Rollback RX with SSD

Does anyone know if Rollback RX can function properly on Solid State Drives? I ask because I recently installed one and am looking for a way to secure my data. I asked support that same question and this is their response.

That seems like a very generic answer to me and I don't put much faith in it. Their answer didn't go into TRIM, and whether it should be disabled or not. Any ideas?

 

Nate,

A friend has RB v9.1 running on his SSD and he had to disable TRIM in order to use RB.

Hth,
Aaron

 

That's what I thought. I have it installed now, with TRIM disabled, and it appears to be running fine.

One thing I did want to ask you though, is that when I get ready to image this SSD drive can I just update the base line then delete all the other images after that and then image the drive like I normally would, without using RAW mode? In that case, I would have no keep multiple images.

 

Sorry Nate, but I'm not sure I understand your question. Please re-phrase it.

 

Of course. My apologies for the misunderstanding. What I meant was, when using Rollback RX along with Drive Snapshot you have said it is required to exit windows, boot into PE, and create your image using RAW mode. That will prevent you from losing your snapshots. My questions is, is it still necessary to do that if I update the baseline snapshot in Rollback RX? I don't really care about having multiple snapshots, especially if I'm creating an image. So, if that is the case, can I just cerate an image like I normally would?

 

if you don't mind losing your snapshots you can do like i do:
enter the RX subconsole at boot time and uninstall at your CURRENT snapshot.

then do your imaging and re-install RX.
some people like Aaron like to do a RAW -sector by sector- image, me i like my method.

i guess it all depends on how one uses Rollback RX and their particular "workflow".

 

Correct, and furthermore this method keeps your entire RB environment intact, so that when you restore you're up and running without interruption - no MBR issue, no RB uninstall/reinstall issue!

If you mean creating a standard image from within Windows (with RB running), you can do that whether or not you update RB's baseline. Updating the baseline would have no effect to the outcome - which is that you will have imaged your current snapshot and upon restoring it you would have to:

a) perform a FIXMBR or restore a saved copy of a standard Windows MBR.
b) reinstall RB as it will not be active on the restored system.

Keep in mind that when you update RB's baseline you are in essence rolling up all older snapshots into your current snapshot, creating a new baseline. Note that you never actually operate inside RB's baseline, you are running inside your current snapshot (which is some incremental change to the baseline, no matter how slight that may be).

I have no direct experience with SSD's (can't afford one!), but having tried just about every method to image my C-partition (with RB installed), I truly believe that the 'PE - raw image' method is the best method (as long as your C-partition isn't too large)!

Aaron

PS#1. I don't mean to tell anyone how to use their PC, but I truly don't understand why you (and some others) have little interest in creating/retaining multiple RB snapshots. Seems to me that contradicts the main purpose and usefulness of RB ...but I guess it comes down to 'different strokes for different folks'.

PS#2. Seeing that moontan suggested his method (which the two of us have discussed previously), I'd like to add: been there, done that - finding that method a nuissance per my post in another thread ...but then again, 'different strokes for different folks'.

 

anyway,
i must say i'm very pleased with my purchase of Rollback RX!

for the last 3-4 days i've been running RX i've put it on a threadmill, so to speak.
not once did the program crashed or exhibited strange behaviours.
it's rock solid it seems.

i mostly use RX as a "boot to restore" solution like Shadow Defender and for the occasional software test.

i don't feel as protected as when using SD, which is why i added Sandboxie to Rollback RX.
but on the other hand Rollback RX allows me more flexibility than SD in my day to day computer usage when it comes to saving my work.

 

It's kind of funny. I use nearly the same configuration; Sandboxie, Drive Snapshot, and Rollback RX (on a trail mode). I also used to use Shadow Defender (loved that program BTW). Sadly it is no longer being developed. Rest assured, you are very well taken take of with that configuration. hich, if any, imaging solution are you using?

 

i'm using the imaging app included in Windows 7.
it's solid as a rock as well.

 

Aaron, I have just a few more questions if you don't mind.

How do you suggest I handle the defragmentation of Rollback RX snapshots? The default settings set it to defrag after 4, but as I understand SSDs don't need to be defragmented. Should I disable that setting?

How does Drive Snapshot handle "maintenance mode"? With regular snapshots there's a compression ratio of about 60%. Is the same true with maintenance mode. I tried creating in PE and the resulting image file seemed only slightly larger than it regularly would; from about 6.3 gb to 6.9 gb. Does that sound right to you? If that is correct it appears the only disadvantage to using that method it that I'll lose the ability to use my custom context menu entries. That's a shame.

 

I suggest you use my method, since you nearly are already, and use Drive Snapshot. It is a wonderful application. It can be slightly geeky, but I view that as a plus. The disadvantage to using the built-in Windows imaging system is that the "images" in creates are not portable, meaning that they cannot be stored in a different location other than the main physical drive. That and the images are not contained within a single self-containing file.

 

Absolutely not. Let RB do its snapshot defrags, it's an important part of snapshot maintenance (has nothing to do with disk degragging, which as you say, is not needed). While the default is every 4 deletes and 4 adds, I have mine set to 2 and 3 respectively.

I have found the compression in DS' maint.mode to be at least as good as in DS' standard mode, if not greater (because of 'fully shrinking' sectors that are truly empty). Of course RB's snapshots are captured in DS' maint.mode, so the more snapshots you have the greater the difference between the image size of a standard backup vs that of a maint.mode backup.

I'll have to check out your custom menu entries another time...

Happy New Year
Aaron

 

Ok, I will revert that setting.

That's good to know. Thanks for that. Do you know if maintenance mode can be used via the command line? If not, then my custom context menu entries are no good, because they can only be used from within Windows.

Thank you for your help.

Happy New Year All.

 

Sorry Nate, I don't know the answer to that - but it's a good question for Tom!

 

I just got done discussing this issue with Tom, and he says that maintenance mode can be entered using the command line by using the switch -A. I don't know if that means that you can create images successfully with Rollback Rx installed, but it's a start. There is a definite difference using that switch with my .bat file, as opposed to not, when I image a non-system drive. Anyone care to try this with a system drive?

 

Essentially the reason why I wanted to know about maintenance mode was because I need to do a sector-by-sector backup with Rollback RX installed. But it seems there is a difference between when I create a maintenance mode image in Windows and when I create one in PE, outside of Windows. When I create the image in Windows it creates the resulting file is nearly the size of the imaged partition, but outside of Windows it is about 1/2 the size of the used space. Do you know why that is? Is there any way to get the smaller image, using maintenance mode, inside of Windows?

 

XP VM.

Installed Rollback RX then installed a new rogue Defragger "Memory Fixer" which causes the VM to bsod/reboot loop.

After a restore with Rollback the VM is still in a bsod/restart loop. Any testers then PM me.

 

Hi Franklin,

I wanna test it. Please PM me.

 

Hello Franklin,

Did you find a solution regarding the bsod/restart loop? I managed to uninstall memory fixer but still encounter the loop issue.

Thanks.

 

No I don't usually use Rollback type apps but had a bit of spare time so gave it a run.

The XP VM goes into a reboot/bsod loop and a Win 7 VM just goes to bsod and a rollback doesn't seem to fix either.

With undo disks enabled all I did to get out of it is shutdown the VM's and delete all changes.