The unofficial Shadow Defender Support Thread.

@Robin A.
Did you restore successfully from those images?

Patrick

 

There are no problems running MR while in SD's shadow mode (based on my experiences):
1. The backup image must always be saved to a 'non-shadowed' drive/partition!
2. When backing-up a 'non-shadowed' partition there are no special considerations.
3. When backing-up a 'shadowed partition', all changes up to the time of backup will be captured in the backup image. So even though SD will discard those changes (except for exclusions) in a PC's shadowed partitions upon an ensuing system restart, the backup image will have retained them!

 

Many Thanks for that. Very helpful.

 

I haven´t restored any of these images.
The images have been saved to external USB, non-shadowed disks, of course.
In the case of Macrium, I have long use this method to create boot UFDs. I don´t have Macrium installed.
In the case of Hasleo, I have created the images to test the program, and also to create boot UFDs.

 

@sdmod, @Robin A.,

I have both restored and browsed my MR backup images of shadowed partitions - no problems.

Caveat: All of my findings with regard to performing MR image-backups while in SD's shadow mode refer to a Windows 10 environment.

 

I tend to go out of Shadow Mode to do my cloning of my first drive to second drive but I often save stuff over (files etc, just oddments) from a first drive Shadow Mode session to a non Shadow Mode second drive or usb thumb etc. Shadow Defender is still running but not in Shadow Mode at that point.of cloning etc. I do things the way that I've always done and am a 'creature of habit' so I haven't experimented with other ways. I do a clone fairly regularly to keep both drives current with each other.
I've never been much of a big tester...maybe I'm a bit timid...I just find my own way of doing things and stick with that if it works consistently. I usually clone rather than image...though I have occasionally imaged.
As I say, I'm not advocating one method over the other.
I've never run an imaging program or Cloning session from within Shadow Mode and I just wondered what the resulting restore would be like. I would have not imagined that it would work but never tried it so I don't know.

 

Doesn't make any sense to me. Why in tarnation would anyone want to make a mirror image of a c:drive that is in Shadow Mode?
Acadia

 

Yes, that's what I thought..

 

Caused it to crash. I can't recall the precise details now as I removed, but it was bad enough that I had to recover from an image.

Sorry for delay in replying - been away.

 

Hi there. Your #3 statement is very informative and I must say, really surprising! I'm wondering if those findings would be any different when using RAM for SD's write cache?

 

Interesting question! As I don't typically allocate RAM for SD's write cache I created an environment to find the answer to your question. Upon starting SD I allocated 1000 MB of RAM for its write cache, followed by placing my C-partition into shadow mode. I made changes to various 'test files' on my shadowed C-partition and then created an MR backup image of my C-partition to an external drive. Upon completion of the backup I restarted my system to verify that my 'test file changes' had been discarded by SD. As expected, they were all gone from my C-partition.

I next rebooted the system into the MR Windows RE10 environment and browsed this new backup image on my external drive - finding all of the 'test file changes' were there. So the answer to your question is that the media used for SD's write cache does not affect MR's backup results.

 

I have sent an e-mail to "support@shadowdefender.com" and it doesn't look like anyone is still working there:

Sorry, we were unable to deliver your message to the following address.
<support@shadowdefender.com>:
550: Mailbox is full / Blocks limit exceeded / Inode limit exceeded

The sale may still work but the development seems to be EOL.

A pity...

 

I hope that everyone has a Merry Christmas day with family and friends and I wish you health and happiness now and in the coming new year. sdmod (Patrick)

 

I hope so for all of you too!
Happy Xmas holidays!

 

He's really gone! (Tony)

 

I'm sure that Shadow Defender will serve us well for many years to come. It is, the best and most useful and reassuring program that I've experienced.
I've used Shadow Defender since it's inception
There have been minor glitches to the software at times in Shadow Defender's development but nothing that became a show stopper.
I've relied on it through ups and downs as a consistent part of my computer life and will always use it when in doze operating systems.
I believe that Shadow Defender had been developed to it's optimum state for the Operating Systems and environments that it was created for and it has served/is serving well beyond it's remit.
The conditions and platforms are changing so fast these days, that , as a developer, it must be like a constant juggling act. When you get one thing right, then the whole context that you are developing for is changed overnight.
Modern operating system developers are only happy with dependency not user independence.
Individual user sovereignty and self determination is frowned upon.
The power mongers hate programs that they can't get a hook into, one way or the other.
I believe that Shadow Defender with it's simple strength, functionality, usability, real lifetime licence and bargain price was a generous gift to us all.
The mystery around the program and it's enigmatic creator 'Tony' has fueled a lot of debate over the years.
I personally have been 'North to South' with it
I know that Shadow Defender is still usable, even though we haven't seen or heard from the developer in some time and 'environments' and platforms are changing fast.
The Linux world has come of age now and there are many exciting and innovative things being developed that are within the grasp of the ordinary or inexperienced user. In the past, that was not possible in that 'arcane', elitist (sometimes, snobbish and bullying) world of early Linux development
I think that the 'oppressive' systems will die out due to human needs.
There is a saying 'Necessity is the mother of invention'.
Freedom and breadth and depth of choice, not being subject to the chains of monopoly is good for us all.
We are beginning to see some very usable operating systems these days.
The grandiose bloated systems that demand to own every aspect of your life and have you accountable only to them, have had their day.
The downsides of these monsters, in terms of attitude, privacy or security outweigh any benefits and many people are beginning to see that and look for alternatives.

 

RIP SD

Came

 

To bad. It was great, but time to go. I am using deep freeze. Any other good options?

 

This is sad news. Perhaps SD's demise was due to selling 'lifetime' licenses (not a wise business model), or perhaps the problem was rooted in the 'Great Firewall of China'.

I purchased my SD license back when WinXP was still the current version of Windows. Over the years (and 3 subsequent Windows upgrades) it has been my longest lasting and most effective security program. Even though the most current SD build was released about 3 years ago, it is still working perfectly on my Win10 PC (as it also is with Win11, reportedly), so I'll just keep using it until it's no longer compatible with the version of Windows I then have installed - when and if that time comes.

 

Deep Freeze or maybe Reboot Restore Rx /Rollback Rx is your best bet currently.

The rest like Toolwiz Time Freeze, Bufferzone, Returnil, etc. are long ago discontinued.

 

Same for me, still working perfectly on Windows 11, no reason to change for now.

 

Absolutely Agree. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" (or replace it)

 

Indeed this is sad news. And for me because of an additional reason: Using Shadow Defender for many years on my own computer, just the last 1-2 weeks I started to think about buying one more license for another computer in the family. It was stupid of me not to do it earlier. Now it seems to be too late.

 

I haven't used it in ages...



P.S. Is Version: 1.5.0.726 the latest?