Another newbie with questions

I am using the trial version right now. I have 3 snapshots, plus 1 archive. I archived my secondary snapshot because I set that one up with My Documents anchored. Since the size doesn't warrant anchoring, I archived my original secondary & then recreated my secondary with no anchoring. I also have a copy of my primary, which I am playing around with updating prior to actually updating the secondary.

Question #1 - I used the Getting Started Wizard to recreate the Secondary snapshot, is that the correct procedure?

Question #2 - When running SuperAntiSpyware, should I be excluding the $ISR files from the scan? I didn't & I removed the tracking thingies from the $ISR as well.

Question #3 - Is it still necessary to specfically exclude $ISR from PerfectDisk 8?

(I have booted to my secondary snapshot - cool. I didn't realize that once you did that, on the next reboot it automatically booted to the secondary. Now I know.)

 

Couple of quick answers, others more knowledgeable can fill in the rest.

Anchoring My Documents anchors that folder in ALL Snapshots, you can't just anchor it in one snapshot only. In other words, you will always have the exact same My Documents no matter what Snapshot that you are in.

No, you should not have to do anything special with PerfectDisk 8 as far as FirstDefense is concerned.

Not familiar with SuperAntiSpyware but my GUESS would be, yes, if it lets you do that, exclude $ISR from scanning.

Yes, whatever Snapshot that you are in RIGHT NOW is your real c:drive and will remain so until you change it. If you were to uninstall FirstDefense while in Snapshot#2, that Snapshot would now be your one and only c:drive.

Good luck and enjoy this great program,
Acadia

 

Nothing wrong with that, is how the program would intend you to do it.

Don't see any need to, I don't, and it hasn't caused any problems. I would however rather be in a snapshot that I was making any changes to, in other words I would only want to make changes to one snapshot at a time, the one I am in. In theory not a lot can go wrong with removing cookies, but still.

If you can I probably would, I think there has been talk about that particular defragger before on the site, isn't it FD-ISR friendly?

 

Sorry if I gave you any incorrect info, hjbyram.

Acadia

 

Acadia is correct. Any anchoring of folders and/or files counts for ALL snapshots.
Anchored folders and/or files are NOT included in ALL snapshots.
So the volume of ALL snapshots always DECREASES when you anchor folders and/or files.
For instance : if the folder "My documents" contains 100 MB and you anchor that folder, then the volume of ALL your snapshots will decrease with 100 MB, which also means that any copy/update will be much faster.
This also means that everything, stored in the folder "My Documents" is NOT ARCHIVED by FDISR anymore.
So you have to create a solution to backup the folder "My Documents" separately or together with your system files.

Another solution is to create another partition to store your personal data and that's what I did, because I don't have to think or worry anymore about my personal data, when I or some malware fools around with my system partition.

A system can always be restored, manually or automatically, but your PERSONAL DATA cannot be restored easily and is sometimes lost forever.
Keep that always in mind when you organize and install your harddisks, including FDISR-solutions and Image/File Backup solutions. Always expect the WORST scenario.

 

If you use PerfectDisk 8, you don't need to exclude $ISR, that happens automatically. Once you know PerfectDisk 8 a little better, you can even verify this in PD8.
Raxco was a re-seller of FDISR and they adjusted PD8 for that reason.
A customer that bought FDISR, usually also bought PD8 and that was good for Raxco.

 

Each snapshot in FDISR is INDEPENDENT, which means :
- you can rename all snapshot constantly.
- you can remove each snapshot constantly
- you can create new snapshots constantly (maximum 10)
- you can change the contents of each snapshot constantly.
- you can archive each snapshot as many times you want.
Primary Snapshot and Secondary Snapshot are just names and you can remove the Primary Snapshot and create another Primary Snapshot and it doesn't need to be called Primary Snapshot, you can change its name constantly.
FDISR is very flexible.

There is only one golden rule : minimum 2 snapshots and remember copy/update always creates IDENTICAL snapshots and the source snapshot decides what the destination snapshot will be. Very important.

The copy/update WIZARD shows only possible VALID source and destination snapshots, you can only choose the wrong snapshot, but they are all technical possible.
For instance you will never see the ACTIVE snapshot (green arrow) as a destination snapshot, because that is technically IMPOSSIBLE.

And yes FDISR always boots in the snapshot, where you last worked.
Press the F1-key in time and you can boot in any other snapshot.
The F1-key isn't visible when you boot in another snapshot via the function "Boot to snapshot" of FDISR, because you already choosed the snapshot.

 

Thank you so much Acadia, tradetime, ErikAlbert (I have printed several EA replies to other newbies)

Sorry, I need to ask another probably silly question. Now I thought I totally understood the anchoring thing from reading your response to others, but now I'm not so sure. So -
1. Primary snapshot was created with my doing nothing as I recall
2. Original Secondary, I anchored My Documents
3. I archived the Original Secondary
4. I recreated the Secondary with No anchoring.
I assumed My Documents was now included in the Primary & Secondary snaps - is that correct?

I can be a very literal person. so thanks EA for pointing out about the snaps names - I thought they had to be called Primary & Secondary - yep, DUH!

 

First of all, silly questions don't exist, only silly answers are possible.

1. Primary snapshot and no anchoring means the folder "My Documents" was included in the primary snapshot and secondary snapshot.
2. Secondary snapshot, you anchored "My Documents".
This means that the Primary and Secondary Snapshot have no folder "My Documents" anymore.
3. Original Secondary snapshot was archived, which means that the secondary archive has no folder "My Documents".
4. Recreated secondary + no anchoring, which means that Primary and Secondary snapshot have now the folder "My Documents".
If that is the latest situation, then the answer is YES. Primary and Secondary snapshot have now the folder "My Documents".


Anchoring and no anchoring affects ALL snapshots, not just one snapshot.
I'm not sure what your final goal is or what you are trying to accomplish.

I would always anchor the folder "My Documents", because that solution lasts longer.
No anchoring is very space consuming and will finally end up in anchoring, unless the volume of "My Documents" is stable and hardly increases.

 

EA - thank you so much, I finally now understand about anchoring.
I am a Shadow Protect (purchased) user as well. Prior to trying FD/ISR I was running Shadow Protect daily (base/incrementals). Right now I have cut that down to weekly (base only). Since FD/ISR is working very well on my PC, I am going to purchase it as well.

My Documents does increase due to audible.com downloads, as well as music & photo files. So I see the wisdom of the anchoring.

I am Windows XP SP2 with 2 internal drives, however. no partitioning on either drive & I have to admit there isn't much on the 2nd drive other than old backups & my arcived Secondary snap. I am now using an external drive for my Shadow Protect Images. It sounds as though I really ought to look into partitioning, right? And would need some additional software to accomplish that like Partition Magic, right?

Many Thanks - Heather

 

My setup is like this :
Internal Harddisk #1 = System Partition [C:] = Windows + FDISR + All Applications, but no personal data.
Interhal Harddisk #2 = Data Partition [D:] = personal data, notepad files, word-documents, excel-spreadsheets, emails, email-address-books, downloaded installation files, ... in other words, all my hard work.
External Harddisk = Backup Partition [E:] = Images created by ShadowProtect + archives created by FDISR.

A partition manager, like Partition Magic, Acronis Disk Director, ... makes it sometimes easier to create, resize, ... partitions. I don't really trust Windows to do this. Recently Windows installed Windows on partition [E:], while the partition letter [C:] was still free. Typical Microsoft

 

Wise decision to anchor the folder "My Documents".
Suppose your system = 20 MB and your data = 100 MB.
If you don't anchor "My Documents" :
1. Primary snapshot = 20 MB + 100 MB = 120 MB
2. Secondary snapshot = 20 MB + 100 MB = 120 MB
That is 240 MB in total on your harddisk and each time you add new data that volume is stored twice.

If you anchor "My Documents :
1. Primary snapshot = 20 MB
2. Secondary snapshot = 20 MB
3. Personal data = 100 MB
That is 140 MB in total on your harddisk.

These calculations are only valid when your secondary snapshot is a ROLLBACK snapshot.

 

With Partition managers,know what you are doing or else it can be dangerous stuff.If you have any questions about partitioning ,ask MUDCRAB he knows more about partitioning then you can learn from the books !!

 

As you already said earlier this strategy is valid only if you take care for the anchored data to backup independantly to another partion or better yet to an ext. drive.

 

Thanks again EA and thanks Huupi. Partitioning would be new territory for me, so I will have to take this very slow. Also, I forgot that Partition Magic is now Symantic, therefore not I'm not interested. Since Acronis Disk Director has a free trial, and a forum here, I am going to go with that one. I'll have to check out the forum before doing anything.

PCs make me feel very small, or is that ignorant!

I am imaging with Shadow Protect, so should be covered if all else fails.

 

Each time you try something new, take a backup of your computer first with ShadowProtect. I do this always, because I'm not an expert in computers either.

If you don't do this and something goes wrong it will take alot more time to fix it and most probably you will need knowledgeable members to help you out. I've seen enough posts of members in troubles, because they didn't take a backup first and can't go back to a previous healthy state.

 

Thanks again EA! And Hi there Pete.
Not to worry, I will be taking things VERY slowly - I'm the one who downloaded FD-ISR & then took 3 days to get up the nerve to install it. However, I am now the proud owner of it, not just a trial user.

EA, I have to agree with Pete, you are marvelous to take so much time. Everyone has been very helpful on Wilders, plus I have learned so much from other posts. Pete, you have been just as marvelous with ShadowProtect & Perfect Disk 8. I owe my new-found knowledge to the people on Wilders.

I have the resources, just not enough knowledge, and would like to utilize my disk space similar to EAs. I also have some good local techy support I can call on, this may be the time to call on them. They are also willing to show me how it's done, not just do it for me, which is pretty nice. I may not be able to get them in here immediately, but will report back once it is finally done.

Thanks so much everyone - Heather