FD-ISR and Perfect disk

Discussion in 'FirstDefense-ISR Forum' started by Long View, Feb 3, 2007.

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  1. Long View

    Long View Registered Member

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    I have read that off line defrag with perfect disk should only be done using the
    Primary snapshot - is this true ? and if so why ?

    If I install FD-ISR and make my first snap shot copy and then my second snapshot am I going to have problems with off line defrag if done whilst in copy 1 or copy 2 ?

    If at some future time I copy from 1 or 2 to the primary what then ?
     
  2. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    Hi Longview

    I don't think it really matters, but just to keep myself from messing up, I treat the primary snapshot as the main system and go from there. I only do defrags/images from the primary. Is it necessary, I don't know, but it helps keep me from messing myself up.

    I keep usage some what simple also. I have my primary snapshot, which is my full working snapshot. I also have a stripped down basic system secondary snapshot. I only use this as a place to boot should my primary get corrupted. I then keep a copy of my Primary as an archive off disk. This I update frequently. Then if I need to revert my primary back, I boot to the second snapshot, and update primary from the archive.

    I do this for two reasons. First updating archives is quicker, and 2nd it keeps disk space usage down making imaging faster.

    Pete
     
  3. Long View

    Long View Registered Member

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    Hi Peter.

    For the record I am still at the trying to mess up stage. Being impatient I did do a perfect disk off line defrag on my secondary snap shot and nothing bad seems to have happened.

    From a practical point of view though I think you're right. when I'm finished messing I will probably run in primary ( making images from primary, defraging etc) and restore from secondary when I want to clean up.

    Before I do run this program seriously though I wnat to see what happens when I run various reg programs, what happens when I forget to disable pre-boot before making an Acronis Image and so on.
     
  4. ErikAlbert

    ErikAlbert Registered Member

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    My pre-boot is always enabled when I backup or restore with Acronis True Image and this has been tested over and over again by me for almost one year.
    I don't see any reason why you have to disable the pre-boot, which is also easy to forget.
    Each time I restore, I include the MBR in the restoration and all my snapshots are restored and I can start immediately.
     
    Last edited: Feb 3, 2007
  5. Long View

    Long View Registered Member

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    Interesting. I'm not surprised that it works but the help files with FD-ISR warn user to disable pre-boot before making images. Tha's partly why I'm testing - to see what works and what doesn't.
     
  6. ErikAlbert

    ErikAlbert Registered Member

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    Keep on testing. I did the same thing. First ATI, then FDISR and after that ATI + FDISR. I tried every possible combination and it worked flawless and it still works.
     
  7. mata7

    mata7 Registered Member

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    sorry guys but what pre-boot is and what it does?

    i ask cause im testing FD

    thanks
     
  8. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    Preboot is the intercept right at the boot stage that allows you to chose the snapshot to boot into. Great feature when the snapshot your working in gets messed up.
     
  9. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    That warning is outdated. I leave preboot on all the time, when I image and restore, both with Acronis, and Shadowprotect. I've had it on when I've shrunk partitions, done hardware independent restores, and generally trashed my disks. Restores always have worked and FDISR just comes up running.

    But Longview you are doing the smart thing. Test, break, test restore, test break, etc. You will come way totally confident you can recover from just about anything.

    Pete
     
  10. Acadia

    Acadia Registered Member

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    Erik and Peter, thanks for the pre-boot info. I was just about to ask that question concerning using FD and ATI together. I know that it has been talked about several times in the past but I have been "out of the loop" lately and did not know what the latest opinions were. Sure would hate to turn that pre-boot thingie off; such a safety net there! :cool:

    Acadia
     
  11. mata7

    mata7 Registered Member

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    thanks peter for you help

    to understand right, pre-boot is the FD Flash screen that say press F10 to enter to FD
     
  12. ErikAlbert

    ErikAlbert Registered Member

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    It's F1 key, not F10.
    The F1 key gives you an overview of all available bootable snapshots.
    Choose the one you need and FDISR will boot in that snapshot.
    The F1 key isn't visible, when you boot to a snapshot inside FDISR, because you choosed the snapshot already.

    EDIT :
    I know now why you mentioned F10. You changed the default value in the options.
     
    Last edited: Feb 3, 2007
  13. mata7

    mata7 Registered Member

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    ya i did change for F10
     
  14. Long View

    Long View Registered Member

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    I have left pre-boot on.

    when restoring using windows CD and only ticking C: and not MBR I found that
    I did not get the Pre-boot screen the first time I booted but only when I rebooted. So I then restored the whole of C: and MBR and could not believe how much quicker the process was - 6.55 gig of used space for OS and 2 snap shots -- 83 seconds to restore a full Acronis image of the whole drive

    compared with 143 sec to just restore the C: partition
     
  15. ekwipt

    ekwipt Registered Member

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    If perfect disk defragments the whole drive is there a chance to mess up the files in the secondary snapshot?

    There's options to skip files or folders in Perfect disk, should i/we hide the secondary snapshot files from perfect disk?

    One last thing, i don't really know how hard drives work, but wouldn't it make more sense to make the secondary snapshot my working snapshot as it came after the primary, then all programs/files i install will come subsequently after??

    Not sure how i should run this just done a new install and would like to know??

    TFTH:thumb:
     
  16. Acadia

    Acadia Registered Member

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    All defraggers will defrag the entire hard drive including all Snapshots. There is no harm in this; your Snapshots will be OK.

    You can use any Snapshot you want as your working Snapshot, it does not matter. Primary is just a name given automatically to the first Snapshot when you install FirstDefense. You can then go into the FirstDefense menu and change the name Primary to anything that you wish. Again, it does not matter which Snapshot you work in; you can configure them differently but they all carry equal weight.

    Acadia
     
  17. vhick

    vhick Registered Member

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    yup! just like you have a multiboot os in your os partition. no weight loss.
     
  18. ErikAlbert

    ErikAlbert Registered Member

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    I never bothered about PerfectDisk, it's just a defragger and is compatible with FDISR (same developper).

    I fully agree with Acadia, you can run PerfectDisk in any snapshot, where PerfectDisk is installed. It doesn't matter.
    If you have 10 snapshots, you can install PerfectDisk in 1 upto 10 snapshots at free will and run PerfectDisk in each snapshot with the same result, because PerfectDisk defrags the whole harddisk, not just the active (green) snapshot.

    Since I don't have a rollback snapshot anymore, I installed PerfectDisk in my off-line snapshot only, but that is just my personal usage of FDISR.
     
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