Introducing AX64 Time Machine - hybrid imaging/snapshot software

The installer is designed to just overwrite the necessary existing components that are installed. As a result, if you just install the newest release over the current, new features will be in place and your backup chain will remain in tact.

If you uninstall the old first, you will lose the tracking of your current backup chain, and a new chain will be started upon the first snapshot of AX64TM.

It's recommended to just do an INSTALL, not an unINSTALL.

 

Yes I did.Waiting for him to get back to me.

 

Banshee, another "closet" dust bunny fact just jumped into my head (and I just tested it)...

My guess is that your "FSX(D)" drive is USB connected. Early in the testing, it was discovered that USB-connected devices could not be "protected" devices... only destinations for the archives themselves. I think this is because the associated tracking file is dynamic and surely can't be relied upon when it concerns a REMOVABLE drive (which can disappear at any time). It's a product of the fact that this application is not only a backup imaging tool, but also a snapshotting tool.

If "FSX(D)" is an internally connected drive (SATA, PATA... not USB), it SHOULD be available as an option for a protected source,

 

What?! Thank god I waited a couple of hours for a response. You're saying that if I had uninstalled the program and reinstalled it...my existing backup chain could not be imported?!

I depend on the various points in my existing "backup chain". They are regularly accessed for work & testing purposes. If I had to re-create them all over again...it would be an incredibly time-consuming & mind-numbing process.

I can understand incompatibility with a different OS or different hardware...but this just seems bizarre.

If the backup folder is flawless & untouched, why can't a "clean installation" of AX64 software just import it? (sorry, you are probably not the software designer - and I just put this question out there for anyone knowledgeable)

 

It's a WD velociraptor (sata?).

 

If you do as Froggie suggested, and always install over the top it's not a concern. However, if Froggie will confirm this, I think that if you want to do a clean install you could go to your destination folder in your external drive and change the name of your present chain to AXTM2 or something just before you do the clean install. Then your snapshots would be preserved. Then when you install, AX64 will create a new baseline next to the renamed folder, and you can go into the renamed folder if you need to. As I said though I am speculating.

 

Paul, I don't speak for the developers but I can speak to the installation process of the application. An INSTALL over the old *IS* a clean installation process. It directly replaces all the existing components (and they are very few, by the way) and provides for a completely replaced installation... except for the special TRACKING FILE it uses.

As far as an unINSTALL is concerned... it is exactly that, an unINSTALL. It removes all file-based remains of the application, including its special DRIVER and the TRACKING FILE. If it didn't do that, it wouldn't be an unINSTALLer. As a result, current backup tracking is removed and the incremental file chain is now untracked.

Even though the current incremental file chain is now untracked, it is still very usable. After the new BASELINE is generated following an unINSTALL/reINSTALL, from that BASELINE on, the new tracking file is tracking, mainly for fast snapshot HOT restore of everything after that point. All the previous snapshots are still available for restoration purposes, although the restore speed will be more like COLD restorations than HOT restorations because the baselines are different.

I use this feature all the time when jumping from configguration to configuration (W7 to XP, one W7 config to another, etc.). The thing I don't do (to avoid confusion even though my snap descriptions are pretty accurate) is keep the mixed configurationsnaps in the same folder. When I plan a special config, rename my current AXTM folder to something meaningful and start a new AXTM folder after I build and before I save my new config. I basically use it the same way I used to use Rollback RX as far as configurations are concerned. In the configuration below, all my snaps are in the same folder...
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/17664826/AXTM%20graphic.jpg

I'm not sure I haven't confused you with this...

 

TWL845... good speculation!

The folder renaming just helps the user a bit in organizing what he has... it's really not necessary. If the user uses his snapshot descriptions well, all can remain in the same folder. The tracking system knows what baseline it is referencing when doing the incremental snapshots or when doing the HOT restores... that's why you can jump back and forth at will amongst your snapshots. If you go to a snapshot that's referenced from a separate baseline, it will use the different baseline as a reference and load what's necessary to get to that configuration. You can see that if you have two complete systems in that folder, and you want to go from an XP configuration to a W7 configuration, the baselines are completely different. AX64 determines that and uses the proper baseline to start its RESTORE operation. This, by the way, operates the same way whether using HOT or COLD restores... at least in my experience.

 

Well... I've revisited these points over in the RIR thread and have received at least one confirmation of my assumptions.

I did re-read Peter's answer and I came up with nothing different in my understandings of how RIR works. Maybe the comment is structured wrong... I'll try better next time

 

100% agree , i been tested is speed and recovery and it fast enough doing the restore thing !...

 

Just installed 14124 and as before the USB and local disk recovery does not work. It all appears to go fine but ends up with an active mouse cursor on a black screen. There is no response to the keyboard.

Running Win 8.1. SSD not UEFI.

 

me too
but i have not a black screen
i can see the program , but no mouse or keyboard

can i download a prev version?

 

Same here. Did a clean install (Windows 8.1)
When I try to boot to the USB drive, I get a warm reboot and the black "fix" Windows screen comes up. Just like it did before.
I think I am about to look for another solution. I really liked AX64 before the Windows 8.1 update but I have been going too long without protection.

 

It would not be recognized as the current chain but it would still be available via the browser for either restoring or copying of old files from that chain.Simply put a new chain will be started and the old will remain available on your storage media.

 

Hi Pete

is there a link for this version?

thanks

 

Hello,

Here you go:
http://ax64.com/beta/

 

thanks mate
is the 1.3.07 the more stable?

 

Hello,

I think this is a hard question to answer definitively as it seems system specific. Many like 1.3.0.7 and view it as the most stable, however for me and my set-up, 1.4.1.24 runs flawlessly and is very stable for me. If you have not tried AX64 before, I would start with 1.4.1.24 and see how it goes. If you have issues, 1.3.0.7 is always an option.

 

WOW..I asked about this program over at BBR and was directed
to this thread! To many pages to actually read on my time..so
here is a few ??
A friend asked about this program for use on windows XP
if it worked well and worth his time...

Hard to un-install??

thanks G

 

I use it on both XPsp3 and W7x86 & x64 with no major issues.

Installation is very simple, requires a reBOOT after install is completed. unINSTALLATION is even simpler. Follow-on versions DO NOT require unINSTALLATION of current version unless asked for in the instructions.

Different people have had different experiences, mostly due to OS versions (W8.1 issues) and/or other installed software... YMMV.

 

You might wanna try and qualify that. Mine (CD/DVD and LOCAL BOOT) works just fine with W7x86 & x64... haven't tried it with XP, W8 or W8.1 yet.