RollBack has crashed!!!

Discussion in 'backup, imaging & disk mgmt' started by Overclocker, Mar 25, 2015.

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  1. Overclocker

    Overclocker Registered Member

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    So this morning I tried to boot up my pc which has rollback installed. It went to the subconsole and crashed giving me a blue screen of death. When windows booted up rollback wasn't installed and so i dont know what happened to my snapshots. I submitted a ticket with horizon data sys but haven't heard back. I haven't touched the computer but im worried the more i wait the less likely I will be able to retrieve me data.
     
  2. Kurtis Smejkal

    Kurtis Smejkal Registered Member

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    Kurtis from Horizon Data Sys.

    You're actually going to want to leave your computer as is, disconnect it from the internet, do nothing else. We want to reduce the number of potential processes that could bury your snapshots so far down that they're impossible to find.

    Please do email me with your Ticket ID, along with some contact info to confirm everything, and what I'll do is send you the Scavenger Tool. Do keep in mind with the Scavenger Tool, it is not guaranteed! In fact, some members on here will tell you it's impossible, but I can tell you with 100% certainty that there is a chance, we just need to play it safe.

    Let's hope for the best! :)

    Cheers,
     
  3. Overclocker

    Overclocker Registered Member

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    Well I'm not enthusiastic about this but let see what you guys can do. I emailed you my info.
     
  4. Overclocker

    Overclocker Registered Member

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    Thanks Kurtis, we were on the phone for like an hour and he walked me through the scavenger tool. It was great how he explained the process of the scavenger tool, because I was a little worried reading things on here and spiceworks. That said, we were able to recover all of my previous snapshots except for a handful of older ones. I was hoping to get those but as Kurtis explained those were the 1st to go. I have all of my recent snapshots though and they were the most important. Kurtis even gave me drive cloner version 6 to back up my snapshots. I haven't tested it out yet, but it was great that he is able to do that for me. Thanks again to Kurtis for all his help!!!!!!
     
  5. Masterblaster

    Masterblaster Registered Member

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    DC6 is VERY beta with many bugs reported and not fixed. If I were you, I wouldn't introduce another variable. RRX 10.2 is somewhat dangerous to use. It can corrupt your MBR making your computer un-bootable. Most image backup programs do not mess with the MBR and are safer because of this. Kurtis seems to be doing a good helping everyone but RRX is just what it is.
     
  6. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Overclocker... believe me I'm not trying to be a DoomSayer here but be careful with the files you appear to have saved. Rollback snapshots are based on the Parent/Child concept. You mentioned that your oldest snaps were unrecoverable... those are your oldest CHILDREN and the PARENTS of some of your newer snapshot data. If they've been compromised, there is a chance that the file content of some of your newer snap data will also be at risk.

    Tread lightly...
     
  7. pandlouk

    pandlouk Registered Member

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    Sorry masterblaster, but threads like this will not change the opinion of former horizondatasys customers (at least not mine).
    To summarize:
    - a customer of Horizon had a problem with RBRX.
    - the customer created a support ticket and haven't heard back.
    - the customer creates an account here and asks for help?
    - an Horizon employee responds in less than 2 hours.
    - the employee guides the customer through the phone.
    - problem solved....

    ...I guess Santa Clause really exists!!!

    Panagiotis
     
  8. Kurtis Smejkal

    Kurtis Smejkal Registered Member

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    Well this was no problem, and I'm happy that you were so patient with me. As I was tending to you even before my first coffee! lol


    That's great to hear, I understand there's a history with HDS and part of me wants to 'fix' that. That said, best I can do is just do the best job I can and let that speak for itself :)


    This gentleman (and with the amount of patience he showed today I don't hesitate calling him that) is a hardcore PC gamer, so his rig is set up with Steam, League of Legends, a few other clients. They store all of his info on the cloud, so in this particular case, even if some data was compromised, for him it's all on that wonderful cloud.


    I can pull off a red coat, hat, and beard. Do you need me for parties?
     
  9. pvsurfer

    pvsurfer Registered Member

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    Overclocker, congrats on the recovery! The success of the Scavenger Tool surprises me, even with Kurtis' tutorage, but it is very good news.

    Kurtis, now that the Scavenger Tool has recovered those snapshots how does Overclocker access the data contained therein (does the Scavenger Tool's recovery process result in data readable by Windows)?

    pv
     
    Last edited: Mar 26, 2015
  10. pandlouk

    pandlouk Registered Member

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  11. JoeBlack40

    JoeBlack40 Registered Member

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    That's why a backup image is A MUST on an external HD.For situations when you don't know for sure if your data can be recovered...or not.
     
  12. pvsurfer

    pvsurfer Registered Member

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    Of course the most important question is... Why are so many RBrx systems crashing? Until HDS truly understands and embraces the principals of Quality Assurance it seems that RBrx is an accident waiting to happen! ...and that's coming from a long-time (and current) user of RBrx.

    pv
     
  13. Kurtis Smejkal

    Kurtis Smejkal Registered Member

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    The Scavenger Tool is like a hail mary pass in Football. You should never trust it to work, but if it does, it's a miracle. Hate to say it, but it's no guarantee. I am discussing what we can do on our end to improve chances, but for now it's not as simple as deploying the tool, and recovering snapshots.

    What I've found, and I don't want this to come across as an accusation by any stretch, but some people don't quite tell us on the sales side or support the whole story in these situations. One guy had this issue, used the computer for 2-3 weeks, then filed a ticket, because he thought he would go to a forum, ask for a solution, meanwhile he's burying those snapshots with processes and programs. Then he submits a ticket, and tells us that this happened a day ago, and that he didn't do anything with the computer. Well, we deployed the tool, and the tool will tell us these things.

    In Overclocker's case, this customer was honest AND smart. He jotted down exact time, followed instructions, and it worked. I'm not going to say other people aren't, because I don't know their story but takeaway from this should be: Just tell us exactly like it is. If you've been using the computer for a few weeks after this has happened, chances are higher you'll win $1 Billion, and we're probably wasting time and effort on both sides trying to recover those snapshots.

    Hate to be the bearer of the reality of the situation, but it is what it is.

    Cheers,
     
  14. pandlouk

    pandlouk Registered Member

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    Kurtis as long as those apps do not write on the disk they will not modify it in any way. And recovery apps never write to the partition that needs to be recovered unless the user override their settings and does not take account their warning. But as a replied on the other thread:
    and if you want to debate with my above post, I'd like you to ask Andrew W. Shen to come aboard and to take it on a more technical level.

    Panagiotis
     
  15. pandlouk

    pandlouk Registered Member

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    As for what can be done by your end to improve chances of recovering files, I'll repeat what I told/wrote to Mr Swan back in 2007:
    either A) create a protected space (virtual drive) on the partition so that users put their important files in it; something that was implemented some months later on Drive machine.
    or B) make the snapshots visible as files to the actual file system (they can still remain hidden from inside the running OS virtual file table). And this would solve the partition corruption/lost files permanently. But Andrew replied to me that they do not want to do this because if they do they will open the system to attack vectors. (For me they did not want to implement it also, for not allowing the users to realise from a live OS the level of fragmentation that is happening on the snapshots. But since all new systems come with ssds the users couldn't care less about fragmentation these days).

    ps. for those that do not know, Andrew W. Shen is one of the founders of the technology and patent holders, of EAZ-FIX/Rollback-RX, and a person for whom I have great respect.

    Panagiotis
     
  16. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    Hi Panagiotis

    There is a possible third reason. They may not have know how.
     
  17. Masterblaster

    Masterblaster Registered Member

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    I hope your experiences are better than mine were. Good luck.
     
  18. bgoodman4

    bgoodman4 Registered Member

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    Good job Kurtis, unfortunately most of the folks who have had problems in the past did not have you to turn to. I have never heard of a HDS support person spending 2 hours on the phone to help someone through their problem before.
     
  19. pandlouk

    pandlouk Registered Member

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    Hi Pete,

    could be, but if my memory serves me right, Andrew had told me that ASUS had requested a similar (visible snapshots) modification and they delivered it.
    More or less, same as yours. But I never lost important data (I always put it in a non system partition).

    Panagiotis
     
  20. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    You know this is crazy. On the horizon website

    "Making IT Simple(for everyone)
    No matter what industry you’re in or where you are in the world... We all share a commonIT goal – how to quickly and easily recover from any IT catastrophe"

    And Windows updates trashes it. Fixing that should be number one priority, not just testing updates and posting safe ones on the website. To me this should me more important than anything else they are doing. They certainly aren't honoring that statement on the website.

    A few years ago I found a bug in ShadowProtect that on restore, if you deleted the volume, it deleted every volume on the system. Catastrophic. They confirmed the bug the next morning, and by the afternoon it was fixed. They didn't just say oh don't do that, they fixed.

    Isn't it time HDS stepped and fixed Rollback?
     
  21. Kurtis Smejkal

    Kurtis Smejkal Registered Member

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    The issue with this is that when we receive the update, we need to test it the same time everyone is getting it and a lot of users install that update during this time. We then put the suggestion on the forum as to whether or not we recommend you go through with the update. Our Forum does tell people whether we see any conflicts with a particular update, and a lot of people use that as a resource, others don't. I'm not too sure if you have it bookmarked but I recommend you do. I find it a good habit to do this with all my programs, even personally, I hold off on updates until I know they will work with my set up. It's kind of a pain sometimes, but I mean it's a recommended mindset for any program, not just HDS products.

    If you have a suggestion as to how we can protect the program from potentially harmful Windows Updates, I'm all ears! I apologize, I mean I really wish there was more we could do to be proactive about this, but it's our honest best effort.

    Cheers,
     
  22. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    Kurtis

    You are completely missing the point. HDS is putting forth a program that the websites states "how to easily recover from any IT castastrophe, and windows update can trash it. Either they need to fix it, or change the website, otherwise you are making a false claim.
     
  23. manolito

    manolito Registered Member

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    @Kurtis Smejkal

    Regarding the Scavenger tool, I do have version 20130930v102.iso from the HDS download folder. This is for Rollback v. 10.2. Can I use this version for the new home version of RBRx which is based on v. 10.3, or is there a newer Scavenger version for Rollback v. 10.3 ? And if there is, where can I download it?

    Cheers
    manolito
     
  24. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Mabolito... where might that be?
     
  25. Kurtis Smejkal

    Kurtis Smejkal Registered Member

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    It will work for 10.3, we haven't tested it on Home Edition, but if you were to ever test it for us I could certainly reward you with a license :)

    There is also a new scavenger tool, you'll have to email me at my work email, and I'll look into getting that for you.

    Cheers,
     
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