Introducing AX64 Time Machine - hybrid imaging/snapshot software

Yes, you can check by getting the free cpu-z and in the instruction area it will tell you if SSE2 is suported.

 

Runs fine on my XP system SP3 as well. The PC was bought in 2008 so that should give you an idea of its capabilities hardware wise (and it was not top of the line at the time either).

 

This is some old desktop PC from 2005 or so..
Specs are as follows:

AMD Athlon XP 2000+ (1.6Ghz), codename Palomino
Family: 6 / Model: 6 / Stepping: 2 / Ext.Family: 7 /
Ext.Model: 6 / Revision: A5

Instructions: MMX(+), 3DNow!(+), SSE


Hmm.. Isso might want to do another compile of his software for people with older type of computers..

 

Alright, no SSE2 means that AX64 won't run. Unfortunately more and more current software does not support CPUs without SSE2 any more (maybe just because the compiler has the SSE2 flag set by default).

On my (ancient but highly reliable) computer I had still another issue with AX64:
My system partition is formatted as FAT32 because I absolutely need to access the partition from a DOS based boot disk. But with FAT32 the Volume Shadow Copy Service is not functional. All backup software which relies on VSS does not work.



Cheers
manolito

 

Computers are cheaper than ever, and an 8 year old PC is old enough to consider for replacement. I replaced my 2004 pc in 2011. You won't be sorry.

 

A newbie question--If I have the intial backup/snapshot, then I add snapshot A and then snapshot B, and then snapshot C (all manual snapshots). I then decide to restore snapshot B. Will I be still able to go to snapshot C and see the files that were backed up between snapshot B and snapshot C? Will I be able to copy/paste a file from that snapshot back to my system?

Background:
I recently installed AX64. 2 days ago, I did a manual snapshot and then proceeded to uninstall some programs. I've had some issues with my PC and have decided that I need to go back to that manual snapshot. (At this point, I have not done another manual snapshot.) I'm not overly worried about "losing" anything I've done in the mean time because it is minimal. The one thing I would like to save, however, is a saved game file. I will try to find out where the game saves it's saved games files, but I may not be able to copy it over to my external HD.

If I do another snapshot, that snapshot will obviously save my changed saved game file. I probably will never want to go "back" to this snapshot (because the computer is having some issues), but can I pull out the saved game file from this snapshot?

I apologize if this is confusing. I'm trying to explain it the best that I can.

 

Yes

Yes

Yes again...

With AX64 you can dance around your snapshots at will, and the snapshot explorer lets you copy/paste files freely...


Cheers
manolito

 

This software rocks. Im really impressed.

A universal restore feature would be fantastic.

I will never use Rollback Rx and Farstone Restore IT again. This software caused me nothing but problems with restore issues and corrupt MBR changes.
Overall i do use Farstone backup/image products which are splendid, but forget Restore IT. I had my system no longer boot only to the restore it console and most of my snapshots had gone and the rest blue screened causing me a meltdown.

I love the way you backup to an external drive with AX64. The way forward.

 

Don't want to be rude but not everyone can afford to splash the cash.

Don't know if this is the case in this instance but should be born in mind.

 

MPSAN, and others who may need to check what files exactly present in each snapshot, here are the links to the command line utility (32 and 64 bit versions):

http://ax64.com/other/AXTest32.exe
http://ax64.com/other/AXTest64.exe

Copy the exe to the AX64 program folder (C:\Program Files\AXTM). Use AXTest32.exe if your OS is 32 bit, and AXTest64.exe - for 64 bit OS. Rename to AXTest.exe

Open command prompt as admin and navigate to the to the AX64 program folder.

Then run the following command:

AXTest.exe /cmd=changedfiles /vhdfile=_path_to_big_backup_ >files.txt

Replace _path_to_big_backup_ with the full path of the big incremental file. In the same folder where AXTest.exe is located you will see a new file named files.txt - this is the list of files that has been changed in that particular snapshot.

Isso

 

Thank you, Isso, I am sure a bunch of us will try this!

 

I just did a manual backup, as I do NOT have auto running. I got a message saying that it will take a little longer as Windows was not shut down properly.

I am on XP and do not have any trouble shutting down. The backup worked, I guess (where is our verify? ), just wonder where this message came from.

 

I get an AXTest.exe is not a valid win32 application.

 

Agreed. But you can buy before you absolutely have to, or wait until it's an emergency situation. There are on time purchases from DELL for one.

 

Which AXTest? 32bit or 64bit? I tried AXTest64 on my 64bit machine and it works fine.

 

Same here...works fine for me on Win7 64bit...and the output makes very interesting reading. I will be interested to see exactly what has been changing over an hour when I do not actually touch the system...

Thanks Isso, works well and is extremely useful.

 

ratchet,

Great to hear it, thank you for sharing the good news!

Isso

 

Hi Panagiotis,

Thank you for the suggestion. I was thinking about adding the command-line control feature and I'll consider your ideas when designing the command-line interface.

Isso

 

Marc,

That's exactly what I'm planning to do. So if anyone has other ideas for command-line interface just add them as comments to Panagiotis' entry at feedback.ax64.com

Isso

 

Zero3K,

Apparently something is wrong with your system storage stack. Did you try re-installing AX64?

Isso

 

No, this error has nothing to do with AX64 files. This is simply an indication that AXTMApp.exe cannot talk to AX64 driver. So either something is wrong in your OS storage stack, or you might have a third party program that blocks AX64 Driver.

Isso

 

mike_111,

The program will create a new full backup after you shrink the partition. And because we don't support restoring to a smaller/bigger drive at this moment, you won't be able to restore your old backups to the new partition. The only way to restore them will be to delete that partition, then restore from AX64 Recovery Media. AX64 will re-create the old big partition and will restore it.

Isso

 

HenriPaul,

Thank you very much for the information. I didn't have time to test with 8.1 yet, so this is very helpful.

Isso

 

I used 32 bit on XP.

However...I did another download of AXTest and it worked!

 

Stode,

Could you please download Process Explorer, run the Ax64 setup, wait until it crashes, then run Process Explorer, right-click AXTMApp.exe process and select Create Dump->Create Full Dump menu? This will produce a dmp file, please zip it, upload somewhere and send to me the link. It would be the best if you could create a support ticket for this by visiting www.ax64.com page and clicking on Feedback & Support button. Thank you

Isso