Introducing AX64 Time Machine - hybrid imaging/snapshot software

Hi,

I have a suggestion for selecting the destination drive. Currently it seems to be locked on K:\AXTM if K: is the destination drive. If I use the same portable HDD K to backup another machine, bot sets of backup will reside in the same dir, so I would like to be able to select not only destination drive but also the folder.

What do you think ?

 

Also I'd like to add that I am very impressed so far by this software. Really easy to use, perfect for beginners. If the recovery media (not tested yet) and the restore capability are as described here, it's a real gem.

 

Hi MerleOne,
check here
http://feedback.ax64.com/forums/206...652-choose-folder-to-store-backup-or-snapshot

It is.

Panagiotis

 

Hi MerleOne,

I'm happy to hear that you like the software, thank you.

You are right, and custom folder feature has been requested a number of times, so we are planning to implement it. However with current version you can backup several machines to the same folder just fine - Backup Browser will neatly display them separately in a collapsible panels.
The main reason for a fixed output folder is to free the user from selecting the backup files during backup or restore operations - now the program detects them automatically.

Please visit http://feedback.ax64.com for a complete list of ideas submitted by the users. If you enter "folder" in the box there you'll see the corresponding idea that already has 25 votes at this moment. You might want to vote for it too - I'll be paying attention to the number of votes when planning the priorities.

Isso


EDIT: Panagiotis, great timing Thank you for your help!

 

Thanks to you both, it's just that it is a bit confusing to know where to post suggestions, here or on AX64 forum. Now I know...

 

Hello,

Are you still going to release public betas here on the forums or through your website? Just curious as lots of us here are mildly addicted to beta testing ... Besides the fact it is the least we can continue to do for the free/discounted licenses that you so graciously supplied us...

 

Hi Kent,

I'll release betas just as before - upload them to the website and post the link here. Nice logo You are now official AX64 representative

Isso

 

Hi Isso,

It was the least I could do to help repay your generosity (along with a post to my Facebook wall ).

 

Thank you Kent, I really appreciate it. It's actually me who tried to repay the help provided by you and other beta-testers

Isso

 

Isso, you need to do something about the cracks for it that are circulating around the Internet.

 

I disagree, at least for now...
Ax64 is just released and needs to be more known to the public.
Crack, patches and keygens help to attract more users that cannot afford or will not pay for a program. And funny enough, some of them become the most vocal promoters for that program. Take for example wilderssecurity forums and Acronis, RollbackRX, DriveSnapshot, Shadow Defender, Image for Windows... All the above programs became popular when keygens were released for them.

By the way if a developer of an imaging program wants to kill permanently cracks,patches and keygens for his app, he can do it very easily without the need of online activations/periodic checks.
One example is a combination of a personal key and a personal certificate file for each customer:
personal Key = unlocks the program (the part that can be easily cracked)
personal (per user) certificate (or part of the certificate) -> gets injected in the snapshot archives
For restoring the program will need the key + the certificate + image with the certification injected in it.
Combine the above with two different download files 1 trial/demo (that misses the activation/verification code) and 1 full version downloaded only by registered customers and every crack is effectively killed.

ps. My personal view is that if Isso goes that route of hunting down patches/cracks or keygens, at this moment of a very new product he will be... how to put it... lets just say "nsane".

Panagiotis

 

I couldn't disagree more. Stealing is stealing. No matter what ribben you put on it, it is stealing. There is no justification for it. You are really reaching when you put a positive spin on it.

 

I do not justify anything.
I'm only saying that I would prefer to allow a program of mine to be pirated and used by millions (and those would attract dozens of thousand of customers, plus some of them will get converted to paid customers) than not, and used only by a handful of hundreds or thousands. Like it or not it is free publicity.
The programs that "died" prematurely are those that were impossible to crack, and their user base was small, and those that were extremely easy to crack and did not offer new features and their updates were only a response to cracks patches and keygens.
Nothing in this world is either black or white; there are variations of gray and various combinations of colors in the visible spectrum.

Bottom-line its up to the discretion of each developer how he wants to react to the piracy of his own program and walking the fine line between stopping piracy and not angering his legit customers by excessive anti-piracy measures.
Personally I'll never again pay for a program that uses only online activations. Too many times I have seen programs get abandoned and cannot use them anymore because the activation server is dead.

Panagiotis

 

Interesting looking application, is anyone using this along with another imaging app such as Macrium Reflect and LV such as Shadow Defender? Any issues in doing so?

 

Hi LoneWolf,

Thank you for your interest. Please check the KB articles on compatibility.

Basically no problems with Macrium Reflect, some considerations for ShadowDefender.

Isso

 

Morning LoneWolf! There's nothing to keep this app from running with other imaging apps other than unecesary redundancy, perhaps. Once AXTM receives its scheduling options (forthcoming releases), the only difference between it and some other imaging apps would be INCREMENTAL vs INCREMENTAL/DIFFERENTIAL. The big plus is the built-in snapshot capability, creating the "time machine" aspect of the product.

There have been some issues with older versions of Acronis True Image, but some of those issues have existed with other apps as well due to ATM's inability to clean up after itself when uninstalled.

With sandbox apps like SD, there are some issues with trying to make portions of the sandbox permanent following the shutdown of the sandbox. Why? 'Cause AXTM tracks volume changes and that tracking file is also being sandboxed. If files are made permanent out of the sandbox, then the tracking file and those files are no longer in sync. Most sandbox apps work well with AXTM as long as you just enter and exit the sandbox without any special file saving. I use AXTM's snapshot capability to return to previous system states rather than use a sandbox... same effect, just slightly slower.

EDIT: Wow! Isso... what are you doing up this early on a Saturday?

 

Isso, thank you, I'll give AX64 a try in the near future and see how it goes.

 

TheRollbackFrog, appreciate your input and help, thanks.

 

Zero3K,

I don't care about the cracks, Panagiotis is absolutely right. In fact - a person who can afford purchasing a license will normally have enough valuable data on his PC to never even try to run cracks (because a great deal of them contain malware). And those who do run cracks don't fall into potential customers category, so that's absolutely fine with me.

I can give you some interesting information about the crack though. It apparently originated on this forum thread.

World is too small - I can see some of the beta-testers there.
The crack quickly spread around the world - I can see it on hundreds of websites. The traffic on our website multiplied at least twice. Of course, no extra orders, but still it should give some extra visibility.

Isso

EDIT: Froggie, see I'm conducting investigation
Another edit: removing the paragraph with forum members names, I don't really want to point fingers.

 

That's fine then. At least its getting more publicity, which should help drive up sales.

 

Panagiotis,

Regarding your protection scheme - very interesting, but what if the crackers just strip the part of the code from the program that checks the certificate?

Or they could buy one full version and distribute it with embedded certificates. What am I missing?

Isso

 

Hi all,

I have a strange issue with the Time Machine Recovery Media (TMRM). Here is what I have done :

1. I have created a TMRM as a bootable CD on the PC on which AX64 is installed, which runs XP Pro SP3.
2. I booted another XP Home PC with the CD, the Image browser launches just fine, so no issue there.
3. Then I created a bootable USB flashkey as TMRM, but then it won't boot at all on the second PC, the screen just stays back with a flashing dash at the upper left corner when I select boot from USB in the bios start menu.
4. I created a "bootable" .iso file, still with AX64, and, using Flashboot, I created a bootable flashkey that emulates the bootable CD-ROM. At boot, it says I have to chose the FF entry in the upcoming menu, but the menu has 4 items, none of them starts with FF, it fails with every choice.
5. I used another imaging program (Avanced Image Protector) that also create bootable iso files, and using the same flashkey + flashboot again, it boots just fine the second PC (a WinPE version), so the flashkey is not to blame

It seems to be there might be an issue with the flashkey version of the recovery media.

Thanks for your help,

 

I agree with this for the most part, but I certainly understand Masterblaster's position. Imho when members of a forthright security forum (such as Wilders) are found to be participants on crack-sites, they should be banned from the honest security forum. Otherwise we are condoning their actions!

Cruise

 

I just cant wait for gpt support! I am honestly half tempted to do an mbr reinstall..

 

Masterblaster, Cruise,

You are right, it's a stealing, but on the other hand it always existed and will exist. I suggest to not pay too much attention to it.

For banning - I think it'd be too harsh. Those guys contributed to the development with suggestions, helped with beta-testing, so overall I'm not negative to them just because they participate in that forum.

Isso