My experience with FDISR

[SourMilk]

Hello. Thought I would share with the forum readers my experience with FDISR.

Firstly, the bad. Living in Hawaii, I could not find a less expensive way to get the program then downloading it from ESDNow.com for around $50. The version I received was 2.11 build 115. Whenever I deleted a snapshot, the FDISR boot could not find the $ISR directory making FDISR practically worthless.

Secondly, the good. After emailing Raxco Support, I was able to download the current version that includes the new Freeze and Archive features. FDISR now works wonderfully.

Thirdly, the great. I communicated with a Raxco Service Rep named Suzie. She was understanding, helpful, and professional. She provided me with a current version after I sent her a copy my purchase receipt from another company (ESDNow.) This is the BEST experience I have ever had with customer support! Great support + great software = great company + great customer base. Did I say the software, support and Raxco was GREAT? It certainly is and way above the norm. Leap Frog could not have found a better distributor for their licensing than Raxco.

A small suggestion for Leap Frog/Raxco. Please try to place your software in major retail stores like CompUSA and Best Buy. There are many, like myself, who do not live in the contiguous 48 or the European continent. Alaska, Hawaii, and the outlying US possessions like Puerto Rico, Samoa, etc. would benefit from that type of distribution.

Thanks for reading this,
SourMilk

Lemons into lemonade; Sourmilk into cheese

[Peter2150]

Hi SourMilk

Welcome the club of cheerleaders. FDISR is truly a great program.
Also glad you had a good experience with Raxco. They have been outstanding for me.

Pete

[ErikAlbert]

SourMilk,
Thanks for sharing your experience. I probably won't have your problems, because I live in Europe-Belgium-Antwerp.

Right now, I'm trying to figure out the difference between "Acronis True Image" and FD-ISR.
At first sight, I don't see any difference. Both put my system in a wanted state. Maybe it's faster, but that's not really an issue for me.
So I have to look harder.

[Peter2150]

Originally Posted by ErikAlbert

SourMilk,
Thanks for sharing your experience. I probably won't have your problems, because I live in Europe-Belgium-Antwerp.

Right now, I'm trying to figure out the difference between "Acronis True Image" and FD-ISR.
At first sight, I don't see any difference. Both put my system in a wanted state. Maybe it's faster, but that's not really an issue for me.
So I have to look harder.

Erik

Difference is like between day and night. When you image with True image you are making an image that must be restored. Doing so erases your hard drive and restores the image(hopefully). First Defense actually creates a 2nd(up to 10) copy of your c drive on the drive itself. Unlike the image, you can actually boot into the other copy(snapshot).

To update with True Image you either take a brand new image or take an incremental. This takes time. With First Defense you just to a refresh copy(think of synchronizing the copy to the original) This generally takes a very few minutes.

So if something corrupts you system, and the system won't boot, with True image you have to do a complete restore, and hope it still works. With FDISR, you simply boot into another snapshot, do a refresh copy, and then you can boot back to where you are working. Also if you just want to test something and then make it go away, FDISR is the ultimate uninstaller. Guaranteed not a trace.

Also you can use an FDISR archive to refresh or create a disk snapshot. Just can't boot from it.

In summary most FDISR users use True image or any image program, to cover the case when a hard drive fails. For anything else that be falls one FDISR handles it reliably and fast.

Pete

[wilbertnl]

Originally Posted by ErikAlbert

Right now, I'm trying to figure out the difference between "Acronis True Image" and FD-ISR.
At first sight, I don't see any difference.

Dag ErikAlbert, welkom hier,

Please give yourself some time to get to know FirstDefense-ISR, you will certainly recognize pro's and con's.
One of the amazing advantages of ISR is for me that I'm now able to do a fresh re-install of Windows, without losing my current setup and data. I just create an empty snapshot and do whatever makes me happy in a new installation. I find all the important data right in place, and I'm able to reboot in the original snapshot and continue where I left.

The charm is that I have several different installations, all residing on the same c: partition, which means no waste of diskspace, like when I have 3 partitions.

Antwerpen is een prachtige stad!

[crofttk]

Originally Posted by wilbertnl

...Antwerpen is een prachtige stad!

Inderdaad....Brugge ook!

[ErikAlbert]

Pete,
OK. Acronis True Image (ATI) might be more cumbersome, less practical and slower, but you can do the same thing as with FDISR.
The RESULT of both softwares is the SAME, only the method is different.
That doesn't mean I won't try FDISR, but I don't see any difference in RESULTS.
FDISR is only faster, more convenient and more reliable to you and that makes FDISR attractive, but that has nothing to with the final result, which is the SAME.
I consider FDISR more as convenient daily working tool, while ATI is a must.

FDISR is limited to 10 snapshots, I can create alot more images with ATI, than just 10.
That doesn't mean, I need more than 10 snapshots or images, but the limit is there and can be problem, if you need more than 10.

You don't seem to have much faith in ATI, but I've been testing ATI for hours and it never failed.
If you read the Acronis forums at Wilders, you really get scared of trying ATI, but I never had one of all these problems.
Some users can't even create an "Acronis Bootable Rescue CD" or the CD doesn't work. I never had a problem
with creating or using this CD. I really wonder what the causes of all these problems are.

Nevertheless, I will try FDISR in the future, because it is SOOO convenient and faster, but that is what I call luxury.
Image backup is a necessity. You can't work with a computer without having a backup, but you can work without FDISR.

Using a FDISR-snapshot as an image backup, I still have to think about that.

[Longboard]

LOL

Ok you guys: Ich habe nur Deutsch.

None of that secret Belgian stuff.

Leave him alone

You will have to let the stubborn Belgique minheer (is that right?) get there himself.
(determination is a national characteristic)

Following his threads he is very determined to do it for himself and I admire him for it.

At the end of it E-A will be the worlds greatest expert in all forms of back-up.

Wait, no, we haven't started on a good cloning app yet:
XXXClone: http://www.xxclone.com/

HDClone: http://www.miray.de/products/sat.hdclone.html

CasperXP : http://www.fssdev.com/products/casperxp/ (incrementals no less and boot control !!)

Onwards and upwards ...I think

Down here the coriolis goes the right way.

LBD

[ErikAlbert]

Longboard,
I'm not stubborn, but when I use PAID softwares, I like to know the reason(s) why I really need it.

BTW:
"Belgique" is French for "België" (= the name of my country in Dutch) and the word "minheer" doesn't exist in Dutch or French.
The right expression in Dutch is "Belgische mijnheer" or "Belgische meneer", both are valid in Dutch.
Belgium has three official languages : Dutch, French and German.

[ErikAlbert]

Originally Posted by wilbertnl

Please give yourself some time to get to know FirstDefense-ISR, you will certainly recognize pro's and con's.
One of the amazing advantages of ISR is for me that I'm now able to do a fresh re-install of Windows, without losing my current setup and data. I just create an empty snapshot and do whatever makes me happy in a new installation. I find all the important data right in place, and I'm able to reboot in the original snapshot and continue where I left.

The charm is that I have several different installations, all residing on the same c: partition, which means no waste of diskspace, like when I have 3 partitions.

I can do the same with True Image. I have already 4 different basic image backups (.tib-files) and I can create as many as I want until my harddisk is full. And my system and data are separated from one another, which is even more convenient.

[Longboard]

Ok.

Apologies to OP for moving OT

It's been so long since I used another language down here.
Ocassionally I'm not that crash in my own!
We here DU have enough trouble with The English of those dastardly foriegners from the US and UK let alone the Canadiens, eh.

I used to have good schweizer deutsh passable italian and spanish and some french. Haven't really had reason to use them and so I've lost them

I was always amazed (and a bit jealous of ) how many europeans have 3 or 4 languages.

Heh:
Cursing and laughing in Spanish
Love in French
Orders in German

Confusion in Norwegian/Swedish/Finnish LOL

Regards.

I'm in trouble now for sure. Have I left anybody out. LOL Cant help myself.

[crofttk]

Originally Posted by ErikAlbert

...Using a FDISR-snapshot as an image backup, I still have to think about that.

I wouldn't, because it can't be done.

Originally Posted by ErikAlbert

...Image backup is a necessity. You can't work with a computer without having a backup, but you can work without FDISR.

Using a FDISR-snapshot as an image backup, I still have to think about that.

Saying image backup is a necessity is a value judgment just as me saying I can't work my computer without having FD-ISR is a necessity -- that's how valuable it is to me.

I can work my computer without imaging backup. I can work my computer without file-based backup. I can work my computer without an instant immediate system recovery utility (Thanks, Peter2150 for the implied correction in another thread).

However, the cost versus benefit analysis for me leads me to use all three -- BING/IFW for imaging (I choose this over ATI based on my experience with both -- but ATI is superb if it happens to work flawlessly for you and you prefer the interface), Retrospect for file-based backup, and FD-ISR for instant system recovery.

Unfortunately, I can't quantify the benefit side of my equation for you. It's what works for me and the six machines I maintain in my home network. I wouldn't presume to make that value judgment for anyone else. Nobody but you can tell you the reason you "need" one software or another. The best we can do is help you understand its capabilities and let you be the judge of whether you should spend your money on it or not.

To press the point further, we mostly have no idea how much value each other places on their dollars or euros or whatever. To me, having all three softwares (four, including ATI) is cheap -- to you, it may seem like overkill and a luxury you can't afford -- how would I know ? -- and why should I care ? -- therefore people cannot do complete cost-benefit analyses for each other, but we can share knowledge on how the products work and then make our own informed decisions.

IMO, there's a certain amount of overlap between ATI and FD-ISR but overall they are apples and oranges.

But, then again... this is all OT. Sorry, Sourmilk!

[Longboard]

@E-A

Sounds like you have seriously fallen for ATI over IFW.

I know it's not representative but the Acronis forums made me nervous.
I think it is truly remarkable how Acronis supports all the posters there. All Credit to them. I saw how many reputable outlets gave Acronis great references.

I found Terabyte by accident while looking ofr back-up options. I thought OOOHHH this is well beyond me. Then I looked again. I looked long and hard for negatory comments on Terabyte on google and in their support forum. (You can read their whole support forum records in a short time!) I saw a couple of posts here. I searched for any supportive pages for terabyte and what I found was what prompted me to go terabyte for trial and then $. I often worry about software and what might go wrong but for a user of my level, since I have used BING/IFW, I have never given it a second thought.

Having got the external HD, am now figuring how FD-ISR will/might best be used for me.

So.. in the end similar methods... different solutions. Both valid.

I've got to get to bed. Verbal diaorrhea. Sorry guys.
Later.

OOpps just read last post from crofftk: goodone
Sorry again to OP.

[Peter2150]

Couple of points.

1) You can't do everything with your ATI images you can do with FDISR. Suppose in one of your experiments the system crashes and won't even reboot. Your only option is to do a complete restore. With FDISR all it takes is a reboot, and you are back up and running. To repair then takes a few minutes to do a copy and reboot. Restoring an image takes significantly longer

2) Can FDISR archives be used as an image. In the strictest sense no. But.... If all I use were say ATI and IFW, and IF they were to fail, I'd be out of luck. If I have FDISR archives, I am still good to go, with just a bit more work. Install windows, external drivers, and FDISR, and then the archive(psuedo image if you will) brings you right up current.

I guess the point is in theory you could live without one or the other, but used together is the most efficient recovery and backup scheme

[ErikAlbert]

Originally Posted by crofttk

I can work my computer without imaging backup. I can work my computer without file-based backup. I can work my computer without an instant system recovery utility.

That's the way my brother works on his computer without any backup of any form. One day, he will lose everything (data and time) and call me when it's too late.

Is that a solution, working without anything to backup your data? That's why I consider backup as a necessity and it doesn't matter which software you use. It's the activity of doing a backup that counts, not how you do it. Even printing data on paper is a form of backup.

Of course my brother doesn't care NOW, because he never had any accidents, but he loves his personal data, even more than me and people depend on him to keep that data.
Is backup necessary? No, if you like to lose your data. In my experience nobody was happy when he lost his data.

Losing your data = back to the past and start all over again, without any progress.

[crofttk]

Originally Posted by Peter2150

...
2) Can FDISR archives be used as an image. In the strictest sense no. But.... If all I use were say ATI and IFW, and IF they were to fail, I'd be out of luck. If I have FDISR archives, I am still good to go, with just a bit more work. Install windows, external drivers, and FDISR, and then the archive(psuedo image if you will) brings you right up current...

In fact, since updating an archive is so much faster for me than doing an image or even an incremental backup and since I added a daily archive update to my snapshot & archive schedule, at any given time it's likely that my latest FD-ISR archive is more up to date than my latest image and I would opt for the route Pete describes above over doing an image restore -- with the provisio that I would do a 2GB or so image restore of a "virgin" Win XP install with drivers AND FD-ISR pre-installed in lieu of slogging through the actual separate install procedures.

[crofttk]

Originally Posted by ErikAlbert

...Is that a solution, working without anything to backup your data? ...

Yeah, it's a solution, but it's a solution entirely without merit within the framework of MY value system.

I have lost my operating system and programs (with customizations/preferences) before and so, of course, my value system has aged a little more than your brother's, as has yours obviously. I've also lost portions of my data before but never the whole ball of wax.

Although my data, per se, is on different partitions and drives, it is actually backed up with more redundancy than my operating system and programs. Without that demand for redundancy, imaging, file-based backup, revision archiving, and synchronization software would be less valuable to me.

Originally Posted by ErikAlbert

Losing your data = back to the past and start all over again, without any progress.

Well, hopefully, one would have gained a headache, a pain in the ass, and hence a substantial boost to their concept of reality and level of wisdom on these matters -- some would consider that progress, but at an excessively high price.

[SourMilk]

Originally Posted by ErikAlbert

SourMilk,
Thanks for sharing your experience. I probably won't have your problems, because I live in Europe-Belgium-Antwerp.

Right now, I'm trying to figure out the difference between "Acronis True Image" and FD-ISR.
At first sight, I don't see any difference. Both put my system in a wanted state. Maybe it's faster, but that's not really an issue for me.
So I have to look harder.

It was my pleasure. I use Acronis True Image v.8 along with FD-ISR. I keep a monthly ATI image on a DVD while keeping a weekly archived image on my second hard drive. I also backup my frequently changed files like My Documents to the second hard drive daily with a small backup program.

With all that backing up, I am sure to be prepared for the eventual drive failure or software glitch. So, it is not whether to use Acronis True Image or FirstDefense-ISR but, for me, use them both.

Lemons into lemonade, sourmilk into cheese.

[ErikAlbert]

Originally Posted by SourMilk

It was my pleasure. I use Acronis True Image v.8 along with FD-ISR. I keep a monthly ATI image on a DVD while keeping a weekly archived image on my second hard drive. I also backup my frequently changed files like My Documents to the second hard drive daily with a small backup program.

With all that backing up, I am sure to be prepared for the eventual drive failure or software glitch. So, it is not whether to use Acronis True Image or FirstDefense-ISR but, for me, use them both.

Lemons into lemonade, sourmilk into cheese.

Yes, but there is ONE big difference between you and me.
The folder "My Documents" is empty on my computer, I store my personal data, including emails and address-book on another partition. So my system partition has no personal data, except personal software settings.

Which means I can't use snapshots as a full backup with FDISR, but I can use FDISR as a system restore tool, which is better than WinXPproSP2 System Restore.

[Peter2150]

Originally Posted by SourMilk

It was my pleasure. I use Acronis True Image v.8 along with FD-ISR. I keep a monthly ATI image on a DVD while keeping a weekly archived image on my second hard drive. I also backup my frequently changed files like My Documents to the second hard drive daily with a small backup program.

With all that backing up, I am sure to be prepared for the eventual drive failure or software glitch. So, it is not whether to use Acronis True Image or FirstDefense-ISR but, for me, use them both.

Lemons into lemonade, sourmilk into cheese.

You know I was imaging weekly until I read a comment of Todd's and it dawned on my get a good image and then forget it. So what if the image is a week, a month or even 6 months old. Disk crashes, restore with the 6 month old image. So what. FDISR archive brings you right up to date. I refresh my archives daily.

[Peter2150]

Erik

With your separate data structure, you should take a look at AJC Software's Data Sync. Would make keeping your My Documents backup current daily in less than a minute.

Pete

[wilbertnl]

Originally Posted by Longboard

Ok you guys: Ich habe nur Deutsch.

Merçi beaucoup!

[wilbertnl]

Originally Posted by ErikAlbert

FDISR is limited to 10 snapshots, I can create alot more images with ATI, than just 10.

I have been using ATI since release 6.0.
And when I started with ISR, I was confused too.

The amazing feature of ISR is that you are able to maintain 10 snapshots on your disk, which means 10 independent, different installations simultaneously.
Selectable at boot time. Think of having 10 partitions to boot from.
Please, don't confuse snapshots with images, a snapshot is ready to run.

ISR is able to maintain an unlimited amount of archives (which would be the equivalent of ATI images). ISR does miss the feature of the ATI incremental images. But I never used that, since a restore from ATI image was never sectorwise the same on disk.

Creating an image or archive is slow, but updating is swift.
I also find that it's much easier to maintain snapshots/archives with regards to driver/software updates.
Now, there are big differences, but maybe you just don't need what ISR is offering.

[ErikAlbert]

wilbertnl,
There are two groups of members here at Wilders.
1. A group that works with everything on partition [C:]
1a. Some of them anchor personal data, if they use FDISR.
1b. Some of them don't anchor personal data, if they use FDISR.
1c. Some of them don't use FDISR.

2. A group that divides the contents of partition [C:] over more than one partition.
2a. Some of them move the Windows folder "My Documents" to another partition.
2b. Some of them even move the Windows folder "Program Files" to another partition.
2c. Some of them didn't move any Windows folder and use software settings to store their personal files in folders on another partition. I'm one of them.
I only moved one folder of Thunderbird to another partition to keep my emails and address-book, but that's not a Windows folder, that's a Thunderbird folder and I did the same for Firefox.
2d. I've seen websites, where users move the entire Windows folder "Documents and Settings" to another partition.
2e. And there also other ways to realize this separation, like symbolic links.
I took the safest solution, because I didn't want to make my Windows unstable.

FDISR works only on the partition [C:], where Windows is installed.

Put all these people in one thread and you get different opinions about how to use FDISR and image backup softwares.
That leads to endless discussions. Isn't that normal?
The bottom line is that each user looks for his own solution.

[Peter2150]

All this leads to a question, but it would be off topic in this forum, so I will post it in Software and Services.

Pete