FirstDefense-ISR 3.0 Frequently Asked Questions

flinchlock · May 31, 2007

The former Raxco FD-ISR FAQ

What are the system requirements for FirstDefense-ISR?

FirstDefense-ISR is supported on the following 32-bit versions of Windows:

* Windows Vista
* Windows XP Home
* Windows XP Professional
* Windows Server 2003
* Windows 2000 Professional
* Windows 2000 Server

FirstDefense is NOT supported on 64-bit versions of Windows.

Additional Requirements:

* FirstDefense-ISR requires that your system drive be formatted as NTFS.
* FirstDefense-ISR does not support Dynamic Disks, FATx drives, Windows 9x/ME/NT4.
* Your system drive must be the same drive as Windows is installed on. If your system drive is C: and Windows is installed on D:, FirstDefense is not compatible with your system.
* In order to create snapshots, sufficient disk space on your system drive must be available (max size each snapshot will take on disk will be amount of space currently in use by your system drive).
* While non-system partitions, removable media or network shares can be used to store snapshots, you can not boot from snapshots stored on non-system drives.
* FirstDefense will install and run on non-English versions of Windows. However, FirstDefense is not localized for non-English versions of Windows.

Issues with 3rd party software:

* Registry cleaners such as System Mechanic should not be used to "clean" or delete FirstDefense registry keys.
* There are interoperatiblity issues with Kapersky Anti-Virus 5.0 and FirstDefense. If you have KAV 5.0 installed, please see Making FirstDefense work with Kapersky Antivirus.

How much disk space is needed for each snapshot?

The answer to this varies and is dependent on several things:

* Are you using Data Anchoring
* Are you excluding any files/folders from the snapshot

At a minimum, each snapshot will be as large as the total used size of your system partition. If you have excluded files/folders or are using Data Anchoring, this can reduce the snapshot size.

To save space, FirstDefense-ISR does NOT copy the pagefile or hibernate file.

How many snapshots am I allowed to take with FirstDefense-ISR?

You are limited by FirstDefense-ISR to a total of 10 snapshots. This assumes that sufficient disk space is available for each snapshot.

What is Data Anchoring and why would I use it?

When you make a snapshot of your system drive, FirstDefense-ISR copies everything - including any documents, spreadsheets, etc. that may be found on the drive. An example of this would be files found in Documents and Settings. If you boot into a snapshot, the files in that Documents and Settings folder would be current only to the time that the snapshot was created - which means that updates to files/documents may be lost.

Data Anchoring allows files/documents to be accessable to any snapshot that you are booted into as anchored files are not copied when a snapshot is created or updated. This means that if your system fails to boot and you end up booting into an alternate snapshot, anchored data is available while booted into that snapshot and is current.

How can I reduce the size of snapshots?

You can reduce the size of your snapshots by using Data Anchoring or by excluding files/folders. For example, you can probably exclude your temporary folder as by definition, these are temporary files that are not usually needed.

You could also exclude your temporary internet browser cache.

What is difference between High Availability, Disaster Recovery and Backup?

High Availability:

In information technology, high availability refers to a system or component that is continuously operational for a desirably long length of time. Availability can be measured relative to "100% operational" or "never failing." A widely-held, but difficult-to-achieve standard of availability for a system or product is known as "five 9s" (99.999 percent) availability. Since a computer system or a network consists of many parts in which all parts usually need to be present in order for the whole to be operational, much planning for high availability centers around backup and failover processing, and data storage and access.

Disaster Recovery:

Data is generally regarded as a company's first or second most valuable asset. Equally important with backing up data is the ability to access and/or recover that same data, and to do so in a timely fashion to keep a business up and running. Disaster Recovery incorporates the plans and methods used to recover from an unforeseen event that would jeopardize the businesses' electronic well-being. The whole idea behind this is to keep your data safe in a manner that does not negatively impact production, and be able to recover as fast as possible.

Backup:

Backup is the activity of copying data so that they will be preserved in case of equipment failure or other catastrophe. Backup is usually a routine part of the operation of large businesses with mainframes as well as the administration of smaller business computers. For personal computer users, backup is also necessary but often neglected. The retrieval of files that have been backed up is called restoration.

Can I use FirstDefense-ISR to my replace my current backup method?

FirstDefense-ISR should be used to complement whatever backup method you currently employ. This utility is designed as a first defense tool, which can significantly save time rebuilding a system following OS or applications software errors. Good backup practices dictate that archived copies of critical data are maintained in a different location.

When creating snapshots, what about open files?

FirstDefense-ISR contains a proprietary open file manager to handle any files that are open and in use when making snapshot copies. It functions by "freezing" the system so that a point-in-time snapshot can be taken. With this function, there is no need to create snapshot images outside of the Windows operating environment.

What happens to all of my data files after booting an alternate snapshot?

Traditional snapshot images, such as the recovery CD included with most laptop computers, do not contain the data files and settings that you created on the system. Even in the enterprise environment, workstation images will typically not contain the user's personal settings or any data files that were saved locally to disk. Hence, upon replacing the failed system image with the backup or alternate image, the data files contained in the new snapshot image are typically out of date or non-existent.

To address the issue of old data (current to the last time the image was taken), or losing data because it was not a part of the snapshot image when taken, FirstDefense-ISR utilizes "Data Anchoring" technology, which was specifically designed to address this common problem. Used properly, data anchoring is a very powerful timesaving system rebuild tool.

What is the difference between Data Anchoring and excluded files?

Data Anchoring is comprised of user specified folders or files that become common to each snapshot when booted. Excluded files are folders or files, determined during a copy action, that are not copied during a snapshot update and thus do not exist in the destination snapshot.

How many snapshots should I maintain?

There are a myriad of possibilities available depending upon disk space, and personal desires. Ideally, three snapshots should be maintained. The first additional snapshot (Snapshot 2) is the copy made during the initial install of FirstDefense-ISR. The second additional snapshot (Snapshot 3) can be a "fresh" install of your operating system and desired applications. This configuration will handle most situations that may arise.

A "fresh install" snapshot is invaluable when you notice that Windows is running slower than normal. Over time, installs, un-installs, temporary files, memory leaks, and the like, cause system performance degradation and possibly corruptions that have not yet surfaced. By booting to the "fresh install" snapshot, the system will once again perform as it did when new. All data files that were anchored in the original system snapshot would of course be available after the re-boot!

How long will it take to create/update a snapshot of my system?

This depends on a number factors:

* Disk drive performance
* Hard drive controller performance
* CPU speed
* Amount of RAM
* Number of files to copy
* Number of files excluded or Data Anchored
* Sizes of files being copied/updated during the snapshot process
* Other processes using system resources at time of snapshot

On a fairly modern system with 2GB of used space on the system drive, it may take approximately 10-15 minutes to create a new snapshot. To update an existing snapshot may only take several minutes depending on the number of files being updated.

How do I install a "fresh install" OS system?

If you wish to install a "fresh install" of the Windows OS without disrupting your current snapshot use this procedure. It is very important to follow the steps outlined below in the order given:

1. From within the program, set up your data anchoring if you wish to have your current data files available to this new snapshot (recommended).
2. From the ‘Tools' pull-down menu, select 'Create Empty Snapshot'. Follow the instructions given in the Wizard (name your new snapshot Original XP Load, or OEM Build, etc.).
3. At the completion of creating your new (blank) snapshot, right click on the newly created snapshot and select ‘Boot to Snapshot'.
4. During the re-boot, you will see a message on your screen as follows: "NT Loader Missing." This is normal because there are no operating system files in this newly created snapshot.
5. Locate your Windows CD and place it in the CD drive. Reboot your system again.

If you see the message, "NT Loader Missing" again, you will need to enter your BIOS program to set the Boot Sequence to boot from your CD drive first.

6. Windows will ask you if you want to format the NTFS partition. Answer NO.

WARNING: DO NOT FORMAT THE NTFS PARTITION. Doing so will erase all data from your disk.

7. Proceed with the "fresh install" of Windows.
8. Reinstall FirstDefense-ISR to access the user interface and its functions.
9. At this point, the system is available to download Windows updates, install user applications, and system preferences.

Although this foregoing process is lengthy, you will find it quite beneficial when you want to refresh Windows to an uncluttered "clean" state. If you have anchored your data in any snapshot, and you boot to this newly created "fresh" install of Windows, all of your anchored data will be available.

You may wish to have a copy of another operating system, such as Windows 2000 if you're running XP, or vise versa. FirstDefense-ISR supports multiple operating systems, from Windows 2000 and up (Windows XP and Windows Server 2003). FirstDefense-ISR does not support Windows 98, Me, or NT.

I need to temporarily disable the FirstDefense-ISR preboot screen. How can I do this?

Run FirstDefense-ISR and click on Actions/Disable Pre-boot. This will turn off the FirstDefense-ISR preboot screen.

To re-enable, run FirstDefense-ISR and click on Actions/Enable Pre-boot.

Caution: While the FirstDefense-ISR preboot screen is disabled, you will not have the ability to boot into any FirstDefense-ISR snapshots.

Should I disable Windows XP System Restore prior to running FirstDefense?

There is a Tasks option to exclude System Restore Data when copying a snapshot or creating an archive.

The option is ON by default. If System Restore is turned off (recommended) or if Windows 2000, the option has no affect.

If the option is ON and System Restore is turned on, the destination snapshot or archive has System Restore turned on but no restore points.
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FirstDefense-ISR 3.0 Frequently Asked Questions

flinchlock Registered Member

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FirstDefense-ISR 3.0 Frequently Asked Questions

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