Introducing AX64 Time Machine - hybrid imaging/snapshot software

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

  1. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    I also sent my request there.

    On the boot menu disappearing, for now don't use the gui in windows, just reboot and select Time Machine from the boot menu. It will be there after the restore.

    Pete
     
  2. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    This is an EXCELLENT suggestion from Pete for those doing lots of WARM restores. Since the v2 BETA bug was discovered that all but HOT restores actually do a WARM restore (no COLDs), rather than hassle with restoring the disappearing LOCAL BOOT menu each time you WARM restore, might as well just use the LOCAL BOOT (or CD/DVD/UFD) recovery media to do the same.

    Just remember... if the Devs do this right, the next BETA will NOT be doing these "unusual" things to us. Hopefully, WARM will be WARM, COLD will really be COLD (Devs... restore everything, please :ouch:), and the LOCAL BOOT media will not disappear after a WARM restore.
     
  3. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Pete, can you qualify your comments above a bit? What do you mean by the fact that WARM "can be slow"... in comparison to the same restore done a different way? Also, the test across the defrag... was this WARM and can you say, comparatively, was it long in relation to a COLD type restore?

    Just trying to get a feel for your experiences here...
     
  4. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    Hi Froggie

    Okay. On the warm restore across the defrag. While technically it was working after 10 minutes it had only done 8%. I let it go to 9% which took slightly over a minute. At the point I killed it, booted to the recovery CD and did a "cold" restore. That took about 12-13 minutes, which isn't unreasonable. Also when I did the cold restores to and from the image from last september, both way's the "cold" restores took slightly over 15 minutes. Again slow but not totally unreasonable.

    By comparison I've never had a restore in Macrium take over 8 minutes. Point it time doesn't matter.

    Pete

    Oh one other point. Neither Macrium nor IFW, saw any difference going back and forth over the defrag.
     
  5. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Mornin'!
    I hope I'm missing something here:confused:

    If you're telling me they saw no image differences between BEFORE and AFTER the defrag, I'd have to say they're FILE imaging rather than SURFACE imaging (I'm probably misunderstanding what you said...). Defrags almost ALWAYS change the surface of the volume, even if done fairly recently.
     
  6. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    What I meant was in terns of restore/restore speed, or results. Sorry bout that.

    Pete
     
  7. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    <Whew!> Had me scared there for a minute... :doubt:
     
  8. twl845

    twl845 Registered Member

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    Hi All, I am using v1.1.4.36, and attempted a cold restore. I had the recovery CD in the tray and clicked enter to bring up the GUI. The GUI came up 3 across the top half of the screen and 3 across the bottom of the screen and the whole mess quivered. I couldn't fix it. I remember the same thing happening way back in the early days of AX64, and was told here what I had to do so that didn't happen, but I can't remember the procedure to make it work right now. Does anyone remember? I had to restore with Macrium Reflect today.
     
  9. Stode

    Stode Registered Member

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    Is the data corruption after the restores yet fixed?
    Is there CRC check/verify for the backed up/restored data yet?
     
  10. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Not sure what you're referring to here... I have seen no such "corruption." If you're talking about the pre-BOOT defrag done by Perfect Disk... no.
    Nope... not yet. Haven't heard about any such addition at this stage.
     
  11. Stode

    Stode Registered Member

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    I'm referring to the messed up files and programs behaving abnormally after doing a restore with this software.
    Lots of people have said the same,if you go thru this topic messages.[/QUOTE]
     
  12. bgoodman4

    bgoodman4 Registered Member

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    No, lots of people have not reported this. I had an issue and it was due, I believe, to an anti-virus scan taking place during the hot restore. I think something became corrupted during the scan leading to the file and program anomalies. I have been following this thread from the beginning and I am pretty sure that I am the only one who has had anything of the kind happen.
     
  13. manolito

    manolito Registered Member

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    Just had some time to give the current V2 Beta a spin on a Win7 installation. Very basic installation (win7 32bit), just the main partition C: and the reserved system partition created by the Win7 installer.

    What I was trying to find out was if there is a way to force a true cold restore with the V2 Beta. After creating a complete new baseline image and making a bootable recovery USB stick I booted my system with a live CD and used a hex editor to completely wipe sector 0 of my HDD (MBR and partition table).

    I then booted into the TM recovery environment using the USB stick and started a restore of the image I had just created. Sure enough it was a true cold restore, but I could not boot into Windows. Using the Win7 installation CD to repair booting did not help at all.

    It turned out that the reserved system partition had not even been backed up by the beta version, so of course there was no way to restore it via cold restore.

    Looks like the new devs did break cold restore thoroughly. After a catastrophic HDD failure there is no way to restore a working Win7 installation with the current beta. AX64 V1 up to the latest beta could do this perfectly.


    Disappointed
    manolito
     
  14. puff-m-d

    puff-m-d Registered Member

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    Hello manolito,

    When you did the restore, did you go into advanced options and select to restore the mbr?
     

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  15. Cruise

    Cruise Registered Member

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    I recently uninstalled AX64 1.4124 because it did not perform reliable hot-restores consistently (Win7) and that defeated the main reason I was using it. As I'm still intrigued with image-backup with snapshot capability, I'm wondering if any of you find AX64 hot-restores to be totally reliable? ...and if so, exactly which version are you using?

    Cruise
     
    Last edited: Jun 14, 2014
  16. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    My best results to date are Time Machine warm restores.

    Pete
     
  17. Cruise

    Cruise Registered Member

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    Hi Pete,

    Warm restores worked for me (most of the time), but they took too long. I'd go back to AX64-TM only if hot restores were dependable!

    Cruise
     
    Last edited: Jun 14, 2014
  18. twl845

    twl845 Registered Member

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    I guess no body remembers the remedy for the multiple quivering GUI during a restore from a recovery CD. I seem to remember doing the directions in a slightly different order to fix it, but I can't remember.
     
  19. manolito

    manolito Registered Member

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    Hi Kent,

    after wiping out sector 0 of the HDD you don't get any advanced options. You get a message that the original partition does not exist any more, and you get a choice which drive you want to restore to (which is the correct behavior). But exploring the backup folder clearly shows that there is only one image for the C: drive, while V1 backups would have two images, one for the C: drive and another one for the reserved system partition.


    Cheers
    manolito
     
  20. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    I just wiped out an entire c: drive on my virtual machine. Format and overwrite with zero's. Image had been with AX64. I booted the V2 TM Recovery Cd. Showed the advanced options, checked the mbr option and it restored perfectly.

    Pete
     
  21. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Cruise, the problem with HOT restores is not really version dependent in my estimation, it's system configuration dependent. The HOT restore mechanism hasn't changed in quite a while (I believe just before ofishul release). The whole thing depends on what the system is trying to do while the HOT restore is operational. The Devs tried to do the HOT restore at the highest priority available to tasks under Windows (that's why the mouse is frozen), but found out some other things Windows does (most likely as a proxy for other tasks on your system) affects that process. They came to the conclusion that you just can't guarantee that a HOT restore won't hang. That's why they got away from the LIVE WIndows system and went to an external, fully controlled PE/RE environment... aka WARM restore.

    Some of us have almost no HOT restore problems (I've had 3 from the beginning of ALPHA testing to v1.3.0.7 release... none since), others have a smattering and even others have a lot. I don't think it's possible to characterize any given version, after the 1st release to the public, as being any worse than any other. The changes since then have been in process speed and mainly concerning W8/W8.1 issues.

    I'm currently testing with v1.4.1.48 and the v2 BETA release, both with W7x86sp1 and W8.1x64upd1... and through Pete's experience, I've been using Macrium Pro as my goto fixerupper, just in case.. :)
     
    Last edited: Jun 14, 2014
  22. puff-m-d

    puff-m-d Registered Member

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    Hello manolito,

    Thanks for that bit of information. I have not tried your scenario myself personally so I had just assumed that you would still have the advanced options on a restore in that case. One would think if since there are no advanced options that the C partition along with the SRP, track 0, and MBR would be fully restored in this scenario. I had also assumed the SRP was indeed being imaged. It would be nice to have a definitive answer from the TM guys about what exactly is happening in this particular case...
     
  23. puff-m-d

    puff-m-d Registered Member

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    Hello Pete,

    It is interesting in your case that you do have the advanced options while manolito does not. Both scenarios obviously wiped out track 0 so the question would be why different results?
     
  24. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    My guess... Pete's system configuration doesn't use a SRP, it only has a system partition (C:\) and is MBR-based.
     
  25. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    You are correct. My VM doesn't have SRP. On my desktops the SRP is actually there but as an unallocated unformatted 100mb partition. My C drive has all the boot stuff. I when I do a restore in either case I have the advanced option. I leave the hidden partition check but nothing happens with it. Also I only use the advanced options with the recovery CD, not with warm restores.

    Pete
     
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