Introducing AX64 Time Machine - hybrid imaging/snapshot software

I have to admit, I didn`t realise that you could see the differences in folders between certain snapshot times - just by clicking each snapshot name whilst having a folder open on the right pane.

I even dragged out a portable program folder from a snapshot, onto my live system, and it worked ! (maybe I shouldn`t have been surprised, but I was slightly)

In my defence, AX (or Macrium for that matter) is only ever used as a full image backup/restore tool, so I wouldn`t have been actively searching for extra features like that I suppose....but I could see how that might be very useful.


Now, I do have a question that`s nothing to do with the above.....

When creating an AX boot disk/usb, if the user does not have the "Recovery" environment available or installed, therefore no winre.wim file....

what file is it that is needed ?

Will the winpe.wim from WAIK suffice as a replacement if renamed and put into a suitable location ?

tl;dr how do I manually supply AX with a winre.wim file for the bootable media process ?

 

Hi Isso

Re. this I think that you need to at least put a label saying 'Backed up Drive' or something similar above the lower lefthand window (similar approach to the 'Backups' label you have above the higher window).

Perhaps that, to start with, would at least catrch some of the people who would otherwise get confused?

Regards


Balders

 

Greetings. Here is a condition I can repeat (Windows XP). I now have AX64 backing up every hour, and I can see the backups when I open the browser. But when I close the browser and then try to re-open it, I get no response when clicking the "View Backups" button - even after waiting 10 minutes. It will not re-open after it has been opened once. It takes a re-boot of the PC to clear the condition.
By the way AX64 is well organized, fast, and does have "killer features". Thanks.

ps. even exiting the program does not "reset" the "View Backups" button - it takes a re-boot only.
---
I now have a situation where the "Make Backup Now" button is not available (greyed out), the hourly backup "clock" is not counting down, there is a message that says, "Merging completed successfully at ....", and the 'View Backups" button still will not work. I have a .jpg screenshot of this if you need it emailed to you.

 

I cannot get Norton 360 to start now.

OK, so I uninstalled Rollback RX 10 and installed this.
I cannot get Norton 360 to start now.
Is this a known problem?

OS MS Windows 8 Pro 64-bit
CPU AMD Phenom II X6 1100T (Black Edition) Thuban 45nm Technology
RAM 8.00 GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 802MHz
Motherboard ASUSTeK M4A87TD/USB3 (AM3)
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 1536 MB

 

Hi Fad,

Your comments regarding Backup Browser make me even more confident that we need to better expose that feature. Thank you. For imaging and comparison to Macrium - you are right, AXTM is an imager, but I'm positioning it as a general purpose backup program, i.e. one can use it to easily restore both the entire system, and separate files/folders if needed.


For missing winre.wim - if you have a custom winre.wim file you can just create any subdirectory in C:\Recovery folder (say C:\Recovery\test), and place it there - the recovery media creation module should pick it up from there. Hope this helps

Isso

 

Hi Balders,

Thank you for suggestion - will think about the implementation.

I noticed a 5 star review of yours on betanews, thank you very much indeed! I also noticed that the second review was apparently written by MarcP - Marc, I do appreciate it!

Isso

 

Hi Grumpa,

This looks to me as some problem with AXTM accessing the network drive.
Could you please send to me the logs by clicking on top left corner of the program, selecting About, then Collect Logs, and sending the resulting zip file to info@ax64.com?

Also if you have a chance, could you try to access the network drive using Windows Explorer (or other program) while AXTM is in such "locked" state? Thank you.

Isso

 

Re: I cannot get Norton 360 to start now.

Hi Masterblaster,

Sorry about that problem, I'm not aware about any issues with Norton 360. Moreover, I just installed it on my test Windows 8 setup along with AXTM 1.0.956 and both of them work just fine.
I can't even imagine what in AXTM can prevent Norton 360 from functioning.

I guess that problem might be related to uninstalling Rollback RX

Isso

 

---
Email and logs have been sent - accessed using Windows Explorer - then back to "View Backups" = no good, same problem - nothing happens

 

You are very welcome...on both counts.

Have a great weekend...and don't work to hard (if you are planning to).

 

Thank you Balders, you have a great weekend too!

Isso

 

Guilty as charged. Vantorax = me. Wonder how you made the connection, though.

Drat... I blame Facebook... somehow... gotta be Facebook...

 

Thanks Isso,

I managed to get the winre.wim AND integrate my USB3 drivers as well, so I can see my external drive dock gizmo... a small miracle !

 

Isso it thought that i'd give some feedback on the network mapping discussion.

Grumpa's post prompted me to try the AX v1.0.956 Recovery media to see if there were any changes and i suddenly noticed the "Network mapping" icon.

I think the last recovery version i tried was 800 and it didnt have it then. You must have snuck it in the next releases and i didnt even know.

I clicked on it and was pleasantly surprised to see that you even enabled the ability to enter credentials (which is a must as you probably knew). Excellent. I was able to map a folder successfully and no adverse effects when accessing it repeatedly.

Later when you add new/improved implementation of network access in the actual program I'll give it a proper test.

Thanks again for all your hard work.

 

Isso, To depart from the ongoing technical discussion for a moment, I have a question on behalf of the non techno geeks. I am an average self taught computer user who can navigate himself out of an average problem and find his way around the OS pretty good, but as you might expect, isn't able to understand most of the technical conversation going on here about your new AX64. A few years ago I followed a similar thread about RBrx and was equally confused and a bit frightened about trying it because of the technical discussions. Finally a few guys here convinced me to try it despite my fear. Upon installing it and reading the instructions I discovered it was easy to use. My question is, after AX64 is all ironed out and the final release comes out, will it be dumbed down to the extent that an average Joe can use it with ease? Will you make it easy to navigate? Even though it's not all clear to me as yet, I am eager and enthusiastic about installing it at the right time.

 

Re: I cannot get Norton 360 to start now.

OK, The Norton fixed itself after several reboots.
I made the first back with AX.
When W8 starts, AX doesn't seem to be running. Shouldn't it be?
How to I create or revert to snapshots (not backups)?
How do I revert to a saved snapshot upon boot before the OS loads (like RRX)?
I assumes this utility allows both snapshots and backups?

 

Greetings, MB!

If you're not running the automatic hourly snaps, AXTM will not be running when your system reBOOTs. There's a special driver in use by AXTM that's always tracking the system. If not in AUTOMATIC mode, it's a manual operation.

Each backup, after the initial baseline, is an incremental difference since the last backup... this is the snapshot (with this program, the same as an incremental backup point). The incremental backups and the snapshots are one in the same.

If you want to revert to a specific system state (backup or "snapshot"... same thing), go into the AXTM BROWSER window and select the snapshot you'd like to return to. You then hit the RESTORE button. The revert to that snapshot takes place while running under Windows, when it's finished, your system will reBOOT and you will be at the selected snapshot on the timeline. At this point, feel free to jump (in the same way) to whatever snapshot you'd like.

If your protected partition is not BOOTable, you can use the RECOVERY DISC to boot from and return to wherever you'd like. This operation is like an image restore so it takes a bit longer, but you can return to any snapshot that you have saved.

 

Thanks for that explanation. I'm beginning to understand.

 

Marc, if anyone clicks on your nickname Vantorax, he'll see "Marc's page". So no Facebook is involved Thank you again for excellent review!

Isso

 

Great to hear it Fad. Actually the program should embed USB3 drivers automatically (if they present on the system), so normally there should be no need to do that.

Isso

 

Thank you Carfal, I'm happy that it works for you. Will add custom path support soon.

Isso

 

twl845,

Absolutely. Actually my main goal was to make this program as easy to use as possible, and at this moment in my opinion any inexperienced user can successfully use it. I'll be grateful for any ideas to make it even more simple to use.

Isso

 

Re: I cannot get Norton 360 to start now.

Masterblaster,

TheRollbackFrog perfectly answered your questions above (Froggie, thank you for taking time to do that!). I'll just add that there are two video demos on the bottom of our web page (www.ax64.com), so you can see the program in action.

Isso

 

What does it mean when it states "External volume modification detected. Backup will take longer than usual"? I didn't copy/delete anything to/off of it. Also, can it be used as a security program? Maybe someone could figure out how it handles rootkits, etc.

 

Isso, since installing AX64 I have been getting "Windows did not shut down properly" errors, when resuming from hibernation. AX64 then shows a "windows did not shut down properly. This backup will take longer than usual" error and the back-up takes a very long time.

Any ideas? I've had to remove AX64 for now due to this error.