RollBack RX question

bg, you may be able to get a Windows installation disk from your PC manufacturer. My Dell laptop didn't come with an installation disk, so I called Dell support and requested one. I got it within a week's time.

Also, keep in mind that you can always restore a standard Windows MBR from any backup image that was made before installing RB (as long as you haven't made any partition changes in the interim)!

JA

 

Thanks for the suggestion. It actually is a tad more complex than that. Before I need to worry about the MBR because of RB being installed I need to uninstall GoBack and then fix the MBR (this according to the Horizon support docs on this subject). GoBack has been on this PC since I bought the PC a few years back (it was one of the first programs loaded) so there is no existing image available that will let me fix the MBR.If I can get GoBack off the PC and fix the MBR, then I could install RB which is something I would like very much to be able to do. I will contact the PCs mfg (Sony) and see if they will provide the install disk. As mentioned elsewhere I have an install disk for my Fujitsu Tablet PC but had been recommended not to try using it on the desktop in question.

 

Hi bg

Think I said something similar further back but never hurts to repeat in case it can be of help!

I used GoBack before switching to RB Rx and was concerned because I had heard stories about failed uninstalls & corrupted MBRs as a result but can say that I followed the uninstall instructions (including making sure that I had turned GoBack OFF and then exited it from the sys tray icon) and all was well. I then rebooted and installed RB Rx v8.1 without any issues.

However, as a precaution I downloaded the Ngbboot.iso and had ready a bootable CD withthis utility on it...just in case (but luckily I did not actually need to use it).

It may be of assistance or of reassurance so take a look at the following page and see what you think:

http://service1.symantec.com/support/goback.nsf/docid/2005111514174058?Open&src=w

Hope that it helps!


Balders

 

Also, the Norton Removal Tool may be of help in removing GoBack from your MBR.

 

OK. I think that I get it ( ref #38 ) but one little question re. something that is bugging me:

1. create system-image backup (including all RB snapshots)
2. defrag system drive before updating the baseline
3. update the Baseline to optimise RB's mapping & free up disk space

Doing this results in a substantial increase in the size of the current RB snapshot, which is resolved/dealt with by baseline update.

However, there is a need to be careful when running a disk defrag with RB installed that one has enough free disk!

All well and good but whilst carrying out 1., 2. & 3. abovein what state is RB Rx? It is in installed but is it still active or has the special command line option been run to effectively suspend it during these activities.

The reason I ask is that I run hourly snapshots and with a defrag taking more than an hour RB Rx would try to take another image if the defrag crosses the snapshot activation point...which I assume is not desirable or recommended.

I suspect that I will have to temporarily suspend taking hourly snapshots when I want to perform the above...but want to know what the experts think/advise.

Cheers in advance.


Baldrick

 

You would be wise to do that. I really doubt that the developers ever had my defrag procedure in mind when testing various scenarios, so I say "better safe than sorry"!

 

Yes thanks, it does help. I was going on what I had read on the Horizons website regarding GoBack. Still, I will study on this a bit more before doing anything and perhaps in the mean time find (or acquire from Sony) an install disk so I can do what Horizon advises. I tend to prefer erring on the side of caution if I have a choice.

 

Thank you Jo Ann, much appreciated.

 

Will do...cheers!

 

Hi Jo Ann,
I obviously can't say what went on with your experience there but, I have since tried this with ATI 2009 Home, Active Disk Image and Drive Snapshot and the restoration of the MBR gave me a pre-RB MBR in each case and allowed Windows to boot normally.

To be honest, I am happy to use it here as even if doesn't work, as in your case, I think it is better to have a non-booting system which simply needs the MBR to be fixed than have a RB MBR which will boot the system into a confused and potentially damaging state.

@bgoodman4 - it is well worth having some sort of boot CD in any event so that you carry out any repair operations which might be necessary.

Graham

 

Graham, since it was actually my husband who had that experience (twice) I can't shed any more light on the subject, other than possible functional-differences between ATI 10 and ATI 12.

No arguement here. Other than suggesting some caution to bgoodman4, did I say anything to imply otherwise?

Cheers,
JA

 

Aloha Appster ,

Sorry, I'm going to be difficult about this one, I'm afraid .

Firstly, I should say that I don't find uninstalling and re-installing RB much of a problem. The defragging is going to happen either way. However, I don't know if you've read the Horizon white paper on defragging here but it seems to me that you could end up with a more defragmented drive than you need to because of the order you are doing this in.

I don't understand why updating the baseline first would result in a very large and non-optimized current snapshot. The updating the baseline is simply clearing out all the previous snapshots and deleting any space used for data which is not in the current snapshot.

Where I think the order you do this makes a difference (and I've tested this) is that the defragger does not 'see' the snapshot data which may be in previous snapshots but not in the current snapshot. So (extreme example, but it was easier to see on the defragger display!), supposing you copy a 4GB image to your desktop and take a snapshot. You then delete that file so that it does not exist in the current snapshot.

When you run the defragger, the area occupied by that deleted file is protected by RB and so won't figure in the defragging process. So you've defragged and then you update the baseline. This will then free up the 4GB used by that snapshot but will leave it where it was on the drive and so the used space on the drive will not be consolidated.

I've tried this test and ended up with a big chunk of space which needed to be defragged again to get rid of it.

If you'd like to discuss this further over a drink, can we meet at your location rather than mine? .

Graham

 

Or maybe differences in the RB versions. I was using 7.2.1 here. I guess that the imaging app is only going to see the MBR that RB wants it to see.

No, not all. I was just thinking out loud .

Graham

 

Aloha Graham. Anytime you are in Honolulu I'll gladly buy a pitcher (or two) of Mai Tai's to wet our tonsils while we discuss our different points of view. I'm quite confident that will bring about an amicable resolution!

Btw, speaking of Mai Tai's I'm brewing up a batch while my wife prepares Sunday dinner.

 

Sounds great to me.....I'll get my coat

Graham

 

So the upshot of this is Update Baseline FIRST & THEN defrag or because after a Baseline Update the baseline is never the current snapshot one needs to uninstall/reinstall to make sure that ALL diskspace is considered in the defrag process

 

Sorry to confuse the issue here but I'm just going on what I've observed in tests and understood from the Horizon info.

My personal preference would still be to uninstall RB/defrag/re-install RB. This is also the official advice from Horizon. However, if I were going to leave RB installed then I would update the baseline and then defrag.

I'm happy to be proved wrong about this though if anyone else would like to test it out .

Graham

 

Hi Graham

Thanks for clarifying (BTW - you are not confusing the issue IMHO, it is I who is just being careful I have understood correctly ).

I might try both for the next and one-after-next defrags that I do...now, which one to go with for the next defrag...options, options, options

Cheers



Balders