Introducing AX64 Time Machine - hybrid imaging/snapshot software

Did any of the housekeeping activities affect the image storage drive?

 

No - entirely separate drive.

 

I have only experienced this with external drives mounted to an external facing (built into the side of the case) USB 3 Port and it is not always the case that there is a problem with the USB 3 port cold restore,,,,but it does happen. BTW this issue is not limited to AX64, I have had the problem with both Windows own imaging program and with Drive Cloner images.

Thought I would mention it in case someone goes to do a restore and cannot see their drive or images. This would be the first thing (even before panicking) that you should do if you run into this problem (I paniced first and was about to resort to drastic measures when I remembered hearing about the issue. I am grateful I did not resort to the drastic measures (I have no idea what these drastic measures would have been ).

OS is Win 7 64 bit Pro

 

They may be separate drives but if the storage drive is not specifically excluded it may be included by default. At least thats what is the case with my housekeeping apps (such as Wise and Ace Utilities).

 

Glad I could contribute in some way to this backup/restore program that I think is evolving into something that other vendors will ASPIRE! to.

Yes! that is it(different OS) modifying the NAS. We do have a Mac(OS X) that uses "TimeMachine" to back up to the NAS also, and as I mentioned before, that I suspected "file changes" in other parts of the NAS were triggering the warning. Is there any way to FIX! this? At this point "normal" backups take about 1-2 min.(wireless), but with the "warning" the time taken to backup is equal to creating a NEW "baseline".

Kind Regards!

 

Ah! I have misdirected you. I don't use any such programs. Either I delete the program via Control Panel, or I go back to an earlier image.

Rightly or wrongly I rely on baseline images that only have needed programs on them to keep the system image small and likewise the registry.

 

Indeed, some things still don't like USB 3. It is recommended not to update my ASUS with a 3 port. Really not supposed to do that anyway if all is well but there are several "easy" methods with the newer ASUS boards and sometimes I get obsessive.

 

Hmmm, strange?? I thought I'd try something different going with a "manual" backup as opposed to the "hourly" backup. When I did the manual backup I did NOT get the warning message above, but letting the hourly backup do its thing, I DID get the warning message. I don't know how each executes its protocols/procedures, but I thought mentioning it, Isso or someone may know the reason.

Kind Regards.

 

I do not believe there is any difference as to how "each does its thing" that would account for this. Somehow, something, caused AX64 to detect an external drive modification, perhaps the logs would show what this was but I strongly doubt that taking the snap differently could in any way cause this error message.

 

Hi Isso,

You know that I have AX64 installed on 16 machines, at home and at business.

The 4 machines which I had problem earlier were my personal machines at home, not family. These all 4 have Windows 8 and had the pre-release 1133.

Yesterday, I had similar problem with one of the machines at business. It has Windows 7 and the stable release 1120. I had to uninstall 1120 and install it again.

Best regards,

Mohamed

 

When people spot almost an excellent program with such an promising future, and when the developer is such actively participating in the forum discussions like yourself, the fans will keep it up.
Keep up the good work, my trial is about to run out, I'm buying a license next week.

 

I also have had a few problems with AX64 V.1120 on my Win 7/64. Problems have involved freezing of the program during restore and backup. I have not said anything as I was waiting for the next release hoping things would be cleared up. I will continue to stoically wait.

 

My trial is almost up as well. And, I will be purchasing a license within the next day or so.

Not only a great program with great support from the developer, but a great group of individuals here on these forums who are willing to help out. Thanks to you all.

 

Quick question (I think)--Within the last couple of weeks, I've really started reading lots and lots of posts here at Wilders. I've run across many utilities, programs, etc. that I never knew about. AX64 is one of those gems I never heard of until coming here.

Another one that I've never heard of before is Keriver 1-Click Restore. In fact, when I first saw it here, I was surprised to see a post by our one and only Isso. It appeared that he was testing it out or experimenting with it.

I've read pretty much every post in this thread (man....it's a long thread), but I don't recall seeing a reference to Keriver 1-Click Restore. Was AX64 somehow modeled after it? What are the pro's/con's of this program in comparison to AX64? Could/should they be used together?

 

I have a question on backups. My first backup is 12.9GB. I just did another as I had some changes. This one is 1.14GB. If I decide to do a restore to the 2nd smaller image does it know to feed off the original larger image to do just the changes since the 2nd image? What if I was to delete the 1st image. Would the 2nd image restore the OS? Or would I have to start over? Thanks for an explanation to this question.

 

Hi Alex,

The only person who can give you a very good explanation is Pandlock. To me Keriver 1-Click Restore is like Drive Snapshot. I believe it does a complete restore of the increment (including all the increments and the first image) from the OS (Windows) rather than AX64 only restoring the increment from the OS (Windows).

And, what I didn't like about it, that it installs GRUB4DOS prior to bootmenu.

Like Isso, the developer of Keriver 1-Click Restore is a very good person and was very active on this forum.

Like I said, Pandlock is the only one who can answer your question, or maybe Jim (Jim1cor13) who is also very knowledge and very mannerly.

Best regards,

Mohamed

 

The answer to your first question is yes, and no. As long as you are doing a restore from the AX64 browser there will be no need to "feed of off" the baseline. AX64 maintains a log of changes to the drive and if you revert back to the 2nd snap all is happening is in effect the undoing of anything done to the drive SINCE the 2nd snap was created. ON the other hand, if you are using AX64 recovery media then it will restore using the entire chain of backup images/snapshots including of course, the first one.

RE your 2nd question,,,,You cannot delete the first image/snapshot, in addition, you cannot delete the current (or latest) snapshot. So if you only have 2 snaps you will not be able to delete either of them (but you could restore to the first one and THEN delete the 2nd one).

 

Thanks for the quick response. Now if I want to start all over as system is running fine I can just delete the folder where the images are made or should I delete them from the programs explorer? Thanks.

 

Delete from within the AXTM Browser...that way the deletion is controlled by AXTM and the app knows what has happened to the snaps it has taken.

 

You can just delete the folder from Windows Explorer and AX64 will automatically re-create the AXTM folder and start a new baseline snapshot when you make one manually or automatically (if you selected automatic hourly backup option tickbox). If you have enough space, you can also rename the old folder to anything you want for extra backup in case you want to go back. If you do not have enough free space on the backup partition, AX64 will throw an error code and does not complete the baseline snapshot untill you make enough space available.

 

Thanks everyone.

 

defconnect is correct when you are working at the folder level. If working with the folder CONTENTS please heed what I posted previously.

 

If you wish to start over with a new baseline etc then I would delete them from Windows Exploer. As I said above you cannot delete the current (latest)snap or the baseline from within the AX64 browser so you (actually) have 2 options, both involving Win Exp.

The first is to simply rename the AXTM folder (I note the dates the snaps in the folder span in the new name so I can go back to it if I need or want to). This will enable you to access files from these dates, mount a snap as a virtual drive, or revert back to a particular snap. Once you have changed the folder name AX64 will automatically create a new one called AXTM the next time a snapshot is created.

The 2nd is to simply delete the folder and again, when AX64 creates a new snap (baseline) it will recreate the AXTM folder.