Introducing AX64 Time Machine - hybrid imaging/snapshot software

...and how is it that we get this information to folks arriving at the beginning of this thread? Isso tried to make changes to the original Post #1 a long time ago but it was unEDITable for him as Jim1Cor13 has just found out on his post #3.

We'd love to put a vector off of some sort to that Page #308 Wajamus post but can't figure out to let folks know that are arriving at Page #1.... 8000+ posts are a bit hard to get through.

LowWaterMark... can you suggest anything?

 

Thank you LowWaterMark and Froggie

I think this was a much needed adjustment to the thread, and will be very helpful for people to at least find
info on both versions or perhaps those who were unaware there was a Beta V2 released.

Thanks!

Jim

 

Can no one offer me any insight into this problem? How is it possible that a restore would cause the loss of 1: license rights to an app and in many cases (with the same app) loss of ability to launch, and 2: the change of an apps interface, and in many cases negatively affect the ability of the app to launch (and not just cosmetic changes).

Is this something anyone has heard of before? Is it an AX64 thing?

 

Hi Barry

Just a quick glance, if a cold restore did not set things in order, and I assume you are using AX V1, this is rather strange. The chkdsk finding all the errors would lead me to believe the hot restore was faulty, incomplete for some reason, unable perhaps to restore all changed sectors and then after reboot, there was file corruption which initiated chkdsk. EDIT: Sorry, I see you started chkdsk...

I assume NO security software was running, etc. My first inclination is to blame the MS update, but that should not have been an issue after you did the COLD restore, so that is not likely, but something in my opinion, went wrong with the HOT restore. But then again, the COLD should have placed the partition back to the time of the image.

As far as the license rights go, this is to me, a very likely sign of registry corruption, but that does not answer why the COLD restore also did not fix it. Strange indeed, what bothers me is that the COLD appears to have failed also. Something else going on here, just not sure. The license issues to me is usually a sure bet of registry issues and application corruption perhaps.

The easiest thing to try at this point is your Drive Cloner image from last week. *IF* that fixes the issue, then that targets AX64 as an incomplete restore for some reason. It is a head scratcher for sure.

Sorry I do not have a better answer for you, to me the mention of chkdsk being run at reboot would make me think HOT restore failed, but no answer as to why COLD restore did not bring the system back to normal.

Jim

 

LWM, thank you very much for this help.

 

Thanks Jim, I will give the DC image a try, hopefully tomorrow, and report back, and yes, version 1.3.0.7

PS: I had noticed that ESET was running a scan during one of the early hot restores. Could this have corrupted the snapshots so that even for subsequent attempts they were corrupted? I thought AX64 froze everything when it was doing its thing so I have to assume that the scan was running when I began the restore and I did not notice it. I am not sure why this would have had an effect as I have ESET scans set to run only on the main (C) drive. I must have done 4 or 5 hot restores and at least 2 cold and the only one that worked at all was the last one which left me with the modified Opera interface. Fortunately the DC images are on a 2nd external drive and thus should be clean.

 

Was this incompatibility issue introduced since beta 2,or did it already exist with v 1?
Will it stay that way,or is there a solution in the works?
I really don't want to abandon AX64,but neither Shadow Defender.......

 

Hi Barry

I am concerned about the Eset scan, especially during the HOT restore. We have learned that some Security software causes problems, and with a scan running while HOT restoring within windows I cannot imagine would be a good thing main reason being a lot of disk activity at the same time as AX64 trying to lock the drive and perform a HOT restore of changed sectors. The fact that it even made it through is amazing. I think maybe that could very well be part if not THE problem Barry just considering the problems some have experienced with their security software, this I would think for sure would have at the very least been a challenge for AX64 based on how it performs HOT restores.

Indeed, perhaps the reason you had other issues with other snaps, but the one that still concerns me is the COLD restore failure. Certainly possible that there is some corruption within the snaps, but I would think AX64 would see that and fail to even begin a cold or hot restore without noticing consistency issues. Very strange indeed.

At this point I would suggest not trying a restore with Eset running, especially while during a scan. I think there are several modules within Eset that needs to be disabled if I recall a few weeks back this being mentioned while there was problems restoring with AX64. Not so sure about the snap being corrupted, certainly possible Barry, but it is evident security software and AX64 do not like each other, simply due to how they operate. Thanks for letting me know about the Eset scan running...my opinion it had much to do with the AX64 failure. Perhaps Froggie will weigh in on this also.

I do hope your Drive cloner image does the job for you...at this point I am thinking it will work fine since reading of the Eset scan you mentioned. If it does indeed restore and get you back in stable condition, I would say near 100% that the Eset incident was the basis for AX64 failure. both work at such low levels, I am not surprised that security software interferes. Also, some AV software has self protection mode that definitely will affect something like AX64 does within Windows and the sector level, I would think both apps would be competing so to speak.

Have a nice weekend Barry...let us know how things go

Jim

 

Hi Jim, I understand how ESET could have affected the hot restore but it would not be running during the cold and as noted above I did at least 2 cold restores to no avail. I am about to try the DC restore (I am a bit apprehensive as the PC is working fine now albeit with a modified user interface for Opera).

Will report back when its done.

 

Hi Barry

Sounds good...perhaps it would be a good idea to take a NEW baseline of your current system before doing the DC restore? You mentioned you were a bit apprehensive, as your system is working well other than Opera interface. Just thought I would mention this, but I am figuring you already thought of that

Thanks Barry, hope things go well.

Jim

 

Hi again Jim, yes, I re-imaged the drive using DC before doing the restore to a week ago. The restore just completed and all is well. Now I just have to grab my recent files from either AX64 or the latest DC image (I will use AX64 as its easier) and I am golden. I look forward to the V2 official rel;ease as the warm restore will avoid the possible conflicts I experienced. Thanks for your input and assistance, much appreciated.

Barry

 

Yup, did that before anything else. Thanks.

 

Great to hear Barry! So glad the DC image worked, I kind of figured it would solve the issues, or at least I hoped it would.

Good job, and enjoy having things back the way you like them Only other thing I would add is to consider creating a new baseline next time you use AX64, just to be safe in case your current baseline and snaps have any problems. of course now that your system is back to your approval, also take another image using DC and you should be covered well my friend.

Thanks for letting us know how things turned out Barry.

Jim

 

Yes, have created a new AX64 baseline. Am still puzzled as to why the AX64 cold restores failed to rectify the problem. I don't see how the ESET scan could have messed up the snapshots which are on a separate non-scanned drive. Perhaps Peter is correct about the cold restore capability of AX64 even for version 1. Thanks for you assistance again.

 

Hello,

I wonder if anyone else are seeing any issues with the tray icon. I see the following two issues:

• I never have the tray icon after a boot or reboot of my system. TMapp.exe is running, however no tray icon. The only way to get it to appear is to terminate the process via task manager and restart it.
• Once the icon appears and an automatic merge starts, the icon of course changes. When the merge finishes, the icon does not change back to the default. However, when the automatic backup has started and the finishes, it does change back to default. When the next merge starts, the cycle repeats.

Uninstalling, rebooting, and following with a fresh install and reboot, does not fix the issue either. For reference, I am on a Windows 8.1.1 Pro 64 bit system.

On a side note, the new tray icons are OK but I find them hard to see...

 

Hello Pete,

Well, if that is the case and it is by design and not a bug, then the only way to be sure TM is running without the tray icon is to check in task manager. Very inconvenient ...

 

Hello Pete,

Maybe we are not on the same page. I am in auto mode. Either shut down system and later restart or reboot. In both cases there is no tray icon after the boot but the TM process is running. Backups are important so I want to be able to look at the tray to verify TM is running, just like you want to see your security apps in the system tray to verify all is OK. The only way for me to get the icon to show is to manually terminate TMapp.exe via the task manager and restart it.

 

Downloaded V2 and tried to make my 1st backup it started, got to 48% and it hung, showing an error 112. Tried it 3 times same thing every time. error 112, and I have enjoyed all I can stand of this program.

 

That's been there since v1. Personally I don't mind it as it lets me know that merging has taken place while I was away from the pc.

 

Strange, version 1 tray icon always changed back to the default after both backups and merges here on my system...