Raxco Instant Recovery - Comparisons

Discussion in 'FirstDefense-ISR Forum' started by Peter2150, Nov 4, 2014.

  1. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    Absolutely you can do it that way. I just like stripping down the secondary to make images smaller, and I keep several archives. But on my Sager laptop I do just what you described. Tis the beauty of IR you can do things many ways.
     
  2. twl845

    twl845 Registered Member

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    Glad to hear that. Not being too familiar with archives, are you also saying that I can create an archive from say the primary, update the archive later, and then later copy the archive to the primary bringing the primary up to date?
     
  3. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    Absolutely. I keep 2 archives, mostly the same, but occasionally different, which makes switching back and forth easy. Just not you can't restore say Archive of Primary to the Primary while you are in the primary snapshot.


    Go back and look post 14 where I talk about some of things I've done. That will give you an idea.

    Pete
     
  4. Alexhousek

    Alexhousek Registered Member

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    Excellent post Pete! That helped a lot. It does sound somewhat complicated. To answer your question, my "trust" of AX64 is growing less and less. However, to be honest, in the almost year that I've owned it, I've probably only done 3 hot restores. 2 of those were successful and 1 wasn't. It's that last one that wasn't sucessful that has me paranoid about using it regularly. Fortunately, the cold restore worked. However, it took several hours and a lot of sweat and worry that it wasn't going to work.

    So, I mostly now rely on Macrium Reflect. Obviously, it doesn't have the warm or hot restore options that I originally purchased AX64 for. You talk a lot about trusting the software you use and/or the company. That totally resonates with me. I'm willing to pay for that level of trust especially as it relates to imaging and or "time machine" type software.

    Thank you.
     
  5. twl845

    twl845 Registered Member

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    Thanks for the help. :)
     
  6. billwv

    billwv Registered Member

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    Hi,

    Just thought I would chime in…

    About a year ago, I installed IR and set things up much as Pete describes – based on his advice from other forums.

    What I would add is that many users keep their data separate from the system files: either on a separate partition or drive, or – as I do – with IR data anchoring.

    With this kind of a setup the archive files are relatively small – in my case about 60 GB.

    I keep them on an external drive. The drive is 1.5 TB so there is no problem having many archives. I currently have about 10 – I could go back to system states: 1 year ago, 6 months ago, 1 month ago, etc.

    …very flexible in use.

    Of course you have to have a separate setup for backing up your data... But, that makes sense since data needs backed up much more often than system files. For the system files, I create IR archives, manually, as needed.

    I also, as Pete suggests, do all copy/updates of primary/archive from the secondary snapshot. This adds an additional layer of protection against interference from other programs. I originally had some problems trying to run scheduled snapshots from primary, so adopted that strategy.

    I have not installed AXTM, but have followed the forum since the beginning… Here, again I agree with Pete’s conclusions -- not your primary protection.

    Bill
     
    Last edited: Nov 7, 2014
  7. marse.robert

    marse.robert Registered Member

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    Hi all

    I have been using InstantRecovery with Appguard. I need a strategy for these to Apps to exist together. Recently, I noticed the Pre Boot option had been disabled and the error could not be rectified.

    Does Appguard interfere with InstantRecovery?

    Marse
     
  8. stapp

    stapp Global Moderator

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  9. Acadia

    Acadia Registered Member

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    IR and Appguard work just fine together if you follow the instructions in the link above. It was Peter himself who wrote those instructions for Raxco.
    Acadia
     
  10. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    It really is very simple. If you are restoring an archive to a snapshot, before you do it, you just have to turn off Appguard. Otherwise it will block copying the boot file, and when you boot into the restored snapshot. If you do it by mistake, you will get the black screen saying the boot files are missing. All you have to do to fix this is boot back into the snapshot you were restoring from, turn off appguard, and re do the copy.

    Pete
     
  11. marse.robert

    marse.robert Registered Member

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    Peter, Arcadia and Stapp

    Thank you, All is perfect.

    Marse
     
  12. itsmee222

    itsmee222 Registered Member

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    Can someone tell me the difference between an "archived" snapshot and and "exported" snapshot?
    They seem to be the same. One can't boot and "exported" snapshot until one imports it back.

    Thanks.
     
  13. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    I think they are the same, but am not positive. I've never used the "export" function. You might email support and ask them.
     
  14. Acadia

    Acadia Registered Member

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    I have never used "export" either but according to the online Help manual, the export feature exports a Snapshot off-site for backup purposes including onto DVDs.
    Acadia
     
  15. itsmee222

    itsmee222 Registered Member

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    Acadia, yes but why can't one use an Archive "off-site for backup purposes"?
     
  16. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    That is exactly what we do. Also if I am not mistaken the export file has the same extension as the archive.

    Pete
     
  17. itsmee222

    itsmee222 Registered Member

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    Yes, I know. So why the redundancy?
     
  18. Acadia

    Acadia Registered Member

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    Ok, I'm going to go out on a limb on this one and take a guess, best though to contact Raxco. If you export an Archive then in the future bring it back, it is not bootable. If you export a Snapshot to store offsite, WHEN NORMALLY THEY CAN ONLY BE STORED ON YOUR C DRIVE, and bring it back, you've basically brought back your entire bootable c:drive.
    Acadia
     
  19. itsmee222

    itsmee222 Registered Member

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    It doesn't matter if it's bootable when you bring it back. You can always update a snapshot from it.

    This is the reply I got from Raxco:

    Thanks for contacting support.

    Archives can be stored on the system drive, they can be updated, and they are integrated into the interface. Exporting a snapshot allows you to store a snapshot in another location but you cannot update those as you can archives.

    Please let me know if you have additional questions.

    Susie
     
  20. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    Hi itsmee

    That is a somewhat confused answer. I store my archives either on an external USB drive, or another internal drive, but never my c: drive, as that would include them in an image. Whether on an external USB or a 2nd internal, they all can be updated. I know, cause I do it.

    Pete
     
  21. Longboard

    Longboard Registered Member

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    You got it, mostly :)

    Exactly as you say, the exported snapshot is a bootable option when imported back in IR.
    So, say, somewhat similar to an image stored off site ... for the time there is some unrecoverable disc/HW failure; but, would have to have ( as Peter describes above ) fresh install of windows and IR to import the snapshot and if on new HW might need some tweaking.

    IR cannot create snapshots on external or network drive : that is where 'archives' come in.

    Arguably, IR is not as robust as imaging tools for that purpose: external or offsite storage and HW recovery because of the extra steps, but, still a very valid and very secure option.

    The archive.arx file does the same .
    When the archive is created, it is as an "archive".
    When the .arx file is imported, it becomes a "snapshot" and is bootable.

    That is the reason to keep archive files on external or network drive and keep them UTD.

    One of the main benefits of Archives is the faster updating.
    - They are slightly smaller than snapshot files.
    - They can be fixed to a point in time like 'snapshots'.
    - Can be moved around and stored as per any file.
    -There is no limit to the number of archive files ( subject to space) as opposed to 10 snapshots max in IR.

    AS You say Acadia; Actual Archive files in IR are not bootable: they are pure storage, vs snapshots which are bootable.

    One downside of the archive files is higher likelihood of corruption with multiple updates of same archive with compression function.
    So have to consider creating new archives on semi regular basis.

    HTH. :)

    As I go back and read this post it is easy to see how the astonishing options in IR can be confusing.
    Trying to put into plain english just exactly what IR is capable of stretches linguistics a bit.
    It's really difficult posting "clarifications" or advice witout making it more confusing.!
    Apologies for any syntactical twists.
    Once you get the concepts down, no probs. :)

    LOL IIRC, at one point peter had installed VMWare into a snapshot then installed FDISR into that VM and was booting between snapshots in the VM or something ...: really stretching it !!... not sure what the hell would be in that archive.

    regards.
     
    Last edited: Nov 14, 2014
  22. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    Hi Longboard

    Great post. One thing though. I believe the archiving function no longer has compression. That's why it's faster then it used to be. The reason I recreated them periodically, is they are a database type file, and adding and removing things, they do tend to slow down. I recreate them when the "finalizing" time becomes longer then I want. This is somewhat subjective.

    Also Longbard is correct, I do have IR installed in a VM machine. I try and keep that machine close to configured as my desktop, within limits.

    And yes, once you get your mind wrapped around IR, and see it's capabilites, it is one astonishing piece of software.
     
  23. Alexhousek

    Alexhousek Registered Member

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    Are there any good video tutorials on how to use this software? I'm trying to wrap my head around it, but just can't seem to. It's probably because I keep trying to compare it to Macrium Reflect, Paragon, or AX64; the only real imaging solutions that I've used. Most of what the last 2 posts discussed just flew over my head. I'm sorry.
     
  24. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    I don't believe there are any. First you have to reset, IR isn't like the other software. So lets make a starting point.

    1. How big is your c: drive, and how much free space do you have.
    2. Assuming you have enough free space, what I recommend, is you download a trial. Then we can talk you through some of it's main applications.

    Note: If you have AX64 installed, you might uninstall it. They do work together, but it can get just a bit sticky. Macrium is no problem, and Paragon shouldn't be but I can't confirm that.

    Pete
     
  25. twl845

    twl845 Registered Member

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    Hi Pete, I have AXTM v2 installed using manual updates, so if I don't initiate a process like a new snapshot or restore to an earlier snapshot I assume it sits there in a static mode. If I don't use it, would it still be advisable to uninstall it while I trial IR or ultimately buy it?
    Tom
     
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