Introducing AX64 Time Machine - hybrid imaging/snapshot software

Not quite, I have found no imaging program that is as simple to us as AX64/FB. I suggest you try Macrium and then when you need help ask for it in the Macrium thread. I also found their users guide quite good,,,,,def worth the effort to get it set up and running. Once thats done there is very little input needed from you as it pretty much takes care of itself. I am certain you will like it and be glad you checked it out.

FYI: I have Macrium set to take snaps daily, keep 1 daily snap for a week, and 3 weekly snaps. This is easy to set up as its available as a selection. I tweaked the time frames in the selection a bit in terms of the retention schedule and that was pretty much all I had to do. Its been chugging along doing its job like a dream since then.

 

I am mostly looking for snapshot & fast restore. RollbackRX is fast but Windows Updates prob is a let down.

I read Macrium now has some Rapid Delta restore, is it faster than FB Hot Restore? You use both so should know. And does Macrium changes MBR?
I have FB protect C Drive & its only for Programs Install & System. Its app 35GB Full. And FB Hot Restore performs restore within 15 Mins & that's acceptable for me.

 

Macrium delta restore protects all my partitions (C & D) while AX64 can only protect my C drive. As far as Macriums speed it will do a delta restore of my 200 GB of data in about 2.5 minutes. Macrium does not (to my knowledge) change the mbr but it does back it (and everything else) up.

As far as Rollback is concerned,,,,I used it for years but would not touch it with a 10 foot pole now. Apart from problems with MS updates I have found RXs marketing and support to be at best misleading for the former and terrible for the later. If I did not have any imaging program and was looking to buy only one it would def be Macrium. Since I have the license for AX64 V1 I am using it and have very few problems with it but Macrium is rock solid while AX64/FB has occasional issues.

PS: I should mention that the time to restore noted above is for restoring to the daily snap, I would expect that if I were to restore to a snap created a few weeks ago it would take longer.

 

bg,

Thats excellent...200GB in 2.5 Mins for daily snap.

My 35GB within 15 Mins with FB is for hourly snap.

If I get Macrium will talk further.

Regards

 

You really should try the 30 trial, you have nothing to lose and much to gain.

 

RX Disables TRIM on SSD which is BAAAAAD. AX64 doesn't.
Rapid Delta Restore is very fast, since it checks and restores only the changed data..
If there is not much changes, it restores my 256GB SSD in a few minutes.
There is also some other factors into this, eg. the source drive from where it restores the data from.. That is the bottleneck for slower transfer and restore speed of the data..
I have my SSD splitted into two partitions, the latter one holds system images..
Then I also backup those images on external drives, just incase..

 

Don't want to start a big fight... but disabling trim is really not an issue. And, despite Froggie's testing, I am still not 100% convinced Rollback does disable it...but I am not going to argue since I have not done any testing myself (because I don't believe it an issue...I guess I would be called a "TRIM denier" )

However, IMHO, Macrium is generally the way to go for most people. Rollback, to me, is the #2 solution as long as you regularly take cold, sector based images...they bring RB right back up if you ever do have an issue. With PCs from XP to Win 8, I have never had any issue with RB, and I snap every 5 minutes. I will say that I do not use RB on any Win 10 machines... all my other machines do not automatically update Windows, and i cold image before any windows update.

On one of my Dell workstation laptops, I have Macrium back up to my third internal drive, and it is quick to backup and quick to restore even though that one is not an SSD. Fast as RB, but I do not get the 5 minute protection.

I do not use any of my many AX64 licenses because they are finicky, and when I need to restore, I really need it to work.

 

...

 

To all,

I am in total panic mode right now. And I hope anyone can help me.

I've been using a Windows 7 Laptop for work, and yesterday I discovered the hard drive is dying.

I was using AX64 Time Machine (version 1.4.1.48 ) to backup my C: Drive. The Ax64 backup is safe and sound on an external. I also have a new hard drive coming in soon for the laptop itself. So no problem in this regard.

The reason I am stressing is because I just re-read the first post of this thread. It says that AX64 cannot restore to an empty hard drive or different sized parition. The problem is that I cannot remember exactly what size my C: parition was.

Does this mean I have no hope of recovering my Ax64 backup?

 

I am not a FB user so could not be 100% sure. However, most disk imaging software would allow the restore of an image to a new, larger sized HDD. I would assume FB would have the same ability.
Maybe someone with more experience with FB would chime in with your input?

 

Hmm,if you explore the image and it mounts it as an virtual drive, you can see it's actual size by checking properties of the drive ?

 

Hi Paul! If it makes you feel any better, I am currently restoring a 60gB partition to an empty 160gB HDD and it's working just fine. When it sees it's original partition is not there, it gives you a list of disks to restore to... make sure you pick the right one

I won't know 'til it's done but I know it cannot restore to a smaller partition and if its restoring to a BLANK disk it will restore the original partition size to that disk, leaving the rest of the disk unallocated. You'll have to resize the restored partition (if you want to) with another partition tool (I use Minitool's Partition Wizard).

Good luck!

 

FYI... restoration is complete... and a 60gB partition was restored to the 160gB Blank HDD leaving the balance of the disk unallocated.

 

You are an absolute legend! Thank you for letting me know.

What you describe would absolutely work for me. It's pretty much what I hoped would happen. I don't need any fancy parition resizing. If it can restore what I had before in its previous size, I'm a happy guy!

P.S. I say you're a legend because you have answered my questions many times in this thread. I stopped following this thread for a year (because I was so content with ax64 lol!). Now I return in a panic, and you are here again to clear up my confusion. Thanks again for all you do!

 

You are quite welcome... glad your scare is gone!

 

To all,

I am thinking of upgrading my Windows 7 laptop to 8.1.
Does Ax64 version 1.4.1.48 work normally in this OS?

If Ax64 can't function properly in Windows 8.1, can you recommend another similar backup solution.
By similar, I don't mean GUI type stuff. I don't mind if the alternative software has lots of options, bells, whistles, etc.
I guess I'm more concerned with stuff like being able to take backup at stages of my OS growth (think you guys call it "incremental backups"), speed of backup process...and to a lesser extent, the size of backups.

 

Paul, with fairly simple system configs (if that's the W7 system you've been using AXTM on), I have found v1.4.1.48 to work well on everything from W7 to W10, almost no issues. By simple I mean a Legacy-MBR system built in a single pre-partitioned system partition. If the W& system you're upgrading is the one you've been successfully using v1.4.1.48 on, all should be well doing an official upgrade. If you're gonna do a CLEAN INSTALL, try and make it like the above config... it's much simpler.

An aside... I found nothing useful in my computing environment that W8.1 ever brought to the table... that would be the only reason I would consider an upgrade to my W7 systems. YMMV...

 

Unfortunately, I have to do it. My laptop was never designed for Windows 7. It was a Windows 8 laptop. But I foolishly assumed that because the driver section had Windows 7 offerings, I could downgrade. Turns out many drivers and utilities don't work. MSI support confirmed only Windows 8 drivers/utilities would work completely. Since there's no Windows 10 offering either, 8.1 is where I have to end up lol!

It will be a clean install. 1tb hard drive will be paritioned with 250 for OS, and rest for files/data/backup.

Previously, to get Windows 7 on it, I did use the legacy bios option.
But I was leaning towards using UEFI for Windows 8.1.
Does Ax64 1.4.1.48 have trouble with UEFI?

 

Paul,

I'm not sure I understand the Win10 situation.

 

What I meant was that my laptop only has Windows 8/8.1 drivers offered.
No Windows 10 drivers.
MSI says that I have to use either the 8.1 drivers or Windows 10 built-in, and there might be compatibility issues.

 

Thanks, makes sense. But I'd try it anyway. You can install Win8.1 if Win10 doesn't work. I have a laptop that Microsoft GWX said was unsuitable for Win10. Video driver issue. I upgraded anyway and Win10 works fine.

 

/

Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, I need to get this laptop setup for work, so I'm under time constraints. Right now, I need the sure thing. Especially worried about the video driver stuff because I work on a Wacom Cintiq. Cannot risk getting blindsided by settings or utilities that don't work properly...like what happened when I unofficially downgraded to W7.

 

Understood.

 

I'm not sure why... if you don't need SECURE BOOT (and you don't), you really don't need UEFI unless you plan on more than 4-primary partitions on any given disk.

All I can say is by observation... Legacy-MBR configurations have had almost no problems with v1.4.1.48.

 

TRF,

I agree. I'm scratching my head why a 240 GB SSD needs to be a GPT disk in a UEFI system. I mainly see disadvantages in my situation.