IFW and the SSD

Discussion in 'backup, imaging & disk mgmt' started by n8chavez, Sep 9, 2015.

  1. n8chavez

    n8chavez Registered Member

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    I recently got an SSD. That changes the way I approach imaging software, as it is now important to find a solution that works correctly with solid-state drives. Image for Windows appears to be one such application that will work appropriately for users with SSDs. The following quote was taken from the image for Windows user manual.

    So, I know for fact that these drives are supported. But the execution of this feature is what I call into question.

    The below image was taken from the IFW users manual.

    IFD.jpg

    However, I don't seem to be able to find the appropriate corresponding option in IFW.

    The below image was taken from my copy of IFW, using the restore image option.

    ifw.jpg

    The option to restore only change sectors is not present in image for Windows, as the user's manual indicates. That tells me that SSD drives are not optimally supported in its current software implementation. It is very disappointing to me, is I am relying more and more on imaging software (and the full and incremental images they create) as a pseudo-rollback software.

    Can anybody else from this?
     
    Last edited: Sep 9, 2015
  2. oliverjia

    oliverjia Registered Member

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    I don't use IFW (I only use IFL) so I could not test it on my SSD. However I do remember that IFW could disable that option (write only changed sectors) when it deemed that a certain SSD does not support that feature. i.e., it's SSD dependent.
     
  3. n8chavez

    n8chavez Registered Member

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    That's odd. Macrium has a similar feature called RDR (Rapid Delta Redeployment) and it works just fine with my SSD.
     
  4. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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  5. crofttk

    crofttk Registered Member

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  6. n8chavez

    n8chavez Registered Member

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    Well drat. (Do you see what I did there? I wonder why Terabyte doesn't support it, yet Macrium does. I've restored images using Macrium and it does work. Dang it. I needed that features. I guess I'll use Macrium them, since the whole point is to limit disk writing when not necessary.
     
  7. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Macrium's RDR and TeraByte's Write Changed Sectors Only are different technology. I don't know if RDR has anything to do with DRAT. RDR is a fast restore. Write Changed Sectors Only takes the same time as a normal restore.
     
  8. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    oliverjia,

    It's available in IFL and IFD too. Samsung SSDs seems to be a brand that may not support DRAT although my errant SSD is SanDisk.

    Edit... Since IFW 297a Write Changed Sectors Only has been unavailable if the SSD reports it doesn't support DRAT. IFW pre ver 297 had Write Changed Sectors Only available but in retrospect this wasn't "reliable" for certain SSDs. See the TeraByte thread regarding "reliable" SSDs.
     
    Last edited: Sep 9, 2015
  9. n8chavez

    n8chavez Registered Member

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    So, my conclusion is that I pretty much need to use macrium reflect version 6 home edition. I need the ability to optimally use the SSD, and that includes macrium's RDR technology. It appears that image for Windows will not work for me in this way, so unfortunately that appears no longer be option one. (Of course I had to discovered that right after I had finished setting up automation scripts for IFW.)

    I guess then the only thing I need to know is, is macrium reflect version 6 home edition the only software that will meet that criteria; the ability to automate image creation as well as the ability to restore only sectors of the drive that have changed. Below is a table imaging software that either does, or does not, meet that criteria. Perhaps something has changed in the time that I have been away from this forum. If so, please let me know. Perhaps there is another software title that can fulfill these requirements that I am aware of.

    Macrium reflect - Yes
    Acronis True Image - Yes
    IFW/IFL - No
    Paragon hard disk manager - ?
    CloneZilla - No
    AOMEI - ?
    EaseUS - ?
    Drive Snapshot - No
     
  10. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Acronis restoring only changed sectors is news to me. When did they implement that technology?
     
  11. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    Just an observation here from my point of view. 1) Unlike Macrium RDR IFW/IFL's write change sectors only doesn't do much for speed, but cuts down on disk writes. If that is critical enough to be a concern, then I would maybe question the use of SSD's.

    When I bought my two current desktops from Velocity Micro, about a year ago, I specifically asked about SSD's indicating the I would often do many restores during the day, testing. Their recommendation was I stick with HDD's I talked with them a month ago, and they indicated huge improvements in SSD's but in my situation, they couldn't be positive. So...
     
  12. oliverjia

    oliverjia Registered Member

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    I think they do have a point. SSD's performance generally degrade over time, no matter how light you use it. TLC degrades faster than MLC.
    HDDs are a lot better. Mechanically, they don't degrade over time while they are functioning, not to mention the a lot larger capacity as compared to SSD. About two years ago, I replaced the boot drive HDDs with SSDs in all my computers. Since this year, I changed the OS drive back to HDDs in all my desktop computers. Other than the slightly slow cold boot, every other regular programs (word, excel, etc) loads just as fast.
    SSDs will still make a difference if the CPU in your computer is weak.
     
  13. taotoo

    taotoo Registered Member

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    With my use, I calculated that my SSD with a once-a-week delta restore has a theoretical life of about 42 years. If I did a full restore instead it would be about 31 years (not sure of the effects of wear leveling write amplification, but even if it was 3x then with full restores it would still last approx 10 years).
     
  14. mantra

    mantra Registered Member

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    hi
    but acronis true image does not have such technology,does it ?
    i guess you are talking about AX64 Time Machine
    thanks
     
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