Rollback RX v10.x (Home & Professional)

Look at the previous page of this thread, or click here.

 

Doesn't really answer it. The situation is different. Manolito already answered.

 

DarkSide... as a reminder and supplement to Manolito's answer, the system, of course, will BOOT properly with some sort of MBR repair, but Rollback will still be installed and fully neutered... with a few error windows on the way into the system. It really needs to be unInstalled and reInstalled to ever work properly again.

I really don't how (or why) they screwed that up going into v10 and above... but they sure did.

 

Well, I tried the scenario again tonight. The term "trashing" doesn't compare the data destruction that ensued so I guess nothing changed, but I had Macrium to rescue me. RollbackRX is one dangerous product.

 

Malwaretips is having a giveaway of 25 licenses for Rollback Rx Professional..
Details, see here.

 

I just realized it was probably due to RX that my win10 went haywire after uninstalling RX .. boot times would take over 2 mins (SSHD), BCD was somehow totally corrupted, couldn't fix it and Macrium plocal boot install wouldn't work...
I had to restore a clean install image of Win 10, and now everything is working smoothly again..
I think RX left some trash on my computer after uninstalling it...

 

I think there was some serious trash on your PC before you uninstalled Rx.

 

@TheRollbackFrog

Froggie... so what do you recommend for SSD users at this point - as far as backup ?

Macrium Reflect ?

 

If your SSD is from Samsung and you had the Samsung Magician software installed with Rapid Mode enabled, that does not play well with RBX.

 

Hjlbx... I assume you're talking about backing up a Rollback-enabled system, otherwise you're in the wrong thread.

If you don't need your snapshots and only require your CURRENT SYSTEM STATE in your backup schema, almost any imaging system can give you that basic requirement. What they can't give you is a good BOOTable Master BOOT Record (MBR) that is required for a successful BOOT upon restoration of that image... that has to be provided in another way.

Horizon DataSys offers a method, via this HELP page, which uses the Windows REPAIR Facility. There are other methods for repairing the fractured MBR which will be restored from the imaged Rollback-protected partition... some are imager specific, some are more generic in nature but require additional applications to perform (BOOTice for example).

If you need to protect your snapshots as well as the Current System State, you must use an imager that has the capability to include ALL DISK SECTORS (in the protected partition being saved), not just the ones in use by Windows... this is where the Rollback snapshots are stored. Many imagers have this capability, it's called by many of the following functional names... RAW, All Sectors, Sector-by-Sector, etc. This type of image does not require the above repair of the MBR, but usually is extensive in size due to the fact that it needs to save the contents of the entire protected volume, not just the Windows "used sectors." Horizon DataSys has recently released a version of their Drive Cloner imaging product that does, somewhat successfully, save the Current System Image as well as all the used snapshots. It has multi modes of operation and is a bit convoluted to use but does work.

Macrium Reflect, in particular, contains its own MBR repair facility in its Recovery Media... BUT, recently its been reported that it finds the LIVE "used sector" image taken by itself to be corrupt when restores are attempted in its Recovery Media. I have yet to pursue what the issue is so can't comment at the moment. Some other imagers, "Image For Windows" (IFW) for example, also contain the ability to replace that convoluted Rollback MBR with a standard Windows version. The MBR repair operation has many approaches and any selected method must be part of the imager itself or a standalone application (BOOTice) that can run under a WinPE Recovery Media of some sort.

Sorry if all this sounds very convoluted... it really is when it comes to successfully imaging a Rollback-enabled system.

<OOooops!> Just realized I missed the main point entirely, sorry.

Rollback DOES NOT allow Windows to manage an SSD properly... it inhibits the SSD TRIM operation while it is actively protecting your partition. Based on this it is recommended that you unInstall Rollback periodically (to your Current System State... you will lose your snapshots), reBOOT your system (even if Rollback doesn't ask for it... it's REQUIRED) and run the Windows OPTIMIZE function (on W8.x/W10... the "SSDtool" app on W7). This will cause the proper OS SSD cleanup function to be performed. Following this, feel free to reInstall Rollback once again.

The only imager that I know that supports the proper restoration and cleanup of an SSD is Macrium Reflect, but with the anomaly mentioned above, it doesn't appear very useful for a Rollback-protected system. All others just do basic restoration and as such it is recommended to perform the suggested OS SSD cleanup mentioned above after successfully restoring a LIVE "used sector" image. This is not required when restoring an ALL SECTOR image of a Rollback protected partition, as when that image is restored, the OS SSD TRIM command will be inoperative anyway.

I know... it can sometimes be mind boggling

 

@TheRollbackFrog

"Mind boggling" means it is a failure from standpoint of usability and unsuitable for typical, every day user.

But that is an entirely different debate.

When I asked my question, what I meant was:

Considering all the problems with Rollback RX on SSDs, what do you recommend instead to back up system ?

I had RBX installed. It messed up my SSD Trim.

 

This may have been a one-time anomaly, on a later test (Macrium Free probably was a newer version) the hot backup made under Rollback restored fine using the Macrium recovery CD. See the bottom of this post:
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/thre...home-professional.376992/page-16#post-2548381

@hjlbx
If you are fed up with Rollback due to its non-existing SSD trim support, the current alternative is Macrium 6. Or you can wait until Flashback (formerly AX64) gets really stable and reliable.


Cheers
manolito

Happy New Year!

 

Thanks for your reply @manolito

I have faith in Macrium Reflect 6.

I have no faith in Rollback RX.

I have even less faith in Flash Back since the "beta" has been in the works for over a year and a half at this point; the original developer was good but then it all went south once it was purchased.

 

SSD management is just a minor perturbation with Rollback. First and foremost I must say... in NO WAY is Rollback RX a BACKUP program for any system... you lose that disk, you LOSE that data.

With that off my chest , Manolito's suggestions above would be the most valid in order to restore a system in the least amount of time. Both Reflect and FlashBack both do DIFFERENCE restoration... only restoring disk surface differences when called upon. They do it in slightly different ways. Reflect was the first successful offered product to be able to do a reliable DIFFERENCE restoration... FlashBack is almost there but is still working a few kinks out of their method (basically in BETA development since January 2013). I use them both... Reflect for my most important system(s) and FlashBack for almost all of my client (and personal) testing (not production)... I, also, would like FlashBack to be successful.

 

On my SSD, RBX prevented TRIM and other SSD management. Lack of these management activities caused file and data corruption. Those, in turn, caused soft malfunctions.

So to me, an SSD user, it is huge deal.

HDS needs to get it sorted out, after insisting for years that RBX does indeed fully support SSD management.

Until HDS gets at least a few SSD manufacturers to certify that their product supports SSD management, I will not use it - not after what I experienced.

Of course, HDS will not do that because it costs $.

Thanks @manolito and @TheRollbackFrog

PS - Of course I want Flash Back to succeed, but I am not encouraged by progress to date after AX64 was sold by original developer.

 

For the record, Isso (original developer) is still working in the team..
But someone else might be pulling the strings now tho.
..but back to the topic, which is Rx !

 

I have RX - 10.4 installed on windows 10 ( updated from windows 7 )
I have always really liked RX it has ALWAYS worked very very well for me !
It is SUPER FAST at restores and backups I love that !

I have used it for years and it has saved my ass so many many times I can not count !

I also have had it not work when I needed it to .. BUT 99% of the time it works great !!!
I use RX for testing programs and getting rid of viruses .. Bad updates ! and it works great for that !

I am not sure why people HATE RX so much .. When in reality it works great 99% of the time.
I am using EaseUS Todo Backup Free 9.0 and am making FULL backups every night.
For the times RX does not work correctly or something gets weird.

Anyway that's my two cents for what its worth.

 

I don't personally hate RBX or any other soft for that matter.

In fact, I love RBX.

It just doesn't work properly with my SSD and caused all manner of problems...

HDS has been insisting for years that RBX supports SSD TRIM; it does not.

 

Peter2150 Global Moderator
See to me 99% is really good !
I am not sure any software is 100% None that I have ever tried anyway !

hjlbx Registered Member
And I have a SSD drive and It seems to be working just fine.
And as far a TRIM mine seems to be working .. and if not who cares ?
SSD drives are CHEAP so if it doesn't last quite as long who cares ?

Again ...
Anyway that's my two cents for what its worth.

 

Long-term, non-functioning SSD TRIM will ultimately lead to file and data corruption\loss, software failures and pre-mature SSD drive failure.

Each of those is a serious problem.

Users expect software to work in a way that does not cause serious problems... especially ones that can result in repairs costing hundreds of $.

For many valid reasons, replacing an SSD due to something RBX did incorrectly or did not do correctly is no trivial matter to me.

The issue is not RBX's niftiness - because it sure is one innovative solution.

The issue with RBX is its reliability and compatibility.

It's just not quite there yet...

 

Rollback does not do backups... it backs up nothing. Replace that disk and see what backup you have...

It appears you've never tried to restore an EaseUS backup of an RBrx system... it will not BOOT.

I suggest you try a restoration to be sure it works for you...

 

If you know what you are doing and take steps to protect for the time that Rx fails and destroys your system that is fine. My big problem is with HDS. They at best mislead people about the safety and reliability of a program that folks use to protect themselves from exactly the sort of problems that Rx itself can cause. Perhaps this misrepresentation of Rx has changed since the release of the new Drive Cloner. I mean if Rx performed as advertised in the past ("Recover from any conceivable system problem") then things have improved. But given how Rx was marketed in the past less knowledgeable folks thought they were protected if they had Rx on their system. They would find out otherwise when that 1% failure hit them and all was lost.

As Froggie indicted Rx is not a back up program. Its a fast recovery program which is a very different animal. If you don't know the difference I suggest you might want to look a bit deeper into how they differ (I am not saying you don't know the diff but you did call it a back up program,,,,,, perhaps you have made a typo).

 

The bottom line is that HorizonDataSys has lost a lot of credibility over a whole range of issues.

No matter how it happened - intentional, unintentional, not paying attention, neglect, not listening to users, etc - it doesn't really matter to most users.

All the user cares about is does a soft cause problems or it does not ? If yes, then it is matter of type and degree of problem.

RBX causes problems... some quite serious, for some users, on some specific systems, when installed with some softs, etc.

Most of us here at Wilders are not beginners. So if we are experiencing problem, after problem, and cannot resolve them, then the reality is that there is\are serious issues with the soft.

I think RBX concept is great. In practice, it doesn't live up to the company's stated claims of functionality and performance.

 

If you're not using SSD drive, I guess it's okay to use Rx as long as you make COLD sector-by-sector backups, as per described
by TheRollbackFrog in the earlier posts, since it's more or less a waste to do any HOT backups unless you know what ye up to, and know how to fix the MBR with some external tools. (and you would loose your snapshots and the data in them..)
If you're on SSD drive, I would personally (definitely) look for some other solution..
As long as Rx uses the technology it is using, to maintain the "no space taking" snapshots, using a TRIM would be impossible with the software, unless the software would be storing
the snapshots on another partition/external drive. (wink wink @ horizon datasys)
Maybe it would work with SSD TRIM ,if Rx created an (hidden) partition for all it's snapshots.