Introducing AX64 Time Machine - hybrid imaging/snapshot software

Hi David,

Current version is limited to a single drive only. Later we'll add multi-drive support.

Isso

 

I do not use 8 and do not know.
try using the "bootect.exe /help" command and it will display the instructions.

Panagiotis

 

Sorry Isso, but I'm not sure. If you you haven't done with above issue anything, please have a look how it looked like on v1.2.1117 http://i.imgur.com/uJ3rYD4.jpg
My description was longer. The counter shows that there are 740 symbols left, but my description was trimmed. Maybe it is about char code?

Artur

 

Hi Artur,

Strange. What happens if you continue typing?

Isso

 

Hi Isso,

when I was typing at the time it seems that everything is fine, but after snapshot was made and I wanted to see what is my description it was already trimmed.
Even now when I'm trying to rename it and write some additional information I can write, but when I save changes it is trimmed at the same place. Looks like there must be 740 symbols left unused
Perhaps chars like + or ! are counted as more than 1 char

Artur

 

Sorry Isso - I was sure that it had been enabled in 1096 but obviously not.

 

Can someone describe the program in simple manner? Does it take full system backup and requires lot of space for backup?
For example if I have 100GB HDD, how much would the backup be?
Also, after initial backup, it's faster right?

 

It relies on compression and it all depends on what kind of data is on your drive. If you have a 100GB full of already compressed mp3's dont expect it to be smaller, this would be no different then any other imaging program.

As to subsequent backups, yes those should be significantly faster.

 

Ok thanks. So I can exclude folders too right?

 

Check out the manual. http://feedback.ax64.com/knowledgebase/topics/34606-users-manual

 

Not at present but I believe that feature has been requested as a future enhancement.

 

1- is there any guide for how to use the boot media "usb or cd" i tried to make a bootable usb but i just got a command prompt window ?

2-is there any plans to add a feature of creating boot list with the program so we can make a recovery without the boot media like the old FD-ISR ?

sorry if that was mentioned before

 

As noted it depends on the type of data but my 126 gigs of data compressed to 81 gigs for my baseline.

As far as how much space backups take its not as much as you might think would be the case since apart from the initial baseline snap all backups are of changed data only. When you factor in AX64s merging regime the snaps do not take up too much room. At least that has been my experience to date.

In my case, the backups take up 112 gigs on my external storage drive and thats after having AX64 running since 20/6/13 (a month basically). Isso has suggested that you should allocate double the space you expect to use on your hard drive. I interpret this to NOT mean that if you have a 500 gig drive you need to allocate a terabyte but that if you have approx 150 gigs of used drive space then you should allocate 300 gigs of backup space to be on the safe side. Of course if you expect to be adding data to your drive at a rapid rate then more space should be available for backups.

I hope this helps.

 

Hi Isso/All

On your help section it says that AX64TM is not compatible with Shadow Defender, and there has been some commentary in this forum confirming that.

That said I am unclear whether you cannot have Shadow Defender on your PC full stop, or whether you must not use AX64TM when Shadow Defender is in Shadow Mode.

Also How is ToolWiz Time Freeze affected? The same as SD?

Thanks

Terry

 

That's an interesting question Terry, I was wondering the same thing myself.

Patrick

The Official Shadow Defender Forum

 

Is there any way to create a backup folder structure for manual backups so it is easier to associate the .axd files when they get stored?

Right now AXTM only lets you select a drive and creates the following folder drive:\AXTM. The only way to make sense of what it contains is to use the AXTM browser. I would like to have a folder structure that separates the different .axd files for a better overview. For example:

Code:

R:\$Backups\Curr_XP\XPSP3_QFE_UpdatePack_201307\*.axd (contains baseline with no drivers installed) 
R:\$Backups\Curr_XP\XPSP3_QFE_UpdatePack_201307+T500\*.axd (contains snapshot(s) after drivers installed)
R:\$Backups\Curr_XP\XPSP3_QFE_UpdatePack_201307+T500+AllApps\*.axd (contains snapshot(s) sfter apps installed)

 

Terry, I have SD installed but cannot use it. It's not a matter of whether installed or not, it's a matter if active. AX64 TM uses a dynamic tracking file (managed by a special VOLUME level system driver) to keep track of changes between snaps. When any LV application runs (SD, TimeFreeze, etc.), they virtualize that tracking file, then snap it back when finished in their session. This messes up the tracking of AX64. If you try and "except" that tracking file, then the change history (allocated sectors) for the next snap gets really messed up.

Pangiotis on this forum has stated that you should be safe as long as you don't except ANY files during the "lite virtualization" session. I'm not sure this is truly the case but I have not tested well enough to make that a definitive statement. Instead, due to the speed of returning to a previous snapshot in AX64, I have basically replaced the LV function of SD with AX64... it works very nicely.

 

Terry, FYI...

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=2256015&postcount=43

and

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=2255542&postcount=24

Wendi

 

Exactly!

With all due respect for Panagiotis, if that indeed was his statement the problem is far more basic (widespread) than just that specific condition! It all goes to your statement (above) which I believe is the underlying cause of the conflict. My testing of AX64 with SD (using Shadow Mode 'off and on') always resulted in a very long-time to complete incremental snapshots and sometimes even totally corrupted (non-restorable) snapshots!

TS

 

TS, a guess here.

When doing a SD session without any EXCEPTIONS, when exiting then running AX64, I think AX64 sees a "tampered with" HDD (dirty bit, etc.) and the next snap will take a full system scan but probably produce a proper snapshot in size, basically correctly structured in size... just took longer.

If you except some files during the SD session, then when returned is when AX64 probably produces a corrupted archive. When I was testing (back in ALPHA/BETA), I tried even EXCEPTing the AX64 tracking file and it still produced a bad archive. Based on my limited testing I would say they are incompatible as far as both functions are concerned. I would suspect the same with other LV products.

 

TRF, that's totally consistent with what my son and I have observed throughout our AX64-SD 'trials & tribulations' (your explanation makes sense to me)!

 

When you exit from Shadow Mode AX64 sees the shutdown of the PC as an improper power off and will take longer to make the next snap than usual. On my PC that means (currently) about an hour. As you build up more of a snapshot history the time it takes to deal with improper shutdowns appears to get longer. In short, if you are willing to put up with the long snapshot after exiting Shadow Mode you can certainly continue using SD but as Froggie said there really is not much reason to do so given the effectiveness of AX64.

PS: it takes me about 35 min to create a new baseline as opposed to at this point an hour to create a regular snap after an improper shut down. Thats with about a months worth of snaps. Also, for what its worth, I had been having issues with the PC blue screening after I updated AX64 and then did a manual snap. The snap would complete and then the PC would blue screen. I sent the logs and minidump files to Isso and he determined there was some sort of a conflict with a SD driver. This may or may not happen for you but its something to be aware of. BTW after rebooting the PC and letting AX64 take its time on the next snap all functions of AX64 were normal again including the ability to make manual snaps without issue. I am running Win 7 64 bit (and have now removed SD from my PC).

EDIT: just read the posts on this subject that were made prior to mine and I agree that the problem is more widespread than just the SD issue. Any improper shut down, however caused, will result in the longer than normal snapshot times (but a normal sized snap results), though, after a number of these caused by the noted conflict with the SD driver and the occasional need to manually power off the PC due to a frozen PC, I have not had any corrupted snaps.

 

Finally took the plunge! I actually purchased it 6/28 but just installed it. Seems like a quite normal backup app as opposed to the way I perceived the GUI months and months ago when I tried it for a while.

 

Re: support for multiple partitions

Isso,

I am a soon-to-be customer of yours who is attempting to follow this thread as best he can.

I was about to purchase today...until I glanced at the following post:

In the above reply...
Did you mean that there would be a "pro" version released in "2-3 months" (as the recipient of your reply mused)?
Or did you mean that the "multiple partition" feature would be integrated into the existing software package?

I would like to purchase the "total package". If you plan to split the product into different editions...I would rather wait & pay once to own all the features.

Thank you for any clarification.

 

TheRollbackFrog,

Sorry for interjecting, but I am confused by your description of what AX64 does in the "background".

You say: "AX64 TM uses a dynamic tracking file (managed by a special VOLUME level system driver) to keep track of changes between snaps."

Meanwhile, the official website claims: "No performance impact - Time Machine has zero impact on your PC speed. It has no processes running in background (unless you enable automatic backup)."

Were you, TheRollbackFrog, describing a scenario where "automatic backup" was enabled?

If not, then the "tracking" you describe sounds like something that is indeed "running in background".

This would be disappointing, as I was greatly attracted by the prospect of using a "backup software" that worked only when I asked it to...and completely ceased its work when I was done with it.