Rollback RX or ?

Discussion in 'backup, imaging & disk mgmt' started by TheMozart, May 13, 2012.

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  1. TheMozart

    TheMozart Former Poster

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    Rollback RX the best for W7? Or something else? :blink:
     
  2. twl845

    twl845 Registered Member

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    I wasn't able to find a better product to do the job. :)
     
  3. Scott W

    Scott W Registered Member

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    The best what? - RB is a very convienient tool, but you shouldn't depend entirely on it.
     
  4. Baldrick

    Baldrick Registered Member

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    Agree with Scott...depends on what you are looking for it to do.

    I use it as take snapshot/rollback to snapshot software in case software I download, install & test is either defective, causes me an issue or I quickly decide that I do not want it on my system...and IMHO it is the best I have tried for that/suits the way I want to handle the requirement, etc.

    But you can achieve the same result with a number of of apps, ie, Returnil, Sandboxie, etc.
     
  5. TheMozart

    TheMozart Former Poster

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    It's a shame they don't offer it as freeware.
     
  6. TheMozart

    TheMozart Former Poster

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    So what should I depend on?
     
  7. TheMozart

    TheMozart Former Poster

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    My objective is to be able to restore my W7 as quickly and easily as possible if a program I installed messes up my system or I don't want to anymore and/or it left a load of mess behind.

    I use Paragon Imaging but its a long process. Want something faster.
     
    Last edited: May 13, 2012
  8. Scott W

    Scott W Registered Member

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    Mozart,

    RB would be the best solution for that objective (much of the time) - just don't let it lull you into ignoring your image backups! Speaking of which, what is the size of your Windows drive/partition?

    Scott
     
    Last edited: May 13, 2012
  9. TheMozart

    TheMozart Former Poster

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    Understood Scott. I rely on my Paragon COMPACT Edition imaging, but as you know it takes 30+ minutes to restore an image, so would be nice to be able to do a quick restore for minor things. I am currently using W7 system restore which seems to work, but it doesn't clean up \Programs folder etc.

    My C: is 200GB in total, but W7 is only taking up 35GB.
     
  10. Scott W

    Scott W Registered Member

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    That may be a problem insofar as imaging with RB is concerned. Disk imaging's forte is providing an exact backup of Windows, plus all related system and program files. While imaging also works for personal files (data, docs, photos, music, etc.), imho there are better backup solutions for those files.

    So I would advise you to reduce the size of C: to 60GB - 70GB depending on the size of your program files folder. Reallocate the space you free-up to a Data partition. Then move all of your personal files to that partition and change the data-location preferences in your programs accordingly. While I don't have any experience with Paragon, doing what I suggest should reduce your image backup/restore times (depending on the method you use to image your Windows-RB partition), and even more importantly it's a safer way to protect your data!

    Scott
     
    Last edited: May 13, 2012
  11. TheMozart

    TheMozart Former Poster

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    Forget it lol, I will just stick to using Paragon Compact Edition Imaging and keep using W7 Restore if I need to test a new program.

    KISS = Keep it simple St%%% :thumb: :)
     
  12. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    TheMozart,

    Do you mean your Win7 OS partition is 35 GB and your HD size is 200 GB? Or something else. Sorry to pin you down on this but people often call their HD a C: drive.
     
  13. TheMozart

    TheMozart Former Poster

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    My hard drive is 500GB and my C: is 200GB and 35GB on C: is being used.
     
  14. Scott W

    Scott W Registered Member

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    Whatever.... :rolleyes:
     
  15. twl845

    twl845 Registered Member

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    Periodically they put it on sale. I got it on Bitsdujour for $24. That's as close to free as it will get. They deserve to be supported. :)
     
  16. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Sounds good.

    But I agree with Scott. If you moved your data files to another partition your OS image creation/restore world be faster. That is KISS too.
     
  17. TheMozart

    TheMozart Former Poster

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    I don't understand what you mean though.. move what exactly and to where exactly and how? That's why I said forget it and KISS, because I didn't understand what Scott meant.

    And how does that help me if I want to restore my windows to an earlier state?
     
  18. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Restoring your Windows to an earlier state is no different. It just means you aren't including your videos, music, photos, downloaded apps, documents, etc in the image. Those files are in another partition and are backed up with that partition, usually a data backup rather than an image backup.

    To move the Windows User folders...

    I do this in all of our Win7 computers. It allows you to separate the OS from user data files.
     
  19. TheMozart

    TheMozart Former Poster

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    Ahh I do that anyway, I have all my personal data and photos and personal programs, e.g Portableapps Firefox, Thunderbird etc on a TrueCrypt travelers partition which is 10GB which I backup regularly.

    But windows itself still has a lot of programs I installed onto C: which I want to keep.

    So I still want a program that can restore windows in case of installing a poorly behaved program or a program which leaves behind a lot of junk.

    Can we relocate Programs Folder and the whole W7 Registry to D: for example?
     
  20. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    No, you can't do that but if you have installed apps, such as large games, that you would like to be in another partition, you can use a Junction Point to "move" the files to another partition. Is this of interest to you?

    The instructions in this web page are confusing.

    http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896768

    Let's say your folder is C:\Program Files\abc\games

    Move (not copy) the "games" folder to another partition. Let's say it is now E:\def\ghi\games

    Use this from a command prompt (junction.exe is in the folder where you are running the command prompt)

    junction.exe "C:\Program Files\abc\games" "E:\def\ghi\games" -s

    Remember the " "
     
  21. TheMozart

    TheMozart Former Poster

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    Thank you Brian, but that approach doesn't suit me.

    So still looking for a program.
     
  22. bgoodman4

    bgoodman4 Registered Member

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    Personally I like to have my entire drive (or as much as possible) protected by Rx. If I mess up a file I can generally go back and recover it, which you generally only can do with an image if you take a lot of images. Of course this depends on how you configure Rx but the time it takes to make a snapshot is a few seconds and the time to rollback to a previous snap is a simple reboot. In addition, if you do rollback, you can recover files that were created after the point rolled back to.

    What I believe Scott means about not relying only on Rx is that you really should make a point of drive imaging on a regular bases even if you have Rx running on your PC. For example if the drive dies all the data on it could well be lost. In this case Rx will be of no use to you while an image will get you back up and running (minus some recent files of course).

    Really, there is no substitute for Rx for ease of use, reliability, and speed. Its not prefect but then nothing is,,,,,but its close IMHO.

    I suggest you try the program for a while (image before installation for peace of mind) and decide if you like it. Odds are very high you will.

    I hope this helps.
     
  23. TheMozart

    TheMozart Former Poster

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    Thank you for your comments. :thumb:
     
  24. bgoodman4

    bgoodman4 Registered Member

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    Sorry to have been so long replying but I am on vacation is sunny Cal. You are most welcome, glad to be of help.
     
  25. aladdin

    aladdin Registered Member

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    That doesn't prelude the possibility of making two partitions, one small one for your "system drive" and one large one for your "games" and protect them both with Rollback Rx.

    The above scenario will make your regular imaging of "system drive" less time consuming and more efficient. It will also reduce the time while booting your system. Your "games" partition hardly will have any changes, therefore a rare imaging of this partition will enough.

    Best regards,

    KOR!

    P.S. Nice to know that you were in sunny California and enjoyed your vacation.
     
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