Kudos to IFW-IFL-IFD

Discussion in 'backup, imaging & disk mgmt' started by The Shadow, Jun 30, 2012.

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  1. The Shadow

    The Shadow Registered Member

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    As I am a relatively new user of the Terabyte's Image For Windows I've been reading just about everything that I see posted here on IFW as part of my learning process. However, a very basic and intrinsic feature of this software just saved my butt. It is such an obvious feature that it hasn't received the attention it deserves.

    It is the capability to restore an IFW backup by booting into WinPE (IFW), DOS (IFD), or Linux (IFL). While WinPE (with IFW) may be the easiest of the 3 to use I just ran into 'a BSOD situation' where WinPE could not find my C-partition!!! :eek:

    The great news was that IFL was able to see my C-partition (as well as the backup image on my external drive) and successfully restored my system. So being able to use any one of 3 different OS environments to boot into is a very valuable asset. :thumb:

    TS
     
  2. Wendi

    Wendi Registered Member

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    Hello TS,

    I found your post extremely interesting (and encouraging), especially as I have just now installed the IFW trial on my laptop. Do you have any idea what caused your BSOD? Seeing that you are a Rollback Rx user, were you not able to restore your system by rolling-back to a prior snapshot? o_O

    Wendi
     
  3. moontan

    moontan Registered Member

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    there is a 4th way of using IFW and it is using a Windows Command Prompt in Win 7.
    not sure if this exists in Vista.

    you can put the exe and the license file (imagew.ini) anywhere on a media/drive and launch from a prompt. (you could also include your Preferences, which are stored in ifw.ini)

    much faster than waiting for a WinPE disk to boot.
    of course, you also need the disk in case of emergency.

    tnx to Brian K for this tip! :thumb:
     
  4. The Shadow

    The Shadow Registered Member

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    Hi Wendi,

    I do have a clue as to what caused it, but that's really not the issue here. My huge disappointment was that having encountered such a problem that RollBack could not save my day. I tried restoring every one of my RollBack snapshots (including the baseline) and they all delivered the very same BSOD with the same message to the effect that I was missing a vital component and to use my installation disk to repair the problem. Unfortunately my installation disk reported that it was unable to repair the problem!

    I then attempted to restore my last IFW backup from a WinPE boot disk with IFW. Can you imagine my horror when the PE disk's Windows Explorer didn't show my C-partition! However, as initially reported, IFD and IFL did find my C-partition and I was able to restore my backup!

    TS
     
    Last edited: Jun 30, 2012
  5. The Shadow

    The Shadow Registered Member

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    That's good to know moontan. Perhaps you or Brian can elaborate on this or point me to where it is discussed.

    However, in my most recent situation this method would not have been of any use as I was totally unable to boot into Windows 7.

    TS
     
  6. aladdin

    aladdin Registered Member

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    Welcome to Rollback Rx. It is money's worth and for sure it is one of the best.

    Just kidding!

    Maybe, you could ask for a refund.

    Best regards,
     
  7. moontan

    moontan Registered Member

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    there isn't much to it really; you just put the 3 files i mentioned (imagew.exe, imagew.ini and ifw.ini) on any drive/media, boot into the Windows WRE at boot (press F8, Repair Computer then launch a Command Prompt to run imagew.exe)

    that's pretty much all of it.
     
  8. The Shadow

    The Shadow Registered Member

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    After this major disappointment I might just do that. :doubt:

    I'd sure like to know how all of my RollBack snapshot got corrupted. o_O
     
    Last edited: Jun 30, 2012
  9. The Shadow

    The Shadow Registered Member

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    Are you telling me that imagew.exe runs from the DOS Command Prompt? :doubt:
     
  10. moontan

    moontan Registered Member

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    yes.

    although in Windows 7 it's called a Windows Command Prompt, apparently. ;)
     
  11. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    As Moontan pointed out, it is a Windows Command Prompt. It is not DOS. It is a Windows environment running a DOS-like emulator but will not run DOS apps. It runs Windows apps. For example, imagew.exe runs but image.exe doesn't.
     
  12. moontan

    moontan Registered Member

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    running IFW from the Windows Command Prompt can be a great time saver if you restore images frequently, as the WinPE disk can take a lot of times to load.

    it is also worth it to see how fast IFW/IFD and IFL are to restore images as one can be faster than the other.

    for example, restoring an image with IFW takes me 3 minutes while it can take 4.5 minutes for the same image using IFD or IFL.

    but each machine is different so it's good to run some tests.
     
  13. aladdin

    aladdin Registered Member

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    All Windows programs run under the DOS Command Prompt. Underneath that beautiful Windows with 16GB memory, sits DOS with 640KB memory, less than 1MB.

    Things haven't changed much when the real IBM PC came out with only 640KB memory.

    Best regards,
     
  14. moontan

    moontan Registered Member

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    thanks Brian! :thumb:

    i did not know that.
    i thought you could run both DOS and Windows exe from the Win 7 Command Prompt.
     
  15. aladdin

    aladdin Registered Member

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    You should, unless you have money to burn!

    Good luck on this, probably would be easier to pull teeth than trying to find this. You will be put into circles by support and the diehards at Rollback Rx will come up with tons of excuses and sympathy.

    You will be forgotten soon and then claims will be made it is a solid program and hardly anyone has problem with it.

    Best of luck,
     
  16. aladdin

    aladdin Registered Member

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    Brain is correct. However, the Windows is built on top of DOS. And, if Microsoft ever abandons DOS, they will lose their monopoly over the operating system.

    Best regards,
     
  17. MarcP

    MarcP Registered Member

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    That was during the old Windows 3.1/95/98/Me days. Not with today's Windows. DOS is long gone.
     
  18. The Shadow

    The Shadow Registered Member

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    Thanks for the explanation Brian. As I'm relatively new to W7 (and even newer to IFW) I hadn't realize that.

    Nevertheless, I won't be getting rid of my IFD/IFL boot-disks anytime soon! ;)

    TS
     
  19. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Shadow... remember, Rollback RX uses its INSTALLATION (Baseline) snapshot as the PARENT in the PARENT/CHILD relationship for all subsequent snapshots. If something happens to the PARENT (that hasn't changed in any of the snapshots), you will have that problem in ALL your snapshots.

    If a disk sector goes into an error state, the part of the system that contains that sector will go into an error state... Rollback knows nothing of hardware errors. Any error in the PARENT (that has not sinced changed) will be an error in all snaps.
     
  20. The Shadow

    The Shadow Registered Member

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    Well I did have a major success with RollBack soon after installing it (about 3 weeks ago) and now this! :gack:

    As a paid licensee I have submitted a support-ticket (re this latest episode) to HDS, so we shall see what they have to say.

    TS
     
  21. The Shadow

    The Shadow Registered Member

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    Hi TRF,

    I realize that the baseline snap is the parent for all subsequent snaps and if the parent is corrupted.....
    ....but doesn't (shouldn't) RollBack protect the sectors containing the baseline snap? :doubt:

    My issue wasn't a hardware problem as IFL restored my week-old IFW hot normal image perfectly (all I had to do afterwards was to uninstall RollBack and then reinstall it)!

    TS
     
    Last edited: Jun 30, 2012
  22. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Howdy!

    Indeed it should... as long as the WRITE that caused that corruption was done while running under Windows with Rollback RX installed. As we know, certain virii are capable of writing the MBR without Rollback's knowledge, and if they can do that, they can write anywhere on that disk. I'm not suggesting a cause here... I have no idea what happened to your system. I'm just stating that there are ways.

    I saw a similar problem about 18-mo ago that was definitely caused by one of those MBR modifying virii types. Luckily I had made copies of both the Rollback MBR and the PBR (Partition Boot Record) for the ROOT system partition. When I couldn't get back into the system, I restored those two records and all was fine after that, including Rollback and all its snapshots.

    I wouldn't necessarily recommend that folks do this (I'm a bit of a techie)... but it did beat one of the virii that can beat Rollback.
     
  23. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    TRF,

    That's interesting. How did you backup and restore the Partition Boot Record? I'm curious to see if we used the same method.
     
  24. aladdin

    aladdin Registered Member

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    Dear Froggie,

    This is where Rollback Rx is the most vulnerable, either when installing Rollback Rx and/or updating Rollback Rx to a new baseline. And, Rollback Rx doesn't give you any warning that the baseline (parent) is messed up, therefore I will go on creating snapshots (children) for longer than months and wouldn't know this failure, until the system is crashed and Rollback Rx then cannot restore it!

    Lots and lots of work, data, update, deletions, installations and so forth being lost.

    Best regards,
     
    Last edited: Jul 1, 2012
  25. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    I used a simple FREEWARE tool called BootICE. For the proper Rollback MBR, you need to run it outside of the protected Windows environment ('cause RBrx won't let you have the "real" one) and for the PBR, it can be run from either place. It also allows to to capture just the MBR or any number of sectors up to and including all of Track 0, if necessary.

    Worked fine for me...
     
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