I Would Use RollBackRx pro Now But...

Because it takes up less space and is so versatile providing the ability to have a great number of snapshots that one can boot to, I would love to use RollBack RX Pro but I would like to see the following capabilities. If these are available now, please let me know. I like the fact that the program takes up so little space and is speedy but I would like to see

1. Ability to retain all snashots to any location especially external drive.

2. Ability to ssuspend the program so imaging can be done and if image and MBR is restored, then no need to reinstall Rollback.

These are two of the main reasons I don't use it right now although i do have version 7. Looking to version 8, what is here now and what is promised? Thanks for your insight.

Gary

 

Version 8 is already available, but I heard work is ongoing on suspension of the program especially for those who wish to use third-party defraggers.

 

1. you can backup any snapshot to another drive with v8, not with v7, but that's not a big deal to me (that's why I have disk-images).
2. not with any RB version, but it's (supposedly) in their queue!

fwiw, in my testing of v8, it still has 'gremlins' running around in it, whereas the final build of v7 is rock solid.

 

Thank you very much. Glad to here at least one feature is in v8 but will stay away from it for now until further work is done.

I guess I just hate to lose all my snapshots when I image with v7. Other than that, I loved the functionality and way this product works. Mad it so easy to go between different C drives with vastly different system configs. Fantastic for testing different security programs or any other programs. Just when I do that image with ShasowProtect, then what, all snapshots gone. I know this is old news but I am looking forward to the further work on this program.

Gary

 

Gary, have a read through this thread and come back with any questions.

Graham

 

Thanks Graham. Had forgotten about that thread. Maybe I need to do some testing with ShadowProtect and RBRx 7 and see how it comes out. Thanks again.

Gary

 

Gary, as Kenjin, nexstar and I have posted (a few times over), you can preserve all RB snapshots in your backup by performing a Raw (all disk sectors) image. However, imho that's an impractical routine because of the time it takes and the storage consumed by a Raw image!

 

I think that this must depend on how your system is organised and on your particular requirements. I rarely have a C drive which is larger than 20GB and so imaging that in raw mode is not really a problem.

The fact that I can have several very different system setups archived in the same image is a major plus to me and probably saves on time and storage in my case.

Graham

 

@pvsurfer and @Graham,

Both excellent point although different viewpoints but food for thought. Never tested out raw imaging with ShadowProtect so might try it and get my imaging down to once a month for my C (system) drive with several RollBack snapshots included in that image. Might be worth it and then back up data partitions inside Windows on a daily basis.

Gary

 

Just a question, if you are working with vastly different snapshots, have you found it practical to do images of each of these snapshots while Rollback is uninstalled? Then reinstall it. In other words, do you select the snapshots you would want to restore in case of an emergency and image those to make sure you have a backup of them? Hope I am clear on this and thanks.

Gary

 

If I understand you correctly, that's not only impractical, it's impossible! If you need to image more than one snapshot, you can not uninstall RB. While you may uninstall RB to any snapshot you wish, the others are deleted upon uninstalling. When you want to image more than one snapshot you must not uninstall RB (at least not until the last snapshot is imaged)! The way to make images of multiple snapshots is to restore each one and then image it. However, in doing this, you will (in all likelihood) have to repair the MBR each time you restore any of those images!

I never image multiple snapshots because whenever I think my current snapshot may be worth preserving, I uninstall to it and then image it, reinstall RB and go from there... Clean, simple, and most important, it works for me.

 

Thanks again for clarifying all of this so I can get my head around it. Thnik I am beginning to get it.

Gary

 

As pvsurfer rightly says, you will lose all your other snapshots by uninstalling to image any single one. The good news though, is that you don't need to uninstall Rollback to image any 'favourite' snapshot . I used to do this routinely before I realised that I could image all snapshots successfully from outside of Windows.

So, I would make a full image and then make differentials at appropriate times. On restoring these, I would wipe the existing partition and would restore the mbr from the backup. When the image is restored, you need to uninstall Rollback and re-install it again.

Graham

 

Thanks agian Graham for that and I have noted it along with pvsurfer's approach. Will continue to study this out.

Gary

 

Probably so Graham, but even with a 20GB C-drive, your Raw image will be close to 20GB, whereas a 'normal' compressed image would likely consume substantially less space.

My C-drive is 36GB and about half-full. My D-drive (data, docs, photos) is 200GB and also about half-full. I retain at least 6 images of my C & D drives, so if I were to create Raw images of just my C-drive, that in itself would more than consume my backup HDD (200GB), leaving no room for D-drive images!

By creating compressed images, I never come anywhere close to filling my backup HDD, and even more importantly I am comfortable and secure with my backup method (and I'm sure, you feel the same about your method)... It all boils down to what another member here said, "different folks, different strokes".

 

I don't know if Drive Snapshot's 'Maintenance Mode' is the same as a Raw image. The option says "Saves the complete disk, including unused sectors. Normally not needed", but it clearly involves compression of the resulting image on the basis of my results.

I have just imaged a particularly messy system that could do with a bit of a clear out. The C-drive is 17GB and it is showing as having 3.5GB available. Rollback is installed and there are 16 snapshots.

I imaged in my UBCD environment and the first time I selected 'Maintenance Mode' in DS, which will save and restore all 16 snapshots. The resulting image (which took 17 minutes) was 9.8GB. The pagefile.sys is on another partition and so is not a factor in this.

I then imaged it again in 'normal' mode which will just get me the current state of the drive with no RB snapshots. This took just under 10 minutes and the image was 6.4GB (reported as 10GB not compressed).

I would maintain though that in that one 'raw' (and obviously compressed) image, I have, effectively, 16 assorted images all rolled in to one.

.....and I'm not suggesting for one minute that you change (honest ). I'm just trying to show that this method doesn't have to be the storage hog that you might think.

Graham

 

@Graham,

What favored tool do you use to wipe your partition before restoring the raw image? I don't know if the Delete Volume feature in ShadowProtect will accomplish this or not? Thanks.

Gary

 

Graham,

Up to this point I've never used Drive Snapshot, but based on your comments I'm eager to try it... From my disk-imaging experiences with Acronis and Paragon, none of my Raw images were compressed, but apparently DI's 'Maintenance Mode' does just that.

Would you be so kind as to describe how you use DI with UBCD to image and restore your disk (partition) with RB snapshots... I would also like to know if you find it necessary to repair the MBR and/or reinstall RB after restoring an image?

pv

 

I use Acronis Disk Director but only because I spent money on it . I'm sure that there are many alternatives and probably some free options. Others here may know.

Graham

 

Thanks and I would like to know where could I find instructions on building BartPE disk with the DriveSnapshot plugin and would this do the job for me? This way I could have Disk Director and DS on that same CD if I wanted that. Thanks again.

Gary

 

If you've already created a UBCD disk then you just need to put Drive Snapshot where you can find it.

This may be more steps than is always necessary but it works for me:

Make the backup using the UBCD to a drive/partition not protected by RB.
The 'Maintenance Mode' must be selected. Differentials also work ok so subsequent backups can be done this way if you want to - it obviously saves space and time.

If I need to restore then I delete the partition and wipe it to remove any previous RB installation. Armed with a UBCD then it is just as easy to restore that way but I restore the MBR of the image first. You can do this simply with DS.

Remove the CD, reboot and the RB sub-console should appear and the system boot up as you saved it. There is no need to re-install RB.

Sorry, this is a bit rushed as I'm just going out but if anything is unclear let me know. Do test this on test stuff if possible just in case it is some unique combination of my hardware, software and wind direction that makes it work .

Graham

 

You don't actually need a plugin for DS as it runs from anywhere . You might also want to look at UBCD4WIN which some people find easier than BartPE.

Graham

 

First thanks Graham for all of that good info.

Just did some testing imaging my C drive from the Recovery WinPE CD of ShadowProtect. Do not have Rollback installed at this time but just wanted to see what imaging would involve timewise and spacewise if I do want to install Rollback one day. here are my results which seem somewhat similar to Graham's I think.

Size of C partition - 13.6 GB

Used Space - 6.67 GB

Free Space - 6.99 GB

I imaged to my external USB drive attached to notebook.

Image of C including free space (all sectors)

Time - 12:21
Size - 8.49 GB

Normal image of C not including free space

Time 5:03
Size - 3.55 GB

Just passing this along but it appears that installing Rollback might be worth imaging my C drive once in a while in this way if I can have several snapshots in the image that remain intact. Takes more time and more space and must be done outside of Windows but it is like doing say several images at a time. If you have 9 different snapshots, like doing 9 images at a time but all in one file. Really not that bad I would think. Still have not tested with Rollback but thank you Graham again for opening up my eyes to thinking along this line.

Gary