RollbackRx Pro, FD-ISR on XP and Vista

Discussion in 'backup, imaging & disk mgmt' started by silver0066, Feb 17, 2007.

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  1. silver0066

    silver0066 Registered Member

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    I have been experimenting with some setups and have discovered the best combination in my experience in playing around with this stuff.

    FD-ISR (new beta version) was installed with both XP Pro and Vista snapshots. I am using RSS mode with First Defense.

    Leapfrog has moved the pre-boot code from the Master Boot Record to the Partition Boot Record in the new beta version. Since this version does not use the MBR, I was able to install RollbackRx, (FD-ISR on steroids) but without Archiving.

    Rollback was installed into both the First Defense XP and Vista snapshots using the Rollback multiboot option.

    It's preboot screen precedes the FD-ISR pre boot screen. Now I have the advantage of very quick multiple snapshots, less than 5 seconds, using relatively little disk space, coupled with the abiltity to keep external updated FD-ISR archives.

    Because Rollback is in the MBR before FD-ISR, all the same snapshots show up whether I am in the Vista or XP FD-ISR snapshots. I haven't tried going back to a snapshot with Rollback into another First Defense snapshot yet, but it should work. I will try it after making a good image with Acronis.

    Some of you gurus might give this a try. I think you might be amazed at it's flexibility and possiblities.

    Silver
     
  2. sukarof

    sukarof Registered Member

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    Encouraged by your post I installed Rollback in my Vista snapshot. Installation went fine. I have had problems installing Rollback in XP for some reason so I will only use it in Vista snapshot for now.
    Doesnt this mean that FDISR is inside a Rollback RX snapshot? I am no expert in this, but if soemthing goes wrong with Rollback then FDISR will be fried too, right?
     
  3. silver0066

    silver0066 Registered Member

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    Not if you Archive your snapshot from FDISR and have an Acronis or other image that you can restore to get the archive.
     
    Last edited: Feb 17, 2007
  4. sukarof

    sukarof Registered Member

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    Yeah, that is true :)

    Anyway this setup was too good to be true, on my machine at least.
    I have made three snapshots with RB in Vista.
    I decided to reboot to my second RB snapshot.
    Then when FDISR boot meny appeared I changed from Vista snapshot to a XP snapshot and I got BSOD´d.
    Same with other FDISR snapshots. I Could only boot into my Vista snapshot.
    But I guess it has something to do with me not having Rollback installed on my XP snapshots.
    Since RB wont install properly on my XP installation I cant use this double snapshot setup..
    Maybe some day when I do a complete new install of XP.
     
  5. starfish_001

    starfish_001 Registered Member

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    Are you sure ATI will preserve RB snapshot data - in my experience it did not
     
  6. silver0066

    silver0066 Registered Member

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    No I am not sure, but it will sure get you back to Windows or Vista so you can restore the FDISR snapshot. Acronis takes an image of the whole drive plus the MBR, so I can't think of a reason why it should be a problem.

    Rumor has it that Rollback is coming out with a new version next month that will have an archiving feature. That will be interesting to play with. I tried Rollback last July 2006, and had a lot of chkdsk problems so I sent it back. This new version, so far, has been very stable and I am using it in an unusual way.
     
  7. starfish_001

    starfish_001 Registered Member

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    ATI does not copy empty sectors unless it does not recognise the OS - so the RB snapshot will not be corectly copied. -- This was the case last time I tried it with RB on a spare drive - even cloning. More recent build of ATI might be different I guess ....


    I use Drivesnapshot or Paragon Drive Backup as they have options to copy 1 for 1

    So If I were you I'd test whether your imaging regime works as expected. - I have become a little more cautious since my shadow protect class with FDs VSS


    Version 8 of RB does indeed sound very worth looking at ....
     
  8. silver0066

    silver0066 Registered Member

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    Are you installing Rollback with the multiboot option?

    You can install on both the XP and Vista FDISR snapshots. Install on Vista or XP FDISR snapshot, using multiboot option. After reboot, go to the other Vista or XP FDISR snapshot, install Rollback without using the multiboot option.

    Works for me anyway.

    Silver
     
  9. silver0066

    silver0066 Registered Member

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    I haven't had a chance to test with an image with Rollback installed. I am not too concerned though as I have kept an image that I took just before installing Rollback.

    So in case I have to due an Acronis full restore, and if the image with Rollback installed does not work, I can always restore the "before Rollback image" and then restore a recently archived FDISR snapshot, which I do at least once a day anyway, to get right back up to date.

    The worst case that I can think of would be that I would have to reinstall Rollback. With these two programs installed, is seems that it would be very seldom that I would have to do an image restore from Acronis.

    I tried Rollback last July and had alot of problems and returned it and switched to First Defense. I just got this new version of Rollback about a week ago, and so far, except for the file restore feature when in Vista, it has performed reliably.

    However, my experiences with these types of programs tells me that I have to use them for awhile before I get complete confidence in them. So I use both FDISR for archiving backed up by Acronis for disaster.

    What I really like about Rollback is the amazing speed in making snapshots and relatively small disk use. It is great for comparing different programs and switching back and forth between them. If I make a decision to keep one, I can go to that snapshot without any leftovers from the others that I tried. If I decide not to keep any of them, I just go back to a snapshot before I started the comparing.

    I have not tried Drivesnapshot or Paragon Drive backup. I like the Universal Restore feature in Acronis even though that feature does not work in Vista for some reason. That is not too important for me anyway, as after experiencing Vista for about 3 months now, I have switched my main systems back to XP. Vista was just too cumbersome, and I have the almost all the same visual features by using the Vista Transformation Pack v6 and good security applications in XP.
     
    Last edited: Feb 18, 2007
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