Returnil and FDISR

I second this posters satisfaction with your Team's skillful intelligence and careful design that went into FD-ISR.

Please pass to the development team our sincere interest in "ONLY" their releases of ISR programs and it's a sure bet they could count on a loyal allegiance for the products Leapfrog puts out.

And tell them they are in a league of their own where concerns ISR technologies bar none. This is no downplay in some popular opposition against competitors, but your Team's diligence and programming expertise extend & transend any others in this department as evident of the continued satisfaction & confidence that can always be relied on to come thru when needed as well as expected.

I challenge any others to even remotely match this level of overall perfection that's gone into program's like FD-ISR!!!

 

Agreed, Easter. FD-ISR was years ahead of the curve. I firmly believe that, unlike most security type software that's obsolete a year later, the last several builds of fd-isr up to Build 205, will be good for many years to come.

If I didn't get Build 205, I'd have no hesitation or concerns in using Build 173 that I still have. Great software. I can't imagine how I lived without it.

 

Nothing but good about the dead.

 

Hmmmm, I wonder if there is such a thing as software reincarnation or resurrection!

Acadia

 

Certainly, it's generally referred to as rerelease and the same things drive it as drive an original release, market forces.

Blue

 

But it's Christmas! ... Ok, so as not to offend, it's the Holiday season!

Acadia

 

You know the old saying, be grateful for what you did receive and that it's still just as useful as the day you received it.

And also, consider this, stranger things have happened in the software world.

 

Greetings All,

Thanks for all the great comments.

 

I make it point like many others before me to express only the deepest gratitude for something on such a level as FD-ISR is proven out to be. This is been no flash in the pan and certainly nothing resembling ordinary by any stretch in the Windows world of computing, but the most BRILLIANTLY devised ISR that is ever been conceived.

Here we are many months down the road and this program continues to reign supreme in 100% total recovery return from the most disastrous of encounters be they whatever.

This one will continue to stand the test of time. As i see it, at least where concerns XP/XP Pro etc. this app possesses an indefinite life span as-is beyond even radiation decay period.

 

I have revived this thread because I just downloaded and started reading the Returnil manual ... interesting.

Got a couple of questions for the FDISR pros because I see in this thread Todd (Leapfrog) stated that Returnil and FDISR play nicely together. These questions pertain only to the original FDISR that allowed multiple bootable Snapshots.

Question number one: does Returnil virtualize the entire c:drive including all FDISR Snapshots, or only the particular Snapshot that you are in?

Question number two: how would using the Freeze feature in FDISR affect Returnil? Would rebooting with both the Freeze of FDISR and Returnil in use have the possibility of confusing the system and messing things up?

Thanks,
Acadia

 

I don't fully agree with Todd, because the function "Boot to Snapshot" isn't working properly anymore,
unless you turn Returnil OFF.

If you don't turn Returnil OFF, you have to wait for the "F1"-key to boot to another snapshot.
It isn't a serious problem at all, you have to like this or not.

Returnil only works for the snapshot, where it is installed.

Because FDISR can only have ONE frozen snapshot, I used that function for my on-line snapshot (= 2nd snapshot), but I also wanted to keep my off-line snapshot (= 1st snapshot) unchanged.
So I installed Returnil in my off-line snapshot and it worked, but I was not happy with the crippled "Boot to snapshot" and turning on/off Returnil or waiting for the F1-key was not conventient for me.

So the freeze doesn't screw up Returnil.
Installing Returnil and using freeze in the SAME snapshot is of course absurd.

The mistake is made in FDISR, it should have had multiple frozen snapshots instead of just ONE.

 

Thanks, Erik.

Acadia

 

A simple test will prove if Returnil's protection is only snapshot-specific or it covers the entire partition.
Update an inactive snapshot (i.e. everyone but the one you've booted to) from an archive and check for changes.

 

Yeah, the newest Returnil even protects the MBR so you are probably correct about all that, Peter, thanks. After reading the Returnil manual (twice) I see no reason for it if you already own FDISR, although Returnil really does seem like a neat product.

Only advantage that I see for Returnil over FDISR would be for those hard up for disk space but if I did not already own FDISR, I would have probably already purchased the Premium Returnil.

Acadia

 

Thanks Peter for the testing. So, we can conclude that:
- Shadow protection works on a partition basis.
- To makes changes to a snapshot, you need to disable the protection/go to thawed mode.
- To get the protection for every snapshot, you need to install your shadow program in every snapshot.
- If you have the full FD-ISR Workstation with the Freeze function, you only need shadow apps if you want:
* more than one frozen snapshot (the Freeze function can only be used with one snapshot)
* a speedier boot-to-restore operation.
* a boot-to-restore solution which eats less disk space.

 

Hi all
Yes agree with the thrust of the recent posts.
Can confirm that Returnil does do its' job in FDISR snaps

Unless there is some need for multiple "frozen" snapshots, The functions of Returnil offer little extra than FDISR in essence. ...although, having a specific snapshot protected with Returnil has had some advantages for me: base install in an FDISR snapshot > fiddle fiddle fiddle...back to base of that snap with Returnil > Boot back to main system with FDISR.

It can make a difference in imaging utilities wrt size of image, with several ( 10s of Gb taken up with FDISR snaps and a frozen snap...

I confess when I posted the first question, I was still tinkering with 'sandboxing' a specific snapshot, and subsequently realised that really that was not Returnil's brief.

 

HI ERIK(the guru )

i get into knowing FDISR late ...but now i installed it and actuley dont see/understand why its so great in your eyes and some others...its make snapshots like ATI , SP ,DS make and restore them in it sub system (dos mode) like RB and EF do...so what special about it mate?

cheers

 

Do you really want to hear this ? I explained it already so many times, that moderators are removing my repeating posts and members are complaining about me. I don't like to be a target. Malware and bad guys are the target.
It's all explained over 8000+ posts. IB + ISR = finished and terminated successfully.

I'm working on something else now, I needed a new challenge.