Norton Go Back and True Image working together

[mikisu]

Go Back has been one of my most useful utilities,but as has previously been noted,it isnt possible to restore a True Image backup,unless Go Back is disabled and restores the active disc to a usable state for ATI.

The problem is that GoBack creates its own proprietary Type 44 partition.

If the system hasnt failed and only a folder requires restoring,of course thats OK,as Go Back can still be disabled prior to the action.

However,after a system crash,its too late to disable GB and make the usable disc restoration,hence True Image cant restore-so a complete reformat has to follow!!

Is there any way GB can be disabled after a crash,using for example,Snap Restore and Secure Zone?

Looks to me at this stage that its either one or the other,Acronis or GB.

The beauty of Go Back is that it backs up minor changes second by second,whereas even backing up a few times a day with ATI,still wouldnt achieve the same result and would be a clumsy way of doing it,as really both utilities are designed for different purposes.

[mark3]

To relate my own experiences with GoBack. I had a great time with GoBack 3 until one day I decided to update to GoBack 4. It worked well until I needed to disable it to create an image. Initially I was rather surprised and then became very frustrated when I was unable to disable it. Suggestions, from different sites, to disable GoBack did not work. Consequently, I was also unable to restore an image because GoBack had placed some of it's files also on my second disk. I keep the images there.
Fortunately, I had recently replaced my first disk and I still had the OS on it otherwise I would have lost a lot of work rather than a months.

GoBack is great in principle but, if it becomes corrupted, then the only way out of it is to format the disk. Reading through other forums, there appears more chance of GoBack getting corrupted than normal for a program.

I would not recommend GoBack. Stick to imaging.

[Peter2150]

Since you like the concept of what Goback can offer, I'd suggest you check out both First Defense and Rollback. Both have many advantages over Goback. I used Goback initially, but now use both Rollback and FDISR(not at the same time). Don't stop imaging though cause non of these programs will save you from a hardware failure.

Pete

[pvsurfer]

I am a past GoBack user - from Roxio to Symantec - and like mark3, I experienced the exact same calamity! I was able to undo GoBack's corruption by using an MBR tool in my arsenal, but that situation was enough to make me dump GoBack.

Even though I was and still am a TI user, I didn't want to give up the security and instant snapshot/restore convenience GoBack offered (that is when it worked properly!). Over the next year or so, I tried RestoreIT, FirstDefenseISR and Rollback Rx Pro, settling on the latter - not that I believe it's any more secure than RestoreIT or FDISR - it's main attraction to me is it's unique ability to capture multiple snapshots with minimal online storage consequences. Otherwise I found those 3 to be comparable in what they do and none of them ever caused the type of problem I had with GoBack4!

~pv

[mikisu]

Thanks for all your help-I had never heard of these alternative utilities!

Think I will install RollBack,which according to their website,is compatible with TI,(except for the cloning function) and seems highly regarded.

Probably using TI as well is a bit of overkill,do you think?

Must say Go Back served me well,except for one disaster when GoBack became somehow corrupted and consequently made it impossible to recover from a situation where Windows wasnt booting.

In such a scenario,I suppose you could still format the main disc to nullify the GB partitioning-then recover the TI image from the secondary archiving disc-but its all too complicated.

Edit-after reading the comprehensive thread about Rollback,its obvious that Rollback is no more compatible than GoBack with TI-so back to square one!

[mikisu]

Looks there is a blindingly obvious answer to this problem,(especially if you know the answer )

Seems that True Image and similar proggies,have great difficulty with rollback style proggies,such as Go Back,RestoreIt,FDISR and RollBack,as regards IMAGING and RESTORING,whilst the rollbackers are active.

However,these are only active when Windows is running.

If the PC is booted from the Acronis True Image Bootable Rescue CD,a full operable menu is shown,including of course,imaging and restoring,which is then utilised.

Windows has not yet started ,(I understand the CD is Linux based).

Works perfectly.I verified the resultant image as OK,using the Acronis verifier.

Much faster and safer than any other method.such as uninstalling the rollbacker,with the resultant possible loss of data.

Very happy with this solution,means True Image and in my case, Rollback can both be utilised without any dificulties.




Thanks to Acronis.

"------ I would recommend you to create images when your PC is booted from Acronis True Image Bootable Rescue CD, since there is no operating system or any other applications running in this case"(alexy Popov)

source ;http://www.wilderssecurity.com/archi.../t-109198.html

Mike

..

[billwv]

Hi,

After reading this thread, I am totally confused -- I am not a tech. expert!

I am using TI 9.0 2337. I run GoBack 4.0.

I create full disk images to an external USB 2.0 HD from TI within Windows XP Hone with GoBack enabled.

In the event of a complete disk failure, after installing a new disk my intention would be to then use TI rescue cd to boot and then restore from image on external HD.

Should that be a problem? What am I not understanding?

Is the new build of TI (3567) acting different than previous build in this regard -- seems to me the answer about TI and GoBack on TI FAQ has changed from when I purchased TI (2302).

Appreciate your help.

Bill

[AndyPopely]

We ran a test using Acronis True Image Home 9.0.3567 and GoBack 4.

We booted the PC using the Acronis Rescue CD. As expected all hard drives that had GoBack active were reported by ATIH as being unsupported and therefore could be recovered by ATIH.

We disabled GoBack 4 and then rebooted from the Acronis Rescue CD and the drive to be recovered was recognized by ATIH.

End of test

In the event that GoBack can not be disabled I would assume you'd need to boot from the XP CD and use the Recovery Console option "FixMBR" to remove any evidence of GoBack then boot from the Acronis Rescue CD.

ATIH should be able to detect the presence of GoBack in the MBR as GoBack has its own MBR code.

ATIH should then be able to advise the customer what options to try to disable GoBack in order for Recovery to be possible rather than stating a drive is unsupported and leave the customer in a "so what do I do?" position.

[sparkyguy]

I have successfully used both GoBack V4 and TI9 using the "Boot CD" feature to restore a TI9 image stored on an external USB drive. No problem's there. However, after searching this forum, I can't seem to find an answer to the following: Since GoBack writes to the Boot Area and/or MBR and the Startup Secure Zone Manager does likewise, are they fundamentally incompatible on the same HD? After I did a TI9 backup to the Secure Zone, I re-enabled GoBack. Everything seemed to go as expected and WinXP-SP2 booted without a hitch. GoBack was working (I checked the history file). However, if I re-boot and hit the F11 key, it gives me Linux error when it loads the TI9 Secure-Zone Manager. Is there any way to keep the TI9 Secure-Zone startup feature and GoBack from clashing, or are they trying to occupy the same portion of the MBR?

[starfish_001]

Originally Posted by AndyPopely

We ran a test using Acronis True Image Home 9.0.3567 and GoBack 4.

We booted the PC using the Acronis Rescue CD. As expected all hard drives that had GoBack active were reported by ATIH as being unsupported and therefore could be recovered by ATIH.

We disabled GoBack 4 and then rebooted from the Acronis Rescue CD and the drive to be recovered was recognized by ATIH.

End of test

In the event that GoBack can not be disabled I would assume you'd need to boot from the XP CD and use the Recovery Console option "FixMBR" to remove any evidence of GoBack then boot from the Acronis Rescue CD.

ATIH should be able to detect the presence of GoBack in the MBR as GoBack has its own MBR code.

ATIH should then be able to advise the customer what options to try to disable GoBack in order for Recovery to be possible rather than stating a drive is unsupported and leave the customer in a "so what do I do?" position.

norton have instruction of their site - I think there is a utility on the install CD . but you could just edit the parttion ID with a disk edtor

[Meriadoc]

GoBack will get the average user outta trouble and is okay, alright, okay-ish, - there are far better alternatives which you can read about on this forum. For what I've seen it 'sometimes' can take an age to do something with it and can be a nightmare if it postpones cover or crashes, and dont think you can do anything and everthing with it in 'safe-try mode.'

mikisu says :

However,after a system crash,its too late to disable GB and make the usable disc restoration,hence True Image cant restore-so a complete reformat has to follow!!

Is there any way GB can be disabled after a crash,using for example,Snap Restore and Secure Zone?

...anyway to cut along goback nightmare short, after a goback crash - rebooting the machine and immediately pressing, ummmmm Ctrl I think (it could be shift or Alt I just cant recall) while tapping 'G' will bring up an option to disable or in a complete GB crash/goback stuck in a loop you can release from mbr - before anything starts.

NSWs users can use their recovery disk to find a goback or ghost iso file.