Image backup using Drive SnapShot?

Re: Image backup using Drive SnapShop?

osip, "-A" (without the quotes) is the command line option for maintenance mode.

Graham

 

Re: Image backup using Drive SnapShop?

thanks graham...so:
"snapshot c: d:\dsbackups\$computername-$DISK-Full.sna -A"
...correct? What about -L0?

 

Re: Image backup using Drive SnapShop?

Just add in whatever parameters you need, so....
"snapshot c: d:\dsbackups\$computername-$DISK-Full.sna -A -L0"
is fine.

As long as the option doesn't conflict with another one then there shouldn't be a problem. Not sure what happens if you try to, say, exclude directories and also use maintenance mode. One must take priority. It may just be the last option specified.

Graham

 

Re: Image backup using Drive SnapShop?

DS adds the .sna automatically to the filename whether you leave it blank or specify another extension.

-R if you use recycle bin add this. it will empty it before backup

-T to verify the image

if you not bothered about differential use -o it wont produce the .hsh and save a little more space.

if you want to exclude folders from backup do this. it alot neater than specifying on the command line. - create a txt file and type in folders you want to exclude on seperate lines then save it. if you run a cleaner beforehand. you wont have to put in those temp folders but you get the idea. if you backing up in dos you probably have to put " quotes around long folder names or folders with spaces in them for dos to see the correct name.

eg.

nvidia
c:\windows\temp

then save it as exclude.txt in the same place you run your snapshot and then add this for your final command line.
snapshot>snapshot c:
snapshot c: e:\dsbackups\$computername-$disk-$weekday-full.sna -A -T -L0 --excludeexclude.txt

in fact adding $type after $disk would label it 'ful' anyways

snapshot c: e:\dsbackups\$computername-$disk-$weekday-$type.sna -A -T -L0 --excludeexclude.txt

 

Re: Image backup using Drive SnapShop?

hello everyone,
I might try and borrow my friends xp cd to see if that one works with bartpe.
is their anyway to automate backup's?
but im sure someone can tell me how if you can.
if you cant it might be worth me getting shadow protect desktop instead.
lodore

 

Re: Image backup using Drive SnapShop?

lodore,

Easy. Make a scheduled task from your Snapshot batch file.

 

Re: Image backup using Drive SnapShop?

do you mean make a sechduled task using snapshot.exe?
how will windows know what to backup?
atm alll ive got is the snapshot.exe on my desktop as a trial.
lodore

 

Re: Image backup using Drive SnapShop?

Excellent help nextar,markymoon!
So, for differential batch it could be:
"snapshot c: e:\dsbackups\$computername-$disk-$weekday-$type.sna -hd:\dsbackups\$computername-C-$type.hsh -T -L0 -R"

 

Re: Image backup using Drive SnapShop?

no he means run the batch file as a schedule. decide what you want to backup then put the parameters on the line of snapshot then save it in a batch file and pass that on to the task scheduler. i assume you know what batch files are.

no i missed off the -o as i don't know if you need differential or not later on. if you so into getting it onto 4gig.

you need another differential name for backup if you use that line it won't work or it backup over your existing backup.

that line so long it benefit it in a batch so you don't have to type it out.

i dont use $ strings for differential but i tested now to see. interesting.

1. This will not work because when you specify $type in the hash file it don't know if you mean ful or dif as you can take a differential from both.
"snapshot c: e:\dsbackups\$computername-$disk-$weekday-$type.sna -he:\dsbackups\$computername-C-$type.hsh -T -L0 -R"

2. This works
snapshot>snapshot c: e:\dsbackups\$computername-$disk-$weekday-$type.sna -he:\dsbackups\$computername-C-$weekday-ful.hsh

 

Re: Image backup using Drive SnapShop?

Almost there! . The second $type reference for the hash file would need to be explicit as the $type you ar backing up is 'dif' whereas the hash file you are using is based on a 'ful' and is most likely named that way.

Or...in english....change the second '$type' to 'ful' without the quotes .

Graham

 

Re: Image backup using Drive SnapShop?

@nexstar

i did already look up at no.2.

yep no.2 works. i was testing it here and his e: is my d: so i had that wrong. it started then timed out.

so this works osipi hehe. i not sure why you pulled out $disk and put C might as well leave $disk in
Edit - right best to leave it as C for later use as specifying $disk it won't have a clue what $disk is, as it knows it C: at that time.

to cut a long story short this works lol - its a dangerous thing that doskey arghhhhh

snapshot>snapshot c: e:\dsbackups\$computername-$disk-$weekday-$type.sna -he:\dsbackups\$computername-C-$weekday-ful.hsh

 

Re: Image backup using Drive SnapShop?

Beat me by a minute there!

I sort of assumed that the $type variable was set to 'dif' on the basis that you had specified a hash file to use in the command line so the $type in the hash filename would have to be written as such.

I would have expected your second example to work ok. The third one has a '$' in front of the 'dif' which may just be a typo.

Ok, you beat me to it again

Graham

 

Re: Image backup using Drive SnapShop?

@markymoo
A couple of things. Looking at your post #179, you used the -R option to empty the Recycle Bin. If this is a DS maintenance mode backup then this is most likely being done outside of Windows and, therefore, the Rollback driver. Shouldn't that be avoided? Even using the DS gui in a BartPE environment, I never use the empty recycle bin option as I'm concerned about the consequences. Does that make sense?

Also, I'm intrigued about the concept of doing a maintenance mode backup and excluding files at the same time. Have you tried this? I was going to give it a go as the two options, on the face of it, appear to be mutually exclusive......but maybe not . I'll have to try it out.

Graham

 

Re: Image backup using Drive SnapShop?

lodore,

Forgive me if this is familiar.

Make a new folder in any partition. Let's call it ABC. Make a new folder in the partition where you want to store your images. Let's call it XYZ and assume the partition is F:

Copy snapshot.exe to ABC. In the ABC folder create a New Text Document (Notepad). Type this in the document....

snapshot C: F:\XYZ\Cdrive.sna -Go -R -L0 -T

Make sure there are no spaces in the path, otherwise enclose the path in " "

Save this text document as lodure1.bat. Accept the warning.

If you double click this batch file, your image will be created.

Now for the schedule. Open Scheduled Tasks. Double click Add Scheduled Task. Next, Browse to lodure1.bat. Choose Daily, Weekly, your choice. Select the Time and Days. Type your logon password and you are finished.

Your command line can get more sophisticated when you better understand what is happening.

Any questions?

 

Re: Image backup using Drive SnapShop?

@nexstar

yes good point. he can knock off the -R it won't do any harm. i was thinking if he backs up in BartPe as well so it would become valid. so he doesn't have to keep changing the cmd line. having said all that he might not even be using the recycle bin anyways lol. i think most people have it turned off if there wise.

i know what you mean backing up all sectors and excluding folders is a contradiction. i think what will probably happen is mm will back everything up and then look at your excludes and turn those data sectors into free sectors. try it. basically it becomes free space as the files are not there anymore. in fact when DS runs first it scans your drive looking ready to exclude. incidentally it can't exclude files in use by windows.

10gig(8gig data)
DS backup of C - maintenance mode - 5.79GB
DS same backup of C - maintenance mode - 650MB of excluded folders - 4.01GB

 

Re: Image backup using Drive SnapShop?

that is one long dos line. i got abit annoyed here. it all started when i couldn't use copy in my Firefox 2.0.0.11 every time. it came to light doing this copy and paste right now. the copy command is intermittent. if i select text and right click on a webpage copy is greyed out but other times it works. doing CTRL-C wont work either. so i relied on type and made a mistake and then pasted the wrong success line. what i found is if refresh the page the copy command comes back every time. so try it if you have this same bug - load Wilders and after alittle time right click to copy some text to see if it not just me. i read of this bug in firefox 1.5. it works fine for edit boxes. yes $dif was yet another typo. i think i try K-Meleon.

 

Re: Image backup using Drive SnapShop?

Mark,

Nice observation. Could you post a few lines of your exclude.txt so that I fully understand what you are saying?

 

Re: Image backup using Drive SnapShop?

What a tutorial!...Before cutting off to sleep I tested the batch:
-A -L0-R-T-o
Worked perfectly ( had the recycle empty, yes nextar have a point about the RB driver, will remove -R further on)
16582MB (8GB data)
DS batch backup -A-L0-R-T-o mode-4248MB (with 3 EF snapshots included, no markymoos exemptions) 19.52 min
Restored 100% OK 15.25 min (in win after restore burned to 1(!) DVD with right click)

will also make the diff batch acc to:
snapshot c: e:\dsbackups\$computername-$disk-$weekday-$type.sna -he:\dsbackups\$computername-C-ful.hsh
before testing that wonder what impact the EF:s defrags could have, recommendable or not?

 

Re: Image backup using Drive SnapShop?

thanks alot brian k.
is their a list of drive snapsnot command line anywhere?
works pefectly. snapshot C: D:\images\Cdrive.sna -Go -R -L0 -T
above is what the command line looked like once i edited it to my needs.
how do i hide the cmd window and the snapshot progress window? i want it the batch file to make it all done in the background. i can check if the task is complete. i was reading the command line on the drive snapshot site if i remove the -go does that hide the gui? then its a case of hiding the cmd window.

im hoping i can borrow my friends windows xp cd soon since my windows xp cd is a oem cd made specially for this pc and wont create a succesfull bartpe cd.
lodore

 

Re: Image backup using Drive SnapShop?

lodore,

You can make the command window run minimized without the GUI window. Use these two lines in your batch file (they have wrapped but you know what I mean)...

"if not.....& goto :EOF" is one line but it's OK if it wraps when you save the batch file.

When you double click your batch file it will run minimized. But, when run from the schedule it may not be minimized. Let me know what happens.

For command line switches, see...

http://www.drivesnapshot.de/en/commandline.htm

...and there are more in this thread. At a command window referencing D:\images you would type snapshot /? and press Enter.

 

Re: Image backup using Drive SnapShop?

which part do i type in?
i dont quite get which part i stick in the text file.
lodore

 

Re: Image backup using Drive SnapShop?

Sorry, it is confusing. The first line is

if not defined RunSnapshotTask set RunSnapshotTask=1 & start "Drive Snapshot" /min %SystemRoot%\system32\cmd.exe /c "%0" & goto :EOF

Just copy and paste.


The second line is what you already have.

snapshot C: D:\images\Cdrive.sna -R -L0 -T


Feel free to quiz me if it doesn't make sense. Basically, copy and paste the quote in my previous post.

 

Re: Image backup using Drive SnapShop?

ah ha got it now.
thanks alot.

 

Re: Image backup using Drive SnapShop?

Sure, you can call the filename anything. just specify the folders each on a seperate line.

\WINDOWS\Temp
\Documents and Settings
\Documents and Settings\Mark\Cookies
\Documents and Settings\Mark\Local Settings\Temp
\Documents and Settings\Mark\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files
\Documents and Settings\Mark\Local Settings\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\5o2jf2ry.default

save the file as any filename and add to the command line --excludefilename.txt
(filename.txt = the filename you save as)

i was going to have this option in the DS frontend you can tick common folders you don't want in.

*Note any subfolders will not be deleted under the folders you specify, you have to specify these too. which i know will be tricky if its a temp folder as it can be random names. in this case better to run a cleaner to ensure there empty.

I haven't tested this for DOS so be careful. You have to use quotes.

 

Re: Image backup using Drive SnapShop?

yes great. so is that the same data you was trying to get down to 4gig?

that differential line is wrong it won't work its missing the $weekday. i gone back and edited my post to clear up any confusion for who follows. ok here is the lines both together that work 100% just to clarify including -o prevents you from making differentials. so leave it off.

backup:
snapshot>snapshot c: e:\dsbackups\$computername-$disk-$weekday-$type.sna -A -L0 -T

differential:
snapshot>snapshot c: e:\dsbackups\$computername-$disk-$weekday-$type.sna -he:\dsbackups\$computername-C-$weekday-ful.hsh -A -L0 -T

another worthy command to add is this --logfile:log.txt it will save a log file as log.txt of the event and records the dates and times. any future backups it will append to this log file.

the benefit of having differentials outweighs regarding defrags. it circumstantial as everybody system is different with different amount of snapshots. i wouldn't worry about that. you find out in time. there is a little bit of info on DS website at bottom about defragging. can not have continous defragged data but you can make it have defragged chunks of data.

when you come to restore it be good if you didn't have to know the filename and do any editing and make it all automatic restore. say you have a family member who doesn't know about dos, batch lines and bartpe or unsure what backup to restore. you make a simple batch menu in dos that knows the location of the backups either on dvd or hard drive and then all they do is stick the recovery disk which runs the menu and choose the day they want to restore back to and all they have to do is press 1 button and the systems back. even software like True Image and ShadowProtect you have to browse through several screens and specify the right backup before it restores which can be tricky for any unaware user.