fd-isr compared to ax64??

having very little experience with fd-isr i would like to know ho do the two overall differ and how are they (if at all) are the same. i love ax64 very much but still have the occasional issues and so far it seems to not really being advanced very much. so im looking at this as a possible alternative knowing that raxco support is awesome from all the years of dealing with them. i downloaded the raxco trial but i have yet to install it just because i have not had very much time at all this past week and next week looks about the same (im making up for taking 2 weeks off for the holiday still just have a ton of work still this week)

thanks

 

AX64 is a true mirror imaging program (copies sectors) while IR is a folder/file copying program. AX64 makes a recovery CD or USB for real disasters while IR uses a pre-Boot screen if Windows fails (works quite well too). AX64 is much faster and uses much less space while IR allows you to keep completely different configurations of your system on your pc (even different Operating Systems) at the same time, allowing you to boot between them at will, and it does this all WITHOUT any partitioning. Both are very flexible but I would give a slight edge to IR in that department. If IR is anything like the old FD, it will prove to be very reliable but so was AX64 when I tested it.

Acadia

 

Hi Acadia,

You can achieve the above with AX64 too. Just have different directories for different operating systems. For example.

1. AXTMWin7
2. AXTMWin8
3. AXTMWin8.1

If you are in Windows 7 and need to boot into Windows 8.1, just rename as follows:

1. AXTM > AXTMWin7
2. AXTMWin8.1 to AXTM

Now boot into Windows 8.1 latest snapshot and make sure that you pick from the advance menu to restore MBR.

Best regards,

Mohamed

 

Mirrors my experience. I like Ax64 have 6 lics but FD ISR has been 100% for me. I hope IR will be 100% at the moment I have switch one machine - snapshots work fine but the archiving is broken so Shadow protect is providing the cover for this.


I am hopeful that Todd (Raxco support is good if your European but not excellent) can work out why I'm having problems it may be becuase this machine was running FDISR until switching to IR

 

Pete, It's been a long time since I used FDISR, so I'm trying to remember it. Does IR work the same? In FDISR, I believe I created snapshots and could go to a snapshot at will by clicking the appropriate one at bootup. With IR, can you store snapshots (copies) on an external HD rather than on your C drive?

 

In essence, the new IR is like the old FD-ISR, and if you've used that before, you'll know snapshots are created on the C:/ drive. This has not changed. However, as before, you can create archives on an external hard drive.

 

Thanks for the response. Having the snapshots on the C: Drive is the weak link as I see it. That's like Roll Back Rx. If you can't access the snap shots you can't recover. The beauty of AX64 is that the snapshots are on an external HD. I didn't use the archive feature when I used FD-IRS so I don't know much about it. Is there a way to boot using an archive?

 

nice, great info. ill trial it next week when i have some extra time. for me ax64 99.9% of the time works but i have had those rare times when it doesnt. and now that realcopy (i still question isso's choice there when im sure so many MUCH larger companies would have been interested in the code) is involved in not sure of what to think. anyway i am not liking (so far and that may change for the better and i hope it does) the direction and choices they seem to be making. and i agree if they dont make some better choices i think it will fail which stinks,

anyway fd-isr may be something i may use on a few machines but from its description and how it works its not something i would choose and my primary backup choice. i personally require to have external backups along with any other methods. once i test it then i can see what it can really do i guess, but until then i guess i may end up back with ifw because it seems im not finding many i like anymore to be honest. i jumped to buy ax64 and its been pretty good and i would say paid for itself but i would not buy anmore lic's until i know where its headed for sure.

 

It's important to remember IR is not a backup solution, although the archives that can be created on an external hard drive could be considered to be a form of backup. IR can be used along with a more traditional backup/imaging program. (Images will be slightly larger than if IR wasn't installed though.)

IR's main focus is as an instant recovery platform; as an example, one can have two snapshots, Primary and Secondary, and when the Secondary is created it is a copy of the Primary. Something goes wrong in the Primary (failed installation, human error etc.), a user boots into the Secondary and updates the Primary from that snapshot. Of course, any stored archives can be used to update snapshots, but not the one you're in. That's the workings at its simplest level, but there are a number of different ways of handling the program, and it gets interesting if you have more than two snapshots, up to a maximum of 10. (It should be noted the number of snapshots you can have is dependent on how big your hard drive is, but I would've thought two was enough for general use.)

 

Just want to clarify a few points for those of you who may be new to the concept of InstantRestore. Those of you who have used the original FisrtDefense for years will already know what follows.

The bootable snapshots (up to ten) are all stored on the c:drive although they cannot see each other. It is as if you have partitioned your primary drive and installed Windows many times and with some sort of boot manager are constantly booting among them. Again, you have not actually done this but the effect is identical.

The archives, on the other hand, can be stored anywhere and it is recommended that they be stored on drives other than your primary for the obvious reasons. You can have as many of them as you wish, only limitation would be drive space. You can recover any of them at any time. Each archive and each bootable snapshot is your entire operating system and all programs onto itself. You see how this can really start eating into your drive space.

The pre-Boot screen amazes me. There have been times when I so hosed my system that I could not boot into Windows but by using the pre-Boot I simply booted into another snapshot and then used it to restore my Primay Snapshot from another bootable snapshot or archive.

Freeze option: I have never used this but it is similar to ShadowDefender, Returnil or DeepFreeze. It simply restores your system upon reboot and all changes have been erased. I am pretty sure because of the way it works that the Freeze option would probably be a bit slower to reboot than the other three programs I mentioned but the effect would be identical.

Anchored folders: I have also never used this feature. This allows you to anchor important folders, usually your documents, among the bootable snapshots. If you restore your Primary snapshot using an older snapshot, you will not lose your documents, every thing else changes but they are unaffected. Here's a question for you experts who have used the original FDISR for years: What happens to your anchored folders if you restore from an archive and not a bootable snapshot?

As you can see, the flexibility of this program takes some time to wrap your brain around. The only negatives that I see from InstantRecovery is that it is slower than some recovery programs especially AX64 (but faster than others) and definitely, depending how you use it, can take up a ton of drive space.

Fun stuff here, enjoy.
Acadia

 

Pete, Thanks for your answer. I meant to say that both IR and RBrx are located on your computer and so are the snapshots, rather than keeping the snapshots on a ext. drive.

 

Isso had the AX64 TM project progressing well beyond my wildest expectations and his attention to support and details in refining it was stellar! He alone has my undivided support and complete trust, Even back when he introduced UltimateDefrag with it's industry First disk metaphor display, it was a welcome relief to find his support A-1!

I hate the old phrase that "all good things come to an end", and of course they do eventually , in time.

But Pete, i echo those exact same sentiments in exactly the same measure.

Real-Copy is unfortunately overtaken it seems everything that Isso fashioned AX64 TM to become. I was very quiet as the merger was made public, but i feared what might happen to the AX project and my fears apparently are not without merit.

But THANK THE SOFTWARE GODS for bringing alive our cherished First Defense ISR and here's hoping for yet another more successful run.

EASTER

 

How many of you have been running IR AND AX64 together at the same time?

Any problems or conflicts?

 

I would think that it would get complicated and hard to manage. If you are using your latest snapshot of AX64, and you install IR and make a 2nd snapshot, both running snapshots are the same. Then you decide to install an app. You make a new snapshot in AX64 and install the app. Now if the app is no good, you revert to the previous snapshot in AX64 and you boot to the second snapshot in IR, and the bad app is gone. How many times can you do that if that works before you make a mistake? I would think that you should make a choice and use AX64 OR IR.

 

Yeah. I guess I'd then have to decide whether to stick to my Macrium Reflect an IR or AX64 and IR.

 

And so if you have a pre windows boot screen the MBR has been modified?

Thanks

 

No, InstantRestore does not touch the MBR, it modifies the PBR/VBR (partition/volume boot record).

Panagiotis

 

Archiving does not work at all - cannot create new and cannot import FD ones either.

Oddly FD has no problem - only thing that changed was uninstalling FD and installing IR

Raxco have spent the last 2 weeks looking at it - no feedback yet