Introducing AX64 Time Machine - hybrid imaging/snapshot software

Thank you legacy, I'm really happy to hear this!

Isso

 

Isso, I'm attaching the archive containing the logs (remove the .txt at the end of its filename).

 

What happens to other partitions on the same drive if I delete the shrunken partition and restore the old big partition from AX64 Recovery Media?
Let's say I changed their size too after shrinking the protected partition. And then I restore the old (bigger) partition (let's assume the unused space that I created from shrinking the protected partition remained unused).

 

Thank you sir, most appreciated.

 

One problem, which defo needs sorting is the VSS service issue. On XP im always having to repair the VSS service on 3 of my XP machines. It backups fine, then afew days later the dreaded error.

backup error code C1000006 -2147212521 and then after repair

"the computer was shut down impromperly backup will take longer."

Dev, something needs looking at with this as i wont be the only one who faces this problem on XP.

 

Seriously...how can the Dev Team deal with a system services issue that they are not responsible for?

I think that users with that problem need to look to repairing the VSS service. I have had a similar problem and have found that there is a lot of information out there as to what to check and how to attempt repairs if necessary.

 

Baldrick,

as i said in my post. Im constantly "Repairing" the the Vss issue. even a clean XP install is the same. There is no problem on win 7 or 8
just seems to be an xp issue for me anyway.

After i "Repair" the VSS. the system backups, then a few days later i have to repair again. By the way this is a clean install of XP on our 4th Tech bench machine in our pc workshop.

Also baldrick once next april 2014 comes We will be phasing xp out in our office anyway. So its not a big issue for us at the moment. As we will keep repairing the VSS service throughout the trial period.

Its worth noting we use Altaro backup as well and that uses VSS with no problems. I have checked for any conflicts and removed Altaro but still the same.

thanks for your support.

 

Legacy, perhaps for you but I have had some VSS-related issue with Win7 64bit...and they were system based and not caused by AXTM.

In terms of other appications not having VSS-related issues I am aware of others that have in the past. Indeed in the case of one provider they have a knowledge base entry which provides guidance on how to troubleshoot & resolve the issues with VSS...not their application.

Having said all of that I believe (perhaps incorrectly) that VSS was only introduced from WinXP SP1 and given that it was in its infancy at that time it is possible that the XP implementation is flawed/has been corrected for subsequant versions of Windows.

 

Do you by chance have installed Shadow Protect on the PC with this recurring VSS issue ?

 

Hi Merleone,

I only use the boot disc of shadow protect. Not the installed version.

I do know problems can exist with the shadow protect and VSS, which i have seen in the past.

Thanks for this.

I am just using a clean system as of now.

Normally i would have Easeus Todo Backup installed as i love this software for the universal restore features and backing up over a lan with the admin console. I use Farstone too for this.

 

Hi.
I'm currently not at home,where I have that old desktop computer so I can't do it for about an week, but when I get back @ home, I will do it.
Thank you.

 

Greetings Isso/Everyone,

I've been testing AXTM for 2 weeks now on my Dell Latitude D510 ancient laptop. Here's what i've experienced, in no particular order:

1) Snapshots have not been kept in time order (i use the 'create a snapshot once an hour) For instance on the 7th, the snapshots are listed 18:23, 16:12, 17:08, 18:05) Every day it's been this way - i would think it would keep them in the time order they were created, or am i missing something

2) I cannot (2nd try) restore Windows from within Windows. I MUST use the recovery CD. The last time (on the 7th) i went to restore Windows back an hour, i tried within Windows, got to 4% and stayed there, even when i left it thinking it would restart. It didn't, the system froze and i had to do a hard reboot. Used CD, restored fine.

3) My ancient laptop isn't the speediest on the planet, granted (1.7 Pentium M, 1.5 GB RAM running Win but my restore back an hr. took about 45 minutes.

4) I can confirm AXTM works well with Acronis True Image. Just make sure that you don't have AXTM set to create an hourly snap when it is backing up. I learned the hard way - the screen went black and had to use the recovery CD for AXTM to get Windows to boot again (had to do a hard reboot and Windows got caught in a loop, the orbiting circle went on for ever. Used the AX CD and restored back 1 hr. and Win 8 booted fine!

It's a good program, especially for guys like me who can't use Rollback/RestoreIt, etc. on my laptop since the HD is only 40 GB and i don't want to sink any $$$ into a 7 - 8 year old laptop. Your program, allowing users to save snapshots on an external HD is a Godsent.

I recently installed 1.2.1120 (?) and recreated the recovery CD, so maybe some of the bugs i've encountered might be history (fingers, toes, etc. all crossed )

Congrats Isso (and team) for a great program and also to the contributors to this thread who have been a great source of help for us all!!!


Long live AXTM!!



Ray


P.S. How do i go about getting the 25% discount for being a member of the Wilders Forums?? Is there a promo code i need to use. Need all the discounts i can get as i'm currently out of work and $$$ is obviously quite tight. Thanks guys!!!

 

Is it true that users cannot currently create baseline system snapshots? If it is I see that as something he needs to be rectified right away. There is no reason why users can I have complete control over system snapshots, when they are created, and how they are created. In my specific case, I have been slowly tweaking my system in order to get it just the way I want it. AXT64 has been creating hourly snapshots, but now the my system is getting your perfect (as perfect as a tweaker's system can ever be). I would like the ability to create a new system baseline snapshot and delete the older ones. But that cannot be done.

 

Hi n8chavez

You are correct that this is the case at the moment but I believe that this feature has been requested and is being considered by Isso (see the Feedback page at www.ax64.com for more information).

For the moment I suggest that you use the method recommended by Froggie in an earlier post (that I cannot find now ) and I believed used by many of us.

Basically you rename the AXTM folder that is the location of the backups/snaps (suggestion is ;ATXM date_&_time_of_first_or_last_backup) that way you have the backups saved and you can always access them, in the renamed folder, via the AXTM Backup Browser 'Open other backups' option, and navigate to the appropriate folder.

Then, whether the next backup made, is either manual or runs due to automatic backups being checked, it will be a Full backup, i.e., a new baseline of the HDD being protected by AXTM, and thereafter AXTM continues working by snapshot/incremental backups...until you do the same again.

Et voila...I have a rolling, weekly AXTM folder system in place which allows me to have a couple of weeks of 'history' should I need it.

HTH

Balders

 

Hi Ray and welcome to the forum. I am guessing that your problems might be caused by your "ancient" PC. I would guess that a new computer would be in order at some point.
I think by being a current member of the forum means more than you making your first post. However, you could PM Isso and ask.

 

And why stayed there when you restore ? In my case is at 10%. I got Windows 8 on 2 years notebook old. Is strange

 

Hi there

What are you referring to? Are you restoring from within or outside of Windows? If from within then I have seen cases where the 5 count in the recovery window appears to freeze and you can do nothing. But usually the restore is continuing and if you wait for a while then the restore completes and the system reboots...so nothing wrong. Not sure why but does not happen often.

HTH?

Balders

 

When I'm restoring in Windows, but I'll wait more minutes, may be,..In any case, if not response in less than 10 minutes, I don't know, I'll try it.

 

It depends on what it has to revert back to. I have experienced 20 minutes on some (rare) occasions.

 

Well, I just got to say that I am really enjoying this program! I've had it less than a week and it's become indispensable.

So far, I've used it before uninstalling Process Lasso, TinyFirewall, before uninstalling and re-installing Sandboxie, and lastly, before uninstalling MSE and installing Avast. It has given me confidence that my system isn't going to get totally messed up, and if it is, AX64 is there to save my butt.

I did have to restore at one point to an earlier "time". I was a little nervous at first and I got a little worried when the restore didn't seem to move for a couple minutes. But, then it started moving quickly and the restore was done in less than 10 minutes.

All in all, a great piece of software! I'm going to tell everyone about it.... (Now, if I could just talk my brothers and my mother into using it, I'd probably have to spend less time trying to fix their computers remotely!)

 

The last couple of online restores I've done have taken c. 10 minutes. Previously they took about 2 or 3 minutes. The disk contents hasn't changed significantly over this time, except that both recent restores where to undo the installation of fairly heavy software (one of which was .net 4). Would that be enough to cause such a slow-down?

 

Maybe the larger number of snapshots means more of them to check. Isso is the best to answer.

 

Yes I considered that, but if it's only checking the differences between now and then, and I'm only going back a bit, then a long chain of incremental shouldn't matter (perhaps).

Anyway now it's just frozen twice during online restores, and each subsequent offline restore took about 22 minutes. I think the only offline restore I'd done previously took about 12-13 minutes, and a Win 7 restore is only 20, so something's up...

 

In an incremental chain, ALL files must be considered to build the whole system back. This is not like a differential chain where you just need the main baseline plus the last snapshot. I'll let Isso answer this one, though. He knows better how his software works.

 

But the online restores are incremental restores aren't they? It doesn't need to reference the baseline, or any incremental backups made before the selected restore point. In fact I thought it actually logs changes to sectors in real time, so figuring out what needs to be restored shouldn't take long anyway. Maybe I've got it wrong.