Introducing AX64 Time Machine - hybrid imaging/snapshot software

Using v2 Build #439 it should take about 3-4 sec. on an SSD, just a bit longer on an HDD.

 

As per my post a bit further up the page - assuming that one is restoring to a recent backup, I believe in the case of Win 7 imaging it hardly has to do any humptying at all. Again - if I understand it correctly - if one restores to the most recent incremental then it doesn't have to do ANY humptying, as the most recent incremental is sitting right inside the 'baseline'. I stand to be corrected..

 

I've never used the W7 indigenous solution available with the OS, but in glancing at a coupla tutorials available on-line, I see no way to take anything other than a full CLONE of the running OS... no incrementals, no differentials, no compression. It appears to be nothing more than a CLONE of the running OS partition (and others if you want to add them).

If that's true, all you are doing is selecting a FULL uncompressed image of the partition in question and restoring it. Definitely no "humptying"... but surely not an efficient save/restore either, just a bunch of clone images to choose from. I could be wrong, though... the tutorials may not be showing all the features.

 

I don't get it. I thought the AX64 site ordering page had been encrypted. It is only partially encrypted. Until full encryption is implemented I won't be sending my credit card info out

 

I think the partial encryption is due to certain images being sent over http instead of https, should be an easy fix I would think..

 

They stated they needed to fix that. In the meantime all that they safely offered was PayPal.

 

I just decided to try it (under W8... same app as W7). I stand corrected. It doesn't do a bunch of clones... it does only ONE CLONE, overwriting whatever was there before. Unless you save the previous image somewhere, all you're ever going to have is the LAST IMAGE.

 

There's a lot of misinformation on the net about this. As far as I can remember, if you:

A. Schedule it; and
B. Ensure that 'previous versions' is enabled on the backup drive

..then it will create a baseline followed by incrementals that are stored as shadow copies. Each time it creates a new incremental it first moves the no-longer current sectors out of the baseline and into a shadow copy. It then writes the new - current - sectors in their place (in the 'baseline'). Hence quick restores to recent incrementals, but presumably slower restores to old ones. Sounds like an ideal solution for image-based snapshot software to me.........

I could probably find a MS blog from 5 years ago with more detail - will have a look.

 

Rainwalker, when I get to the CHECKOUT page where you supply your relevant CC info prior to placing the order, communication is being managed through a HTTPS connection... isn't that pretty safe?

 

Odd - on my system I've found the opposite - it restores as fast as - or faster than - anything else I've tried. Probably about the same as a TM cold restore. The other recent thread "Comparing 20 Drive Imaging Software..." seems to have found the same as me. I wonder variables might be impacting results.

 

When I look at your referenced COMPARISON chart, it says the same as I found... no INCREMENTAL capability. The only thing it showed was that Windows Imaging was the fastest at restoring a FULL baseline, most likely due to the fact that there was no compression of the image (everyone else, 'cept DriveImage XML had appx. a 40% reduction in image size over Windows Imaging).

So... I guess if you have the space for uncompressed images, you can save lots of BASELINEs and restore them quicker than any other FULL restore, but not faster than most of the incremental restorers, especially for raw image sizes bigger than the sample they used at 11.2gB.

PS- I think this discussion should be taken elsewhere if we think it needs to be continued.

 

Yup..it is. Here with Firefox ESR it is only partially encrypted. All other sites I might use for ordering are working as expected.

 

I think you are probably correct. It is just something I don't see so just being cautious. If I wasn't I would not be a member of Wilders I just tried a different browser(I.E.) and when I clicked to send the info off, the page grayed and locked.......this is not going well. If I drank, I would need one.

 

As I was doing a backup first with TM, then Macrium, I was seeing that my SSD drive had the following used/free #s:

Partition 1: System Reserved NTFS Active 24.2 GB used, 100 GB Total
Partition 2: OS & Programs C: 150.0 GB used, 167.58 Total

That's tighter than I "think" is a good idea. So I looked at the folders on the C: drive and cleaned up the minimal temp folder data and emptied the recycle bin. Here's what the folders show:

Boot 0.4 GB
CWP 0.1 GB
Intel 0 GB
Program Files 10.6 GB
Program Files (x86) 12.6 GB
Program Data 3.7 GB
Temp 0 GB
Users 10.0 GB
Windows 21.8 GB
Total: 59.2 GB

What is causing the discrepancy between the Total above and what I get via the backup programs or by right clicking on the drive, selecting Properties to see the used/free info?

 

I thought that there is a pause and also a resume function for the snapshot in v2...at least that is what I assume the little symbols to the left of Auto On/Off switch are when the snapshot is in progress? Perhaps Waj could enlighten us?

Regards, Baldrick

 

No need to continue discussing Win 7 imaging as I've found the link:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/filecab/archive/2009/10/31/learn-more-about-system-image-backup.aspx

Quote:

"During the first backup, the backup engine scans the source drive and copies only blocks that contain data into a .vhd file stored on the target, creating a compact view of the source drive. The next time a system image is created, only new and changed data is written to the .vhd file, and old data on the same block is moved out of the VHD and into the shadow copy storage area. Volume Shadow Copy Service is used to compute the changed data between backups, as well as to handle the process of moving the old data out to the shadow copy area on the target. This approach makes the backup fast (since only changed blocks are backed up) and efficient (since data is stored in a compact manner). When restoring the image, blocks will be restored to their original locations on the source disk. If you want to restore from an older backup, the engine reads from the shadow copy area and restores the appropriate blocks."

My original post was very much on-topic, and I would hope that it would be considered as such - any subsequent questioning of my post was not my doing.

So back to the issue in hand:

Besides the ability to move around between snapshots, TM's main selling points are:

1. Quick snapshots
2. Quick restores

It does number 1 perfectly.

It fails miserably at number 2 unless you use it in very specific circumstances, e.g:

1. You happen to have installed it this morning; or
2. You turn off auto snapshot creation; or
3. You regularly merge snapshots manually; or
4. You regularly manually create a new baseline.

The average user is not going to be using the software in these circumstances and will hence experience noticeably slow warm (or hot) restore times within a short period of time after installing it.

In my experience a two month old chain leads to warm restores that take at least twice as long as a cold restore would, and perhaps ten times as long as when TM was first installed!

To me this is a fundamental issue with TM - though apparently not to many other people on this forum - I wonder how many people here actually use it as a typical user would - i.e. install it and forget it?

I'm very pleased to hear that TM are planning on implementing a solution to this issue, even if few others are concerned by it - especially since (as was the primary point of my original post) seemingly a simpler solution would be to allow a sufficiently high degree of control over snapshot/merging events (which hopefully they are planning on providing).

 

Selukwe, as Baldrick has mentioned, those (2) li'l symbols to the left of the Auto/Manual selector are exactly what you need. The symbol on the right is a PAUSE/RESUME and the one on the left is a CANCEL or STOP... they both work great.

 

Just got an error: Volume C: -Cannot enumerate images

Earlier today, thinking it a good idea, switched from auto to manual.

Anyone seen this?

 

Thanks so much Mr. Froggie the G. Do now understand. Only one question remains: What is a "Windows Distribution"? Googled for it, but found nothing pertinent. Am guessing I do have a W.D., since I was able successfully to create a start-up CD from the program. Because You said, I think, that if you don't have a W.D., then you can't. All best, and pls enjoy health.

 

When an OEM computer (Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc.) is purchased, years ago it used to come with a Windows CD/DVD (Windows Distribution) so that if you needed to rebuild your system for some reason, you could do so.

Over the past many years or so, OEMs have been putting RECOVERY partitions on their system disks and have given you a special F-key (or function) that does the recovery automatically from that special partition. These system purchasers most likely don't have that original Windows CD to rebuild with.

 

There is a pause and stop button, just have a look at the progress bar

We encourage the use of v2 as it has tons of bug fixes. Some users have reported the loss of bare metal restore capability which is going to be repaired in a subsequent version. Some users also report rescue media malfunction in v2. For those not restoring to a totally blank disk and not experiencing rescue media issues, then v2 should be more reliable then v1.

The aforementioned issues I mentioned will be fixed hopefully in the next build. Thanks!

 

Auto-update/notification to user a new version is available is a feature we'll be implementing soon.

 

Thanks !

 

"It fails miserably at number 2 unless you use it in very specific circumstances, e.g:

1. You happen to have installed it this morning; or
2. You turn off auto snapshot creation; or
3. You regularly merge snapshots manually; or
4. You regularly manually create a new baseline."

Taotoo, 2,3,4 is exactly how I use TM. Auto off, new back up every morning, merge oldest snapshot (I keep the last 5 days back up's) and new baseline every couple of weeks, worked for me for the last 12 months with no major problems. If hot restore fails, I do a cold restore. TM v1 on windows 7 64 bit.