FirstDefense-ISR Versus Acronis TI

[bgoodman4]

[quote=mrfargoreed]For me, what makes FD-ISR so awesome is the ability to have different snapshots for different scenarios. I used to have one snapshot for gaming, for example, so it had barely any software installed but tweaks for games. On another I had no security apps installed so I could use it to test security software. And, of course, I had my working, or current, snapshot. I could boot into whichever one I wanted and know it was independent of the other, therefore if I installed some security software and it didn't work well with my configuration I could boot into my working snapshot, copy a clean snapshot over the one I'd just used and bang! - brand new clean snapshot to try a different setup. [/quote

According to a video on Leapfrogs website you can still do this.

Yes, they are larger and take much longer to create - however, they are quick to restore. Not sure if they are quicker as I never used Rollback for long and each time I did, I had problems losing snapshots and corrupted snapshots - never with FD-ISR.

RollBack takes (from what I understand) 3 or 4 min to restore and seconds to create a snap. This to me is a big big plus.

each time you take a snapshot it takes the entire drive - not just the changes. This obviously causes larger files (which can be compressed into archives), but if you have the space it's OK.

I was afraid of that. My TI images already take up enough room. I was looking for something to complement TI not replace it.

I hope I've helped in some way.

Yes, you have helped a great deal, thanks.

Always glad to make someone smile

You just did it again

[bgoodman4]

Originally Posted by Karen76

Incredibly larger; like comparing a planet to an electron.

So I now gather. This is a negative for me for sure.

I decided scheduling FD-ISR snapshots is a bad idea. Here's why

After reading your reasons I can see that it would indeed be a very bad idea. Thanks for the detailed explanation.

[Peter2150]

Hi all

Yes I did have FDISR and Rollback working at one time, but it didn't last long. I've had checkered experience with Rollback, but in all fairness I use Raid 0 and Rollback doesn't officially support Raid 0, so that is a factor.

Does imaging take the place of FDISR archives. Nope. There are times I want to image my system, but time is a factor. I can update an archive in about a minute or two. Then should I find I need to do a restore, I can restore an image that might be two weeks old, and use FDISR archives to bring the system current.

Also I've tested doing a clean windows install, installing FDISR, then restoring my Secondary snapshot from it's archive, booting to it, and refreshing the primary from it's archive. In fact in one experiment I converted a Vista snapshot back to XP by an archive restore.

On a separate note, without being able to offer an explanation, I can say with pretty good certainty, the likelihood of FDISR full coming back is practically nil.

Pete

[bgoodman4]

Originally Posted by Peter2150

Does imaging take the place of FDISR archives. Nope. There are times I want to image my system, but time is a factor. I can update an archive in about a minute or two. Then should I find I need to do a restore, I can restore an image that might be two weeks old, and use FDISR archives to bring the system current.

Also I've tested doing a clean windows install, installing FDISR, then restoring my Secondary snapshot from it's archive, booting to it, and refreshing the primary from it's archive. In fact in one experiment I converted a Vista snapshot back to XP by an archive restore.

On a separate note, without being able to offer an explanation, I can say with pretty good certainty, the likelihood of FDISR full coming back is practically nil.

Pete

That a real shame, as I said before it sounds like one awesome program. Have you noticed that the best TV shows are the ones to get cancelled and the junk goes on season after season. Appears to be the case with some software as well.

[SourMilk]

Acronis True Image is able to image any and all partitions and is not an Instant Recovery System (recover on reboot without rewriting the partition) whereas FDISR will only take a snapshot of the OS partition.

Seeing that the thread has turned to RollbackRx, I would like to point out that RollbackRx uses a constant performance draining service that will cause some games to stutter (if that is a consideration). If you are not into intense gaming like FPS, or high definition 3D RPGs, and would like to take small snapshots of more than the OS partition, RollbackRx fits the bill .

If you are a gamer with lots of hard drive space, FDISR is the best choice.

Personally, I use ATI CD (no ATI running on OS) and FDISR. I trialed RollbackRx and decided that the ATI CD and FDISR mix was best for me.

(Puts on asbestos fanboy anti-flame suit and grits teeth)

SourMilk out

[bgoodman4]

Nope, no games here, just work and some photo editing and a bit of audio editing but not in any serious way.

[samy]

I would like to thank all of you for these complete and so instructive comments.
I was really amazed by the capabilities of the FDISR original version. It was all new for me. As Huupi mentioned above "really white raven in this gloomy cyberworlde "
I am not a PC savvy, but I leant on "PC backup/restore" during the last two days through this thread more than during the last year.

1/ Differences between ATI 'Secured Zone' and FirstDefense Rescue ' Rescue area' are made clear now.
2/ Is the program "FirstDefense-ISR 3.20.202" (http://www.xentrik.net/software/firstdefense-isr.html) a light version of the full FD-ISR version, since it allows a up to 10 regular snapshots but no archive snapshots?
3/ Has someone tested the " EAZ-FIX" program (http://www.eazsolution.com/)?

[Huupi]

Like Eric Albert always said,Imaging is mandatory anything else is luxury so even FDISR is not really needed !
The Horizon data stuff is good enough,basically in his workings FDISR without archives and only restricted in using two snapshots on the bootpartition.
In 98 % of the problems the full FDISR has nothing more to offer,only if your disk get toasted(hardware faillure) then Full FDISR have an advantage, in that case get yourself a new disk,restore an image and update from archive to bring the restored image current.
Even with a fresh install archives are very usefull in that scenario install The full FDISR in your pristine system make then a snapshot,boot into that snapshot and update your system from an current FDISR archive.
I did it once with a brand new disk and it took me 20 min. to get my system current,with an image restore and update from archive its that much faster though !I guess 8 min.

[BrendanAdams]

Originally Posted by bgoodman4

Maybe we should start a petition and try to get Leapfrog to resurrect the program. If its as good as you say it should be a big seller.

Good idea

[Long View]

FD-ISR and Acronis TI do have one thing in common. They are both over-rated.
FD-ISR is or was a good program but very much over-rated. Acronis was and still is a good program but very much over-criticized. Go figure.

[ambient_88]

Originally Posted by Long View

FD-ISR and Acronis TI do have one thing in common. They are both over-rated.
FD-ISR is or was a good program but very much over-rated. Acronis was and still is a good program but very much over-criticized. Go figure.

FirstDefense-ISR is the only software that can do what it does, so it's natural that many people will praise it. Acronis True Image is criticized because its quality has degraded over time.

[Longboard]

samy just my 2c:
that link:
http://www.xentrik.net/software/firstdefense-isr.html
does appear to dl an older version of the original FD-ISR with the original capabilities as noted. The dl appears to be several releases and patches behind the last release of FDISR Pro.
As you have discovered the current version of FDISR supported by HDS is of significantly less power and useability.

I have no idea as to the veracity of this dl and where you might end up if you install > no information is given as to need for a key or purchase info; it is likely you may end up with a broken install if you try : if you have a spare OS partition to play with you might give it a go but this would be absolutely at your own risk and probably is not advisable. No idea as to trial status or other any issues.

You get the drift?

The buy link on that page leads to the server version.
Even at that price HDS has reduced the functional options available: no snapshot function but possible to store multiple archives.

The original versions of FDISR are currently not really supported other than at Todd Lear's generosity and by users here. HDS who purchased the software and reissued same in the cutdown versions have NO interest in the original releases.

I don't use it but Eaz-Fix and RollbackRx are as I understand it basically one and the same.

There have been many threads re RBRx and Eaz-Fix.
Chris1293, Pandlouk and others who are a members here are strong supporters of RBRx with deep experience of pros and cons: search their posts for very good background info.
Once you have settled on an imaging/recovery startegy, You could always explore some of the OS virtualisation options as well: VMWare Player is free, VMWare workstation is a great buy.
Regards.

[MICRO]

Originally Posted by Skytrooper

FirstDefense-ISR allows a person to make up to ten regular snapshots of a PC's C drive and to store them on the C drive. An unlimited number of archive snapshots may be stored on a different hard drive.

Sky.,
I can't quite get a handle on the 10 regular snapshots via, if the snapshots
are OF the C:\ Drive - can they be stored on a second internal HDD and then one snap. returned to C:\ if and when it's required for a restore ?

OR,
is that the point - only the archived snaps. can be stored elsewhere,
and on this latest rescue version that's not possible ?

[EASTER]

It's been repeated pretty often that the FD-ISR Rescue is dramatically reduced and stripped of many features that made the Classic version by Raxco Legendary ISR bar none, so suffice it to say HD's version is woefully short of what this ISR used to contain in it.

EASTER

[Skytrooper]

Originally Posted by MICRO

Sky.,
I can't quite get a handle on the 10 regular snapshots via, if the snapshots
are OF the C:\ Drive - can they be stored on a second internal HDD and then one snap. returned to C:\ if and when it's required for a restore ?

Regular snapshots are stored on the C drive; they cannot be stored on a different hard drive (at least not to the best of my knowledge; if they could, I can't imagine what purpose would be served). To switch from the current to a different regular snapshot, you reboot the PC, a FD-ISR screen appears and you select the snapshot you wish the system to restart in. I'm not aware of FD-ISR conflicting with any backup imaging software so a backup image of a C drive will contain all regular snapshots. Whenever I've restored images using True Image, Paragon or Macrium Reflect, my FD-ISR snapshots have always worked perfectly.

IMHO, "getting a handle" on FD-ISR snapshots is relatively easy. Trying to "get a handle" on Rollback Rx/Eaz-Fix snapshots gives me a headache.

Originally Posted by MICRO

is that the point - only the archived snaps. can be stored elsewhere, and on this latest rescue version that's not possible ?

Archive snapshots can only be stored on other than the C drive. It's not possible to reboot directly into an archive snapshot. It's necessary to copy an archive to a regular snapshot and then select it after restarting. On the FD-ISR Rescue version, you're limited to a single regular snapshot and no archive snapshots. With FD-ISR Rescue, you have nowhere near the flexibility of the full version and lack the ability to safely store archive snapshots on other drives.

I apologize if my explanations aren't sufficiently clear; I don't profess to be an authority on FD-ISR, just a contented user. If you're still confused, you might ask Peter2150 or another resident FD-ISR guru.

[bgoodman4]

I have been following this discussion and I think I get the idea. If I am wrong about something I would welcome being corrected.

I watched a video of the current version in action today and you can still have up to 10 different snapshots. I don't have any real knowledge of the program so I don't know if these snaps can be stored somewhere off of the main drive or not but from what has been posted elsewhere I suspect not.

For those having a problem getting their heads around these snapshots its (I think) really quite simple and rather brilliant. These are not snapshots in the sense that RollBack produces snapshots, they are actually different (or perhaps potentially completely different) PC configurations independent of each other. Here is how I understand it. When you first begin setting up your snapshots you boot up Windows and take a snapshot. Then you configure Windows differently, say for gaming. To do this you get rid of any programs such as word processors, spread sheets, etc, etc., that you will have no use for on your gaming system. Perhaps you tweak your monitor and acceleration settings or whatever it is that gamers would to to get the most they can from their system. Then you take another snapshot. Now you have 2 radically different snapshots. If you want to have a gaming session you boot into the gaming configuration, if you want to do normal type computing you boot into the "normal" PC configuration. The range of configurations is limited only by the individual users needs and imagination.

Slick is the only word I can think of to describe the concept.

The beauty of it is that you can (I believe) quickly switch from one configuration to another. Its simply a matter of rebooting and selecting the configuration that you want during the boot process.

Brilliant, simply brilliant.

Given the apparent ability of the so called stripped down version (assuming of course that I have it right) I cannot really imagine how the original could have been much better (not that I doubt that it was). I can see where it would be real nice to be able to store you various configurations/snapshots of line, if you have a hard drive failure you are essentially back at square one. But beyond that what else could there be that would radically extend the original versions capabilities?

Humm, it just occurred to me that someone may have mentioned the original had the ability to create RollBack type snaps of the various configurations thus giving you the ability to mess with your configuration and if you want to, roll back the configuration to some previous state. I can see where that would be a big plus. Is this correct?

[Longboard]

@bgoodman4:

I watched a video of the current version in action today and you can still have up to 10 different snapshots.

Where was that ??
The 'current version' of FDISR here: http://www.horizondatasys.com/253715.ihtml
Has only the "Rescue" snapshot iikm ??

Interestingly it appears that the "FDISR server" version is getting harder to find on HDS web pages.

Slick is the only word I can think of to describe the concept.
The beauty of it is that you can (I believe) quickly switch from one configuration to another. Its simply a matter of rebooting and selecting the configuration that you want during the boot process.
Brilliant, simply brilliant.

That is correct, and why this utility is held so dear by those who have it.

[Skytrooper]

Originally Posted by bgoodman4

I watched a video of the current version in action today and you can still have up to 10 different snapshots. I don't have any real knowledge of the program so I don't know if these snaps can be stored somewhere off of the main drive or not but from what has been posted elsewhere I suspect not.

...

Given the apparent ability of the so called stripped down version (assuming of course that I have it right) I cannot really imagine how the original could have been much better (not that I doubt that it was).

The video on Leapfrog Software's website is of the original (full) version of FD-ISR, not FD-ISR Rescue which is the only version currently available for purchase.

[bgoodman4]

Originally Posted by Skytrooper

The video on Leapfrog Software's website is of the original (full) version of FD-ISR, not FD-ISR Rescue which is the only version currently available for purchase.

Thats a dam shame! Why the heck would they be providing a video of technology that they have discontinued. Really dumb if you ask me.

The video can be found at http://leapfrogsoftware.com/product_info/ but why you would want to watch it is beyond me.

Sorry for the error on my part, I feel rather foolish (and thats an understatement).

[bgoodman4]

I just installed RollBack Rx on my PC and I think it could be used to provide something like what the LeapFrog program used to provide. Not as elegantly but it should not be a problem to take a base snapshot and then modify the PC configurations as you see fit (say for gaming as described in my post above) and then do a snapshot, (you can name snapshots so keeping track of them would not be a problem), then, if you want a 3rd configuration you would modify the PC again and take another snap. Switching between snaps would be,,,,,well,,,,,a snap.

Is this a dumb idea?

[Skytrooper]

Originally Posted by bgoodman4

Thats a dam shame! Why the heck would they be providing a video of technology that they have discontinued. Really dumb if you ask me.

The video can be found at http://leapfrogsoftware.com/product_info/ but why you would want to watch it is beyond me.

Sorry for the error on my part, I feel rather foolish (and thats an understatement).

I can't explain why Leapfrog Software hasn't pulled that video since FD-ISR is no longer sold by its authorized resellers. For that matter, I can't explain why Leapfrog Software's website still exists (what purpose does it serve?) and why there are still websites advertising FD-ISR and allowing you to download a trial of the full version yet you can't actually purchase a license. Here's an example:

http://www.download3000.com/download_45031.html

[mrfargoreed]

Originally Posted by bgoodman4

Humm, it just occurred to me that someone may have mentioned the original had the ability to create RollBack type snaps of the various configurations thus giving you the ability to mess with your configuration and if you want to, roll back the configuration to some previous state. I can see where that would be a big plus. Is this correct?

I think this was the 'Freeze' feature. It was just another of the features that made FD-ISR so unique. You could 'freeze' a snapshot and, in effect, roll back the changes. However, the real beauty was that you could reboot first and then ''unfreeze' the snapshot to it's original state. This was extremely useful for security applications in particular that needed a reboot to continue their installation. The only downside, if you can call it that, was that the creation of the snapshot Vista, especially, too a long, long time as it created a copy of the snapshot you wanted to freeze, hence a normal 15GB Vista snapshot, when frozen, would become a 30GB snapshot. It worked by comparing snapshots when unfreezing and any differences were discarded and the machine was restored back to it's original state. It really was ingenious if you had the space, or if you were sensible and ran XP instead of Vista making the frozen snapshot much smaller.

Originally Posted by bgoodman4

Sorry for the error on my part, I feel rather foolish (and thats an understatement).

Please don't feel foolish - I have asked some embarrassingly stupid questions at Wilders but have learned so much from the people here it's incredible. Not everyone is security minded and many of us find some of this technical jargon difficult to understand. I couldn't grasp FD-ISR until I actually installed it - I just couldn't imagine what everyone was talking about until I could see it for my own eyes. I get so envious when I read some posts as I start to think they are talking in another language and it makes me realise how little I know compared to many here. I didn't even know how to cutomise Firefox when I first installed it all those years ago and thought it was rubbish as I couldn't work out how to use addons with it

[bgoodman4]

Originally Posted by Skytrooper

I can't explain why Leapfrog Software hasn't pulled that video since FD-ISR is no longer sold by its authorized resellers. For that matter, I can't explain why Leapfrog Software's website still exists (what purpose does it serve?) and why there are still websites advertising FD-ISR and allowing you to download a trial of the full version yet you can't actually purchase a license. Here's an example:

http://www.download3000.com/download_45031.html

I guess you can't really blame LeapFrog for the ability to download the trial as they would have no control over the website. Why the owners of the address would wast the space offering the software is an entirely different matter.

The whole thing is rather bizarre.

[bgoodman4]

Originally Posted by mrfargoreed

Please don't feel foolish

You are very kind but I still feel foolish. This was not a dumb question, I have no problem asking them. I would rather appear dumb and get the facts than keep quiet and remain ignorant.

This was something else altogether....but I will get over it....eventually.

[Skytrooper]

Originally Posted by bgoodman4

I guess you can't really blame LeapFrog for the ability to download the trial as they would have no control over the website.

The notion of blaming Leapfrog Software for other websites offering trial downloads of FD-ISR never entered my mind. Why Leapfrog still maintains their (outdated) website and offers a video promoting a version of FD-ISR which is no longer sold are complete mysteries to me.

Originally Posted by bgoodman4

Why the owners of the address would wast the space offering the software is an entirely different matter.

Yet there are numerous websites which do this; I merely posted a link to the first (of many) a Google search revealed. I have no idea why firms still maintain these sites and have active download links.

Originally Posted by bgoodman4

The whole thing is rather bizarre.

Yes, it is.