FDISR vs. other products

Hi -

I am interested in purchasing FDISR and I wonder how it compares / contrasts to other products. I am looking for a product that can snapshot my system - which I can use to recover to a time point, let's say; prior to a software install; or a corrupted registry entry. I am much more interested in system level files (on a Win XP Pro system) then I am in my data files (which I copy off to an external disk every several minutes as they change).

It seems that FDISR has the ability to deal with open system level files; vs. Horizondatasys's other product, GoBack.

Years a go, I used a product called ConfigSafe (this was win96/win98 days) which I liked because it allowed me to compare snapshots or compare current system to last snapshot. This way I could see hcanges made in the registry since the last snapshot. Does FDISR enable one to do this?

Any help in understanding these products that will help me make a decision is greatly appreciated.

 

I use both fd-isr and rollback rx, as to which one is better really depends on your needs. When you make a snapshot with fd-isr it makes a complete image of the system drive which can take a fair amount of time and use a fair amount of hard disk space. When you make a snapshot with rollback rx it only captures the changes made which makes it faster and use less disk space. Each method has its own pros and cons.
I don't think either of the two allow you to see in detail what changes have been made.

Personally i use rollback rx on my laptop as it only has a smal hard drive. With rollback i can have many snapshots without using up a large amount of disk space. I use fd-isr on my desktop which has much more hard disk space for the fd-isr snapshots. Also, having multiple hard drives makes it a lot quicker to work with the snapshots.

 

I use FDISR
1. to create different environments : off-line and on-line computer, in my case.
2. to keep my system partition malware-free (boot-to-restore) instead of using 50 AV/AS/AT/AK/AR/...-scanners.
3. to keep my registry clean
4. to keep my Windows and software folders clean
5. to keep my computer working properly.
6. to solve all my problems without needing knowledge or other people = troubleshooting in deeds, instead of blablabla.
7. to clean superfluous objects, created by softwares, while they are doing their job = supercleaning.
8. to convert images into archives and archives into snapshots and vice versa.
9. as second system backup, in case ShadowProtect fails = fastest second backup, I've ever seen (seconds).
A real TIME SAVING software.

No other ISR-software is able to do this, except RollbackRx maybe, but I never verified this myself, other users claim that RBRx is the same.
So I don't need to compare FDISR with anything, because I have already the maximum, although FDISR could be improved.

 

Contrary to it's claims as NOT an imaging program, you could fool me. I have 100% Completely restored a 200Gb Maxtor drive that i absolutely contaminated with a file infector virus that also likes to jump partitions

I did resort to Nod32 for some so-called "clean" files/programs because ALL but two of my 10 snapshots were rendered grossly affected and many .exe's couldn't launch even after Nod32 cleaning of the Parite Virus i happily turned loose on my system.

Talk about blind trust, i didn't even take the forethought to image before testing my little research and it very well could have spelled certain doom, "EXCEPT" for FD-ISR (Genuine Version) also featured archiving which i did have presence of mind before attempting this to transfer "ALL" my snapshot's archives to another HD internally, and this proved the MASTER KEY!

After a full wipe, reformat, then XP reinstall followed by FD-ISR reinstall, i was able to 100% (again), completely rebuild the entire system x 3 partitions PERFECTLY!

I put more trust in FD-ISR then i did with my own good sense, or lack thereof, and FD-ISR came thru like the CHAMPION it is. Well, at least for those who still have the archive x 10 snapshot version anyway.

 

Make sure you have a good imaging program if you use RollbackRx. It has a tendency to intermittently crash your whole system and all partitions on your system drive.

 

I can confirm that version 7 or 8 can cause problems (kernel driver can clash KIS) - make sure you have good images.

I had a fairly regular crash - restore image routine with RX on my media server - The last time it trashed my system I decided to completely repartition and rebuild. It was a dual boot system this has tended to cause more problems with RX.


I have have 4 machines with FD and 2 unsued RX 7 licenses - I refunded the 1 version 8 lic I had.


ISR problems must be reliable ... not a cause of problems

 

One thing to remember, if you do go with fd-isr, disable your security software before doing any snapshots or freezing -if freeze is available on your copy. When I first installed my copy that had been laying in a drawer for I don't know how long, I immediately did as was recommended and made snapshots. They were full of errors.

For a change, and surprisingly, on my very own it occurred to me that Threatfire might be interfering. I suspended Threatfire and tried again. Everything worked nicely. I enabled Threatfire and tried a snapshot. It showed errors. Disabled threatfire and no trouble. I'm guessing this isn't just a Threatfire thing but would include all security software. To be safe, turn it off before doing snapshots or a freeze.

Also, if you use Threatfire/CyberHawk, even suspended you might get some warnings while making the snapshot. I had several but all went okay.

 

FD-ISR has been one of the topmost quality software i have ever used. Can't go wrong if you buy it. While i don't use HIPS but i never had any problem while creating snapshot. As a bonus, while you are copying your snapshot, all the files which are being copied are scanned by your antivirus.

 

Isn't it available with some other name?

 

Not anymore. HDS is selling now FirstDefense-ISR Rescue, but this is not the real FDISR anymore. No multiple snapshots, no freeze function, no archives, all main functions of FDISR disappeared.
FDISR Rescue is now like all these simple boot-to-restore ISR-softwares (DeepFreeze, Returnil, ShadowDefender, PowerShadow, Baseline Shield, ShadowUser, etc... the row gets longer. )
For you to find out what makes FDISR Rescue so special compared with the others. Don't expect too much.
It's like this game : you get two similar pictures, find the 7 differences.
FirstDefense-ISR Workstation was the Last of the Mohicans.

 

Well, it happened again.

And this time it took on a completely different looking beast. I was literally seconds from D-Banning the entire disc this time and it had nothing whatsoever to do with researching a virus.

Today i was going over my motherboard and internal housing and decided to move some wires that were becoming obstacles since they were routed in the HD panels. All i wanted ws to re-route them around the metal supports instead of the way they were (when i bought it) actually laying inside and in-between hard drives.

I pulled out a series of about 8 wires paired by two with plastic leads (all lettered/color) but to my surprise they weren't grouped to a single lead but were individual leads, and you guessed it, in haste i didn't mark or chart them but while trying to thread them around the panel they got tangled up and when i finally freely routed them, i was lost. I read the motherboard as indicated but something didn't work after plugging them back in. I got as far as the ON button working but after bootup guess what, Big Problem. I think i shorted something out that affected the hard drive because even my emergency CD Disks couldn't help and i have several. It took of all things the original XP Pro CD install recovery to fix the drive so it would boot again. Whew!

Then had to Uninstall then Reinstall again FD-ISR to re-access ALL the snapshots. Worked like a charm, FD-ISR is a MIRACLE WORKER for me.

Then after booting the main system noticed under My Computer, that 2 of my alternate partitions were suddenly & mysteriously AWOL
They just vanished!
Just wasn't there at all, Gasp! And at least one of those housed my FD-ISR archives.

Somehow the electrical short when inserting the wrong leads to the wrong pins must have deleted the other 2 partitions, because it took Paragon Hard Drive Manager while still in windows, not CD disc, to find them as *unformatted

Folks this is what i call really walking the tightrope.
Anyway lucky for me for Paragon's deleted partition finding feature, and it's undelete feature, in 52 minutes it fully recovered BOTH partitions, one 90GB the other 20Gb, with all the FD-ISR archives completely intact and all programs functional.

The strange part is i really thought this time that the electrical short ruined the data/system on the HD so after hours of running different analysis CD's (Including ERD Commnader) that didn't find any systems, i had D-Ban disc ready to wipe out the entire works and restart over from scratch. This is one time i have to give credit to Microsoft, it's CD repaired whatever partition table error or other went haywire, and allowed bootup again where FD-ISR took over from there to regain ALL snapshots again.
Paragon HDM, recovered the deleted partitions.

Proves once again that these PC electronics are very delicate and in just a fraction of time a single wrong move or plug can throw everything completely off balance.