Rollback Rx 9.1 - New Build (July 18, 2011)

Discussion in 'backup, imaging & disk mgmt' started by puff-m-d, Jul 21, 2011.

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  1. hayc59

    hayc59 Updates Team

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    Ok let me get all this in order
    since I think I am ready to give this bad boy a ride...

    I want to BETA test HitmanPro version 3.6
    I install it after a snapshot has been takin and if all
    goes well after testing I just revert back to that last snapshot
    and my pc is as if HitmanPro was never there correct?
     
  2. Technical

    Technical Registered Member

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    The site says about version 10.
    Was it officially released?
     
  3. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Even if all goes BAD:) ... the same action would be taken.

    Quick example... when I do what you describe above, I take a manual snapshot and during the naming/comment function of the snapshot take, I would call it "preHitman" and give it a description if you felt necessary. When the process is complete (about 5-sec.) I would install HitmanPro, test 'til my heart's content, then remove it by simply rolling back to the "preHitman" snapshot I had taken. During that rollback operation, when selecting the above snapshot, I would unCHECK the "Take a snapshot of the current system..." option if I didn't want to retain anything from the test period (don't need an extra snapshot if not needed) and move on in the rollback function. After the Rollback reBOOT, you're right back where you were when the "preHitman" snapshot was taken... clearly the best unINSTALLER ever designed :D

    It's that simple...
     
  4. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Rollback RX v10 is currently NOT AVAILABLE and probably won't be until just before the release of Windows 8 next year.
     
  5. Technical

    Technical Registered Member

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    Thanks.
     
  6. Jo Ann

    Jo Ann Registered Member

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    I definitely agree with that - Rollback Rx is the 'perfect' uninstaller! :thumb:

    ...and to expand upon TheRollbackFrog's nice example, suppose while you were testing Hitman some other user-files happened to get updated (e.g., you may have received new email), by leaving that "Take a snapshot of the current system" checked, then after you rollback to the preHitman snapshot you could recover those new/updated files from the then current system snapshot back into the preHitman snapshot! Works like a charm. ;)

    JA
     
    Last edited: Nov 26, 2011
  7. hayc59

    hayc59 Updates Team

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    TheRollbackFrog, thank you very much and please check pm ;)
     
  8. Scott W

    Scott W Registered Member

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    RB is the perfect uninstaller soon after the program (to be removed) has been installed. But it's effectiveness as an uninstaller diminishes as time passes.


    Good point Jo Ann - I use this invaluable feature much of the time! :thumb:

    Scott
     
  9. hayc59

    hayc59 Updates Team

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    Once everything is learned and understood
    by one, can old snapshots be removed if all is good and no problems
    have arisen?
     
  10. Jo Ann

    Jo Ann Registered Member

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    Pretty much. The only two which can not be deleted are the first (baseline) snapshot and the current snapshot. Any/all others can be deleted as you wish (note that it's a good idea to do a snapshot-defrag after deleting interim snapshots).

    JA
     
  11. twl845

    twl845 Registered Member

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    After I delete a snapshot or 3 by right clicking each and clicking delete, RB usually does a defrag on its own the next time I boot up.
     
  12. Scott W

    Scott W Registered Member

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    How often auto-defragging at start/restart occurs depends on your RB settings.
     
  13. Scott W

    Scott W Registered Member

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    Jo Ann,

    As a savvy RB user your signature got me curious about your backup method using Drive Snapshot (i.e., hot/cold?, std/raw?). Care to let us know how you go about it?

    Scott
     
  14. hayc59

    hayc59 Updates Team

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    Jo, thanks a lot for your great info!!
    Did as you recommended and removed four snaps
    and then defragged then rebooted and that must be why
    in top left hand corner of screen during re-boot, I got the 'please wait'
    message ;)
    love this little program :thumb:
     
  15. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    ...and remember, at any time you can use the BASELINE MANAGER and the "Update Baseline" function to bring your existing Baseline up to the current system state. This will integrate all changes since the original baseline to a new baseline and delete all existing snapshots.

    Kinda like... starting over.
     
  16. Jo Ann

    Jo Ann Registered Member

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    Funny you should ask Scott... Up until recently I did cold-raw backups with DS. But with working 40 - 50 hours a week, then coming home to my role as wife and mother, I had to cut-down on the time it took to create cold-raw images! Then I read a few posts by Aaron Here suggesting to an RB newcomer that normal hot backups are good enough. While this method only backs-up the current snapshot, that's usually all that's needed and it really saves me lots of time as I can run my backups while web-browsing, etc.

    JA
     
    Last edited: Nov 28, 2011
  17. Jo Ann

    Jo Ann Registered Member

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    Right, with a word of caution for RB noobies - be very careful to select Update Baseline and not Reset Baseline (or else you will really be starting over)!!!
     
  18. hayc59

    hayc59 Updates Team

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    thank you and how often should one do this??
     
  19. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Well... it really depends on how important the old snapshots and the reference Baseline are. Cleanup is always good, but in Rollback's case you may have some reference snapshot along the way that's important to you. Once you're past that snapshot having taken additional snapshots, there's no way to "update your baseline" to that snapshot and keep any snaps following that one. You can delete all snaps between your original installation baseline and your IMPORTANT one and Rollback will integrate all the changes in between to your important one... but the INSTALLATION BASELINE will remain... no big deal, though.

    For my production system I cannot re-baseline my system due to the "forked" environment I run it in (forks off my baseline to provide different system functions). But the other systems I manage, I usually re-baseline them (if all is stable) when I do my system maintenance. I do not do this by re-baselining them, I do this via an unINSTALL to the current system state prior to any maintenance I perform, then a reINSTALL when finished. Most of the maintenance I perform does not work well, if at all, with Rollback installed (re-partitioning disks, defragging, "cleansing" the unused disk sectors for an easier RAW backup if necessary, etc.)

    It's all up to you...
     
  20. Scott W

    Scott W Registered Member

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    Thanks Jo Ann. I would agree that if you can do a 'normal' hot-image (not a raw-image) with 100% confidence in it backing-up the current RB snapshot that should be good enough. However, I've read elsewhere that some people have had difficulty booting their system after restoring a 'normal' hot-image of an RB system (perhaps this depends on the imaging software)! :doubt:

    Have you attempted a 'normal' hot-image restore? - and if so, what resulted?

    Scott
     
    Last edited: Nov 29, 2011
  21. hayc59

    hayc59 Updates Team

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    Argo...lets say I have all in order but use CCleaner to remove old gunk including and up to
    'Pre-Fetch' stuff will I run into any issues if or when I need to roll back jack ;)
     
  22. bgoodman4

    bgoodman4 Registered Member

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    From my reading of other posts folks seemed to have run into occasional issues when using RollBack version 7 (I think) but have not had these issues with the current version (version 9). There is a very recent discussion on this issue on the Horizon DataSys forum for Drive Cloner at, http://horizondatasys-forum.com/drive-cloner-rx/36-drive-cloner-image-rollback-rx.html

    I hope this helps
     
  23. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Hi Scott! The restoration of a Rollback RX "normal" HOT image is a tossup depending on the imager used, but in understanding what Rollback gives you during the imaging operation, it can be managed upon restoration.

    When doing a "normal" (used sector) HOT image on a RBrx enabled system, Rollback will give you a perfect partition/disk image of the current system state and, if your imager asks for it, a copy of the MBR. The wrinkle is that RBrx will give the imager the MBR that existed prior to its installation, not the one currently in use by RBrx. This is the key to success or failure.

    If your imager, by DEFAULT, restores that taken image AND that MBR copy included in the image, the system partition is in tact (nothing missing) and should BOOT normally. Why... because the entire RBrx subsystem (sub-Console, snapshots and snapshot database) are missing in that image. The only thing that will be a bit of anomaly will be that the RBrx application console will try and run (unsuccessfully due to the absence of everything it needs to run) and will fail (there's no error msgs, just a non-running console). At this point, if you wish to protect your system again, you must unINSTALL RBrx (it takes longer when in this mode... the unINSTALL process spends some time waiting to hear from the sub-Console which is no longer there) and reINSTALL it for it to function properly.

    BUT... most imagers, by DEFAULT, only restore the partition/disk you're asking for and not the MBR, unless specifically asked for. What this does is restore a neutered RBrx image (like above) but the special RBrx MBR remains on your disk. After the restoration, when you attempt a reBOOT, the RBrx MBR tries to run its sub-Console and can't find it (remember, it wasn't saved or restored in the process)... usually causing either a BSOD or just a Black Screen.

    The two most common ways to get around this problem (in this order) are... 1)Use either the Restore MBR feature of the imager (if it exists) when the restoration is done (remember, the MBR being restored during this operation is the one that was on your system prior to your RBrx installation... usually a STANDARD MBR for that particular OS), or... 2)After the restoration process, use any offline tool that will rewrite a STANDARD MBR back on the disk being restored (this can usually be done during the REPAIR mode of your OS installation CD, or using one of the many general purpose BOOT CDs available on the net <I use Hiren's BOOT CD when necessary and the "BOOTice" tool contained within>).

    From above you can see that if you're doing a restoration to the same disk, and it was previously RBRx enabled, and you're using an imager that DOESN'T restore the MBR... you're in trouble. If you do the same operation to a disk that wasn't RBrx enabled (and most likely had a standard MBR on it), it will probably work just fine.

    The safest form of restoration is to make sure the imager being used has the option (by DEFAULT or by OPTION selection) to restore the saved MBR (and Track 0 if that option is available).

    Of all the imagers I've messed with, any that use the Windows VSS (Volume Shadow Service) to do the imaging operation will image as described above. The only one, to date, that has proven different is "Image For Windows (IFW)." I won't get into detail in this thread but suffice it to say that IFW does not use the VSS and therefore acts very differently when doiing imaging operations.

    I know, it all seems convoluted... hope the above info helps.
     
  24. Scott W

    Scott W Registered Member

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    Hey guys, thanks for jumping in on this as I (like Jo Ann) would rather opt for normal hot-imaging to backup my WinXP-RBv91 system (whenever I tried raw cold-imaging my WinPE boot-disk left me with corrupted indexes)!

    @TheRollbackFrog, I read your detailed reply to my question (of Jo Ann) about hot-imaging with great interest. If I understood your explanation, the prefered method for restoring a normal hot-image of my WinXP-RBv91 system is to make sure I also restore the MBR - it's as simple as that. Do I have that right?

    Scott
     
  25. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    If you're not trying to restore RBrx and all its baggage during that restore (you can't anyway if you do a "normal" rather than a RAW image), that should be just fine.

    Be aware that not all imagers restore MBRs the way they should be restored... they should be restored WITHOUT restoring the partition table part of the MBR, or at least have the option to do that. I haven't used them all so buyer beware on this issue...
     
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