Introducing AX64 Time Machine - hybrid imaging/snapshot software

this line is awesome, just for it i will forgive the delayed update !

 

FWIW, IMHO
We know that the AX64 concept is the best there is. I think patience is a virtue that will eventually reap great rewards.

It must be terrifying to try to desperately solve the current problems that you know you have, whilst being poked, prodded and distracted.
A little more breathing space is what is clearly being requested and that to me means a couple of weeks not days of concentration and focus.

Castigate me if you feel the need.

 

Ahhhhh... this morning, I don't feel the need

FWIW... backchannel tells me there should be an AX64 update in about 10-work days (be patient). AX64 development is progressing at a reasonable pace, although not as fast as before... they're now working on 2-products instead of one as we all know.

I for one have no problem with AX64's development pace... I don't have a fire at the moment in my backup needs. These guys are working in a system area that is difficult to manage at best and needs careful testing cycles to certify their changes... a "hurry up" in this area can be self defeating. Think of it... it's not just a quick test on 1-system like we do. They need to test many system configurations, both in hardware and software. Their team isn't a hundred guys waiting just for testing... in many cases the developer is also the tester.

I will wait patiently with Enonod and look forward to really good things!

 

You might be feeling more urgency if AX64 were not working for you as it is not for me.

 

Hi

Just trying AX64 Time Machine on Win 7 64bit with 42GB used of my 583GB hard drive.

I just did an incremental backup (first one was a full backup) after installing January 2014 Windows updates (3 updates 7.5MB), a Flash update and a Chrome browser update.

It took 3Min 57 secs which seems a long time to me based on forum commentary.

Is it a long time in other peoples experience?

Thanks

Terry

 

Terry, the backup "time" isn't just a factor of the most recent changes that you're aware of since baselining... the time between the baseline and the snap has a bit to do with it also. There are a lot of files that Windows tweaks over time (almost all the META files <MFT, LogFile, etc) which have little bearing on your known changes... this all adds to the snapshot size and the time.

Use AX64 TM's Backup Browser and let us know how big that most recent snapshot was...

 

Restores range in time depending on how much has been done to the drive since the current state and the old state being reverted to and how far back in time the baseline is (in this case not far at all). I would say 4 min sounds a tad long but its not extreme.

 

Terry, also let us know where the snapshot storage area is... same hard disk/different partition (internal), different internal hard disk, external storage (eSata, USB, etc.).

They all have an effect on the snapshot time...

 

Hi Rollback Frog

And thanks to everyone who commented.

In response to the question. The snapshot storage is on a Iomega external USB drive.

There are currently 4 snapshots in the chain, one full the rest incrementals.

Prior to the last backup/snapshot (The one that took 3min 57sec) I did three deletions/merges leaving finally the above mentioned 4 snapshots.

Is any of this relevant and might it have contributed to slow backup?

Thank you

Terry

 

I though you were talking about restoring but I now realize you are in fact talking about creating an incremental backup.

The time to do this will be a direct function of what has happened to the drive since the last incremental as well as what else was going on while the incremental was being created. Also, of course, the configuration of the PC will play a role. That is, for example, if its an older PC will a slower processor (etc) it will take longer than if its a hot new super computer (etc).

Are you using the auto snap feature or are you doing manual snaps? If manual, how often are you doing them?

In my experience snap shot creation can take between 15 to 20 seconds and a minute or 2 but I have auto snap enabled and the max time between my daily manual snap and the last auto snap is 59 min. Sometimes the manual snap is done shortly after the last auto snap and these are very fast. The longer ones will of course be closer to the 45 min plus time frame. I would think if you are doing only manuals and they are being done many hours apart that 4 min to do the backup might be reasonable, especially if the external drive is USB2.

 

Hi bgoodman4

Thanks for ur commentary.

I am not using the AutoSnap feature. I am using on demand.

How often am I doing snapshots?

1st to 2nd 4 hours

2nd to 3rd 16 hours

3rd to 4th 3.5 hours

Thanks

Terry

 

I suspect thats why you had the somewhat longer backup time. AX64 needs to check the state of the PC as of the last snap and then check what has changed since that snap to the current one. The more time that has passed as well as the more activity (known or not) the greater the time it will take to do this. Of course time passed, while important, is in and of itself not a good gauge since more or less may have changed in any particular time frame. BTW, if you have an auto defrag running this will make for larger and longer backups.

 

Hi Bgoodman4
Thanks for ur answer, much appreciated.

On the point u make about defragmenters, is there any way of mitigating the slow down as a result of defragmenting. (apart from not defragmenting)?

I seem to remember you could uninstall Comodo Time Machine in order to defrag. Can the same be done with AX64 TM?

Thanks

Terry

 

What I do is start a new chain after a defrag. Simply rename the AX64 storage folder to something like AXTM old and then do the defrag. Then, after the defrag do a new baseline.

 

Aaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh. Expressive, no?

Screwed up my installation of VMware Player and XP Pro within it (didn't install my legacy 16-bit programs before updating to XP sp3). So I hot restored back but at 86% it hung. In fact, I should've known something was wrong as my mouse wasn't working during the restore.

Rebooted. System was confused. Wrong time of day, Online Armor looked at me funny like a dog tilting it's head.

Hot restored to an earlier snap. Hung at 68%. Same mouse issue.

Then, since I'm using v1.4.0.19, I was able to enter the recovery environment at bootup, and though it took 24 minutes to restore, it restored back to where I intended.

Very grateful.

Global Warming Question: Is this considered a cold restore, and if so, how is it different from using a CD or Thumb drive? Is one colder than the other?

 

Chamlin, the current BOOT UP recovery is the same as the UFD or CD recovery medias... only difference is the speed to the AXTM Browser you'll use for recovery purposes. All types are COLD restores.

The "new" BOOT UP to the more reliable HOT RESTORE function is not ready yet from development.

 

You never told me how large the last snapshot was (select it in the AXTM browser and wait for the summary, incl. size, to show up in the lower right hand corner of the window)... and is the EXTERNAL USB HDD a USB2 or USB3 connected disk?

 

Hi Rollback Frog

Apologies.

In short USB2 and 1.94 GB

Thanks

Terry

 

Pete, thanks for that. How do you do a reset without rebooting? And if I did compromise my disk, would rolling back to an earlier snapshot resolve that?

TheRollBackFrog, thanks too. Is the speed faster with the existing boot up than the CD?

 

Once the disk has been compromised by a possible HOT restore failure, a COLD restore rollback is the only way to be sure of success.

If by existing BOOT up you mean the BOOT screen access to the AX64 browser... yes, getting to the Browser for COLD restore purposes is much faster. The WinRE boot process is disk-based rather than CD-based which is clearly faster for data transfer. BUT... if that disk takes a header into the sand, yer gonna need either a CD or UFD AX64 Boot disk to recover your system.

 

How does AX64 work with encrypted disks? I am running Windows 8.1 on an ssd that has been encrypted using Bitlocker and I went to restore a snapshot from my bootable flash drive but I kept on getting an error as soon as I clicked "go" or "continue" or whatever it is. Is it normally supposed to work?

 

You can only restore from within Windows, not the Recovery Media. The snapshots made within Windows are decrypted and not compatible with your powered off encrypted drive.

 

But I'm saving the snapshots to an different unencrypted drive.