Introducing AX64 Time Machine - hybrid imaging/snapshot software

Ahhhh, the blue one. I should have realized that given the context.

 

Or should that be 'Mode' as in 'a la mode'?

 

Blue as in, True Blue!

Acadia

 

I think we is going off topic again...and another hat change is in the offing...we must learn to behave.

 

Thanks, Waj, Stapp.

Moved forward and tested a hot restore (build 1120) and it worked perfectly and quickly.

The cold restore seems problematic though. Here's the detail:

• 4 internal hard drives, C, E, F, G. The operating system and programs are all on drive C. General data is on drive E. Recording data is on drive F. Who knows what I'll use drive G for.

1. I backed up Drive C: to a DVD. (Is DVD okay but just overkill? CD is all that's needed?)

2. Booted to the DVD, AX64 loads, I click Restore, and UNLIKE the hot restore which said:
"Ready to restore Drive C: to snapshot created on ...",
the DVD cold restore statement is:
"Ready to restore Drive G: to snapshot created on ...",

So I hesitate to say okay.

Why is it pointing to G

Thanks,
Chamlin

 

One more question:

So if all my data is on Drive E:, do I then do a AX64 backup for that drive and the other data drive too?

 

Thanks, Stapp.

Hmmm...Not sure I understand. Well, that's not true, I'm sure I don't understand. Can this be explained further?

I booted to the DVD to simulate a tragic malfunction recovery attempt...so am I supposed to say Yes to restore to drive G? And that will restore drive C:? And if so, why, and if not, then what do I do?

Humbly, and grateful for the guidance,
Chamlin

 

The drives are presented to you in any recovery program as you have installed them (hardware) in your motherboard (BIOS).

In Windows (software) changes the order the of the drives.

Best regards,

 

Thanks, Aladdin. So...does that mean that it's okay to say Yes to restore Drive G?

 

Hi Chamlin,

I think so. You have to make sure that is the system drive. If you restore to an other drive, you will destroy the data on that wrong drive.

Best regards,

 

Thanks, Aladdin. What can I do to determine if that is the system drive? I only know it as the C: drive.

Thanks,
Chamlin

 

Chamlin,

What size is your C: drive? How much Free Space is present in the drive? Which OS is in C: drive?

 

C: drive is an SSD 160 GB drive with 110 GB available. Win 7 Pro.
E, F, G data drives are 2TB, 600GB, 160GB, respectively.

 

Chamlin,

Thanks. So you have 50 GB of data in the C: drive. An image of this data would be too large to fit on a DVD. What do you think happened?

 

Thanks Brian, if you follow the thread back a few pages, you'll see there's no issue with the size of the b/u as AX64 compresses everything and the data on the DVD/CD/USB Stick just seems to serve to open up AX64 and point to the image/snapshot stored on my external drive.

The issue is that AX64 is asking if I'm ready to restore to drive G: and I don't understand how/why it's perceiving/labeling my C: drive as a G: drive only on a cold DVD restore, and the concern is will it really restore to the C: drive or the G: drive which I don't want to have written over.

 

Chamlin,

I misunderstood as you said...

Not sure what you mean by that now.

 

I suspect he/she means that the recover media was created on the DVD not an image. As you indicated there is no way an image will fit on a DVD,,,

Chamlin, lets see if we can sort this out.

1: Your C drive is your system drive only or is it your system drive and main data drive (the place where your data is written to)?

2: You are using one of the other drives as the storage media for your AX64 images.

3: You have created a boot disk on a DVD

4: When you use the DVD to boot the system the AX64 recovery browser opens and gives you the option to restore drive G but you have backed up drive C?

 

I know, I know...for the tenth time...

I now have 11 backups as I ONLY do manual backups. The first is large, of course, and the next 10 are just changes.

So, is there a limit to the number of manual backups that AX will support? I believe that I can use AX to remove some that I do not want as long as the first one stays in place. Is this correct? I also know I can rename the folder as AXOLD and start over.

 

When I was playing with it there seemed to be no limit to the number of manual backups. The manual does say, unlike the automatic backups, the manual ones can't be merged. But still, there appears to be no limit on either manual or automatic.

 

Great..I guess if I come to a point where all is OK, I can just start a new AXTM DIR after renaming the current one AXTMOLD and remove the old one. There IS a point where I would no longer go back to a VERY old setup.

 

I do not believe there is a theoretical limit for the # of snaps, just a practical one. The limitation is the space on your backup volume. And of course tons of "unmanaged" (not automatically merged) snaps can get a bit unweildly after a while with probably little significant value to most of the older ones (remember, you can MANUALLY merge older ones via the DELETE process).

The MANUAL snaps do not AUTOMATICALLY merge as the automatic snaps do, but using the DELETE function of the backup browser allows you to MANUALLY merge them. Even the first snap, the baseline, can be deleted and it will get merged with the next newer snap.

Remember, you CANNOT delete snaps in the backup folder (AXTM) or the restoration chain will be broken at that point.

 

Yes, I assume that you mean you can not just use a windows file manager to delete them, but you CAN delete them with the AXTM Browser.