Introducing AX64 Time Machine - hybrid imaging/snapshot software

Vitalogy, I don't believe you need to wait for the BETA. AX Time Machine has always been able to restore an image to a LARGER disk (which you want to do) as long as the disk is "unallocated" at the time (no previously generated partitions) or it has been pre-partitioned and at least one of the pre-partitions is bigger than the original the image was taken from.

If the new disk is bigger and unallocated, the image will be restored in its original partition size (60gB) and if you want it bigger to take up the entire new disk (128gB), you will have to use an external partitioning program to increse the size of the restored partition after the restoration.

 

If the beta will install over stable version and accept V2 keys then I'll look forward to the beta, if not then I'll look forward to the stable release that follows! =)

 

Thank you, I will try that.

 

As mentioned earlier my daughter's HD crashed. I do have a backup chain that should at least get her back to July 2014. after that there are only axdtemp files not axd files in the directory.

So how do I do the bare metal restore? I need to get the windows 8 hidden partition in place as well. Do I first install windows 8.1 then recover the backup over it? Or is there another method? In fact I am not even sure if she had windows 8.1 in July or windows 8

 

Hmm, I would try first to restore the chain from the boot media you can create on another PC, but I am not sure it will restore the hidden partition, if there is one.

 

I think there is no harm in trying to do a cold restore with AXTM, since, if this does not give you what you want (hidden partition etc), you can do a factory restore/rest and then reinstall AXTM. At that point I would restore to the last AXTM snap from July and all should be as it was at that point hidden partition and all.

PS, why are you thinking of doing a bare metal restore? If you can boot into the AXTM restore media you should be able to get back to the state of the PC as of July via a cold restore and this should include the hidden partition. It should unless the hidden partition has been corrupted and I don't think a crash will nec corrupt the hidden partition so,,,,,,,,

 

Quick Question people...

My build 406 expired so I used the latest 528. OK, but I can't build rescue media. Is this because I am still on XP Pro 32 bit? If so, is there a version I can get that still supports XP? I went back to 406 but it says it is expired as it is a Beta.

 

MPSAN, any RECOVERY MEDIA, whether created on an XP, W7 or W8 machine will restore your XP backup chain just fine, as long as your not using some strange and unnatural hardware (sata/eide hardware mainly) in that XP system. I use a W7 RECOVERY MEDIA for all the systems I'm responsible for (XP, Vista, W7, W8, W8.1.1) and it works just fine for all those hardware variations. The XP systems are over 10-yrs old (one is a 2001 variation).

 

I mean that AX64 will NOT create a recovery Media. It did in 406, but 528 gives a TMApp.exe error. I can not even make an ISO to burn. As I said, 406 did create it OK. So, are you saying that I can create backups in 528 and use the 406 recovery media?

 

I am replacing the failed hard drive. It is totally fried. So I need the windows 8 partition as well. I do not have the restore disk. This was a used Dell system she bought without the media. There is no place on the dell site to download it either. I have some extra 8.1 keys so right now I am installing 8.1 and then will try restoring on top of that from the backups. As I suspected the axtemp files are not recognized so I can only restore as of last July (the last axd file date). At least she will have everything up to then.

 

Sure can! The RECOVERY MEDIAs are not unique. The only time they absolutely have to be created is when the backup format changes... and that has only happened once back in v1b996 I believe. The only thing you might miss is improvements in speed and gadgets, otherwise they should work just fine in recovery.

 

Scott... don't waste those keys. You should be able to install W8.1 as a TRIAL and do the same as you plan.

 

OK, I will try a backup in 528 and see if the recovery media in 406 will see it. The 528 media creator will not work in XP as far as I can tell and Isso, i know, wanted AX to support XP.

 

No, this will not work. 528 creates backups OK, but the 406 recovery media boots and says that the Beta has expired. SO, 528 works but IF I ever needed a cold restore it will not boot from recovery media. I guess I can see if there is still a version that still supports rescue media ON XP ...before 528...that will let me enter my KEY!

UPDATE...I found an older 499 and it did work when i installed that. I guess I can go back to 528 and keep my 499 Recovery CD. I wonder when it broke...it must be after 499.

 

New problem. Trimming backup chains in version 2.

I have a NAS that is filling up and want to trim some older version 2 backups. What is the best way to approach this?

Looking in the backup browser I see ones dated 1 month (no week) ago (this is repeated a number of times) of different sizes. Plus ones 2 months 1 week then 2 months 2 weeks etc.

 

Just start DELETing (with the baseline if that works... it'll be merged into the next snap) the ones you feel you don't need... remember, they're MERGEs, not deletes. The DESCRIPTION ,when you hold the mouse steady over the snapshot name, has an exact date and time which should help you in your decision making.

 

I'm just wondering, would it technically be possible to make a similar application like this for a rooted android phone?

 

For rooted android one cannot beat "Titanium Backup PRO"

Best regards,

Mohamed

 

Since it's off-topic I was going to send a PM but I can't seem to find how to send a PM... so.. Yeah anyway, I took a look at it and it looked way too complicated for what I was thinking, was thinking more like an application like AX64 where you press a button and it takes a baseline image (and then incremental snapshots) and then it should also be relatively easy to restore them. Not wondering if there is such an application, just if it would actually be possible.
Sorry for the off-topic.

 

Thanks for answer on deletion froggy it helped. Back to the original problem. (I have been discussing this with ISSO but still no solution.)

My daughter's HD died and I replaced it with identical brand and size. 500GB. It shows as 465 free. So far so good. The original backup says 465 as well.

I tried to restore with version 2 and got partition can not be created. ISSO said it was due to bare metal restore still not in version 2 (maybe by this weekend?).

Ok I went back to a 1 48 build and used that restore media instead. It says same thing.

Other than waiting for next beta release of v2 anyone have any ideas?

 

Well, unless I hear otherwise, I am going to keep my 499 rescue media and install 528 again. I still confirm that 528 will NOT create even an ISO Rescue in XP. I am not sure if this will ever be fixed, but I do know that ISSO wanted to keep XP suport in AX64.

 

Just to confirm that it worked fine.
I removed the old SSD, installed the new one. Booted the computer from the rescue CD. Restored. Reboot. Enjoy a (finally!) working computer.

 

Just had to do my first restore since I replaced my destination drive with an SSD (so SSD protected and SSD destination) did a hot restore and it was very fast (looked down on my phone and entered my password and it had basically finished by then) and no issues so far (Edit: As in no issues in the restored system) Love this application, thanks for making it! =)

Edit: Accidentally said "Backup" instead of "Restore"

 

For the record the issue with my daughter's restore is that her drive was a GPT and not MBR volume. Version 1 only handles MBR and Version 2 handles neither. (Bare metal restore is currently off) Turns out the next release of AX64 will handle it (maybe within the week) but it won't be retroactive to previous backup chains.

I am now in the process of reinstalling the O/S and then copying down her documents from the old backup. Thanks to ISSO and those on this thread who responded. Just a heads up to others who might still be using version 1.

To check if you are a GPT drive go into the DOS cmd line and type dispart, when it loads then type list disks. If there is a * under GPT then it is a GPT drive.