know which files to replace.
Remove the Win7 SRP - dunno about this one
Install storage controller drivers to a non booting OS (for Hardware Independent Restore) - DS can inject this.
Remove all drivers from a non booting OS - Win7CD regedit, maybe?
change the HAL in a non booting OS - Win7CD - probably through regedit
change drive letters in a non booting OS - no idea on this one - probably Regedit.
copy files to a non booting OS - sure. Win7CD
explore files and folders in a non booting OS. Win7CD
expand virtual machines - DS can do this.
copy and restore the MBR - DS can do this.
Set a partition active - Win7CD+Diskpart
Set the CHS values for a partition entry - not set - but repair, using DS.
Set the NT disk signature - Backup/Restore using DS.
copy a partition to a file and boot from it - not in a wizard, but possible - restore DS backup into a mounted VHD (windows 7) and BCDEDIT
copy a partition and create a virtual machine - different steps
boot WinXP from a USB HD - n/a

Impressive, but the little Drive Snapshot/Win7 bootCD combo can do a lot of those as well Comments are inline your quote.

[TonioRoffo]

I have 30 primary partitions on my first HD. WinPE can see 4. The TeraByte trio can see 30.

This can not be done in a standard environment on basic disks. There is only 4 partitions possible. Those 30 must be done using some kind of bootloader/emulation layer, like booting from VHD for example.

Edit: As I thought, it's done through EMBR, a Terabyte specific solution.

[The Shadow]

Originally Posted by TonioRoffo

That's because your WinPE lacked the mass storage driver needed to access your drive....

Hi Tonio,

That can't be the reason because my WinPE disk had no trouble seeing my C-partition before the BSOD incident and after I restored my backup image!

TS

[Brian K]

Tonio,

Thanks for your comments about DS. Interesting.

[Cruise]

Hey Brian,

I'm back from the 'battle of wits', so hopefully you're still around here. Besides asking you to refresh my memory as to what is now on my plate, I do have a question about the DS DOS (HP) Boot Disk. Why do you ask for the full image filename followed by the diff image filename? Why not simply ask for the image filename (whether it be full or diff)?

Cruise

[Brian K]

Cruise,

If you don't want to restore a diff, press Enter at the diff field. Only the Full will be restored.

DS restores the Full first and the Diff second. Two separate restores.

Edit ... just going out for a few hours.

[Cruise]

Originally Posted by Brian K

Cruise,

If you don't want to restore a diff, press Enter at the diff field. Only the Full will be restored.

DS restores the Full first and the Diff second. Two separate restores.

Edit ... just going out for a few hours.

I was just wondering why I just can't enter any sna file (full or diff)? Doesn't DS recognize the two types and know how to handle them?

Cruise

[Brian K]

I'm not sure what you are asking. You can restore any full .sna you like. If you want to restore a diff you have to restore it's parent full .sna first.

[The Shadow]

Brian, I think what Cruise is saying is that he doesn't understand why he has to enter both the full image name and the differential image name in order to restore a differential image. Normally, when telling Drive Snapshot to restore a differential image DS knows that it has to first restore the parent (full) image. So why not just ask for the name of the image file to be restored? If the entered file name is that of a differential image, DS should be able to recognize that and restore the associated full image before doing the differential.

TS

PS. Hey Cruise, good luck with your interviewing. I know that the job climate is pretty cold out there!

[Brian K]

TS,

That doesn't work in DOS. You have to enter both names. Unless there is a command line to restore both .sna images (from the diff name) that isn't on the DS web site.

Edit... From the DS web site....

Restoring a differential image from REAL DOS (the recovery disk)

is done in 2 steps: simply restore both images (the full and then the diff) after each other

a:>snapshot restore hd1 primary1 X:\C_full.sna
a:>snapshot restore hd1 primary1 X:\C_diff.sna

[Cruise]

Originally Posted by Brian K

TS,

That doesn't work in DOS. You have to enter both names. Unless there is a command line to restore both .sna images (from the diff name) that isn't on the DS web site.

@Brian~ Ok then, that satisfies my curiosity (which TS rephrased perfectly).


@TS~ Thanks for clarifying my question in the above regard (and thanks also for the good luck wish in my job-hunt)!

Cruise

[Brian K]

Cruise,

As you can expect I've performed dozens of restores using this CD during testing. The full and diff images are stored on my third internal HD. It takes 55 seconds to restore the full image (test WinXP) and less than a second to restore the diff image. Restoring the partition structure takes less than a second and the full image restore commences immediately after the partition structure restore. I've been testing this on an empty HD. No partitions.

Folks with DS should take a closer look at the DS DOS CD. It is very easy to use after you understand what needs to be done. Basically it is change to the drive letter of the store partition and CD to the store folder.

[Cruise]

Originally Posted by Brian K

Cruise,

As you can expect I've performed dozens of restores using this CD during testing. The full and diff images are stored on my third internal HD. It takes 55 seconds to restore the full image (test WinXP) and less than a second to restore the diff image. Restoring the partition structure takes less than a second and the full image restore commences immediately after the partition structure restore. I've been testing this on an empty HD. No partitions.

Folks with DS should take a closer look at the DS DOS CD. It is very easy to use after you understand what needs to be done. Basically it is change to the drive letter of the store partition and CD to the store folder.

Hi Brian,

Just returned home from a job interview call-back (that's positive)! As I'm totally wiped-out, can we pickup where we left off sometime tomorrow?

I haven't done anything yet with choice.exe (re the option to recover the Partition Structure). Actually, I really don't understand the difference between recovering the MBR or the Partition Structure in DS. Perhaps you can explain that?

Cruise

[Brian K]

Originally Posted by Cruise

Actually, I really don't understand the difference between recovering the MBR or the Partition Structure in DS. Perhaps you can explain that?

Sure.

snapshot restore hd1 partitionstructure 123.sna
This will restore all sectors in the First Track (LBA-0 to LBA-62)

snapshot restore hd1 mbrall 123.sna
This will restore all sectors in the First Track (I can't see any difference from the first choice)

snapshot restore hd1 mbr 123.sna
This will restore all sectors in the First Track except there is no partition table. I can't see why you would ever want to use this option.

I haven't done anything yet with choice.exe (re the option to recover the Partition Structure)

You can use the previous code or this updated code which will select the N option in 5 seconds if you haven't made a choice.

choice /C:YN /T:N,5 "Restore Partition Structure?"
IF ERRORLEVEL 2 GOTO no
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO yes
:yes
echo.
snapshot restore hd1 partitionstructure %full%

When you copy choice.exe to the ISO you will note the ISO is almost full. If you get a "full" error you can delete any or all of the following folders. They aren't being used.

ETC
LEVEL 1
LEVEL 2
LEVEL 3
LIB