Introducing AX64 Time Machine - hybrid imaging/snapshot software

I did a Cold restore. It could be that I merged some of the backups, but it just will not restore.

 

Hi Silver,

I deleted the temp files from the upgrade first and then used Macrium Reflect. It went pretty good and fast, but not as fast as AX64. I guess we have to wait 2 to 4 weeks before an update is out for AX64. Hopefully, sooner.

Best regards,

Mohamed

 

Re: multi-partition support following the merger

I did have a look—rather general and somewhat vague, lots of hype, more like advertising. I thought I could find out more by trying it but RealCopy doesn't (yet) support XP.

Norman

 

Those who have updated to Windows 8.1, please disable "Fast StartUp" and install v1145. Please post your results. I am experimenting with this right now. AX64 didn't work with Window 8.0 while "Fast StartUp" was enabled. The update of Windows 8.1 re-enables the "Fast StartUp"

Best regards,

Mohamed

 

Tried the above in my case no good,when i goto restore image DOS Window appears for a short period then when i reeboot BSD uninstall AX64 reeboot BSD,reboot again all ok.

 

It wasn't active for me.

 

Hi Marc,

About "Fast Startup". I rechecked on my two desktops and two laptops. On the two desktops the power settings are set as "high performance" the "Fast Startup" is active. On the two laptops the power settings are set as "balanced" and the "Fast Startup" option in Windows 8.1 doesn't show up.

Anyhow, with the "Fast Startup" being inactive, I am still getting BSOD.

Best regards,

Mohamed

 

Hi Werderforever,

Thank you for sharing the results and good to see that 1145 works for you. Indeed there is a confusion in the version that is displayed on the main screen, but we'll fix that.

Isso

 

Silver,

The cold restore is supposed to work. Could you let me know what error are you receiving? Thank you

Isso

 

Guys,

I'm sorry to hear about the blue screens. Unfortunately we are not able to reproduce it so far on our Win 8.1 systems. If any of you has a system with no valuable data on it I would really appreciate if you uploaded an image of that system somewhere (only the system drive is needed). Thank you!

Isso

PS You can use any big file sharing service or I can offer our FTP server for it - please PM me for login details.

 

How does AX64 work with full disc encryption? From what I've gathered it should work fine and I have my system encrypted with Truecrypt and it has been working fine for me when doing hot restores but how does it work when doing cold restores? When doing cold restores I assume I have to mount the system drive in truecrypt first, or does it not matter?

Edit: Also, are there any general DO's and DON'Ts when using AX64 and FDE?

 

Hi Isso,

many thanks for the information regarding displayed version.

Werderforever

 

SanyaIV, there should be nothing special associated with partition restoration, either in HOT or COLD mode. The application is doing nothing more than restoring a disk image, bytes as it were... it matters not whether that image is encrypted or not as far as disk restoration is concerned. The COLD restore uses a minimal Windows OS and its associated APIs to return the disk data to the storage volume... it's just rewriting bits on the surface (or NAND cells) of the disk. COLD restore should work just fine.

 

Thank you!
However I also realized that the hard-drive that AX64 backups to is also encrypted so I need to mount it in Truecrypt in order to use the files, does this minimal Windows that the cd uses support thumb drives so that I can start Truecrypt from a thumb drive in order to mount the hard-drive so that I can perform a restore?

 

SanyaIV... that answer will have to come from the AX64 TM support folks.

Isso... AXdev (Denis)?

 

I just tried it by putting the recovery media on a USB drive and putting the portable version of Truecrypt on the same drive, didn't work. When trying to start Truecrypt I get an error message saying something about something not supporting the image type (I have no idea what it means ) I guess the recovery media doesn't have the necessary files to properly run Truecrypt so now I need to set up the backups to a drive that isn't encrypted. Glad I found that out before something happened.

 

Re: multi-partition support following the merger

Hi Normanbg,

Thanks for your questions. Realcopy will support XP when AX64 feature set is fully integrated. It will also support multi-partition snapshots in the AX sense. At present, this will only be supported in Realcopy. AX64 will always be minimal and user friendliness shall be at the crux of its design.

To others regarding MBR questions in Realcopy, we have added a feature to the engine to keep the existing MBR, to create a new one or apply the one from the backup. If we're able to, we'll implement this into our next Realcopy release.

Cheers,

Wajamus

 

Honestly I agree that FDE causes more problems than it fixes and I'm about to 'decrypt' my storage drive, however I still want my system drive to be encrypted, it's more to ease the mind knowing things like Konboot can easily bypass the Windows logon etc.
Sadly I don't have any third drive and my system drive is quite small and in order to decrypt the storage drive it seems like I need to format it, so quite a lot of files will be lost, but oh well.
Edit: Also, I could use truecrypt containers for the things that I need encryption for, much more practical than FDE.
Edit 2: Sorry for the off-topic, further discussion of my situation with encryption that doesn't involve AX64 should be over IM/PM I believe.

 

What kind of image do you want? A backup from AX64 or like a Clonezilla image?

I'm running AX64 1145 on a ThinkPad X201 and I'm getting a BSOD on reboot. It doesn't happen every time and I can't quite pinpoint what makes it happen.

If you want to send me an email with the FTP details that would be rad! You can reach me at: me ~AT~ timb ~DOT~ us.

 

Hi Isso,

Win 8.1
I installed v1145, disabled Fast Startup and was able to make full and manual incremental backups and do Cold restores with no BSOD's.

However, when doing a restore from within the desktop program, I get a quick DOS screen which flashes by and then goes back to the Desktop.
The restore does not happen.


Edit: Now I am getting BSOD's again. It now has been un-installed and replaced with Acronis 2014 which works great with Win 8.1. I look forward to when you guys get the bugs out of the program.

Silver

Silver

 

Not sure if this will help or not but you may be able to protect yourself from things like Konboot (I really have no idea what that is so,,,,) by using AppGuard. AppGuard prevents anything from installing on your PC without you manually reducing AppGuards protection level from (default) High, to Install. In addition it will prevent anything from downloading to your PC except to the download folder unless you specifically set up another designated folder (again, you can bypass this if you reduce the protection level to Install). The program has been extensively tested by various Wilder members and there are a number of threads where these test results are made known. I do not recall any report of any malware bypassing AGs protection.

I find this program to be a good fit with AX64 (I mention this so as to NOT be OFF TOPIC )

I hope this helps

 

@SanyaIV: Sigh, this is at least the third time TrueCrypt FDE is mentioned on this thread.

Basically, hot restores works fine with hot imaging, but it's unencrypted (which is why I use System Favourite Volumes). Cold restores does not work properly with hot imaging.
Cold restores works with cold imaging, and it's encrypted (I use Clonezilla [and TrueCrypt separately] on Parted Magic in case Windows doesn't boot).

 

Sorry for bringing it up again and thank you for the information!