Introducing AX64 Time Machine - hybrid imaging/snapshot software

Sure. What I was referring to though was the view in the TM Browser opened under Windows.
Norman

 

yes, this case, the only way to see them is via TM browser as AXD files; but if you select any of them , they can't be used for restoration.

 

This is unusual. On my W8.1upd1 laptop, I have both my v1 BASELINE and my v2 BASELINE in the same folder (selected during v2 install) and both are "restorable" (RESTORE button available and configurable). Also when using the OPEN button to go to other v1 backup chains, they are also fully restorable.

I would report this via <info@ax64.com> to insure it gets on their worklist. They'll need your system config also (sounds like yours is very different).

 

...and while I was in that test mode (W8.1upd1), I used v2 WARM RESTORE to go back to my v1 BASELINE, then used v1 HOT RESTORE to return to my v2 BASELINE... all went well, though I don't think I'll do this type of movement in practice

Edit: ...and just to take this a step further, I used v2's WARM RESTORE in W8.1upd1x64 to return to a v1 W7sp1x64 BASELINE, followed by using AX64 TM v1's HOT RESTORE (in the W7 baseline) to return to W8.1upd1x64's BASELINE... all went very well.

 

Mine did not say Preparing. It did show it was backing up and the status bar kept going up...slowly, but not hung.

 

BTW in version 2, unlike v 1, there is no right click option to restore. You need to select the snapshot and then click the restore button on top menu bar.

 

Finally got around to what I would call a controlled test associated with the above observation.

I BOOTed into an external OS (WinRE) and used a tool called FREEraser to eliminate a 2-word test TEXT file outside of the tracking environment of TM. FREEraser not only deletes the file from the file system but also shreds the data that existed in the content blocks. I then used the LOCAL BOOT to WARM RESTORE back to the snapshot taken right before I BOOTed into the external PE. When finished, all was fine as far as the file that was shredded outside of the TM tracking environment... this is a GOOD thing.

Movin' on down the road...

 

Well, so much for v2 boot environment and the non-existent Microsoft mouse cursor, as support suggested would be there with the addition of more drivers. I also could not see nor know how to restore the last snapshot from the previous version. I imaged with Paragon before the test, however, and all is well, including v1.3.0.7!

 

Ratchet, I'm not sure how you're configured but if you're using DEFAULTs, v2's images are in <selected partition>:\My Backups and v1'a are in <selected partition>:\AXTM. If that's where they are, you'll need to use the OPEN button in the TM Browser to get access to them.

 

Thanks Frog! I'll copy these instructions and save them should I try v2 again. Until Ax64's team is confident they know how to rectify this issue I'm sticking with v1.3.0.7

 

Installed version 2, then found to distress that the pre-boot screen had vanished. Uninstalled and reinstalled everything (and yes I made sure the option to install the boot media was carried out) but still no good. Only way to get things back to normal was to restore from Macrium Reflect. Am guessing to be the only one with this difficulty, since saw no other references to it, unless it's there but in technical jargon I didn't comprehend? In any event, am holding on to version one for dear life.

 

as me, installed it to quick , expected it will keep the same folder as v1.

 

I'm excited about v2 so I installed it. So far so good, but I have a question. It has probably been answered before, but this thread is an overwhelming beast.

What is the logic for merging snapshots now? It used to keep only the last 3 hourly snapshots when then started merging them. Now I have many hours of snapshots (up to a whole day) before it starts to merge them. Something I asked a year ago. I was very pleased to see this. However, what is the logic?

 

Win8.1 x64

- boot screen with v2

http://i.imgur.com/zrCaoNI.jpg

- boot screen with v1

http://i.imgur.com/LzLtf2I.jpg


should v2 use the native Win8.1 boot screen? not saying that v2 boot screen is way too fast.

 

The answer is (I think) on page 308, and is something like this:

Hourly snapshots kept for the last 24 hours
Daily snapshots kept for the last month
Weekly snapshots kept thereafter

 

Windows 8.1 64 bit
Time Machine 2 beta

Further to the problem I reported with the mount button not working in Time Machine explorer.

I have found that when I select an image in Time Machine browser and click the 'Mount' icon the software pops up a message stating that the image has been mounted OK but nothing appears to have happened and the 'Unmount' icon stays greyed out. No virtual drives show up under the native Windows explorer or any other third party file manager. However using device manager I have found that Time Machine is creating a separate VHD image every time I click the mount button but not assigning a drive letter. These invisible VHD images remain intact even after a reboot and the only way to 'Umount' them is to uninstall them using device manager.

 

Timmy... need more info. Were you using MicroSloth's BOOTmgr for anything else other than Time Machine? What OS are you running on?

An anomaly with v2 is that if you've installed v2 and have installed the LOCAL BOOT (BOOTmgr), the 1st time you run a WARM RESTORE it uses that pre-BOOT installation to do the restore then deletes it... it's not supposed to do that. I believe the Devs are working on that particular problem.

 

This problem was reported way back early in the BETA phase just following the release of v1... have never hear of any solotion to date, it only happens on some systems.

 

"Thereafter" should be changed to "...until the drive runs out of space." And the Devs have been asked for a WARNING as your system approaches this state and I believe they will add that.

 

As opposed to?

 

as opposed to no warning.

In addition, the oldest snaps will begin to be deleted. The warning will thus serve 2 purposes,

1: a warning that the drive is almost full,

2: a warning that old snaps are about to start being merged to make room for new ones.

 

Re "missing pre boot screen"
Thanks for getting back, Mr. Froggie. The machine here is using the Windows 8. The blue pre-boot screen offers three options: Windows 8.1, Macrium Reflect and AXTM. When I changed from ver. 1 to ver. 2, the pre-boot screen did not appear. There was some kind of black screen with white writing that flashed for a fraction of a second and then disappeared, not enough time to read what it said. Right now I am back to normal, having restored from the Reflect "image," thank goodness for that, the "gold standard." Am wondering perhaps to go back and try again, first having created a new image just in case...

p.s. I know it's been described, but still am totally confused between what is cold restore, warm restore and hot restore. In any event, I did no restore at all with the new ver. 2. It's only when I restarted the computer for whatever reason, that I then noticed the pre-boot screen was gone. Then, thinking it might just have been a coincidence, restarted the machine again; and was still gone.

 

I'll try and do this in the least amount of words...

COLD: done from outside of the protected Windows system, restores entire image from BASELINE to selected snapshot.

WARM: done from outside of the protected Windows system, restores only the disk surface differences between the time of the restore request and the selected snapshot (the amount of restored data is only a fraction of the entire backup chain... must faster than COLD).

HOT: done from INSIDE the protected Windows system, restores only the disk surface differences between the time of the restore request and the selected snapshot (the amount of restored data is only a fraction of the entire backup chain... the fastest operation, no need to BOOT into external Windows configuration).


"Why don't you use HOT all the time," you say. Because for many users the HOT restore is a bit flakey at times and fails, requiring a COLD restore to remedy.

 

The issue Timmy talked about is the one i posted above with pictures. V2 replace the graphical win8 boot screen by a text one similar to win7 that stand less than 2 sec making the choice impossible

 

Thanks for the info Mr. Froggie. Have copied it down and saved. The fellow just above, Mr. guest, seems to be describing the "stand less than 2 sec" issue I saw.