Introducing AX64 Time Machine - hybrid imaging/snapshot software

Discussion in 'backup, imaging & disk mgmt' started by Isso, Jan 18, 2013.

  1. bgoodman4

    bgoodman4 Registered Member

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    Ah, I understand now, sorry for the confusion. Still, not everyone has experienced your problem so it may well be more than a failure of the MS mouse driver to load. Good that you found a solution for sure but it will be interesting if others who had the same problem find it to be the solution as well.
     
  2. wajamus

    wajamus Registered Member

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    No problem! Thanks for your patience guys. It's getting very close. Do remember that the coming version is a beta with quite a lot of fixes and changes - so expect bugs and potential instability. Remember to backup and have a rescue media handy before testing the latest beta when it comes!
     
  3. zfactor

    zfactor Registered Member

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    any word on 2.0 im dying to try this out. hoping its the fix we have been waiting for.

    edit: sorry i didnt refresh the page before posting then saw you posted under an hour before me asking. hoping to get to test it maybe today even ?? before i leave for the night. and thanks!
     
  4. wajamus

    wajamus Registered Member

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    Hi guys,

    The reason for the delay was that we found in some circumstances using multi-partition: rolling backwards in time (worked) but forwards (did not). This has been fixed, but we do want to do some more testing.

    Thank you again for the patience.

    Sorry for creating so much anticipation!

    Regards,

    Waj
     
  5. defconnect

    defconnect Registered Member

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    Hello Waj & team,
    Imho, it would be more important to get it right. Do not let us stress your team into releasing a build that in turn is viewed as disappointing. A real possibility when anticipation has risen this high (also over here ;)).
    With best regards, defconnect
     
  6. wajamus

    wajamus Registered Member

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    Thanks Defconnect. Yes we are taking the time we need. Internally, we are producing the next build which should be the beta release for you guys.

    Cheers,

    Waj
     
  7. bgoodman4

    bgoodman4 Registered Member

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    Just finished a cold restore and it was a sucess, hot restore would not work.

    Here is what happened with the hot restore.

    I selected a snapshot to revert to from within the browser and hit restore and the correct AX64 window appeared. I hit restore in this window and the black window with the countdown thingy flashed for a second and then AX6 shut down. I then re-initialized AX64 from the start menu and tried again. This happened 4 times at which point I decided to do a cold restore, which thankfully was successful.

    Has anyone had this experience and or does anyone have any idea what could have caused this?
     
  8. puff-m-d

    puff-m-d Registered Member

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    Hello,

    I had the same scenario happen recently and discovered it was the HIPS of ESET causing it. A good place to start is if you are using any kind of HIPS (including one incorporated into an AV like ESET) is to go over your HIPS log files. With ESET, I had to of course enable logging within ESET's advanced settings to see what was being blocked so I could create the necessary rules. This may or may not help you but is what I discovered in my case. HTH...
     
  9. wajamus

    wajamus Registered Member

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    Hi mate,

    This is likely caused by third party security applications of the kind Puff has mentioned. If you wish to perform a hot restore, I recommend disabling other security applications such as virus scanners, other backup apps and so on.

    With v2.0 Time Machine coming out very soon the warm restore should solve this issue once and for all.

    Cheers,

    Waj
     
  10. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    I just beat up on AX64's hot restore with some interesting results.

    Test 1 was just a torture test. I have a database of PDF files. There are close to 19000 files. Over 18gb of data I am using Mediafire's desktop application to keep them sync'd to the online storage which works well. I noticed that it also has a cache folder that has over 19000 files, and was close to 19gb. I was curious what happened if I deleted them. So, I took a Macrium Incremental, an AX64 snapshot, and also sync'd the files to another internal drive. Then I deleted the cache files to free up a huge amount of space, and ran my tests. Once done, I did a hot AX64 restore. Took a few minutes longer then normal, but ran fine. Looked like it restored them perfectly. To confirm, I tried a reverse sync from the other drive, and nothing needed fixing. Excellent.!!

    Test 2 was not only torture, but cruel and unusual punishment. I also have(not installed) Instant Recovery which is the successor of FDISR. I imaged with both Macrium and AX64. Then I installed IR, and created a full secondary snapshot. This was essentially a copy of my c: drive, so I added 70gb and 168000 new files to the disk. I tested to be sure they were there and in fact was able to boot to the new snapshot and back. Then I initiated a hot restore. Needless to say it was slow, and not surprisingly it finally hung at 69 percent. I left it a while, and finally did a power reset reboot. Needless to say Chkdsk got a good work out. I let the system reboot, and IR and the whole 2nd snapshot were gone. A quick inspection seemed to indicate everything was okay, but I didn't take the time to completely verify that. At a quick glance it would have appeared the restore was successful, but I can't say for sure. This is about as extreme as it could be.
    Finally I did restore one of the full images, just to be sure.

    Well done AX64.

    Pete
     
  11. bgoodman4

    bgoodman4 Registered Member

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    Interesting,,,,,,and thanks for the replies,,,,,,the thing is I do a lot of restores and had done one just 2 days ago without issue. Will try another hot restore to see if the problem has persisted and if it has I will try your (and wajs) suggestions.

    Will report back shortly.

    PS I am using ESET
     
  12. bgoodman4

    bgoodman4 Registered Member

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    Same problem even with all security apps disabled. I will try reinstalling AX64 (1.3.0.7)
     
  13. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Barry, why don't you take a look into your LOGs and see if there's anything relevant in there.
     
  14. puff-m-d

    puff-m-d Registered Member

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    Hello,
    I also had no issues for a long time between AX64 and ESET. Not too very long ago, ESET released a new HIPS module and then I started having the issue with hot restores and ESET. It took me a while to figure out the issue. A problem with ESET's HIPS is you just cannot disable it and do the hot restore. To disable HIPS requires a reboot, then you would have to do the hot restore. If I remember correctly, ESET's HIPS was trying to modify lsass and was being blocked. You can turn on logging to verify this. You could also put ESET's HIPS in learning mode, and do a hot restore to create the necessary HIPS rules. I made a rule manually to allow all of AX64 processes in order to ensure complete access during a hot restore.

    I use the pre-release module updates within ESET and I assume that you probably are not since I first encountered this issue several weeks ago and you are only now seeing it. More than likely, a recent HIPS module update is what is causing your issue and creating the appropriate rule in the HIPS module of ESET should allow AX64 to properly do hot restores again.

    HTH...
     
  15. puff-m-d

    puff-m-d Registered Member

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    Hello,
    Remember to fully disable ESET's HIPS, do as in the attached screenshot:
     

    Attached Files:

    Last edited: May 16, 2014
  16. bgoodman4

    bgoodman4 Registered Member

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    Disabling HIPS worked,,,,,,thanks for the above attachment as I would not have had a clue how to do this otherwise.

    Can I trouble you for a step by step to
    I have no idea how to do this.
     
  17. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    For those that are following this part of the thread... HIPS application control features are included in many of today's SECURITY SUITEs, and as such, may be affecting your AX64 application capability. Puff's documentation is a good example.

    The Matousec Site's primary function in life is to evaluate today's security products as far as HIPS-like features are concerned. The Matousec link above takes you to their table of tested products. You'll notice that a few are excellent and others are mediocre to very poor. The purpose of my bringing this to your attention is 2-fold... to let you know what appear to be the best HIPS-like products on the market, and if you product is in the top 10 group there's a good chance that that product's HIPS component may or may not be affecting your AX64 HOT RESTOREs. I would suggest looking into your security suites to see if such components exist and whether they are configurable (if it's there, they will be).
     
  18. bgoodman4

    bgoodman4 Registered Member

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    Thanks for this Froggie.....So, ESET ranks as poor, does this mean I should get rid of ESET or should I add something to compensate for ESET.

    BTW I am using Zemana Antilogger and Appguard as well as ESET.
     
  19. puff-m-d

    puff-m-d Registered Member

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    Hello,
    Please open the advanced settings in ESET and follow these steps:

    1)

    Setup -> Enter advanced setup... -> Computer -> Antivirus and antispyware -> Exclusions

    Click on "Add" and select the folder where AXTM is installed, for example:
    C:\Program Files\AXTM

    Also add these two files:
    C:\Windows\System32\drivers\AXMount.sys
    C:\Windows\System32\drivers\AXTrack.sys

    And click on "OK" button.

    2)

    Setup -> Enter advanced setup... -> Computer -> HIPS

    Click on "Configure rules..."

    Click on "New"

    In the "Name" editbox type: AXTM

    In the "Action" select "Allow"

    In the "Select applications" click on "Add..." and select all .EXE and .DLL files present in the AXTM installation folder, for example:
    C:\Program Files\AXTM\AXConsole.exe
    C:\Program Files\AXTM\AXCore.dll
    C:\Program Files\AXTM\AXTMApp.exe
    C:\Program Files\AXTM\AXTMImageBrowser.exe
    C:\Program Files\AXTM\RpeLib.dll

    Also add these two files:
    C:\Windows\System32\drivers\AXMount.sys
    C:\Windows\System32\drivers\AXTrack.sys

    Now move to the next tab "Target files" and put a check in "Use for all operations"
    Now move to the next tab "Target applications" and put a check in "Use for all operations"
    Now move to the next tab "Target registry" and put a check in "Use for all operations"

    Click on "OK" to save the settings.

    Reboot the PC.

    Let me know how a hot restore does now...
     
  20. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Well, different strokes for different folks. What the rating means is that ESET is not very good at HIPS functions... application behavior mainly. It's very good at AV functions as well as a good basic firewall.

    There's a coupla different approaches. You can keep ESET and just shut down its firewall, then install PrivateFirewall for your firewall function... this should work fine but gets convoluted at times.

    What I've done is moved to the component approach. I was an ESET user for years but a recent bug drove me nuts and when I found out the problem I had to eliminate ESET (for my system only). I now run FREE AVG as my AV component (more than adequate for anti-virus according to lots of testing), PrivateFirewall for my firewall and HIPS protection, and MalwareBytes for my anti-malware component. This combination works well for me.

    I know you're scared of Comodo due to its rep regarding CTM (I sure was) but its INTERNET SECURITY PREMIUM (which is FREE and is the best HIPS product) is an excellent product and contains all of the above features, I believe... that's always an option if you don't want a lot of security components in your face.

    I apologize to the group for all this SECURITY talk... just trying to assist HOT RESTORE users in increasing their reliability. That's enough SECURITY talk for now... more should be in a different thread.
     
  21. puff-m-d

    puff-m-d Registered Member

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    Hello,
    A bit off topic but here is the short answer. Out of the box, ESET's HIPS settings are fine for most users as it protects all of ESET's own files and Windows system files by default. You can make the HIPS as chatty and as in depth as you wish but that can get more involved and I suggest if you are interested in this to ask over on the ESET forums.
    As I stated above, ESET's HIPS out of the box settings are fine for most normal users. With your two added security apps, I would not worry as IMHO no compensation in regards to ESET's HIPS is needed.
     
  22. mxyzptlk

    mxyzptlk Registered Member

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    This place is just amazing & full of wonders... :cool:
     
  23. bgoodman4

    bgoodman4 Registered Member

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    Hot restore is working perfectly now, your support in this matter is very greatly appreciated. Also, thank you for your thoughts on if I need to upgrade my HIPS protection, your comments have set my mind back at ease.
     
  24. puff-m-d

    puff-m-d Registered Member

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    Hello,

    No problem as you are most welcome ;) ... I am just happy that all is well now and I was able to help...
     
  25. clubhouse1

    clubhouse1 Registered Member

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    I use AX64 as my primary backup so to speak and Drive Snapshot as a just in case.....I was delighted to find that the AX64 Winpe allowed me to access the Snapshot exe and thus restore snapshot images if I ever needed to.


    Edit, I always disconnect from the web and disable all security type software if I doing hot restores.
     
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