Introducing AX64 Time Machine - hybrid imaging/snapshot software

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

  1. demoneye

    demoneye Registered Member

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    OK , from your exp` does drive snapshot can deal with that ?:doubt:
     
  2. Baldrick

    Baldrick Registered Member

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    @Isso @Wajamus

    Gentlemen, further to Isso's request that we simulate the loading of the new 'hot' recovery environment (and the detouring of the thread :oops: re. the issues for some of us in getting to the Windows Repair option...now resolved) I have been polling people I know who might just be customers for the new AXTM, and by far the majority stated that stability was preferable even at the expense of some speed in terms of a backup/recovery solution.

    My sample is not very scientifically based but none of these persons frequent Wilders so hopefully it provides an 'alternative' perspective on the debate.

    Given this, and having thought things through, I have to admit to a change of mind and plum for the proposed new recovery mechanism even though it may take circa 15 seconds longer than the current one.

    Whilst it would be nice to have the option of choosing between them discussions suggests that it even knowing that one of the options has a stability issue, i.e., use at own risk, could be detrimental to sales.

    As I said...not very scientifically done but I thought it might be useful (and before I am asked I polled 9 people).

    Regards, Baldrick
     
  3. Acadia

    Acadia Registered Member

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    I cannot believe that anyone would want speed over reliability. The ability to recover is the single most important thing that a pc should be able to do. And, as I stated recently above somewhere, even adding half-a-minute to AX64's recovery time will still keep it as the fastest recovery program. And as I have stated a few times at Wilders, if you do not have patience then you SHOULD NOT even be using a computer.

    Acadia
     
  4. Baldrick

    Baldrick Registered Member

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    Strange as it may seem to you there those that do...for whatever reason...what I was trying to do was bring a non Wilders perspective to the discussion...for Isso's & Waj's benefit. That is all! :D

    I, respectfully beg to differ on that point. I know an awful lot of people, including computer professionals, who could have a lot more patience when dealing with computers...;)

    Regards


    Baldrick
     
  5. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    DE, from the FWIW Dept. (For What It's Worth)... the way I do this is to use a FREE partitioning tool from MiniTool called "Partition Wizard." First I shrink my D: partition down to 400gb, then increase my C: partition up to 100gB, then re-Baseline my system with AX64 TM. This can easily be done, without any data destruction, using their BOOT CD... pretty simple, really.
     
  6. demoneye

    demoneye Registered Member

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    yes i got that , but all my other backups ("old") are dead than... that why i ask if You know DS can deal with it , since its my pri backup software :)
     
  7. bgoodman4

    bgoodman4 Registered Member

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    I don't think its really absolutely an issue of speed vrs reliability,,,,its about the trade off between mostly reliable and how fast. We must keep in mind that the somewhat less reliable option under discussion is not a total failure to be able to restore, its only a possible failure to restore using the hot restore option. Restores will still be capable of being done via the cold method.

    If you stop to think about it the folks who are for the speed over absolute reliability are actually more patient than those of us who would prefer the other. They know that sooner or later they will have to do the much longer cold restore and they have the patience to sit through the 1 to 2 hours that will take. The rest of us do not have the patience to sit through this long period and so, in our impatience, opt to select a slightly slower but more reliable restore.

    If it were a trade off between absolute failure to be able to restore and speed, I doubt anyone would opt for the speed.
     
  8. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    For those who want maximum speed, separate your data files from your OS.

    Which is the quicker backup? 20 GB of files in the OS partition and 80 GB of files in a data partition or 100 GB of files in the OS partition?
     
  9. apaert

    apaert Registered Member

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    Hi
    I would like to report a strange Behavior with the Restore-Function.
    After deleting my Nvidia Graphics-Driver completely to test another one, I decided to restore my OS to a previous state to get my old Graphics-Driver back.
    I did a hot-Restore, all went well , but I ended up with no Gr.-Driver installed...
    But: after a cold-Restore with a 'diskpart-clean ' before Restoring there was still no Gr.-Driver any more.
    How could this happen ?
    Any Ideas ?
    Thanks in Advance
     
  10. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    DE, I'm not a user of Drive Snapshot but Cruise answered your question in your other thread... his answer was YES.

    From their documentation, they mention they need AT LEAST the same amount of partition space as was used to create the image. I saw no mention of not being able to use more (there was a DATA field used to tell it how much to use).
     
  11. silver0066

    silver0066 Registered Member

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    I agree. I would prefer the current method. I just did a SecureErase on my RAID 0 setup, rebuilt the array, and then did a cold restore with AXTM on the bare metal. It worked perfectly.

    I would much prefer the speed method as I try out alot of programs, and then quickly do a hot restore from Windows. It has only forced me to go to a cold restore once out of somewhere around 25-50 restores. The hot restore was very fast compared to other backup programs I have tried....Macrium, Acronis, ShadowProtect, Easeus, etc.

    I hope that the developers will seriously consider allowing both methods.

    Silver
     
  12. Max29

    Max29 Registered Member

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    I had some problems yesterday with a new WD external hard drive, rather than spend a lot of time with it I wiped the disk. Restored with DVD disk ,lost my AXTM program, so reloaded it again. First backup took 17 min. Two hours later I made another backup, 1 min & 56 sec. this rascal is fast, but haven't tried to restore it. I think I will wait until tomorrow to check it. Is the second backup of 1 min & 56 sec. par for the course ?
     
  13. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Silver... one of the problems I see with many posts concerning AX64 TM's HOT RESTORE is most folks seems to compare it to a COLD RESTORE as an alternative. You did that above mentioning all your previous tools.

    To better understand, we need to re-Define HOT and COLD restore. HOT restore by AX64 is done through a LIVE Windows system. COLD RESTORE is done usually via a UFD or CD, or sometimes through a BOOT Mgr (Go, Aladdin, GO! :D ).

    Then there are TWO different types of RESTOREs based on those same tools mentioned in your msg... they use FULL RESTORE from the BASELINE to the needed time point (same as AX64 from its BOOTable media), whereas AX64 uses what I call a DIFFERENCE RESTORE (not DIFFERENTIAL). We all know what a FULL restore is, but perceptions seem to be different when it comes to a DIFFERENCE restore. It's the DIFFERENCE restore that you experience with AX64's HOT RESTORE METHOD and the FULL RESTORE from its BOOTable environment.

    What the developers are considering is a HYBRID of the restores mentioned above. The new HOT restore, via a BOOTable image still uses a DIFFERENCE restore, so it will continue to be very fast... but now, very reliable. Adding an additional 30-sec or so to the current HOT restore process will still be WAY faster than any of the tools mentioned in your msg.

    So with AX64, we will soon have THREE restore methods that it will have been using...

    HOT - very fast DIFFERENCE restore but somewhat unreliable.
    EXTREMELY WARM - the previous HOT restore method with about 30-sec added to the process but now very reliable.
    COLD- using an external BOOT media to do a FULL restore, also very reliable but slower

    There's not much being given up by the DevTeam going to a WARM restore but a ton of reliability is being gained in the process... definitely the place where I'd rather be..
     
  14. bgoodman4

    bgoodman4 Registered Member

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    Excellent description froggie,,,,,thanks
     
  15. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Hi Max! The speed of the backup depends on what device you're protecting and where the snapshot is going. The backups are INCREMENTALs... just the difference between your last snapshot and the one you're currently taking. Your time sounds just about right.
     
  16. explanoit

    explanoit Registered Member

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    I've been seeking a way to do testing of malware protection products/methods on a dedicated physical machine, this may be my ticket. Throwing stuff in a VM to test just isn't working as well for me anymore since so many things detect it.
    Cool.
     
  17. Stigg

    Stigg Registered Member

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    Latest AX64 Time Machine Version

    What's the latest version, guys and where can I get it?
     
  18. aladdin

    aladdin Registered Member

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    Re: Latest AX64 Time Machine Version

    Hi Stigg,

    Here is the latest beta:

    http://www.ax64.com/beta/SetupAXTM_1_3_7.exe

    The above works with Windows 8.1

    However, since Microsoft has removed two files from WinRE, therefore you cannot build a Recovery Media in Windows 8.1

    If you have an access to a computer which doesn't have Windows 8.1, you can build the Recovery Media on that computer. If you don't then post it here and I am pretty sure either Isso or Froggie will send a link to download the Recovery Media ISO.

    Don't worry it says beta, it works fine.

    Best regards,

    Mohamed
     
  19. aladdin

    aladdin Registered Member

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    Isso is working on a WinPE instead of WinRE, so that one can build the Recovery Media in Windows 8.1

    Best regards,

    Mohamed
     
  20. Stigg

    Stigg Registered Member

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    Thanks Mohamed.

    An ISO would be handy.
    Is there a way to also build a USB recovery media?
     
  21. ratchet

    ratchet Registered Member

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    On x64 W7 SP1 I made the recovery media via one of the early versions. Will this work with v 1 3 7? Frankly, since changing Malwarebytes service to Auto (Delayed Start) I believe any version would hot restore. Even when I was having issues, the PC would eventually boot via Safe Mode>Restart or from a Paragon image but it would be good to use AX's boot media if needed. Thank you!
     
  22. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    Just disable MBAM before starting the restore. It is also wise to disable any software that has self protection as that may also interfere with a hot restore.

    Pete
     
  23. ratchet

    ratchet Registered Member

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    Thanks Pete, but my question was would the recovery disc, which was made through an earlier version, work with this new version?
     
  24. silver0066

    silver0066 Registered Member

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    If it is true that they will continue to provide HOT (DIFFERENCE) restore method, I will be very happy. I have used AXTM extensively with this method with no problems on my Win 8.1 x64 RAID 0 SSD System Drive. Others may prefer the other methods but I prefer this method with the ability to do a COLD restore in case of hardware failure or the very rare instance where the HOT restore fails. I understand that it might be easier for the development team to not include this, but all companies need to focus on the consumer's wants, particularly in this case where they have real product differentiation from their competition.

    This is just my view and I respect the view of others who might prefer the EXTREMELY WARM method.

    Silver
     
  25. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Ratchet... as long as the RECOVERY MEDIA was made with a version no older than Build 996, you should be fine. The advantage of using a v1.3.0.7 RECOVERY MEDIA is some speed improvements to the BROWSER/RESTORE function.

    Media creation will need to be done when the snapshot format changes... and AX64 will inform you if that is necessary. It may aslo have to change when they release the new WARM :cool: restore method... but I don't believe it will be necessary.
     
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