Alternatives to FDISR & Rollback

I bought Rollback, but it messes with my MBR.

I installed FirstDefense-ISR but it won't enable itself on my computer. The FDISR support forum came up with no solutions.

QUESTION- Are there any other programs that do approximately the same job that is done by Rollback & FDISR?

 

you have probably been ask this a hundred times, but do you have processguard installed on your computer. I had to get rid of it to be able to use FDISR. after getting rid of PG FDISR works just great.

 

@BigC - No, I don't use PG. But I DO use Systems Safety Monitor, which also hooks the kernel & does traffic cops duties on processes -- along the same lines as PG. Hmmmm, I wonder...

@Peter- I downloaded from Leapfrog. Why? Because Leapfrog evidently runs the FDISR support forum at Wilders. I may try again in a few days, with a download from Raxco BUT... I am not a big fan of fragile recovery software. Recovery software should be as close to fool-proof as possible.

As to what Rollback does to the MBR -- I have no idea. I'm just going by what I read here. I used Rollback for quite some time & was absolutely delighted with it. I used it a LOT when I was beta-testing 2 different versions of Online Armor (plain & AV+) & switched things around 3 or 4 times a day with noooo problems.

My big disaster was caused by an open source boot manager named Gag -- not by Rollback. But Rollback can't help with a major diasaster such as that, so I became convinced I needed to get an imaging program. But the imaging programs I knew of (ATI etc.) were all said to conflict with Rollback. Therefore I am now using ATI & (reluctantly) have Rollback in mothballs.

I have heard BING & Rollback might get along okay, so I am now reading the BING manual to find out if I can understand BING well enough to use it.

Compared with FDISR, Rollback was a delight. It installed easily. Ran faultlessly, & I never even once had to read the user's guide -- it was THAT simple. It did dozens & dozens & dozens of rollbacks for me with never a burp or fart in a carload. I miss that program, but I'm afraid to use it again because (as of right now) ATI is what is guarding my computer's groin area & I don't want to risk having Rollback screw up ATI, as some have said it will do.

Is there no balm in Gilead (Jer 8.22a)? Are there no good alternatives to Rollback & FDISR? (sigh)

 

bellgamin,
My recommendation is the combination of Image for DOS/Windows and FDISR. However, I do not use System Safety Monitor. If you used Process Guard, I would say that your solution is simple. I would drop Process Guard in favor of the IFW/IFD & FDISR protection. The reason for this conclusion is that I personally do not believe that Process Guard is worth sacrificing FDISR or IFW/IFD. Due to the fact that I am not as familiar with System Safety Monitor, I cannot draw the same conclusion. I can, however, recommend that you consider Image For Windows / Image For DOS and First Defense ISR.

 

Right on, dallen. Although I use 3 and often 4 different image/backup/disaster recovery softwares. If I had to choose only two, it would be IFW/IFD and FD-ISR, hands down.

 

Bellgamin: re the above, the answer is probably not
I was in touch with Terabyte about this some time ago.
Due to the aahh "unusual" indexing system used by RBack for snapshots, most if not all imaging utilities will have problems with RBack and the data imaging they use if not conflicts within MBR.

There was a massive thread in the forums about Rback and imaging utilities and thier were many problems related to trying to image the HDS system eccentricities and MBR conflicts as I recall.
The end result was that very sadly many users "suspended" Rback on their systems.

Here: https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=127866&highlight=rollback
and
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=119215&highlight=rollback

In addition as you are aware any utility that wants the MBR will conflict with RBack. If you actually install BING to your HD it will take over the MBR and I dread to think of the possible problems.

Having said that, there is an option in IFW and Bing from floppy to do a "raw" copy/image, which literally images every byte in place and this might be ok with Rback. I suspect this would be a very high level use of the utilities and not an option to be considered lightly. This information was from Terabyte and I'm not sure they actually tested it. I certainly did not.

Regards

 

I would like to add that this is the same approach which I used in my RollBack backup test with DriveSnapshot. It should work fine if one pays attention to a couple of important things. Details can be found in the above mentioned threads. Here is a shortcut to my post in there: https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=739635&postcount=413

 

Hi Bellgamin,
You might give RestoreIT(Farstone) a try.
For more detailed description, use this link:
http://www.farstone.com/home/ensite/products/restoreit.shtml
Like you, i'm a former disappointed user of Rollback... After a major BSOD, i had to remove it from my computer.
With RestoreIT, i feel safer cause it's a better and more reliable snapshot backup software that never failed to recover my system when needed, within 5 minutes (less fast than Rollback though).
Moreover, it includes a complete disk image backup module (like ATI or others) that, once your system is restored with it, gives you access to all your previous snapshots preserved in a hidden partition. You can define the size of this partition (type 77).The image can be stored wherever you want: external hard disk, Dvd...
Cheers,
Hervé

 

'Approximately' is an interesting invitation to talk about similar software. If you manage to find a good (see working well on your system) imaging program, there is perhaps more than a reason to suggest virtualization software like SHADOWUSER from STORAGECRAFT. It won't create any snapshot of your system, but a virtual volume which will behave as a lightning rod to any malware attack: You reboot into your active system and everything good or bad is gone (you can choose to save things if you wish).

It is very userfriendly and a very stable program indeed. If you want to give it a spin, http://www.storagecraft.com/products/ShadowUser/

With the current discount it is about 50$.

 

My recent disaster wasn't caused by malware. It was caused by a loose nut on my keyboard (namely me). No significant malware has ever penetrated my computer's defenses.

Sounds interesting. But you have to make up your mind rather early that stuff is nasty/unwanted, wot? What if I don't make up my mind for, say, 3 days? Would Shadowuser still do the job of getting my computer back to pre-nasty status, as it was 3 days prior?

<== bellgamin thinking about a $50 price tag

Just kidding, Osaban. Thanks for the post. I will test Shadowuser out one of these days.

 

Bellgamin,
DeepFreeze is also a possible, just read the website.
http://www.faronics.com/html/deepfreeze.asp
I never used it myself, because FDISR has more possibilities, than just immediate system recovery.
DeepFreeze seems to be a reliable software according my readings in forums.

 

bellgamin, you are looking for alternatives. The only other "instant" recovery programs that I can think off the top of my head are GoBack and, as Heco mentioned, RestoreIt. Neither one of those programs, however, will allow you to create other "work environments" just like creating different partitions, as Rollback and FirstDefense allow you to do. Good luck.

Acadia

 

... if it happened that you make up your mind purchasing RestoreIt after giving it a try, just enter the following 30% discount code:

[MOVE]FS30[/MOVE]

into the promotional code box of the FarStone shopping cart.
Thus you will pay 27$99 instead of 39$99...
Ssssshhhh...LOL
Hervé

 

Yes FDISR offers alot more :
1. Immediate System Recovery inside or outside Windows.
2. Different work environments, upto 10 bootable and unlimited in archived format, which is even better than partitioning.
3. Almost as good as an image backup software (internal/external harddisk, DVD, CD)
4. Refreshing of snapshots, the fastest updating/archiving method ever seen.
5. Full protection of snapshots (freezing).
All that for a miserable $70.

If you don't want all that, my very last recommendation is Windows System Restore.

 

Moreover, if you're asking for alternatives, you can try this application, I'm really not trying to get you to buy anything, it is your choice but consider that very few people have complained hard about ShadowUser.

 

I can't be certain what bellgamin was driving at but I can guess -- plus I'd like to know for myself -- How much hard disk space will Shadowuser consume, i.e., how frequently can I take "snapshots" (or equivalent in SU) and how long before I run out of storage space on a given hard drive size with a given amount in use ?

 

Bellgamin is asking for alternatives to FDISR & Rollback.
You mentioned ShadowUser already, so I had to mention something else : DeepFreeze.

I also wrote what FDISR is capable of in this thread. Can you do the same thing with ShadowUser ?
I don't deal with software names, I deal with software possibilities.
Immediate system recovery is a software possibility or function whatever you call it in English. ShadowUser is a software name.
But at Wilders, they always use software names, so I used SU, because I didn't know about the rest of the softwares. I was not a fan of SU, I was a fan of immediate system recovery.

 

Hi Osaban
Please explain to me what you would do in the following scenario which IMHO complies more to what Bellgamin and I encountered:
Ok... you have SU installed and set to shadow mode... Microsoft releases a critical update or you upgrade one of your softwares. You will keep SU in shadow mode at every reboot (with saved data enabled) for 2 days to see if everything is ok after installing either one or the other, right? Then you will allow the transfer of the data from shadow mode to your disk, cause you won't stay in shadow mode all the time, i assume. Now if one week after, you notice that an important software does not work any more or crashes windows to a point of no return and you can point out the update or the upgrade as the culprit, what will you do with SU?
With FDISR or RestoreIT you can roll back before the system starts, to a previous snapshot taken before the changes were done. Not with SU!
You may reply that you back up your system with ATI or others regularly. But the restoration will take at least 30 min (not to mention the time taken to do a mandatory full backup ((with, secondarily, "automatic updates" in windows set to "off")), before every change). With FDISR or RestoreIT, taking the snapshot in no time and restoration within just 5 min.
IMHO Su is just another EFFICIENT emergency layer of defense, not a long-term recovery software.
Thank you for your expected reply.
Cheers,
Hervé

 

These days also I am searching an alternative to Rollback. Because it made big problems at my system.
I search for Norton Goback trial, bu i can't find any download link. If you know one please give me, if not i am going to use a pirated version as trial (if I like i will buy ).

 

Do you have a NTFS files system? I thought from your other posts that you run windows ME