Introducing AX64 Time Machine - hybrid imaging/snapshot software

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

  1. Baldrick

    Baldrick Registered Member

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    Nope...Win7 Home Premium 64bit...and as I said it has only recently started happening, after no issues for several weeks.
     
  2. Baldrick

    Baldrick Registered Member

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    Hmmmmm, have not installed much new on my system recently, or at least nothing more than usual. Baseline is circa 84Gb & increments vary from 27Mb to 385Mb, with the very occasional 1Gb+.

    Agreed, the cold restore works EVERY time. o_O
     
  3. coffeetime

    coffeetime Registered Member

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    Had weird issue similar to that. When installing Deep Freeze, connect and turn on all drives that you would normally use, external USB2/3, eSATA, internal SATA hotwap. Run installer and choose the drives to Freeze from the displayed list or uncheck the ones you don't want to Freeze.

    Learned the hard way by not having them connected during install, any added/edited data were discarded on reboot. Like you I uninstalled Deep Freeze and went bare without any LV with AX64 for while.

    After testing and learning all I could about AX64 and felt comfortable enough to try again. This time with latest DF release from July. Make a snapshot before installing DF for quick restore, also if you want to test other LV out there (I tried most of them), no problems since.

    Now I run Deep Freeze 24/7. For updates:
    -get in Thawed state
    -AX64 restore to last Snapshot
    -run Windows updates, other software updates, run cleaners CCleaner, PrivaZer, clear SBIE sandboxes etc.
    -take a snapshot, test snapshot by restoring it
    -start Frozen mode again

    The best of the best from both sides imo, everything so fast and solid, don't dread on to testing any more :D
     
  4. ratchet

    ratchet Registered Member

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    I just noted this licensing thread. I guess I wrongly assumed the license was also valid for whatever was released for one year. Apparently not!
     
  5. Acadia

    Acadia Registered Member

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    Heh, as usual, I could have worded it better or more logically or whatever. :oops:

    Acadia
     
  6. ratchet

    ratchet Registered Member

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    No, no, you were fine. I probably didn't articulate accurately. I meant: v1 or whatever it's called for life but if v2 comes out four months after you purchased you would get that upgrade too e.g. I'm admitting I'm wrong. Although I never really bothered to read anything about it. Probably won't either as I'll just keep this version if it is functioning well!
     
  7. Isso

    Isso Developer

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    Hi guys,

    Sorry for disappearing, I was sick. For licensing: "lifetime" term may be indeed confusing. I'll consider to change the wording. Although Macrium for example uses the same terms. I just introduced "lifetime", because many users were asking if there is an annual fee to pay. So this word was meant to clearly state that there are no recurring fees.

    In short: one can use the purchased major version (1.x) for any period of time and all minor upgrades will be free. When a new major version (2.x) is released the existing users will have an option to purchase a license at a 50% discount.

    This scheme is used by a number of vendors and I think it's a well-balanced approach.

    Isso

    EDIT: stapp mentioned one important thing - what if a user buys version 1.x and soon after that version 2 is released? For those who purchases the older major version in 3 months or less before the next major version is released the upgrade will be free.
     
    Last edited: Aug 24, 2013
  8. Isso

    Isso Developer

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    Hi Balders,

    We've already fixed this problem and the next version will work just fine. For now you might want to try the pre-release version 1133

    Isso
     
  9. Isso

    Isso Developer

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    I can see that most of the questions have been already answered by forum members. Thank you very much for your help and support guys!

    I've addressed the rest of them via support system and PMs. If there is something that I missed please let me know. Thank you

    Isso
     
  10. Baldrick

    Baldrick Registered Member

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    Hi Isso

    Welcome back. Sorry to hear that you have been unwell. Hope that you are well on the mend. I am sure that all at Wilders will join me in wishing a complete & speedy recovery...back firing on all cylinders. :D

    Regards, and respect


    Baldrick
     
  11. Baldrick

    Baldrick Registered Member

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    Hi Isso

    Thanks for the confirmation. Good to know. In using the pre-release version is there anything to watch out for, i.e., need to remake the Recovery Media, etc? :D

    Regards, Balders

    EDIT: Installed (over the top of current stable release...and testing!)
     
    Last edited: Aug 24, 2013
  12. Baldrick

    Baldrick Registered Member

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    Hi Isso

    Quick (well, it was going to be quick) question about 'hot' restores. In the same way that if an auto or manual snap runs and AXTM identifies an external modification to the drive, i.e., unexpected shutdown or crash, it will take longer to create the snap (as it does a belt & braces incremental rather than using the hidden system file that keeps track of the snaps as the basis for what has changed) will a hot restore to an incremental, after a similar "external modification to the drive", i.e., unexpected shutdown or crash, mean that the restore will be a FULL restore...from baseline plus increments, rather than just based on the difference between the restore 'from' position to that of the incremental snap selected?

    Just wondering as I just restored to the last auto snap taken, after a power outage which caused an unexpected shutdown of the system...and the restore time would seem to equate to doing a 'cold', i.e., not using the hidden system file (because it would not be available for a 'cold' restore)?

    Apologies if this has been asked about before and I missed (long thread...:oops: ).

    And if that is indeed the case then would there be any mileage in announcing that this will happen, via a message in the AXConsole...much as the main GUI displays the warning that a snap will take longer than expected?

    Thanks in advance.

    Regards, and respect


    Baldrick :D
     
  13. twl845

    twl845 Registered Member

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    Hi Isso, Glad you're OK now. Thanks for verifying the above. I got confused between a few lifetime apps I have where all upgrades are free after buying a lifetime license, as an example Outpost Pro Firewall, and your meaning of lifetime. Thanks to Markp, Goodman4, and Baldrick, and your verifying it above I understand, and recall that your method is a common approach. Lovin' my AX64! :)
     
  14. Acadia

    Acadia Registered Member

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    Yes, Isso, hope that you are feeling better.

    I finally had a chance to "torture" test this program. Now please understand when I say "torture" test that this is "wussy" stuff :p compared to what Peter2150 and others have done.

    Before installing a MAJOR program that causes many changes to be made to the system including at least several drivers, I made a Snapshot. Installed the program, OK, now it is on my system. Then I pretended to change my mind, "No I do not like this program, I WANT MY OLD SYSTEM BACK." Asked AXTM to recover me, in less than two minutes, back to normal. Then I pretended to change my mind again and want that new program back. Restored to that snapshot (back to the future), bingo, now everything was brand new and again in less than two minutes.

    Now my former favorite, FirstDefense, could do the same thing, but it took much longer and used up MUCH more disk space.

    Yes, I know that some of you are saying, "Acadia, we already know all of that". But for me this is truly awesome! :thumb:

    Acadia
     
  15. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    I've install 1133 on two machines and so far so good. Too early to tell about the "hangs" but am testing.

    Pete
     
  16. Alexhousek

    Alexhousek Registered Member

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    A couple questions from an AX64 noob.

    I have had AX64 installed for about 3 weeks. In that time, I've made 13 manual snapshots (is that the correct term?) and no automatic snapshots. During this time, I've uninstalled or deleted several programs and installed some new ones. In viewing my 13 manual snapshots, there are some snapshots that I don't envision I will ever want to go back to. (For example, I switched from MSE to Avast. I don't ever imagine going back to that snapshot before Avast and when I had MSE.) As I understand it, I can go into AX64 "browser" or "viewer" and just delete those snapshots, correct?

    Assuming the above is true, what I'd really like to do is delete several of those snapshots and then start fresh with a new "baseline" or fresh set of snapshots (kind of like starting all over again). My understanding is all I need to do is re-name the current AX64 folder on my external drive to say "AX64 Old" and then do a manual snapshot. AX64 will not find the AX64 folder and will now do a entire system (c drive) backup. Is that correct?
     
  17. Baldrick

    Baldrick Registered Member

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    Hi Alex

    Correct on both counts. :D

    Regards, Balders
     
  18. Isso

    Isso Developer

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    I really appreciate your support guys, thank you! :thumb:

    Balders,

    You are right, the restore operation can also sometimes be "full" is there was an unexpected shutdown. I agree there should be a notification for it (I remember Panagiotis already proposed it a while ago). We'll add it.

    Isso
     
  19. Baldrick

    Baldrick Registered Member

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    Hi Isso


    Thanks for the confirmation. Good to know. I will go over to the Feedback page and raise it as a suggestion. :D

    Regards, and respect


    Baldrick
     
  20. djg05

    djg05 Registered Member

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    I have had problems with AX today.

    Apart from AX I also keep full images on an external HD using Active@. To day I want to do some housekeeping and make another baseline with Active@. Having done so I needed to get back to where I was to and decided to us AX to achieve that. Doing it hot I used AX to step back which it did and on reboot I got a Blue screen on boot.

    Just to clarify I had renamed the AX folder so that I could start another session. The image I was trying to restore was from the renamed folder.

    So using the AX stick I made I tried again with the same negative result.

    Re-booted and selected an earlier step in the AX list. Again blue screen.

    The selected my Active@ image and that restored without any problem.

    I don't know what the fault was - mine or the program, but I am glad I keep two different image programs going to cover such a problem. I have to say I have restored countless images with Active@ and it has never let me down.

    As an aside I noticed Active@ was marginally quicker doing a hot full image. Of course it can't compete with incrementals.

    I have the logs if they are of any use here.
     
  21. Kapiti

    Kapiti Registered Member

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    Have you noticed any errors in the Event Viewer since updating to 1133?
     
  22. Baldrick

    Baldrick Registered Member

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    Did you have any specific errors in mind?
     
  23. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    TO tell you the truth, I almost never look there. When ever I did need info, the event view logs were just useless to me, so I don't bother.
     
  24. SpotOn

    SpotOn Registered Member

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    First, I congratulate Isso for an EFFICIENT! program. Now for 2 issues I have...

    1.) Why can't someone(I've tested quite a few backup/restore programs) incorporate "wireless" network adapters to connect to networked drives(NAS in this case connected to a wireless router) in the "created recovery media"? I know it's slower(wireless), BUT with 2 wireless PC 3 rooms away from router, It's sooo inconvenient if you have to run an ethernet cord to the router to restore from recovery media... I know I'm not alone in this regard. Anyway, to solve this, I have merged the AXTM "boot.wim" with wireless capable Win7PE "boot.wim" and launch the AXTM browser from the windows folder... works PERFECTLY!

    2.)A couple of times while backing up the C: drive from the desktop I get this message... "External volume modifications detected. Backup will take longer than usual" . What does this mean?? I have not altered the location or files of the AXTM folder, so does this mean if you add or delete a picture,document,etc.. from another part of the NAS... AXTM considers this a "modification"??.... say it's NOT so.

    Kind regards everyone.
     
  25. aladdin

    aladdin Registered Member

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    Hi SpotOn,

    For our learning experiences, can you tell us how did you merge the AXTM "boot.wim" with Win7PE "boot.wim"?

    Best regards,

    Mohamed
     
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