Help Needed using Drive Snapshot

Totally agree. Also, if you haven't already, take a look at UBCD4WIN which even I found easy to do and don't forget that Drive Snapshot doesn't need to be a plugin for BARTPE as it just runs from anywhere .

Graham

 

Graham, is that to say that snapshot.exe (inside the Snapshot folder) can be directly copied to either a BartPE CD or a UBCD4WIN?

 

Yes, or an external usb, or a pen drive or a CD or........I'm sure you get the picture .

Graham

 

Graham, just one final question regarding your directions (well maybe it won't be the final one).

Doesn't Drive Snapshot need to be told where you want the image restored to (i.e., does it automatically restore it to the C-partition)?

 

From the DS web site here:

"Snapshot knows which partition is contained in the image file; option 'AUTO' will use this partition as the destination.
Should you want to restore a different partition, you may select this by PRIMARY1 or LOGICAL2. Please use the SHOW command first to verify what partition you want to restore."

Most of the time this will be exactly what you want. Of course, if you are in a UBCD4WIN or BartPE environment then you can just click on the partition to restore to .

Graham

 

Cool - I plan on doing my very first DS restore as soon as I get home ...it's nail-biting time!

 

I'd say 'Good Luck' but you won't need it .

Graham

 

appster,

Nexstar is correct but for your first BartPE build I suggest that you do it conventionally with a plugin. That way SnapShot will appear in the Program menu and you won't have to browse the CD or other drives looking for snapshot.exe.

Almost certainly you will need to replace snapshot.exe in the supplied plugin as it will be out of date. Before building the BartPE CD, double click snapshot.exe in the plugin to see the expiry date. Just overwrite the out of date file with your current one.

 

Gotcha... My first DS restore this eve. will be using DOS, per Graham's directions. I will try building a BartPE this weekend (or maybe a UBCD4Win).

Thanks again guys - I'll report my success (or lack thereof) tonight or tomorrow.

 

I ran across DriveSnapshot what seems like now eons ago and brushed it off. Now with careful experimenting and drawing inspiration from others favorable results i find it is incredible! and works perfectly so far as i can tell. Plus it's relatively FAST, for an app that is insanely tiny.

Good alternative backup program, i especially like mounting the .sna image in a virtual drive and browsing the files in it's entirety.

 

I like imaging the kid's computers from my computer over our wireless network. On a scheduled basis SnapShot pulls an image of their C: drive to a backup drive on my computer. So easy to set up too.

 

Indeed!

Now that i discovered excellent results + confidence in this minature imager, i'm throwing caution to the wind today and am going in directions i would never have dared considered a few short months ago.
Such as installing XP Pro into "3" partitions on the SAME DRIVE!

And after adding the correct lines (3) in each of their Boot.INI files, all 3 XP Systems boot without issue. It's almost like doing a manual FD-ISR snapshot routine

With DriveSnapshot imaging/restoring any or all of them is a breeze and at long last thanks to ErikAlbert's great suggestion, am also storaging files + images into .ISO files.

Theres no way to lose, it's a total WIN, WIN scenario so far as safekeeping important data files + entire systems.

 

Couple of questions to the DS experts please.

1. On the "Restoring from Windows screen, you can Right click on a drive or partition, and get options to restore Partition Structure and MBR OR Restore MBR (The First Sector) Can I assume by this that the default for DS is to backup both the MBR and the partition structure in case it is needed?

2. Could you explain under what circumstamces I would need to restore the Partition Structure?

3. When creating an image within Windows, I am not quite clear if the "unlocking handles" option allows you to image the system drive. Obviously it will need to go into DOS but can you initiate this from Windows? Don't quite understand the documentation on this point, and am reluctant to try it until I know more.

Many Thanks.

Ken

 

i just discovered this forum , hi all ;
regarding the MBR question ; i just received an answer from the maker of DS about this,

this was my question :

> I am trying out drive snapshot 1.37, much better than Ghost ,i am using
> Bartpe to restore the system partition.
> I haven't been able to find a " clone disk " mode ,i currently have one sata
> hd , just bought a bigger one to replace as bootdisk ; is the following
> possible :
> old disk has 4 partitions , make image of each partition (store on usb
> disk) / make 4 partitions on new hd / then in bartpe restore each image to
> its
> " new " partition (same size or bigger than the " old " partitions.)
> Will this work ? or do i have to make a copy of the " old " mbr and restore
> this to the new disk ?

> Thank you in advance
and this the answer :

" this will work if you restore from BartPE. The MBR and the whole
partition structure is included in each image. You can also restore
the whole partition structure. Try to right click in the graphic with
the disks and partitions (Restore->ImageName->Next->(right click in
graphic). There will appear some additional popup menus."

Just got my new disk in so i am going to try this.

Cheers ,lin

 

Yes, that's right. It backs it up by default and only restores it if you request it.

If you were restoring to a new disk and wanted to retain the partition structure of the original disk then you would use this. Use it with care though as it will do what you ask and overwrite any existing structure potentially losing any data already on the 'new' drive.

One of the many benefits is that you can image your system drive from within Windows without having to go into DOS. It will need to go to DOS or BartPE to restore a system image though. It works well in the background with very little impact on performance. I used to do this all the time and have set up one-click desktop shortcuts to set it off doing differential backups. Using some of the command line file naming features, it is quite easy to generate date ordered filenames. Also, with differentials, you don't even need to have the original image present for it to create a differential. It generates a small (20-80KB) 'hash' file which is all it needs to do the differential.

I only don't routinely do this now as, using Rollback, I image outside of Windows so as to retain the snapshots.

Sorry, this is probably too much information .

Graham

 

@linp Many thanks for that info. very helpful.

@Graham. Not too much info at all. Very useful, but prompts more questions I'm afraid.
I am still having trouble understanding how this tiny little program can do so much. When you consider the size of the alternative imaging software, it is incredible. So, do the differentials really work? I have never used differentials at all, and not sure I have a use for them, but would appreciate you explaining what you mean by "you don't even need to have the original image present for it to create a differential"
You never know, I could find that I have a use for differentials and not even know it....hahaha

I know you have used DS for a while now, and would love to know what its weaknesses are compared to other imaging software. As I see it so far there arnt many.
Thanks again.

ken

 

It's the Tardis of the imaging world .

Yes, the differentials really do work! The first time you create an image, it is a full image. If you look in the 'Advanced Options' bit then you should find that, by default, it is set to create a 'hash' file. The hash file is a sort of index map of sectors and will be given the same name as your backup but with a .hsh suffix.

So, the next time you backup you have the option of creating a differential image if you put a tick in the relevant box. You can then select the hash file and give a unique name to the image you are about to make.

You then just proceed as normal but this time DS will only record any sectors that have changed since the original backup was made. This cuts down on the time and storage space required for the backup.

As DS only needs the hash file for the differential, then the original image doesn't even have to be available on the drive. Each differential you make is completely independent from the next so to restore you need the original plus one differential.

DS's main 'problem' is it's lack of even the most basic graphical front-end in DOS. It's not an issue for me but it obviously scares people away from it as a result. This is a shame because it deserves a much wider audience than it is ever likely to get.

Other than that, it's small, fast, efficient, flexible, unintrusive and 100% reliable. What more could you want in less than 250KB of code .

Graham

 

Success!

Last night I successfully restored my system partition using the DS floppy disk and Graham's instructions. Since this was the first time that I did an image restore using Drive Snapshot I was quite nervous.

While I'm very happy with my successful restore, I must say the DOS environment didn't exactly make me feel warm and comfy! Even with Graham's clear instructions I was taken back when Snapshot's DOS floppy didn't recognize my D-partition (where I had saved my sna file), but identified it as E: ...and it sort of left me hanging at the end, as I never received any obvious indication that DS completed the restore (and that I could reboot my system)!

But as they say, "all's well that ends well".

 

Well done . Nobody said anything about warm and comfy!

I'm guessing that your C drive is NTFS format(?). Native DOS can't read this and so if you >DIR C: you will get an invalid drive error. The NTFS4DOS utility included allows you to read ntfs volumes (surprisingly!). For some reason, which I'm not sure of and which someone else might know, this then offsets the drive letters by one. So your C will be D and D will be E etc. I've seen a boot disk with ntfs support included that didn't do this so it doesn't have to be that way. However, when you do your BartPE/UBCD disc, this will all be a thing of the past .

While restoring an image, DS provides a percentage counter to show progress. At the end of the process there is an on screen report saying 'Success!'. You may have missed that as it can get a bit lost in the rest of the text.

Graham

 

appster,

In BartPE the drive letters are sequential. For example if your drive letters are C, E, G, J and M in WinXP, they will be C, D, E, F and G in BartPE. So make sure your partitions have an easy to recognize label.

BartPE takes several minutes to load from the CD but this is a small price to pay for having a SnapShot GUI and WinXP type functions. Once you understand BartPE, take a look at ReatogoXPE. It's even better. Looks just like WinXP.

 

Sorry Graham. What I MEANT to ask is if I call for a RESTORE of the system drive within Windows, and ask to "unlock handles" will DS automatically boot into Dos and carry out the operation, or will it abort.

Ken

 

To be honest, Ken, I've never tried to restore the system drive from within Windows with DS! I won't try it out on my office machine at the moment but I'll gladly give it a go on my test laptop at home later on and let you know what happens.

Graham

 

Appreciate that Graham. Not that I have any problem with using the UBCD disk, but I like to know all the options available. Great little proggie anyway.

Thanks again.

Ken

 

I just tried it. You get a message that it can't be done.

 

Thanks, Brian. Saves me trying. I couldn't quite see how it was going to achieve that minor miracle as well .

Graham