Drive Snapshot new system restore

mata7,

It is a great idea but there are failed restores reported in this thread.

 

I tested the option auotomatic restore on success. Got failures and BSOD when rebooting after start up. Once again repeated no automatic reboot, safe mode start up/normal start and this time without CHKDSK. I have now successfully restored 4 times...Would be interesting to hear Tom Ehlerts comments in the cases described in this topic...

 

So far v1.4 has automatically restored my WinXP partition successfully (on 3 different tries) upon reboot without any of these reported problems, so I'm presuming the problems are only Win7-related?

Btw, there's a 'March 5 release' available for download today (I'd give you the build # but I don't know where to find it)!

 

Took down the 5 march noinstall release...A lot of releases but no changelogs, strange...

 

The build # is 14557, so the same as the March 1 and February 26 release.

Btw, If you wish to know the build of Drivesnapshot, just point your mouse over the snapshot.exe file and it will give you the "file version" which corresponds to the build number.

 

It's been that way for new builds within a specific version for as long as I've been using DS (not good practice imho)!

 

Doing that doesn't work for me.

 

March 5th seems to have solved all my reboot issues!
As compared to the match 1st build, all restore options work flawlessly:
None auto, reboots on key, runs chkdsk, boots fine.
Auto on no error, finishes with no errors, reboots ok, no chkdsk.
Auto on errors, finishes with no errors, reboots ok, runs chkdsk.
Tested with VMware and Win7 64bits, will check physical system next.

 

new DS every day

 

Drive snapshot

FileVersion: 1.40.14557

Here is some info:

File information
================
File name: snapshot.exe
Display name: snapshot.exe
File size: 289,312 Bytes (283 KB)
Date created: 3/5/2010 1:45:33 PM
MD5: dac2f604023c21b9d48e166c7dd08c1e

File information
================
File name: snapshot.exe
Display name: snapshot.exe
File size: 288,800 Bytes (283 KB)
Date created: 2/26/2010 4:50:07 PM
MD5: d4f09ea7fb4fcaad432f5168b1f8c243

File information
================
File name: snapshot.exe
Display name: snapshot.exe
File size: 288,800 Bytes (283 KB)
Date created: 2/25/2010 6:53:08 AM
MD5: 7798bdfb788087148604db52b8bf88c3

Very interesting:

Same name and version but definitely different...

I have tried it but the lack of a real recovery disk makes it just a little expensive compared to other software for the same purpose.

What happens when the HD drive dies ?

rrrh1 (arch1)

 

EVERYTHING works perfectly for me; automatic restores, and the keyboard. I've been getting updates from Tom. Sweet!!

 

Then you are screwed, unless you had the foresight to "Create Disaster Recovery Diskette" (from the program's start menu links), or built a boot CD/USB with the boot diskette image, or made a BartPE CD/USB with Drive Snapshot on it.

 

Or rrh1 could simply download a free WinPE ISO such as UBCD4Win and burn a Boot CD from the ISO.

Then rrrh1 can just copy snapshot.exe to his backup drive and navigate to it (and run it) after first booting up with UBCD4Win.

 

Glad to hear that n8. Looks like Tom finally found and fixed DS' Win7 problem in the Mar 5 release.

 

yeah i know, i hope they fix it soon, btw how are you doing brian

 

mata7, I'm fine. I hope you still aren't making your wife do those multiple daily backups. I forgot, they are automated now.

All the best.

 

lol the wife still doing fine whit they automated backup, click and boom restore and backup thanks 2 you, actually she is complaining on why her computer don't have problem any more lol, take care

 

or, dL BartPE & build that, then go here --->

Code:

http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=4866

where Shirin has very, very, clearly laid out the procedure,
to setup an entry in XP's boot.ini file with the option for BartPE
to boot in a RAMdisk [ FAST !! 30 - 40 sec] at boot-time -
no disc necessary.

Seriously - what happens when you ask yourself,

"Self, why is it that Acron**, Para***, et. al., weigh in at many MB filesize,
whilst Drive Shapshot gets so much done as a standalone 281 KB .exe,
or about 2.41 MB installed "

I'm running XPsp3 Pro, using the new DS v.1.40.14557 -
have imaged/re-installed now over 25 times
using the re-image at boottime option -
trying my best in the likeness of old ErikAlbert to break it -
but every one has been a success.

I say Thanks again to the posts I studied -
especially by n8chavez & Aaron Here,
who kept insisting & outlining how dadgum easy it is
to operate DS from some other boot disk
than trying to build Tom's DS CD -

SO GET OVER IT, & GET ON WITH IT !!!!!

ps - with the reimage @ boottime option,
I've discontinued my need for FD-ISR

 

I'm glad you were helped. Lord knows I've been helped here plenty through the years. One thing I like about DS is the ability tom image drives via .bat files and the context menu. If you'd like help with that just let me know.

 

Just to update: While Acronis True Image does not have an option for VSS, their business products do. In particular, Acronis Backup and Restore v10 Workstation includes that option, but it's more expensive.

 

I uninstalled Acronis True Image from my main computer and it had no effect on Drive Snapshots performance. It's still super fast in VSS mode, and 2-3x slower in default mode.

 

Hate to ask this here, but not sure where else - when you guys image/restore using DS and Windows 7, do you include the system partition each time, too? Or can I just back up the main C: partition itself? Really like this software just unsure about this partition in Windows 7.

Thanks guys.

 

Are you asking about the "System Reserved" partition? If so, then, I do not restore that 100 mb partition every time. I don't think there's a need to. I do think it's a good idea to have an image of that partition on hand just in case, but I can't see where you need to restore it every time. There might be a case where, if your drive gets erased or you get a new drive, that partition might not exist in the first place. If that ever happens boot into PE and create a 100 mb partition and then restore the image. In short, good to have but not necessary to restore every time.

 

Thanks n8chavez

Perfect answer - many thanks indeed

 

Update2: I installed Acronis Backup and Restore v10 and made several backups with the VSS mode chosen, but they weren't any faster than in Acronis default mode. As of right now, Drive Snapshot is twice as fast on three separate laptops as any other backup software I've tried (and I've tried them all). This does not apply to offline backups i.e. from WinPE-based cd/usb builds.