Is using PE as a restore environment commercially viable?

Holy smoke. I jsut found out that Shadowprotect actually uses VistaPE for the restore environment -- that pretty much removes drive/driver issues -- restores can work on anything that the program can back up under windows.

I'm not recommending the product -- I'm only bringing it up because I find it interesting and encouraging that an image-backup maker is going the PE route rather than Linux like ATI and Paragon.

 

Is ShadowProtect the one where the user interface looks just like True Image, almost down to the artwork?

 

You might be thinking of Paragon. I think ShadowProtect has a much simpler interface. I haven't tried it yet. I jsut found the PE aspect encoruaging since 90% of ATI's probs (before the dreaded version 11 was unleashed) was due tothe linux restore environment. I know Paragon has similar probs with the Linux restore environment although not on all the same hardware set ups as ATI. If I have time I'll pick up a copy of ShadowProtect and try it out this weekend to see what it is like -- there's a free trial if y ou look in the forums downloads section but the purchase is a bit pricey at $96 for the product with 1 year of maintenance support.

 

SP didn't have a prob with my Intel RAID as ATI 11 does but it didn't see the drive on my sata card with a SilicanImage chip. However, after sp boots, you can select load drivers, point to the inf file and it will load the driver on the fly. I did this and did a backup from INtel RAID to the SI drive and a then a restore with no prob.

The diff between this and using a VistaPE disk you make yourself is that you can load drivers after booting from the CD; you don't have to have the drivers built into the iso used to make the VistaPE disk. And the sp boot disk, which uses Vista, doesn'thave to be built, it comes with the program. Acronis could take a good lessen from this approach. The VistaPE boot disk may be why sp costs more but it's a terribly convenient feature.

 

You can load drivers after you've booted into a normal VistaPE build. I did this when I was trying to figure out the drivers to use for my eSATA SiI3132 card. I just installed them from the Device Manager (there may be other ways).

Personally, I like to be able to add whatever I want to the build. However, if Acronis did switch to a VistaPE type CD, the load driver option would be nice. For those that can't add drivers, you'd still be left with Acronis having to add them and releasing an updated ISO (just as with Linux). On the negative side, Acronis would probably use the regular "crippled" versions (no mounting, etc.) in their build. You also probably wouldn't get an ISO that included both TI and DD (if you had both). You'd probably end up paying double for each program and they'd be on separate CDs.

 

GHOST 14 uses the VISTA PE also. They also provide a base CD containing a vanilla set of drivers. One has the ability to load the base CD under windows and have ghost search your system drivers and add them to a burnable image. How cool is that?
By the way, this isn't your Grandfathers ghost. It beat Acronis, Paragon and Shadow Protect in my personal time trials.

 

Nice Thread I would almost think you opened it because mine was there earlier and was also a Hit! Nice try...

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=205014

 

They don't have to be in the iso. You can also put drivers into a C:\Drivers folder and VistaPE picks them up as it boots.

 

btw just to say paragon has three different recovery cd's
linux
bartpe
vistape

i have the linux cd and the vistape cd

with the vistape you can load drivers from the main menu using the load drives button.
i also have a windowspe paragon recovery cd which i use for my older pc.

 

How cool is that ? indeed very cool, to make a dedicated ISO upon your specific system requirements on the fly,very interesting !!

 

can you backup with the vistape ghost recovery cd or just restore?

 

AFAIK you can only make a systembackup from the recovery environment CD !!

 

erm dont you mean the other way round lol?
otherwise it doesnt make sence.

 

Backup/restore is done with recovery CD(only option),here Ghost differ with SP in that SP can backup the system while in windows.

 

ghost 14 can backup while in windows and so can SP. they both have the option of doing incremental images upo to every 15mins if you wish to.

with ghost 12 the recovery cd could only restore but not backup i was wondering if the ghost 14 recovery cd could backup and restore

 

Sorry Iodore but its not possible to backup while in windows with Ghost 14.

 

are you sure?
you could with ghost 12 and it has the same interface.
very odd.

 

Folks,
All Symantec backup/restore programs [Ghost (all versions since eight), Backup Exec System Restore (BESR)] backup only from windows. The CD version will RESTORE ONLY.

BESR has the 'restore to different hardware feature'. Symantec calls it 'Restore Anywhere'.

I used to think that backups should only be made from outside of windows. I have changed that philosophy since I have conducted extensive testing and found 100% accuracy with BESR.

I've been using backup/restore programs since Ghost first appeared. Gave up when Symantec screwed it all up. I changed to Acronis when it actually worked and switched to Paragon when it stopped working. Paragon has made a fatal error in my opinion by forsaking the user forum. Tried ShadowProtect and gave up because of their activation/registration policies. So I've come full circle. I think Symantec finally got it right.
Ken