Recovery software for test box

Hi all:

Having spent the summer setting up a new everyday work machine here
at the house, I find myself with the old XP Pro computer that was
replaced, now sitting idle. So I'm going to turn it into a software
testing machine. It only has one internal IDE drive, which as of now
has 2 partitions: OS & data. But I can repartition as necessary.

What would be your best suggestion, free or pay, for recovery software
that would allow an install to survive a re-boot, but still allow
a revert, all with only one drive, and do it reliably? Perhaps such
stuff doesn't even exist, which is why I'm asking. I have ATI with
multiple drives on the new machine, so I'm familiar with that. Not
interested in investing in more hardware. Worst case, an OS reinstall
would be no big deal.

Thanks

 

Microsoft SteadyState is a free option. It's more geared toward public use computers with many user restrictions, but it can allow you to install software that needs a reboot/s, then you can discard or save the changes later. I don't know if it can handle the program/data separation setup you have. I have never tried SS, just going by what I have read. Anyways, it's a viable option. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/sharedaccess/default.mspx

 

1)FDISR ( or cough cough Rollback splutter on second thoughts )

2) Imaging software

3) ? Go Virtual VMWare Player -now with tools- and Virtual Box = Free
Free Machines: http://www.easyvmx.com/

4) You Mentioned ATI; doesnt Acronis have some fancy new attachment:
"Try And Decide" ( heh: I dont think they meant it to sound like that lol) Is that some rollback type option or some sort of VM?

 

Thanks for the replies. I'm trying to stay away from ATI on the test
machine. It works great with multiple drives, but I understand it gets
buggy if you try to do it all with one drive a la Acronis Secure Zone.

The description of MS SteadyState given on the website sounds like
it might do the job. From what I've been reading here a Wilders,
FD-ISR would be an obvious choice if it works reliably on a one drive
set-up.

Appreciate your comments, I'm still early on the learning curve in this area.

 

on my test machine running windows 2000 i just use my imaging program (paragon) to have a fresh image so every software i test is in a fresh install to avoid any problems.
i just restore the image if i want to test some other software.
lodore

 

If there are two partitions on the single HDD, say C:\ & E:\, does
FD-ISR work completely within C:\? Meaning, will having multiple
partitions interfere with FD-ISR?

 

FD will only protect C: the other disks or partitions will be fine. I have 6 or so parttions across a number of disks....

Extra partitions removes the need for data anchoring if my_docs etc are located off of C:

 

FD-ISR, and also StorageCraft Shadow Protect.

FD-ISR is more geared towards software testing, but SPD is so fast at imaging/restoration, then I'd be tempted to just use that to take a snapshot of a clean system, and everytime I wanted to test a piece of software I'd just restore the backed up image. It just depends on how much software testing you do, and whether you need to install on a clean system everytime.

SPD is rock solid!

 

Rollback Rx is what i use on my test system. I just boot into a clean snaphot, do my testing and then delete it when finished. Its the perfect uninstaller.

 

Of course for software testing Rollback Rx is great. Although at the moment I am having some issues with some parts of 8.1 namely restore on reboot, but that would not affect what you are trying to do. It is faster and uses much less space. If you test many software the time you save will be worth it. But it does seem Rollback does not work on every machine without problems but what software does? FDISR is my next choice and it works great to but for testing depending on how much it will take you alot more time and space. FDISR first and try it a few days then install rollback in your FDISR snapshot and try it a few days. Whatever works for you you should purchase.

Thanks,

Chris

 

Hello FadeAway.

I use Rollback Rx v7 on my test box for months. I haven't tried v8 yet as I'm pretty much content with v7 for now. As Chris pointed out, it is faster and takes much less space than FDISR. Never had problems with it, and I certainly recommend you to try it.

Cheers.

 

guys, don't compare FDISR & Rollbak Rx 8.1

Rollback Rx8.1 is NOT ONLY recovery software BUT with imaging software.

 

Just yesterday,after reading someones comment about SnoopFree I decided to try it. My computer would not boot. Thank goodness for FirstDefense. I booted into my secondary snapshot. Then updated the primary. All is ok. Don't know what the problem was with SnoopFree but I even had to run chkdisk.

 

wrong.

i've been using Image feature of Rollback Rx8.1, all image result are excellent.

 

This thread has been very informative for me thus far. As stated in
my initial post, this is about making a functional testing machine.
I'm not concerned with the kind of bullet-proof security that ATI
provides on my working computer, which has ample resources to handle it.

With a hardware-limited test machine, at least for me, the concern is
not about losing valuable data, but simply ease of recovery. A complete
disk wipe and reinstall is not the end of the world here.

I am going to start tonight by downloading the trial version of FD-ISR,
but don't let that stop this great exchange of info. I'm certain the
Wilders search box will answer most any question I may have. Should it
not seem to meet my needs, I'll move to some of the others mentioned.

Many thanks.

 

SnoopFree is not updated since long. It installs a kernel mode driver and can have conflicts with other security applications as well. All this is enough to cause the troubles on some systems though I have used it in the past without any major issues.

 

One thing bugs me about the imaging feature, and that is the apparent fact you have to uninstall RollBack Rx before restoration of any image either with their program or another image program. Unless I've got this wrong, but the Knowledge Base says:

It seems to imply that any imaging program will only archive the current system, and, therefore, not include RollBack and however many snapshots you have set up at the time of imaging.

 

Yes rollback's current imaging functionality is pretty dodgy. If you do try it out use ATI for imaging instead.

 

Another vote for Paragon