Introducing AX64 Time Machine - hybrid imaging/snapshot software

Discussion in 'backup, imaging & disk mgmt' started by Isso, Jan 18, 2013.

  1. BladeRunner

    BladeRunner Registered Member

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    Whew! Thanks for saving me Pandlouk and Peter. You guys are genus.
     
  2. EASTER

    EASTER Registered Member

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    For those of us who are getting our feet wet for the first time with Windows 8 the timing of this program release couldn't have come at a better moment.
    As a staunch FD-ISR loyal on most all my XP units and having completely hop scotched beyond Windows 7 for Windows 8, and having no interest in RBx whatsoever, it's well worth it to be able to once again enjoy the freedom of snapshots as well as recovery images to turn to either for simple convenience or when faced with some unexpected issue.

    Regards Easter
     
  3. BladeRunner

    BladeRunner Registered Member

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    Hi Easter,

    It was your signature that got me interested in 'AX64'. I know FD-ISR was one of yours favorite software. I think I'm going to follow you...since I bought a new portable 1 terabyte hard drive, I want to have recovery and snapshots outside the laptop in-case it wouldn't boot up or as you said 'faced with some unexpected issue'.
    Arr! It's so hard to let go FD-ISR. I'm going to take it out of the laptop and try
    AX64. Got to move on. Thanks Easter!.
     
  4. atomomega

    atomomega Registered Member

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    Hi Isso,

    I'm puzzled yet sure about the issue I reported to you a while back. Couple of days ago I reformatted my mom's PC and today I barely finished installing the software she uses. This time, I included AX64, rebooted, all fine. Made some tweaks, took 2nd backup, rebooted, got her Outlook setup, I was done for today so I wanted to shutdown but again got stuck at the 'Windows is shutting down' blue screen.

    Let me say this is the third different XP Pro system where I do the same thing (reformat/install AX64) and face the same issue (shutdown hangs).

    Please let me know if there's anything you need from my systems (perhaps the logs?) to try to figure this out. Let me add that prior to installing AX64 I install Macrium Reflect Free and always take a partition image first.

    This, I think, is a serious issue (I'm sorry to say I don't think is my hardware, since it's affecting three different PC's) because it causes AX64 to always take long/big backups since it detects that my system was shutdown improperly, thus, defeating the major advantage of AX64.

    Let me know. ;)
     
  5. bgoodman4

    bgoodman4 Registered Member

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    Well, I must say I am very confused. Today I did another session of audio editing and there was no slowdowns and no large snaps. Everything is the same as previously so I have no idea why today is different (can it be something residual from the larger snaps that were created when the auto defrag was on?). Also, I see that some of the very large snaps have disappeared. There was an 18 gig, an 11 gig, and a 17 gig snap in addition to the base snap of 28 gig and now all but the base and the 19 gig snap have disappeared. Very strange but I must say I am much happier today than I was yesterday. I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

    EDIT: well, its now tomorrow and the news is not good. Merges are slowing the PC down to a crawl again. Perhaps its because of the 1 remaining excessively large non-baseline snap which is 19 gigs in size. It is this snap that is undergoing the merge and it takes in the vicinity of 1/2 hour to complete. Regardless if merges are going to so dramatically slow the PC down AX64 will not be able to be running when I am working. I guess I will have to disable hourly backup until some solution is provided.
     
    Last edited: Jun 9, 2013
  6. pandlouk

    pandlouk Registered Member

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    You are welcome.

    For being entirely correct FD-ISR and AX64 can coexist but you'll have to exclude the monitoring file of AX64 from the FD-ISR snapshots and all the FD-ISR snapshots must have AX64 installed in them (so when you move from one snapshot to another the monitoring will continue). The problem is that the name of that file is randomly generated and this restricts/eliminates FD-ISR's ability to have completely different snapshots like XP,7,8 in the same partition.

    If you use only one OS, install first FD-ISR then AX64(and configure it), then create a FD-ISR snapshot or archive. Check FD-ISR logs and add that file that fails to copy, to the FD-ISR exclusion list and update you FD-ISR snapshot. After that everything should work fine.

    Panagiotis
     
    Last edited: Jun 9, 2013
  7. Acadia

    Acadia Registered Member

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    Yup, and this is why I am so hopeful for this AX64 thingie, something to replace FD-ISR. It is only because of pandlouk that I have been able to use FD-ISR on my last two Win7 systems. But my next system will need something different. Doing pandlouk's hack is a bit too hair raising for an inept like me o_O , yes it worked twice but I'm too old for that much excitement :eek: . Even though AX64 is not quite as flexible as FD-ISR it will become an excellent replacement if its development continues as demonstrated in this thread. :cool:

    Acadia
     
  8. EASTER

    EASTER Registered Member

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    Hi Acadia

    You already know all too well the masterful virtue that we.enjoyed with our beloved FD-ISR and the miracle working capabilities of it in widely expanding the range of windows in a most unique and safe way that transcended anything of the like before or since so I'm with you all the way on the power of Leapfrog's now legendary ISR.

    AX64 does seem to exhibit somewhat similar characteristics to a good degree that makes it well worth both the investment and attention to follow it's progress along it's continued development.

    As i recall FD-ISR was also stupid simple in the absolute amazing abilities that it afforded it's users. AX64 appears equally on that same track of complete customer satisfaction as well as reliable productivity features now, and even more yet to be realized.

    Regards Easter
     
  9. twl845

    twl845 Registered Member

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    It's FDISR only faster AND simpler, AND on a separate HD. :cool:
     
  10. bgoodman4

    bgoodman4 Registered Member

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    I am sorry to report that I too am having problems shutting down a Windows XP Pro PC. The PC hangs at the "Shutting Windows" screen and when I force the shutdown by pressing the power button the PC reboots.
     
  11. Chris12923

    Chris12923 Registered Member

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    Long time user of Rollback Rx here. I just started using AX64 within the last 24 hours. I will say so far so good. First thing was the conflict with Shadow Protect that took me a min to find out that they have issues working together. Next was a merging issue but seems like it got squared away. There are definitely some additions and improvements to be made but overall I really like it. I would like a small change to be made and I hope I'm not repeating someone else but when choosing to create recovery media on a CD it says "All data on drive (x) will be erased! Proceed?" If you click yes it tells you to enter your Windows installation CD... after you enter your Windows disc it reads it and then spits it out with no message. Once you put a blank disc in it proceeds to create it. Id say it would be better if it asks you to put your Windows disc in... Then after reading it tells you to insert a blank disc and that all information on this disc will be erased. But anyway good job on this Isso I will keep trialing it until the trial runs out at which point I will decide to purchase if everything still runs the same. If the create recovery media order i mentioned has already been mentioned I'm sorry.

    One more thing and again sorry if it was mentioned already but I wish AX64 would show the drive name instead of just the drive letter and size. I'm always afraid of choosing wrong letter since I know them by names not letters.

    Thanks,

    Chris
     
  12. beethoven

    beethoven Registered Member

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    Chris, I just asked a few hours ago if AX64 and Shadow Protect can work together, so I am curious to hear about your findings. What exactly happened and how are you testing now? Did you have to uninstall SP?
     
  13. defconnect

    defconnect Registered Member

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  14. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    I think the problem with the SP conflicts may be due to VSS collisions. I have two programs, and two cloud backups that use VSS, and if they try to kick off at the same time, something breaks.

    By scheduling to avoid this, then there are no issues.

    Pete
     
  15. Chris12923

    Chris12923 Registered Member

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    I had SP already installed and then installed AX64. I clicked Make Backup Now in AX64 and it showed an error code and wouldn't backup. Then I read somewhere that AX64 and SP didn't work together so then I uninstalled SP and then clicked Make Backup Now in AX64 and backup completed successfully. I can try to install SP now that I have AX64 installed to see if they work together now since I installed AX64 first if you want.


    Peter this may be the issue but I didn't have any jobs scheduled in SP it was just installed so they didn't try to backup at the same time. On top of that when I clicked deactivate license in SP before uninstalling it said deactivation failed. Not sure if that's related or not but it never has happened before.

    Thanks,

    Chris
     
  16. defconnect

    defconnect Registered Member

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    Hi Chris. Also noticed the activation issue, so you seem to be on to something there. This may enable Isso to pinpoint the root cause of their incompatibility should he want to make them to play nice together. When multi-disk/partition support and a more detailed scheduling will be offered, AX64 has the potential to replace the robust SP with their large installed base in corporate environments as well.
     
  17. atomomega

    atomomega Registered Member

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    Hi bgoodman4,

    Good to see somebody else reporting the exact same problem. I started to feel I was alone with this. Hopefully Isso will be able to reproduce it aswell and figure it out.

    Regards.
     
  18. The Shadow

    The Shadow Registered Member

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    I also confirmed your XP issue shortly after you first reported it (post #2342).
     
  19. aladdin

    aladdin Registered Member

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    Hi Isso,

    I have similar problem but mostly reverse. On my two laptops with Windows 8, they usually don't boot into Windows the first time. I have to turn the computer off more than three times and eventually it goes into Windows repair. Then I tell the computer to continue rebooting and it reboots. Usually takes about 10 to 15 minutes to boot into Windows.

    Sometimes, it doesn't shut down for a very, very long time and I have to turn if off manually.

    I have worked on this since I have AX64 installed, and narrowed it down to AX64. When I uninstall AX64, the problem goes away.

    Sometime, it happens on Windows 7 laptops too. It doesn't happen on the desktops, as I leave the desktops on 24/7. It is the laptops, which are turned on/off during the day.

    Best regards,

    Mohamed
     
  20. atomomega

    atomomega Registered Member

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    Hi The Shadow,

    You are right. Sorry, I forgot you had reported it too. I see that you uninstalled AX64 and the problem persisted, I haven't tried this since I'm sure it's not my 3 pc's. Let's see if Isso was able to reproduce it on his test systems.

    Regards.
     
  21. Fingol

    Fingol Registered Member

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    Hi everyone.

    I'm using the trial still. Seems to be a decent program. Sounds like it's still beta really from all the posts here.

    I did my first restore the other day. Drive contains about 120GB in all. I was surprised that it took a little over 2 hours to restore. Does that sound right?

    This is quoted on the site
    Backing up your drive, or restoring it to an earlier point in time normally takes seconds to a minute, depending on the speed of your drives.

    That's a big difference! Surely my drive can't be that slow. This is longer than other backup/image programs i have used before.
    Just wondered if it sounds normal.
    Thanks
     
  22. Isso

    Isso Developer

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    Hi bgoodman,

    Yes, definitely the reason for long merge time is the large size of a few backups, that might be due to defragmentation. We did some work to improve the merge speed recently, but I guess it's impossible to make it considerably faster. That's why the solution that you proposed (i.e. merging only when the PC is idle) seems to be a great workaround, thank you for the idea! We will definitely implement it.

    FYI - there is a way to make the merge process much faster, and initial AX64 versions were using that method, however later we figured out that it's not immune to sudden power failures, that's why we changed it to a slower, but more robust method.

    Thank you!
    Isso
     
  23. Isso

    Isso Developer

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    atomomega, bgoodman, The Shadow

    Sorry to hear that the problem is still there. I'll work on it and will update you on the progress.

    Isso

    EDIT: oh, Mohamed I can see you also experience the same issue, but on newer versions. I will research it.
     
    Last edited: Jun 10, 2013
  24. Isso

    Isso Developer

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    Hi Chris,

    Thank you for your suggestions. For CD - will change it to ask for Windows CD first. For drive name - could you tell me which location did you mean? Settings wizard or somewhere else? Thank you

    Isso
     
  25. WYC999

    WYC999 Registered Member

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    Shutdown of AXTM

    Hello everyone,

    Every night i run a backup routine which starts a program which is able to shutdown any program before it does its backups (Easy2sync). I don't know what this program exactly does, but the AXTM process is after 1 second not anymore there when i enable this programm and start the script.

    I wonder what kind of problems this could cause? What for example happens when AXTM was merging images - will they then be broken?

    Is there a cleaner way to shutdown AXTM? Really awesome would be if i could shut it down from a batch file. But more in a shutdown after you are finished fashion the to kill it.
     
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