FarStone RestoreIT 2014

Discussion in 'backup, imaging & disk mgmt' started by DVD+R, Dec 5, 2014.

  1. DVD+R

    DVD+R Registered Member

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    I'm trying this thing out, as Rollback rx just blew up, and on rebooting My PC The your computer needs to be repaired screen came up, and basically I had to do an image restore from an external drive. So anyway, on looking at Farstone's website, apparently this thing has a Hotkey restore on boot up ? but I'm damned if I can find which key> or even If it's actually working right>? on Windows 8.1
     
  2. MarcP

    MarcP Registered Member

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    RestoreIT creates very large buffer files at the root of your C: drive. If you also use an imaging program to do differentials or incrementals, the resulting image will always be big and take a while because of those buffer files.
     
  3. manolito

    manolito Registered Member

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    Most imaging software lets you exclude files by their extension, so it is possible to exclude the RestoreIt buffer files from the backup.

    Cheers
    manolito
     
  4. MarcP

    MarcP Registered Member

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    It remains to be tested when, upon a restore, this will break RestoreIT's boot console and therefore render your system unbootable.
     
  5. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    They do? Please name a couple. I know Shadowprotect,Macrium and IFW don't.
     
  6. manolito

    manolito Registered Member

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    Acronis True Image and Paragon Backup & Recovery Free sure do...

    @ MarcP
    The RestoreIT boot console is integrated into the BCD store, the MBR is not altered. Any imaging software can backup and restore this.


    Cheers
    manolito
     
  7. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    So let me be sure I understand. I can take an image(as opposed to file and folder backup) exclude a folder, so then if I do an image restore, that folder will be gone?
     
  8. manolito

    manolito Registered Member

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    No, you cannot exclude folders, but you can specify file extensions for excluding. All files with these extensions will not be backed up in an image based backup (I am not talking about a files and folders based backup). The RestoreIT buffer files all have the same extension, so it is easy to exclude them. Of course this means that after restoring from such a backup all RestoreIT snapshots will be gone.

    Cheers
    manolito
     
  9. Acadia

    Acadia Registered Member

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    Ooooo, not sure that I like that. A mirror image should be exactly that, an exact mirror. The only change that I accept is excluding empty space. If you restore an image missing certain things you could have a real mess on your hands, for example, other programs depending upon those excluded thingies.
    Acadia
     
  10. manolito

    manolito Registered Member

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    So you also think that the swap file and the hibernation file should never be excluded from an image backup? If a user decides to exclude files by their extension, it certainly helps if he knows what he is doing. But I really cannot see why I should not exclude files with extensions like .bak, .tmp, .~ from my image backups.


    Cheers
    manolito
     
  11. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    Apps like Macrium and Shadowprotect include place holders for the swap file, and I suspect the hibernation file. But the aren't actually in the image. As to the others, clean up first and then image.
     
  12. Acadia

    Acadia Registered Member

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    Sorry about that, always learning ... Acadia
     
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