Any alternatives to System Restore?

I'm looking for software to replace/improve Windows System Restore. I'd be grateful for suggestions and recommendations (as well as advice) from forum members!

 

I don't know of anything free that can replace windows system restore. Personally i use a paid for product called rollback rx which works similar to system restore but has a few more advanced features.
You could also try some kind of backup program like true image or shadow protect which can also be used to replace windows system restore.

 

Is there any boot cd or any thing that use the system restore inofrmation form outside the system?I know rollback rx , but that is nota replacement for system restore .

 

System Restore has come in very handy when repairing a system for example with the Winternals ERD Commander 2005 boot CD.
To the OP, how about Acronis.

 

Winternals ERD Commander 2005 boot CD.---------->does it helps to restore a ssytem using XPsystem restore form outside its os ?Can we use the same system volume information file for its restore ?

next question

the first thing that goes in an virus attack is system restore file , how to back up the restore points and prevent this from happening.

 

Winternals was sold to Microsoft in 2006 - ERD is apart of the Admin Pak which enabled you to make the bootable CD but I hear was also sold separately. I still have and use the tools, but now they are updated and apart of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack.

 

How is it not a replacement? It functions pretty much the same as windows system restore yet its more secure and lets you restore from outside the OS.

 

For the registry only, you can use ERUNT.

 

I use true image and restore a saved image. But any imaging software should work. But this will only work if your system partition is small. My c: partition is 20gb (6gb in use), takes less than 6 minutes to backup and about 10 minutes to restore. This has saved me many times. Restoring to the same hard drive/same partition has always worked perfectly with the drive booting up.

I don't even have "system restore" enabled on my computer, I just rely on "saved" images (1 weekly backup). It always works. The times I have used "windows system restore" it has never worked where it fixed my computer, to me I consider as a useless feature in windows.

If your system partition is 200gb, then an image backup restore won't work for you (it would take too long to backup and restore). Something that you can do is use a program like "returnil" , I use that something as a "restore point", when you are in virtual mode noting is permanentely installed on your hard drive, a reboot will get your computer back to the way it was before you enabled "returnil". It works great for me and is very reliable.

 

for me this is the too first time i am using the system restore ,

Rollback rx is a seperate software that runs the preos on every boot , and my maging app restore s ma comp in 5 minutes that why not using it ,

for it users tough they can safely turn the system restore off.

 

Those interested could also look at DriveClone Pro from Farstone. Similar to Rollback Rx, in some cases features are better but it does have some disadvantages as far as I can see. Also more expensive than Rollback Rx.

Personally I am trialing Rollback Rx having used GoBack for many a year but it is no longer supported by Symantec and there are no plans to move update it to work with Vista (Boohoohoo!!!!)

 

VCOM Recovery Commander works somewhat like System Restore, although I don't think it backs up files like SR. It does have a boot disk that allows you to load registry hives from its own or XP restore points, hopefully allowing you to boot the system to do a proper system restore.

O&O Bluecon 7 also allows you to load XP restore points, although I have never tried it.

 

Thanks a ton for giving such great information.

 

And I give my thanks to the team of concerned forum members at Wilders as well! Much appreciated!!

 

Interesting, i might have to try out this driveclone pro. At $55 its actually cheaper than rollback rx but seems to have more features.

 

I am a old user of Farstone s restore IT, it is way behind rollback in speed and performance .
How different is Farstone Drive clone pro from restoreIT in this regard?

 

I too, have never had any luck with MS System Restore. I am using XP-Pro and Sys.Restore never worked when I needed it.

I found Norton GoBack and used it for several years... it wasn't perfect, but never failed me when I needed it.

I also invested in Rollback Rx Pro, and it works well for me too, but those gosh darn "Defragging Snapshots" screens at bootup are driving me CRAZY ! I turn on my machine and it sometimes takes an extra 10 minutes to finish defragging the snapshot before I can get to work.

Tim

 

You know you can always turn off the auto defrag and just manually defrag when it suits you best.

 

Never tried restore IT but i'm currently testing out drive clone pro, i'll let ya know how it goes.

 

farmerlee,

No... I did not know that.... but I'm certainyl going to do that...

THANKS !

Tim

 

In case ya can't find it,

Program settings>Advanced settings>untick both defrag options

 

THANKS !

 

Hi Farmerlee

I have come acoss the following potential issues reported with DriveClone Pro. I say that because these are secondhand; I cannot vouch for their accuracy as I have not (yet) tried DriveClone Pro (but might if my trial of Rollback Rx does not go well). But thought they might give you something to consider/a place to start if you do decide to try it:

1. Snapshots apparently take take longer than Rollback Rx, and during that time the PC may baecome
unresponsive.

2. You must reserve a specific amount of space for the snapshots, and once full, apparently, Drive Clone pops up
a notice that it will wrap around thereby effectively overwriting some old snapshots to make space for the
new one. This popup must be responded to before it will take the scheduled snapshot. This potentially means
that one will, once the space is filled and overwriting occurs, be prompted for every snapshot.

3. Snapshot rollback works differently in that if recover to a snapshot all snapshots taken subsequent to the
rollback point are lost, ie, if your decision to rollback was incorrect or yo change your mind you cannot roll
forward again. Also, you must therefore manually backup any files you want to save BEFORE restoring, unlike
with Rollback that actively encourages you to take a snapshot of the system as it was just before rollback so
that you can actually grab individual files from later, etc.

As I said the above has been gleaned elsewhere in my research but I hope it is of use to you in your deliberations on the topic?

Cheers



Baldrick

 

Hi pratzert

Spotted that to so what I now do is use the manual snapshot defrag option on a regular basis, ie, once a week as part of my maintenance plan. This has the advantage of compressing the defrag time into one session (usually) and because once a snapshot is defrag it remains so (as far as I can see) you cut down on the "...those gosh darn "Defragging Snapshots" screens at bootup".

Only time I seem to get one of these now is when restoring...for some reason.

Seems to work for me; perhaps you would like to try?

EDIT: Sorry guys, missed Farmerlee's post on the very same point.

 

that is it is almost same as restore IT from farstone