Introducing AX64 Time Machine - hybrid imaging/snapshot software

Discussion in 'backup, imaging & disk mgmt' started by Isso, Jan 18, 2013.

  1. bgoodman4

    bgoodman4 Registered Member

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    So what happens if the PC shuts down during a merge? Seems to me this could be a serious issue though not one to be likely to happen very often due to forced manual shutdown or crash. A more common scenario would be if you tried to turn the PC of normally and a merge were taking place Win would let you know that a process was underway and give you the option to end the process. If you selected yes would this have a negative effect on the snapshot set?
     
  2. Isso

    Isso Developer

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    There are absolutely no problems with shutting down the PC, or forcefully turning off the power during backup or merge operations. We thoroughly tested it.
    If you shut down your PC while AX64 operation is in progress, Windows will ask whether you want to wait or kill the process. If you wait - it'll complete, and if you kill it - there will be one leftover file that will be removed on next program start. That's it.

    The only operation that is sensitive is restore. I.e. if the power goes off during restore the drive will likely become corrupted and you will need to restore from Recovery Media. But that's a problem with any imaging program.

    Isso
     
  3. Rainwalker

    Rainwalker Registered Member

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  4. Isso

    Isso Developer

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    Rainwalker,

    I'm planning to release the next version before this sale event. However if we by some reason fail to do it - all customers will be able to upgrade for free, because it's a minor version update.

    Isso
     
  5. cdressel

    cdressel Registered Member

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    I have Windows 8 Pro, 64-bit, EUFI & GPT. Using 1.1.996. Because of that, I've been doing backups but obviously cannot create any backup media.
    FWIW - probably not exactly what you wrote but my last backup did not complete. It hit 100% and just hung (over 1 hour). The file length was still listed at 0.
    I finally tried to shut it down with Task Manager. Didn't work. Then tried to shut the computer down. It wouldn't shut down - probably because AXTM was still trying to complete. I was never asked if I wanted to wait or kill the process.
    After I forced it off, I had to use the Windows 8 install disk to fix my boot problems. Actually I had to restore an image because the hard drive was trashed. I couldn't just repair the boot problem.
    I uninstalled AXTM OK, but I was not able to delete the 0 length file for the failed backup. File was locked "in use". Finally got to safe mode to delete the file.
    I guess I'll just wait for the version that supports GPT - I think that'll be safer.:)
    I firmly believe that my failed backup - and having to shut the machine off to kill the process - caused me to have to restore an image to get my system running again.
    Chuck
     
  6. bgoodman4

    bgoodman4 Registered Member

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    Thank you for the clarification.
     
  7. ratchet

    ratchet Registered Member

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    Can I purchase it and save the license? Or at least install/un-install and then use when I'm ready to use it? Thank you!
     
  8. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Ratchet, when you purchase you will receive a REGISTRATION CODE. Just salt that away and when the new version (a minor one) arrives in a few days, just download that and use your code to register it... should work just fine.
     
  9. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    No need to uninstall if you're currently running Build 800 or higher, just install right over the existing installation. That way you won't lose any of your existing snapshot structure. After your new installation you will be in TRIAL mode (if previously running a BETA copy) and a registration feature will be available for your new code.

    If you unINSTALL your existing installation you will lose your current snapshot tracking and will have to start with a new BASELINE snap.
     
  10. bgoodman4

    bgoodman4 Registered Member

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    I have recently discovered a bit of a problem with AX64 on an XP SP3 machine. I am unable to copy files from snapshots. Here is what I am doing.

    Right click on the file in the AX64 browser and select "Copy"

    Go to Explorer and navigate to the folder I want to paste the file into

    Right click and hit "Paste" ---- at this point I get a message that there is nothing on the clipboard to paste.

    I have also tried dragging and dropping (which works on my Win 7 PC) to no avail.

    The only way I am able to get the file from a snap to the C:/ drive is to mount the snap and then copy and paste.

    Given how fast AX64 is in every other aspect I was surprised to find that mounting as a virtual drive is quite a slow process.

    Is anyone else having this problem on XP machines? If you have AX64 installed on an XP machine and have not tried to copy files from a snap to the main drive could you please try it and let me know if it worked for you?

    THanks.
     
  11. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    BG, on a dual-core (2.8ghz) desktop running XPsp3, a file copy from the BROWSER and a PASTE from Windows Explorer was immediate, followed by a mount of the BASELINE snap which also occurred immediately.

    This was using AX64 TM BETA Build 756 (one of my test machines).
     
  12. bgoodman4

    bgoodman4 Registered Member

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    Thanks Froggie, I guess it may be a quirk of my old PC.
     
  13. Isso

    Isso Developer

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    Hi Chuck,

    Sorry for that problem. My guess is this has nothing to do with the GPT.
    Some questions - have you tried restoring the AX64 backup? If yes, did it work? What kind of backup drive are you using? Thank you

    Isso
     
  14. Isso

    Isso Developer

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    Froggie, thank you for your help!

    bgoodman, I just tried to reproduce the problem with copy/pasting the files, but it works fine here too. I'll test on more systems.

    Isso
     
  15. Isso

    Isso Developer

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    Folks,

    I would appreciate your help on the following question I've been asked:

    How Acronis True Image "Try & Decide" or "Non stop Backup" features work and how do they compare to AX64 backup?

    Any information would be helpful, I just really don't have time for conducting tests at this moment. Thank you

    Isso
     
  16. pandlouk

    pandlouk Registered Member

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    Non stop backup is very similar to AX64. Try and decide is similar to shadowdefender.
    http://kb.acronis.com/content/3290
    http://kb.acronis.com/content/3730

    Panagiotis
     
  17. Isso

    Isso Developer

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    Panagiotis,

    Thank you very much for precise answer. I need to install Acronis, and test those two features, Non Stop backup looks especially interesting. By the way have you tried it, what are your impressions? Thank you

    Isso
     
  18. pandlouk

    pandlouk Registered Member

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    Not in the current 2013 version. I have tried it with 2010 and 2011 but I l always managed to break it so I'm not the right person to ask.
    Acronis made me allergic to incrementals and RollbackRX made me allergic to sector redirection/virtualization.:p

    Panagiotis
     
  19. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Isso, you might wanna make sure that's not an a real important system (VM is fine). Acronis has a horrible history of leaving things behind which can cause problems later on... the web is full of horror stories concerning those leftovers.
     
  20. cdressel

    cdressel Registered Member

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    Hi Isso,
    No, I was not able to restore the AX64 backup. It apparently never finished it's process and was still at zero bytes. I couldn't get it to work. In fact, I couldn't even get the file to delete - most likely because I shut the computer off when it hung so long.

    My backup drive is a USB 3.0 external drive, but I also occasionally use a second SATA drive in my laptop. The drive in question was my external drive.
    I restored an image made with Acronis True Image 2013.
    Thanks,
    Chuck
     
  21. Isso

    Isso Developer

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    Thank you Panagiotis, I can totally understand you :)

    Isso
     
  22. Isso

    Isso Developer

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    Thanks Froggie, will have that in mind.

    Isso
     
  23. Isso

    Isso Developer

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    Hi Chuck,

    Was it the first backup? If not, why didn't you restore one of the older AX64 backups? Thank you

    Isso
     
  24. aigle

    aigle Registered Member

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    Hi, I have one question. I am using it on a dual boot system with XP and Ubuntu. I have failed many tunes to restore the system. On restore system does,t boot. It s dame result whether I opt to restore mbr or not.

    Is it a known bug? Thanks
     
  25. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    aigle,

    Do you have Grub installed into the MBR rather than into a partition? I recall Grub 2 occupies 126 sectors of the initial HD and not 63 sectors. Could this be relevant? Maybe not if your WinXP starts at LBA-63.
     
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