Introducing AX64 Time Machine - hybrid imaging/snapshot software

Peter's suggestion dealt primarily with users whose restores HUNG or didn't complete. It has been suggested that some of these may interfere with the restoration process itself while it is functioning (no real basis has been formally established for this yet... it has helped some, not others).

Your situation is very different...

 

Ratchet... don't get you hopes up too high here. Your STARTUP mouse issue following a HOT restore may be completely different than the RECOVERY MEDIA mouse issue you're experiencing.

Many W8 folks have dead mice in their RECOVERY MEDIA... and I sure don't believe it's related to what you're experiencing when you have Windows LIVE mouse problems following what appears to be a successful HOT restore. Team Isso is trying to find out what this issue is.

Diligence and patience... you'll get to the bottom of it.

 

Mr. Frog, are you a professional support specialist? Looks like you are.
And before you say anything, I'm off to bed now

 

Actually, to give credit where credit is due, it was Isso who determined this. I was having the intermittent hot restore hanging issue and Isso spent a lot of time determining that the problem was with AppGuard and or other security type software. He recommended disabling these prior to a hot restore.

 

Yep! I specialize in panty hose, garter belts, DEPENDS for adults.. you know, all those support things.

Actually, when thinking about it... I would probably better be considered a "Special Supportist" rather than your mention above.

 

No nothing had been uninstalled. In fact it was Word that would not load until I have gone back a few steps. It is actually part of the baseline. The only thing thing I can think off is that most programs are stored on another partition.

Not an issue for me, just mentioned it out for curiosity.

 

Would you care to elaborate, what do you mean by "most programs are stored on another partition"?
Do you have the OS (Windows) in 1 partition, and the softwares ("Program Files") in another? If that's the case, personally I think it isn't wise to just AX64-ing a partition & not the other. And since AX64 has not officially (& reliably) multi-partition-friendly, then I don't have other wiser suggestions...

 

It is a system that has worked well for me for many years.

The idea is that it keeps the system disk small and quick to restore. The program disk only has programs I want/need and does not change much and is imaged separately by another program as and when.

I think the problem I had is a quirk and only mentioned it out of interest.

 

You're welcome

It would help only if the files are heavily fragmented. But I would not bother; Isso and his team have already taken care of it with the automatical merging of the incrementals (during the merging a new archive is created and then the old ones are deleted- during this process the archive fragmentation is eliminated...). If you plan to have lots of incrementals just leave it to full automatic mode.

Not really.
On most imaging apps the restore process is kind of a sequential write
e.g. 1st sector is restored, then the 2nd, 3rd, 10th, 15th, etc...
and not random like
e.g. the 2nd sector is restored, then the 10th, 3rd, 1st, 15th. etc...

Panagiotis

 

Is anyone able to report that AX64 will will dependably perform a hot restore on these 2 systems, or, can anyone report that there frequent problems with such systems?
1. Win 8.1, UEFI BIOS and GPT formatted HDD.
2. Win 7 64 bit, UEFI BIOS and GPT formatted HDD.

I've read all the posts. It is not always easy to dope out who has had success / failure on which kind of system, so maybe someone could say what their experience is?

Thanks.

 

Congratulations on the software but i have a concern over a claim of AX64 Time Machine.

Not to be unkind but the statements in bold are simply not true.

AX64 uses incremental backup, therefore the disadvantage is that when you want to carry out a complete restore, the most recent full backup and all of the subsequent incremental copies must be restored as previously mentioned. This makes the restore a lengthier one compared to a full or differential restore from capable imaging software.

So it is not a significantly faster restore at all but a slower one.

I appreciate you can backup very quick with incrementals but nowadays it only takes 5-10mins to back up or restore a typical system with imaging software. I do not call that a significant amount of time. So what if it takes 5-10mins or abit longer. What's the big deal having your imaging program window running alittle while? You can simply click backup and continue(multitask) with something else. You then left with a compressed crc image.

Taking a differential image is quick on modern computers of today especially with SSD. There is less chance of data corruption with differentials due to less files and none of the fragmentation issue. I can also repair the full and differential images.

 

Looks like someone who hasn't even tried the software, much less read this thread. I'll give you a big hint: hot restore only affects changed sectors, what you're describing is cold restore. And I very much prefer my images not out-of-date thank you very much.

 

MarkyMoo... I appreciate your concern but your above statement is just not true.

What you're describing is AX64's (as well as most others) COLD restoration mode. What you may have missed along the way is AX64's HOT restoration mode, which is significanty faster than other product's restoration capability.

I'll start with a simple example. AX64 (as well as others) starts by taking a BASELINE image (i.e., 25gB) followed by (2) incrementals appx. an hour apart and appx. 175mB in size. All incrementals do this as you describe. BUT, now you wish to restore that system to the point in time represented by the first incremental. Other imagers must restore that 25gB BASELINE followed by the restoration of that 1st 175mB incremental. AX64's HOT restore capability (under LIVE Windows) only restores the 175mB worth of differences between the CURRENT SYSTEM STATE and that 1st incremental... it DOES NOT restore the baseline in HOT mode. This is what gives it its SNAPSHOT capability and its restoration speed in HOT mode. If your system is unBOOTable and requires a restoration via external RECOVERY MEDIA, then it works just like every other incremental, restoring the BASELINE followed by all associated incrementals required to reach your target point in time.

That HOT restoration capability is what is unique about AX64 Time Machine, not its imaging capability.

 

Login, I think most current users, regardless of their OS of choice, have experienced an occasional HOT restore failure.. some have experienced none. I would assume they are out there...

AX64 is aware of this issue and are preparing an alternate method of HOT restore that is purported to be "bullet proof" (YMMV )... hopefully it will be available shortly.

I have used the product since its ALPHA days and have experienced (3) HOT restore failures while performing appx. 180 restore operations... COLD restore has always worked when needed. I use W7x86sp1 and XPx86sp3 systems.

 

Thanks, Froggie.

3 out of 180 is very few, nearly negligible. It is good for AX64 to post such a result.
What with this being a sort of development thread with mostly problems being reported, it makes AX64 look buggier than it actually is.

My systems are 64 bit, probably not an issue, but I fear the biggest issue will be the UEFI and GPT formatting.

I really want this software to work out well.
Imho it is based on good design concepts.
So I'm hoping for someone with UEFI and GPT systems to report results similar to yours.

 

Nice one Peter, I have not had this problem so I cannot try it but it sounds like a goodun. I hope others who have had the issue find it works for them as well. It might be an idea to report this to Isso and waj.

 

I have system as you describe in (1) and as reported earlier it has performed perfectly in my tests as described earlier. I cannot find the post number at present but is using AX64 1.4.1.48. If you look back to when that was issued you will find my post. That includes restore from CD successfully and the Restore CD was created with version 1.4.1.36. See post #6929 and a later one

 

Thanks, enonod. That's good news. Win 8.1 had me the most worried. When time permits I'll go back and find the relevant posts.

 

First, I've been reading this thread for several days now, and have decided to give both AX64TM and Raxco IR a go. Thank you everyone for all of your input. To answer Login, I am currently using Win8.1 and UEFI-GPT on all of my drives. I am currently protecting my system partition with AX64TM and have completed 9 hot restores (one with a 5.6GB change from the baseline of 16GB) without issues. I have not attempted a cold recovery, but that is next on my list.

I've also installed AX64TM on a Dell Vostro 3750 laptop(i7, Win 8.1 Pro, BIOS-MBR). I've performed 3 hot restores without issue there as well. Again cold recovery has not been attempted. I'll continue to test various scenarios and post what I find.

Again, thanks to all!

PS: Is there a way to upload a custom avatar? I don't see the option in the avatar section.

The Computer Guy

 

If you go to the "User Control Panel" (drop-down at the bottom of the forum page, select "Edit Avatar" on the left, and on that page you'll find CUSTOM avatar selection at the bottom.

 

Peter mentioned a while ago that running AX64 and Raxco IR together isn't advisable Unless you are really careful. Making IR snapshots of your C: Drive and AX64 incrementals could get messy unless you can keep all the balls in the air. I would pick one and use that.

 

I've learned that IR isn't compatible with GPT disks, so my choice has been made for me. Thank you for the warning, I'll remember that when and if IR becomes compatible.

 

Update:

1. I'm unable to create my recovery media directly on USB flash drives; they are not detected. I had to make a recovery DVD. Additionally, "Install Local" worked well. ​

2. I booted into the local storage recovery environment, it remained at a black screen and took quite sometime; I even walked away and fixed a snack before the recovery environment had completely loaded (UEFI, USB 2 Wired Mouse, and no mouse issues).​

3. I then attempted a cold restore on my ASUS system drive. All seemed to go ok, but the PC rebooted directly into Windows recovery - hosed my system drive. ​

4. I then attempted the same thing using the recovery CD with the same result, so I restored to my last Acronis image with no issue.​

5. Once back into Windows, attempted a hot restore but AX64 reported that it was unable to find the original partition so I selected a blank disk to restore to which resulted in the program crashing (tried x 3 following a reboot as well).​

So, I can definitely say that I'm not ready to trust AX64 with my data. Questions, comments and suggestions welcome.

Puter Guy