Introducing AX64 Time Machine - hybrid imaging/snapshot software

But this problem is known to occure in this circumstance so my comment is warranted.

 

Is it possible that they are all usb3 plugs. What you are describing, (ability to find the drive but not see the images) is what I have experienced with usb3 ports. IF they are all usb 3 then you are out of luck but at least you will be able to access the data files once a new system installation is done,,,, have you sent the logs to the developers?

 

just checked this laptop it does not have any usb 3.0 plugs on it. there are actually only 2 (cheap toshiba) and they are both usb 2.0 100%. im trying something different now to see if i can make this work. i have a sata hard drive bay that goes where the dvd drive would normally go. going to try to boot off a usb stick instead of the disk and put the hard drive with the images on it into the drive bay and see if it can read it that way. will report back in a few. problem is he does not want a new installation since they have a number of software products that are all networked together and does not have the original software discs. im trying to get a copy from the company who makes it worst case but they are wanting him to buy it all over again which is thousands of dollars (bs if you ask me he has current lic's that were just extended about 2 months ago and they want him to pay for a download again as if he was buying it new.... BAD cust service imo.) he owns a vet clinic and hospital and this has all his cust info on this drive. i tell everyone back up. back up. backup. and then back up again in these types of case he would have saved a lot of time and money, it goes in one ear and out the other till something like this happens and then they make sure to do so going forward.

 

Hi zfactor, try to copy only the initial image, on another usb disk and then try to restore from it.
The fact that AX64 cannot see the tree could indicate a problem on the backup drive (e.g. an ntfs permission problem with a snapshot of the tree... or an indexing problem).

Panagiotis

 

Can you see the images if you plug the drive into another PC? If so then you know its a problem with the customers PC and not the drive.

In addition, again, this would def make it possible to access the data files (via an AX64 browser) from a 2nd PC if nec.

 

Possibly I should have worded it a little differently, but I didn't want the poster to think that only security software might be the issue, because it certainly can be non security as well.

 

zfactor, I have been thinking about this problem and it occurs to me that the freezing of the hot restores, and multiple manual power offs because of this, may have something to do with the failure of the PC to boot and restore with the rescue media. I would suggest a reinstall of the OS and then try a cold restore using the last AX64 image. The customer has absolutely nothing to lose and it may well work.

One other thought, if you reinstall the OS you might try to do a hot restore. Since there will be nothing on the system to mess with the hot restore (no security software other than Windows own) this might work a charm. Of course the first step will be to try plugging the external drive into the PC and see if the image can be seen by the AX64 recovery console and/or the AX64 browser.

PS: I am also running win 7 64 bit and I have been using AX64 v1.3.0.7 since shortly after its release without failure (as long as I remember to lower my security settings before doing the restores). You might want to try using this version of AX64 rather than any of the later versions once you get the OS reinstalled.

PPS: I can't recall if you mentioned if AX64 could see the customers backup images and snaps on another PC (both from the AX64 browser and AX64 recovery media). Being able to would obviously be critical to any recovery attempts. Just seeing the files in Win Exp is not sufficient (you did say they could be seen but not by what app). AX64 itself must be able to see these.

 

Before you try the above, remember to check if you can see those images when you plug that drive to another computer.

 

what i mentioned above fixed it. i had to boot from a usb drive and have the images on a hard drive installed into the sata connector for the dvd drive using a dvd bay. this system REFUSED to restore from any usb port when the external hard drive containing the images was plugged into them and again they are NOT usb 3.0

yes they could be seen from another computer as well as the one in question after we were able to get back into windows.

it was not the install because a fresh windows install was tried before doing what i mentioned above and it did not work either. so all is fixed now but im a bit leary now about a client having this issue in the future. otherwise i love ax64

 

Have not been on for a while, heres an update i got this morning, good news, from the devs:

Restore to Dissimilar Hardware:

This will be in the next release of the software and will work for Vista onwards. There will be no XP support for this feature.

 

From your description it should have been an ntfs file permission problem on the usb drive. A simple chkdsk would have fixed it; or copying them on another drive as you performed(the fact that it was internal is irrelevant).

Panagiotis

 

Excellent news thanks for letting us know.

 

the drive had already been run through a full chkdsk c: /r /f this did not help.

 

If you still have the drive you can use AccessEnum to check the permissions of the snapshots or run the command
icacls [drive]:\[backup folder] /t
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc753525.aspx

ps.I am curious if all the snapshot files have the same permissions.

Panagiotis

 

Hi all, Question: Has anyone using AX64 had any conflicts with running Emsisoft Anti-Malware? I'd like to test it but would like to run it past you guys first. Thanks for any input.

 

Got a simple question, at least I think it is simple. This is directed to those of you who are using one of the later versions of AX64 and have the pre-boot feature enabled and also have Macrium Relect installed on your system. Do you find the two programs compatible, again, with the pre-boot feature enabled?

Thank you,
Acadia

 

No problem here with pre- boot feature enabled.

 

not when i did, if you worry, just add AXTM processes in EAM exclusions

 

Of course I'm talking about cold restore. That is the way when you backup to a external source.

The internal system goes down and thanks to your offline backup plan your saved. 10 mins later your all restored. How can you say you value your data when you can't be bothered to backup to a external source? If you can restore a system in under 10 mins from a external source why all the drama?

Differentials are superior to incrementals in every way. Incremental is crap and positively a step backwards. You are wrestling with a software that deals with incrementals. Just look at all the head scratching from technicians to Microsoft on why they've built the windows 7 backup the way it is, which is what AX64 is based on.

Why contend with bigger backups, breaking chain and merging backup bollock nonsense when you haven't even backed up properly!

Big wow you can hot restore your system in 1min 38 secs. You have failed to see what true backup is all for the sake of saving a few more minutes.

I can restore 100gb in 5 mins from a offline source. So there is no loss but gain.

If you want to get serious about backup then at least start with differentials.

 

Thanks for the advice. I'll do that if needed. I installed the EAM and I like it.

 

?? But AX64 does backup to an external source, and both hot and cold restores are done from there.

Regardless, you must have one heck of a fast system. It takes me between 1.5 and 2 hours to restore my PC (135 gigs) via any cold restore I have ever done with it, and I have a pretty decent system. I suppose if I had a super computer I to could do as you but unfortunately I am stuck with what I have.

 

I noticed your signature: do you have Avast Pro 2014 and EAM Pro with real-time protection going at the same time? If so, how are you avoiding conflicts?

 

It would appear that development of RealCopy has ceased, at least for the time being, and all resources have been transfered to AXTM. That being the case, might I dare ask, yet again, what the status of multi-partition support is now?

Norman

 

I think the status is: being worked on