Rollback Rx...

how to disabling Rollback Rx. i can't find any button to disable rollback rx and i think it's not advisable to disable it and run windows defrag....in case there's a problem you can't boot to rollback rx anymore right if you disable it?

re: virus problem.
incase i'm infected and boot to my pre-virus snapshot....does it means that my pre-virus snapshot is not infected or any of its file?



thanks for your input chris!

 

This isn't available yet but is something they are working on I believe.

Exactly. Snapshots are the state of your system at that moment. So, if you weren't infected when you took the snapshot then you won't be if you restore to it .

My setup is just as Chris described. I do an automatic restore to the most recent snapshot on reboot which gets rid of any 'clutter'. The benefit of doing it to the most recent snapshot is that you can try out software, do tweaks etc. and, if you decide you want to keep the changes, then you simply take a snapshot and on rebooting that's the snapshot which you restore to.

This is why I called it a semi-frozen system and what, for me, gives it more flexibility over other shadowxyz solutions. Also, if you reboot your machine and you either meant to take a snapshot first or you just want to carry on trying out the things you've installed, then if you go into RB's pre-boot menu that will stop the restore taking place. So you can just quit the menu and the PC will retain the changes that you are still trying out. This gets over the problem of software which needs to reboot before it is properly installed.

What I may not have explained well is that the system software is on the C drive and the data (which changes....My Documents etc) is on the D drive. The D drive can either be a second partition on the main/only disk or can be a separate disk.

I also just let RB carry out its own defrag. Anything else is a potential minefield .

Graham

 

Graham/Chris, i only use this Rollback Rx for more than a week. Sorry I'm not experienced Rollback Rx user yet you dont mind if you can explain it for me like "Rollback Rx (semi-frozen system) for Dummies"


thanks guys!

 

is there anyway i can exclude "My Documents" whenever I take snapshot?

I'm planning to save now my personal file (video, picture, docs, etc.) in My Documents, but if i take new snapshot it will also save my 6gb++ personal files.

thanks.

 

Yes, that's where the "Rollback Rx (semi-frozen system) for Dummies" strategy comes in....which seems quicker to do than it is to write down .

I'll try to post something soon for you. Do you have a single hard disk with just one partition at the moment? In other words, do you just have the C-drive as a fixed drive?

Graham

 

Rollback main window
Program settings
Advanced settings
Click the "Keep these files or folders unchanged when Rollback system to another snapshot."
Then Click the settings button next to it and select your file or folder and go from there. Might be better if you had another partition to keep these files on or another drive even just for safety.

Thanks,

Chris

 

I seem to remember trying that method originally but it seemed quite a slow process. Doesn't it do something like, take a snapshot before the restore and then extract the selected files from that snapshot to copy into the current one? If that's the case then I suspect it would only really be practical for relatively small amounts of data.

But I happy to be wrong about it .

Graham

 

i'll try it later chris. post some question if i'm lost AGAIN.

when i do clean install i have option of making 2 partition, unfortunately i didn't do it.

nexstar i only have 1 - 200gb internal hdd (drive C), but already purchased 250gb external HDD. right now i'm doing back up and planning to delete some of my snapshot in internal HDD (i'll retain only 3 snapshot....clean install, backup (with my latest software installed) snapshot and working snapshot)

 

Hi Cris,

I've excluded some of my personal file but when i restore my previous snapshot it takes too long to synchronize my personal file to restore snapshot. Its alright to wait but its really very slow.

Also if i exclude my personal file and there's a virus in one of my file....if i restore my old snapshot there's a tendency that my old snapshot will be infected also since it will sychronize the infected file too?

Another question, I try to restore my saved snapshot in my external HDD but can't find any option in the rollback start up to choose to restore my snapshot located in external HDD. Does it means that i need to use first my saved snapshot in internal HDD and from there i can restore my snapshot in external HDD?

 

True it is slow.

True if one of the files that were excuded had been infected and you execute them it could infect more files.

You mean Rollback pre windows or Rollback after Windows has loaded?

Thanks,

Chris

 

Rollback pre window.

 

You have to use the bart pe disk with rollback plugin to restore images that are backed up. I have only tried it a couple times but I think you can just restore a single snapshot at a time and it will overwrite your ones that you see in windows currently. It is more for bare metal recovery almost like a drive backup program will do.
Click on backup snapshots in rollback main window and then click how to restore from a snapshot backup and it will tell you more info.

Thanks,

Chris

 

i guess i can't create BartPE since i'm using vista

Requirements to build:
The files from your Windows Installation CD-Rom.
Supported Windows versions are:

Windows XP Home Edition (must be slip streamed with Service Pack 1 or higher)
Windows XP Professional (must be slip streamed with Service Pack 1 or higher)
Windows Server 2003, Web Edition
Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition
Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition
PE Builder runs on Windows 2000/XP/2003/BartPE systems.
CD/DVD writer if you want to creat a bootable CD/DVD.

 

If you can help it wait just a bit and they will have a linux version of the restore disk instead of Bart PE. Much easier. Hopefully you wont need to restore until then.

Thanks,

Chris

 

I would strongly suggest that you partition your main drive so that you can separate your system software (OS, drivers etc) from your personal data. Whatever backup/recovery/restore strategy you use, then it will be much quicker to restore your system drive (the bit that's most likely to go wrong) if the image is that much smaller.

My setups are normally quite happy with a 20GB system partition but anything up to 40GB would give you plenty of headroom. I normally use Acronis Disk Director for partitioning but that costs money and I see that this can be done in Vista without third-party software. The instructions are here.

You'll need to uninstall RollBack before doing any of this and make sure that you have a decent backup or two before doing anything else.

I find that the easiest way to split the data is to use this free utility. It gives good instructions as to what to do on the download page.

Once you've done that then re-install any antivirus software and any other software which needs updating daily, to the new partition. This would also be a good time to defrag the disk.

Do another backup (remembering that you've now got two partitions to backup ) and re-install Rollback choosing the custom install so that you only protect the C drive with RB.

If you want to go the semi-frozen route then create a scheduled task to restore on restart and select to rollback to the latest snapshot. Also, under advanced options, I select to delete restart snapshots after 14 days (could be shorter if you like) and turn off any auto-defragmenting.

That's it really! The files that are placed on your desktop are then sitting on the second partition and will survive a reboot, as will My Documents etc. But now, when you reboot, the system will be as it was when the last snapshot was taken. If you make changes and want to keep them then just take a snapshot. If you discover that was a bad move then just delete that snapshot and it will reboot as before.

Make sure that you have some backup strategy for your personal data to copy it regularly to your external drive. It's all about layers.

There are as many different ways to do this as there are people on this forum but this works for me and......you did ask! . Oh, and please feel free to ignore any/all of the above, it's not compulsory and I won't be held responsible if Rollback causes a plague of locusts in your living room .

Graham

 

thanks nexstar,
now that i have 2partition, do i need to keep all the file in drive D unchange when i rollback to my other snapshot?

also when you used semi frozen, do you run RBx defrag daily (manually)?

 

You should have rollback protecting c: drive that way you can store stuff on d without it rolling back. hope you didn't mind me answering.

Thanks,

Chris

 

As Chris says, the D drive is not protected by RB and so will stay current when you rollback.

Semi-frozen is just referring to the C drive being (pretty much) frozen by the restore at restart but the D drive is not frozen at all.

I only use the RB defrag manually, from within Windows and normally only if I have deleted a few snapshots.

Graham

 

thanks guys!

i will not change in RBx or set anything for Drive D?....just leave it like that (for personal file use only).

also, how's the virus if file is infected in Drive D....it will also affected rollback snapshot right? last time chris told me that it will be infected also if my personal file is in drive C, how about now it's on drive D?

 

That's right. Just make sure you have some method of backing it up .

Any virus is much more likely to be infecting your C drive which, if you restore on reboot, will stay clean. You still need to have antivirus software etc because you don't always know when you have picked up a virus and you certainly could save it in a snapshot. But if you have a few snapshots then you've got a fallback position.

Graham

 

what method? i just created multiple folder in drive D and copy there all my personal file.

thanks

 

You know, your all-encompassing backup strategy . Seriously, that's where your external hard drive comes in. You need to backup your personal data to the external and any other places that are practical for you (DVD maybe) and if you can keep a copy in a completely different location then even better .

Graham

 

thanks guys.

for now i'll use 14days trial of Rollback Rx and wait until version 8.1 release (end of Aug) and see if that's advisable to use.

 

Smashing News! Rollback Rx Pro 8.1 Will be available for Download commencing the first week of September With Added ability to Disable Rollback and Defrag your drives, without having to uninstall Rollback First

 

hi chris/nexstar!

i'm using semi-frozen system and its pretty good features of Rollback Rx, but i have problem with my outlook.

after receiving my email in current snapshot and since im using semi frozen everytime i restart all my email is gone (which is correct), but i cant retrieve anymore my gmail to outlook.

i thought its the same with KIS7, everytime i restart it just download the latest update.