Introducing AX64 Time Machine - hybrid imaging/snapshot software

BG, as MarcP says... what you're seeing is the SRP (System Reserved Partition) which is implemented in "most" W7 builds... but not all of them. Some W7 builds do not use SRPs. They are unique to W7 and W8 builds.

 

Hi Kent,

Thank you for your hint - indeed if you restore to a previous snapshot, you can easily delete the newer one. Still it's better to do that from the Backup Browser - it will do actual delete rather than merge.

For restoring back to more than one snapshot - no problem with it. Let me explain with some pictures what's happening - it will be easier to understand:

So let's say you made 4 backups. Here's how it looks:



The diamond shape is your current system state. It may be considered as the child of backup 4. That's why AX64 doesn't allow you to delete the last backup (4).


So let's say you think that backups 3 and 4 may have malware and you revert to backup 2. Here's how the system looks now:



Note the current system state is now a child of backup 2, so you can now safely delete backup 4 without merging (as it has no children). Until backup 4 is deleted you can delete backup 3 only by merging backup 4 into it (because backup 4 is it's child). But if you delete backup 4, you will be able to delete backup 3 with no merging too, because it won't have any children.

Now let's assume you take a couple of more backups (5,6). They will go as children of backup 2 as follows:



If you at some point in time decide that backup 3 was ok and revert to it the system will look as follows:



Now you can delete both 4 and 6 without merging as they don't have any children.

As you can see after making many backups an restores this tree may become quite complex. But all of this is internal workings of AX64, you don't need to know about it. You can take backups and move between them in any fashion - all possible cornercases should be handled with no problems.

Hope this helps

Isso

 

Boss... as you have just proven, a picture is worth a thousand words, BUT... it takes up 100,000 bytes of my storage!

 

Thanks for setting my mind at ease on this one.

 

Has anyone had any issues running a boot time chkdsk? A driver became corrupt on one of my hard drives and so when I restarted my computer it asked if I wanted to run chkdsk. It failed though because of a "recent software change" and told me to restores using system restore. That install was kind of janky though so I don't know if it had to do with AX64 or not, but I thought I would bring it up.

 

This link might answer your question:

http://feedback.ax64.com/forums/206143-general/suggestions/3942132-fix-checkdisk-at-boot

 

I think I get your point, but every time I boot using AX rather than RB I appreciate that AX isn't like RB.

 

I have encountered the exact same problems, except that it happens intermittently. I then have to perform a full restore using my flash stick.

This has only been going on since I installed AX64. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Dear Mohamed,

Sorry to hear this. I wasn't able to reproduce this problem, but I have some ideas of what might cause it. Next update I hope will fix this issue.

Isso

 

It does. Man, you guys are on top of AX64 and this thread. Go mess with a different program for once!

 

I learned it from you Boss (remember your drawing?), so you are to blame for extra storage use

 

Thank you for your help Marc!

Isso

 

Very good explanation, thank you.

 

Hello Isso,

Thanks, great presentation! I was going to do some testing to verify my theories, and then make a post with my findings. You beat me to it though and thanks as it saved me a bit of work. I am also sure that I could have never made such a good presentation of my findings as you just did. I appreciate the time you took to make that detailed explanation...

 

I currently use Image For Windows on Windows 7 Pro 64bit for my imaging. Am I right thinking that AX64 focuses mainly on the system drive regarding imaging and snapshots?

Can I still use Image For Windows for imaging because I have a secondary internal HDD for data that needs to be baked up?

Curious about this fine program and just seeing if it would fit into my current system and thanks.

Gary

 

Hi Gary,

Thank you for your interest. You are right, AX64 mainly focuses on the system drive. Multi-partition support is in the development though.

Yes you can use IFW along with AX64 - there shouldn't be any problems.

Isso

 

I don't suppose there is a forum members discount?
I can't decide if I need the software as it sounds like many changes are planned in future updates.
Thanks

 

Hi Fingol,

The forum member discount (25%) is still available. Yes, we have many plans for future, however I don't think the current functionality will be significantly changed. So you might want to download and test-drive the 30 day trial version from www.ax64.com and decide if it fits your needs.

Isso

 

I have to agree - very useful with the diagrams. Thanks Isso .

 

Isso,
Thanks for clarificaiton on IFW. Does the license permit me to only run on one laptop or can I run on mine and my wife's as well? Or, do I need two licenses for two PCs and thanks.

Gary

 

Gary,

Sorry, each license is per PC. For multiple machines the best option is 4-pack household license that allows to save 60%. And you can also use 25% Wilders member discount on top of that.

Isso

 

Isso,

To speed up the recovery media startup would it be possible to omit the automatically "Initializing network" and give an option to start the network from within the recovery media such as Macrium Reflect does?

 

Of course, I forgot all about that announcement. Sorry.
I tried it a while back, and again now, have 9 days left of trial.
I said to myself I wouldn't buy any more software but it is tempting lol.
Than you Isso

 

Think of AX64TM as an investment.