Introducing AX64 Time Machine - hybrid imaging/snapshot software

I have had freeze problems when doing a restore,so i tried 1133,at first no problems,then freeze again,but i noticed that it froze at 0% my drive light was flashing which dosnt usually happen on a freeze so i left it run,after approx 2 mins computer rebooted and restore was ok,strange one,but stayed on 0% even why it restored,after this i have restored serveral times with no problems at all.

 

Well, encrypt your system partition with truecrypt and then take a snapshot of it..
MAKE SURE YOU HAVE TAKEN A SNAPSHOT PRIOR ENCRYPTING YOUR OS DRIVE, AND THAT YOU HAVE MADE THE RECOVERY DISC TOO!
Now restore the snapshot you took after the system OS is encrypted with Truecrypt...
You will see your system does not boot at all, and you will have to use the recovery disc to restore a working system from earlier snapshots..

 

If you test the recovery cd or usb key without actually doing a restore, the next time you backup you will receive that message.

Acadia

 

Which can also happen by accident if you use the recovery media to restore, fail to remove the media from the system after the end of the restore (getting a cup of tea or coffee or on a natural break... ) and the system automatically reboots...and runs the recovery media again.

 

After doing that myself - twice - I removed the recovery media from the BIOS boot list...

 

Assistance Needed:

I went to restore my computer to a snapshot that was about 2 hours old. The restore got to 100%, but then it stopped. My computer did not reboot. It still shows the small window that says to not power off the machine during the restore and the restore shows it at 100%. Again, it appears to be stuck there and will not reboot.

How long should I wait with it sitting at 100%? Should I do a hard reset (press and hold the power button)? Should I insert my recovery CD and boot from there?

I've done nothing at this point.

System=Windows 7--64 bit.

P.S. I'm kind of freaking out....

 

Mohamed and other parties,

I'm going to make this short and sweet due to this being the AXTM forum and NOT the winPE forum. Assuming your already know how to build an .iso with winPE(I used win7PE SE) and creating the AXTM .iso there's not much to it.

1.)Mount "boot.wim" found in C:\winPE\ISO\WIM\sources\ with the gimagex program(usually found in tools/utilities) to an EMPTY folder at the root of volume(C: for example).
2.)Extract the .iso created by AXTM to an EMPTY folder (any location).
3.)As in step 1, mount the "boot.wim" found in the "sources folder" from the extracted files from step 2 using the same gimagex program to another EMPTY folder located at root(C).
4.)At this point you should have 2 mounted "boot.wim" in 2 different folders and the merging can begin. Just copy everything in the AXTM created folder to the winPE created folder and you should get the "Do you want to replace?" pop-up. Personally I said no to replacing and just let it merge files from AXTM that did not exist in winPE.... DONE!

When finished making the winPE rescue media you can launch AXTM app/browser from the Windows folder located on the "BOOT" partition.

*Note: Wireless is all done on the winPE side and you will need your wireless drivers and maybe an exported "wlan profile"(for encrypted connections).

HAPPY TRAILS!

 

Hi SpotOn,

Mighty kind of you!

Best regards,

Mohamed

 

..this is to BaldRick too.

I don't think that's the case. I only tested out the "recovery stick" once after the initial + an incremental backup. Since then I've just been using "hourly" backups and the "warning" came up at about the 4th or 5th "hourly" backup and then again about the 8th or 9th. Me thinks it still has something to do with the "file structure" changing on the external drive that is causing the warning as I pointed out before. This is NOT good as I use my NAS for more than just AXTM.

AXTM should be ONLY concerned with the integrity of the AXTM Backup Folder and the integrity of the sectors/blocks it occupies, NOT for changes "outside" its realm...there's definitely a flaw here somewhere.

 

Well, if you are convinced of that why don't you log a support ticket over at www.AX64.com and let them know. I think that you will find Isso very open to all feedback and I am sure that if you are correct he will take on-board what it is you are saying, etc., especially as I also suspect that very few users use a drive dedicated solely to AXTM...more likely AXTM resides on a more general backup drive, etc.

 

Guys, I could really use some assistance here. I went and got some lunch and came back and my computer was in the same state as before--the restore in the dialog box said 100% complete but it failed to re-boot. It stayed this way for over an hour.

So, I powered down the machine and put in the recovery AX64 CD/DVD. It loaded fine but my backups are no where to be found. I store my AX64 snapshots on an external hard drive via usb. The recovery console does not automatically find the snapshots and when I click on the drives that are shown, none of them have anything in them. I believe my external hard drive is L, but it doesn't show up in my choices. And, I don't know how to find it or mount it.

Please help.

 

UPDATE: Well, that was odd. I can't explain it, but here's what I did.

The external hard drive was plugged into a usb port on the back of the machine. I decided, while in recovery console, to move the external hard drive to a different usb port; one on the top of my machine. Within seconds, the Explorer ++ listed that drive as Drive K.

I was able to navigate to drive K under "open other backups" and find my snapshots or "restore points". I was able to click on the most recent snapshot and the system is now recovering to that snapshot. It just started, so I have no idea how long it will take, but I'm still crossing my fingers.

 

Dear Isso,

Do you have time bomb built into pre-release version 1133?

I installed it on 4 of my machines about 15 days ago. I am getting the following results on all 4 machines. See the images:

Best regards,

Mohamed

 

Hi Pete,

What do you mean by USB cable? What USB cable has to do with internal DVD?

And, btw CD/DVDs are obsoletes, and I have them replaced by SSDs in my computers. The OS is on SSDs in the DVD bay, and the original hard disk serves as secondary drive.

If I ever have to build a Recovery Media, I usually built it on a 8GB Flash Drive, which these days are available for about $5. When I am finished, I reformat the Flash Drive and then use it for something else.

Best regards,

Mohamed.

 

Hi Mohamed

That is really odd as I installed 1133 (over the top of 1120, mind) and it is working fine. Did you uninstall 1120 and then do a clean install of 1133?

Have to say that even installing over the top I was prompted to allow or disallow the AXTM driver install...so I am somewhat nonplussed at your issue. Have you tried re-installing 1133 over the top of your current installation?

Regards


Balders

 

Hi all, first to say AX64 Time Machine is amazing!! Second confirming AX64 Time Machine working with my security setup Faronics Deep Freeze, Comodo Firewall with Sandbox and Sandboxie Sandbox

 

I'm not sure if this has been answered before or not. If one uses a CD/DVD to boot into the AX64 recovery module and then begins a restore, at what point can you or should you take out the CD/DVD?

The reason I ask is that I'd like not to sit there the whole time it is restoring and have to wait until the very end until the system re-boots to then take out the CD/DVD. My concern is that I go all the way through recovering only to leave the CD/DVD in and it re-boots back into the recovery console after the restore is complete.

 

Hi Balders,

I installed it over 1120 on 4 machines about 15 days ago. It worked fine on all 4 machines for all these 15 days. Then one machine at a time, it started to give the above error, and for this reason I asked Isso, if he has time bomb built into the pre-release 1133.

So, on all 4 machines, I uninstalled 1133 and reinstalled 1120.

Best regards,

Mohamed

 

Alexhousek,

You could simply set the BIOS to boot the HD before the CD and leave it that way. When you want to boot a CD, bring up the Boot Menu.

 

Hmmmmmm, very weird. Haven't had 1133 installed that long and so suppose I will see if I get the same in a few days time...unless Isso can come back and advise on this one.

 

You must be kidding if if you expect any program to succeed at such a pointlessly backwards task with Windows running. Do you even (know how to) use TrueCrypt?

Of course AX64 needs to restore the whole image and not changed sectors, if you encrypted the entire drive after making the snapshot. Go give me a real TrueCrypt scenario instead of that BS.