Introducing AX64 Time Machine - hybrid imaging/snapshot software

Hi jelson,

I should have been more careful. Terabyte WinPE requires a full download and installation of either WIAK (Windows 7) or WADK (Windows 8 or Windows 8.1). If you have a high speed download, then it is not a bad idea to download and install either the full WIAK or WADK, as it is required for building the WinPE for quite a few imaging programs, including Acronis True Image Home.

Best regards,

Mohamed

 

Hi jelson,

Do you have Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 8.1?

Best regards,

Mohamed

 

Perfect analogy and excellent advice for totally eliminating the apprehensions.
Simple enough and proven results.

Pete

Regards EASTER

 

Re: verify vs restore,

I can only speak for myself, but there could be others who have the same mindset.

I am certain that for testing a backup, the restore method is superior than just verifying it.
But for me, at least for the time being, it falls into the "disruptive" category (if you read my previous post). Who knows, maybe after being slapped in the face (literally) by an image which failed to restore when I truly need it, I might change my attitude.

Verifying, if supported by an in-built mechanism in the backup software, is an automatic process, usually is done right after a backup process. A lot of us automate the backup process (through some sort of schedule). But even if I initiates the backup manually, the verifying stage could be set to start right away after a successful backup run. The whole process (backup/imaging + verifying) would be done without supervision, and afterward, if they are successful, then the computer is ready to be worked on when we are back to it.

On the other hand, restore can never be automated (anybody doing an automated restore? ). And more so for a test-restore, because then I need to do another restore to be back to pre-restore state. I believe at least I have to do this, to ensure that the last backup/imaging process is recorded as "done" in the backup/imaging software.

Some may say that verivying proves nothing, and I might just not doing it as well. Well, I have a tiny little hope, that the extra time needed to do it would worth something. At least I know that the software can access the media (at that point in time) & that the media can be read (at that point in time). A false hope? Sometimes we still need false hopes

Just like in the good old DOS, when we used "copy/v"

Just put my two cents in... (maybe a little more than two, sorry )

ps.
I typed above reply before I saw Peter's last post. For the record, I don't have any arguments whatsoever with everything he said (typed).

 

I have the impression that whenever an imaging software making an image, it doesn't record/mark the ongoing process as "done." Only after completion, then it is recorded. And by the time it completed, the process has completed, so the record/mark is not recorded.

Is this incorrect?

Yes, this is a better way than a full restore for some of us.
And your last paragraph is truly making sense.
Every person must make his/her own balance between conveniences & disruptiveness
By the way, fyi, I do make a separate file backups for my private files & documents.

 

You could even chkdsk the mounted image which someone mentioned a while ago.

 

Ah, thanks Mohamed.

BTW, I'm using a Win 7 machine that I've already installed WAIK 3.1 on so I could create WinPE ISOs.

OK, I get now that creating a TB_WinPE requires the WIAK or WADK.

The 340MB download you mentioned, what is that one? I must have missed that cause the only download links I noticed other thand the WIAK / WADK ones was the 647KB tbwinpe.zip file.

Just wanting to really understand all this cause from what I've been reading here, creating an AX64 WinPE and placing it in the bootmenu with EasyBCD sounds like the way to go.

It'll be a lot faster to do cold restores & images booting from the SSD rather than a CD or USB.

Recently I have been doing cold imaging with ShadowProtect WinPE -- got tired of Acronis -- but I am considering Terabyte IFW for hot-imaging since it is compatible with AX64.

 

Nicely said Pete,

Also Folks Just Remember, if you do face a restore panic.

All your data is still available in the backup image.

I Love restoring and there should be no panic involved.

 

Hi jelson,

Since you have WIAK 3.1 installed, you will be able to create WinPE v3.0 for IFW with TB_WinPE plugins. Or any WinPE v3.0 for any imaging program if you are provided the plugins for that imaging program. You don't need further download.

WAIK v3.0 or WAIK v3.1 for Windows 7 is called WinPE v3.0

WADK for Windows 8 is called WinPE v4.0

WADK for Windows 8.1 is called WinPE v5.0

For Vista it used to called, BartPE v2.0

It the olden days, Microsoft use to charge the imaging companies for each WinPE they gave to their customers. Or the other alternative was for the customers to download and install a massive 4.0GB of WAIK and make their WinPE by the plugins provided by the imaging companies.

1. ShadowProtect, Paragon and Macrium Reflect gave already built one copy of WinPE for each licensed copy of their software. They had to pay money to Microsoft.
2. IFW of TeraByte gave the plugins and required the customers to download and install massive WAIK to create the WinPE. Macrium Reflect did the same with their free version.

Then Microsoft pulled the plug and no longer allowed the imaging companies to give copies of WinPE. Microsoft then came out with WinRE, built in with the Windows itself. Most of the imaging companies moved to WinRE. But the WinRE doesn't contain the latest drives whereas the WinPE does.

So, Macrium Reflect for the Paid and Free version built into their program the plugins for WinPE. And, if the WAIK and WADK is not installed, then it only requires 340MB download, rather than the massive download of 4.0GB.

Now it seems that Microsoft has pulled the plug on creating WinRE in Windows 8.1 by removing couples of files, therefore we are not able to create the WinRE Recovery Media for AX64. For this reason I was suggesting to Isso, if he includes the plugins for WinPE in his program like Macrium Reflect, we will be able to built the WinPE for AX64 in Windows 8.1. Since I already have full WADK installed in my computer, I don't need any further download, those who don't instead of the massive download of 4.0GB, they will only need to download 340MB.

This is way to go. If you have any WinRE ISO and/or WinPE ISO for any imaging program, than you can include that Recovery Media in the bootmenu of that imaging program with EasyBCD.

If you can afford a little more money, then go for Macrium Reflect. In my opinion it is a much better program than Terabyte IFW. With Macrium Reflect it creates a bootmenu automatically without EasyBCD. I have to go now, but will PM you in 4 hours.

Best regards,

Mohamed

 

Just a a quick info , why ppl in here prefer to build Winpe disk as a boot / rescue disk ? i am always using the linux one who come build into Ax64 (and other backup software)... anyone can clarify thay point ?


10x

 

I think nonsense can also be called for trying image 3 times...1 time is ok ... any yes verify an image is 1 notch before full image testing , and i can live with that way...everyone do his thing regarding this matter ... i can testify for my self , using DS for more 10 years (much more) that only his "image test" cover my worry side of bad image...but that is me.. everyone free to do what the @#@# he wanna do

 

You must be confusing some things...
AX64 never came with the possibility to build a Linux based rescue CD. The AX64 rescue CD has ALWAYS been Windows based. Which particular flavor of Windows depends on the Windows version you are under when you build the recovery CD.

For other backup programs you do usually have the choice to build your rescue CD using a built-in Linux based image or to create a WinPE / WinRE based rescue CD. The main advantage of a Windows based rescue CD normally is that it has better support for current hardware. But this is not always true. If a Linux based rescue CD recognizes your hardware without problems (the latest Acronis TI Linux based CD is actually pretty good) then indeed there is not much reason to create a WinPE based recovery CD.



Cheers
manolito

 

What people are not mentioning here is that your hardware could be at fault.

Earlier on I had several failures to restore wiht AX. My HD was only a month old so I did not consider that it would be faulty. Isso took a lot of trouble to convince me that it was the HD at fault. Initial testing of it did not reveal any fault. It was only a few weeks later that a fault began to be shown. It seems that AX is more sensitive to HD faults than some others maybe.

Instead of immediately blaming the s/w, it might pay to run the manufacturers testing program to make sure all is well.

As a matter of policy I replace the HD every one to two years and cycle the others through the machine.

 

Well said, AX64 in its current flavour needs access to Win PE (Preinstalled Environment) files which it loads from your Windows installation DVD that one is requested to provide on creating a bootable medium. No independent Linux platform here (yet -? ...)

 

I believe I get your concern.

I haven't been doing system images as long or as extensively as you and several of the others here (only for the last 6 yrs -- in the pre-Pentium days when HDDs were measure in MB and Windows was a mere curiosity, I did DOS-based tape backups)

But the question "will this image restore properly?" has always been in the back of my mind.

I've made dozens of system images in the last 6 yrs. And on occasion, I've had good reason to do quite a few bare-metal system restores: they all succeeded.

Fact is, the only 'proof' that an image will "restore properly" is to do it and see. But an excellent 'test' is to convert an image to a virtual machine, then boot it and see.

Shadow Protect recently built that feature in and I tested it. It's a remarkable feeling to see a hot system image you've just made being converted and booting up in VirtualBox.

Of course, even after that, it's still possible to worry about a bare-metal restore. But worry is like that, it feeds on seeing all possibilities as threats.

So, I do get it. Wish I had the iron-clad sense of imaging security that Drive Snapshot provides you.

But it seems that as a result, you've set the bar impossibly high for any other program. And it seems you ask us to share your worry and set our bars just as high as your own.

Besides, any system image at all is better than what 99% of computer users have: nothing at all.

That's why I separate my user files from the system drive. It's the data that's irreplaceable. And I have a whole series of systems images stretching back to the clean install. If the one I want is 'bad', I can go a prior one.

That's why I don't share your degree of worry although I do get it. And personally, I find AX64 snapshots coupled with cold-system images far more comforting than what I've used before. That's me. And you're you. It's a matter of taste. Vive la différence!

 

Selukwe, that is only true if your active OS doesn't include its own WinRE.wim file... most do.

AX64 looks for that included file... if it finds it, it creates its RECOVERY MEDIA. If it cannot find that file, it then requires the INSTALL media to get that WIM file.

 

OK, more light in it now. It did request the DVD from me (Win 7 Ent., SP1, 32-bit)...

 

WinPE disks are easier to customize with drivers and other WinPE plugins. To give you two examples, I use DiskCryptor, which has no linux version, so I need it in my WinPE disks to mount my encrypted disks. I also have several Western Digital external hard drives with built-in encryption (My Books), but the software/driver to use them is available for Windows and Mac only. (I often make backups onto these drives).

But AX64 shouldn't worry about WAIK or such, they could just make the plugin available and let the users who want to integrate it into a WinPE disk worry about the WAIK and Windows files. I presume it's mostly 'power users' who make use of such disks anyway, while regular users could use the current rescue disk.

 

Hi Pete! When I first discovered the SD/AX64 TM conflict back in ALPHA/BETA, all I did was stop invoking SD and left it installed on the system. Have never had a problem since.

And I sure can't see how AX64 could have a problem either backing up or LIVE restoring RAID images... both of those will be using any needed drivers already existing in the HOT system. But a RECOVERY MEDIA restore could be problematic due to possible missing drivers (there was an Intel RST driver problem way back, never heard how it was solved)