is it safe to image a drive with Rollback Rx installed ?

[garry35]

i am aware that rollback alters the MBR and that using any programs that alter the MBR or partitions is dangerous. my question is can you use a drive imaging backup program such as acronis safely with rollback already installed and working ?. if not are there any other programs its safe to use, and what if any precautions should it take.

i dont care about saving snapshots only that i have an image backup as a failsafe.

any experiences or feedback would be appreciated

Gazzer

[aladdin]

The most safest way to make an image with Rollback Rx installed is to perform HOT (within Windows) imaging only.

Best regards,

KOR!

[bgoodman4]

Originally Posted by garry35

i am aware that rollback alters the MBR and that using any programs that alter the MBR or partitions is dangerous. my question is can you use a drive imaging backup program such as acronis safely with rollback already installed and working ?. if not are there any other programs its safe to use, and what if any precautions should it take.

i dont care about saving snapshots only that i have an image backup as a failsafe.

any experiences or feedback would be appreciated

Gazzer

The ans is yes, just keep in mind if you have to reinstall using the image you will need to uninstall Rx and reinstall it after the restoration since some of its components will not have been picked up by the image and thus will be missing after the install. Also, some feel that its a good idea to separately image the MBR without Rx installed just in case. Can't hurt and may/possibly be a useful thing to do.

[garry35]

i have read on this forum that its possible to backup with image for windows and create an image complete with rollback and any rollback snapshots, does this also apply to image for dos (by the same company) and is it possible to create bootable media for it WITHOUT installing first or altering the MBR ?. the reason i dont want to alter the MBR is because rollback alters the MBR and another program would replace or corrupt it, rendering any subsequent backups useless.

also is there a way to save the MBR alone either with a program or through windows or dos ?.

[aladdin]

Originally Posted by garry35

i have read on this forum that its possible to backup with image for windows and create an image complete with rollback and any rollback snapshots, does this also apply to image for dos (by the same company)

Only Image For Windows does that by HOT (within Windows) imaging and but requires sector to sector imaging. Sector to sector imaging takes longer as you are also imaging unused space.

You can also accomplish the above with COLD (outside Windows) imaging and sector to sector imaging with any imaging program.

COLD (outside Windows) imaging on non-sectors basis is very dangerous while Rollback Rx is installed.

Originally Posted by garry35

and is it possible to create bootable media for it WITHOUT installing first or altering the MBR ?. the reason i dont want to alter the MBR is because rollback alters the MBR and another program would replace or corrupt it, rendering any subsequent backups useless.

Yes, you can create bootable media for any imaging programs as WINPE and/or Linex. Image For Windows is available as bootable media for WINPE.

In fact, if you use EasyBCD, you can alter the bootmenu and have any imaging programs which offers WINPE upon boot.

Best regards,

KOR!

[garry35]

for reference and to help others, i have successfully created and restored a backup image with magicure / rollback installed and several snapshots created. after restoring magicure was still installed and the snapshots created present and working.

the image was created with acronis true image home 2012 build 7119, doing a sector by sector image and validated in acronis. this was all done from a bootable acronis rescue cd

[bgoodman4]

Originally Posted by garry35

for reference and to help others, i have successfully created and restored a backup image with magicure / rollback installed and several snapshots created. after restoring magicure was still installed and the snapshots created present and working.

the image was created with acronis true image home 2012 build 7119, doing a sector by sector image and validated in acronis. this was all done from a bootable acronis rescue cd

Thank you for this, much appreciated by all I am sure (and def by moi).