Introducing AX64 Time Machine - hybrid imaging/snapshot software

Thanks for info Froggie, at least a CheckSum verify would be better then no verify at all?

 

Just to be clear you mounted and ran ckdsk, not just mounted,,,,right?

 

Yes, sir... when ever I decide to do that, mount/chkdsk is what I do. It takes a while but it doesn't keep me from doing anything else while it's doing its thing.

 

Thanks, I have learned something valuable from the problem I had. I thought the only way to test was to actually restore the image/snap. I like the mount/ckdsk thing better as it intrudes less on what I am doing. I do understand that its not fool-proof though whereas actually doing the restore is.

I am a tad puzzled by one aspect of my experience with the problem in that the later snaps in the chain restored better than the snaps from the 29th/30th. With the later snaps Opera would launch albeit with a changed interface (as would the other apps, 123 would launch but some files would not open) while with the earlier snaps I could not launch Opera or the other apps at all. If the chain were compromised I would have thought any issues found with earlier snaps would be retained or become worse with the later ones, not improved upon.

 

Absolutely. When I used to use IFW a lot, that's the imaging option I used the most... byte-for-byte comparison just didn't add much for the time it took. I don't know how big IFW's checksum is but I s'pect they're either using an MD5 (Message-Digest Algorithm 5) or SHA1 (Secure Hashing Algorithm FIPS PUB 180-1) hashing algorithm. MD5 can be computed and checked must faster than SHA1 and is an excellent hashing algorithm for detecting random data failures... SHA1 is better used when suspected "tampering" may occur... it's much, much harder to beat, more cryptographic in nature.

 

Apparently it didn't work out all that well, I noticed that Spotify would give me a lot of Error 802, apparently that can happen when your local cache is corrupt, also earlier today pretty much everything froze, I could move windows and such but not start new ones and some programs out-right froze (probably related to disk read/writing) and then I got a message that Microsoft Windows has stopped working or something like that.
Edit: Perhaps the OS suddenly couldn't communicate with the SSD?

I restored an earlier image and used Spotify to go through several songs and so far haven't gotten the Error 802 yet so I believe it was that one snapshot that was corrupt even if just slightly OR my SSD is literally about to die.

Not much happened between the working snapshot and the non-working snapshot though, I took a snapshot then uninstalled MSI afterburner and RivaTuner, installed GeForce Experience update, Installed new MSI afterburner 3.0.0 and rebooted to complete the RivaTuner installation and then took the second snap. It appears that the snap taken before the changes works but the one taken after doesn't. I have now after going back to the working snapshot redone all the changes and instead of an incremental image I created a new baseline image, in case it was somehow an issue with the tracking of the changes or something.

.. I'm just hoping I'm in the safe now and it doesn't freeze on me again, this SSD isn't the healthiest either so that might have been contributing to it, might have to get a new SSD next pay.

Edit: I also mounted the possibly faulty snapshot and did a chkdsk on it, no problems found, so no structure issue, just corrupt files (maybe)
Edit 2: Also did a chkdsk on my SSD now and no problems found.
Edit 3: Also could someone take a look at this image and tell me if it's really bad or acceptable? It's the data of my SSD but they don't tell me anything.. You can send the answer as a PM in order not to go off-topic here. Also I linked it instead of inserting the image here, didn't want to take up too much space with an image here since it's off-topic.
Edit 4: Wasn't the snapshot, issue is back again, at least with Spotify... Sigh. At least that is easily fixed by deleting the local cache, but it also tells me it's just a mater of time until another freeze happens.
Edit 5: Could it be that my SSD just suddenly stops responding? That would explain why the Cold Restore got stuck at 44.9% and it would explain the Windows freezes... I just don't know what to do now.. =(

 

Since installing TM v2 sometime in May I've noticed an error message that has come up two or three times; Volume C: cannot enumerate images 0 code 0.

I can mount the image that triggered the error message and chkdsk finds no faults, anyone have an idea what might cause the error message?

 

I uploaded the logs regarding that error to the support email address and was told that it is regarding the merging of the images and will be fixed in a new beta build.

 

Thanks, nice to know I'm not the only one with the error message.

 

Hi all,

For those that are testing and finding that their beta trial is running out, email us at info@ax64.com and we will provide you with a beta key.

Thanks for the discussion and testing guys.

We are working hard in the next build.

Best regards


Waj

 

Here's a quick question. My PC is busy downloading a large update from Steam (just over 7GB) and it's run across the hour so naturally TM trundled off to do its backup. What are the implications, if any, of having a file updating/being downloaded during a backup?

 

If it backs up while downloading, the restore point will have an incomplete update. I don't know if Steam will be corrupted or just resume, but it's best not to restore that specific snapshot.

 

Part of the download will be backed up. A restore to that point may cause Steam to re-download. Honestly though, a recovered system back to full operation is way more important than a Steam download that you can re-do. Or let Steam validate the game so it can re-download what is not right.

 

Thanks all. I'm really not concerned about a corrupt Steam download, but was curious if it could possibly screw up the tracking if the file was being modified as it was being backed up. I assumed it would be fine but I get paranoid about these things sometimes!

 

Any chance you could test and let us know the result?

 

Hmm, I'd like to but I'm kind of in a catch 22. I rely on this laptop for daily use so I'm a tad anxious about trying a full restore after reading the various issues in this thread. At the same time I'm fully aware of the stupidity of burying my head in the sand and just assuming that it'll work should I ever actually need it. I've only just got the thing back up to speed after needing to do a 'refresh' and reinstall everything, which is when I decided that TM would be a good idea.

I suppose I could make an image with something else before trying a restore.

 

Yes, always backup first or it might end in tears

 

A test would be nice but I expect the same thing would occur that would occur if you lost your Internet connection during a download,,,,you would either re-download,,,,or resume download when the connection was re-established. It is certain that the instalation of the downloaded files, not having the download complete successfully, would not proceed.

A more interesting question would be what would happen if the snap were created in the middle of an install.

Perhaps someone with a VM could test for this,,,,that would indeed be interesting.

 

The problem of course is that if you have auto snap on you would/could be doing just that,,,,taking a snap in the middle of an installation if the installation happened to be occurring at the top of the hour.

So if you were installing an OS update, or some such, then it could be rather problematic,,,,to say the least. What you would have to do is roll back to the previous snap and then copy any (more) recent files from the flawed snap (or even subsequent) to the restored to system state., and then reinstal the update,,,,,,assuming you knew what had happened. If you need to restore back a few days (or more) then its not likely that you would be aware of what was going on. All you would know is that you had a problem with the restored PC, which may not boot at all ---- the only solution in this case would be a cold restore to the previous snap.

Certainly seems to point out a possibly serious weakness with AX64/TM auto-snap, indeed, any auto snapshot program. So I think a test of this situation would be a good thing. Perhaps the installation would simply fail and it would undo itself (one could only hope so).

 

Here's an interesting one, unrelated to my question above.

I backup my laptop to a NAS over wifi. This morning my Internet speed was shocking so I did the old 'turn it off and on again' on my router, which happened to coincide with a backup that was underway. Obviously that backup failed and has left an AXTEMP file in the destination folder, which I expected would be merged or deleted at the next backup attempt. However, not only did it not attempt to cleanup this temp file (it's still very much there), it now seems to be doing a brand new baseline, essentially doubling the size of the backup folder.

Frustrating to say the least. I'd honestly expect a more graceful recovery from a failed attempt like this. At the very least I'd expect it to delete the failed attempt and just start a new incremental based on the last successful snapshot rather than starting again from scratch.

 

If you would like the right advice, then I will tell you.

Don't use AX64 as your primary backup method. Get something else.

Macrium Reflect is very simple to use and reliable. There are others that are reliable also.