Introducing AX64 Time Machine - hybrid imaging/snapshot software

I'm not using any realtime AV. Currently just Sandboxie and Privatefirewall.

 

Dear Isso,

Excellent.

Some of us move our data from the "System Partition" to another partition and some might want to protect that partition too. Rollback Rx can protect the entire disk with one, more or all partitions selected. However, one disk volume only and not more than one disk volume.

Best regards,

 

I've now tried making a backup to the data partition on my local drive, rather than my NAS (which was previously from where the restore failure was happening). Now I get the error "Error:Embedded image info corrupted".

 

+1

My OS (french edition of Windows XP Pro SP3) is divided between three partitions:

C: for Windows
E: for Programs Files
F: for Documents and Settings

AX64 Time Machine let's me backup only one drive at once...

 

Just got error "Restore failed, error -99969". Will try to reproduce it later.

 

I get Imaging error C1000000 with version 1.0.795.

V1.0.786 has been working ok except for some issues with the usb restore disk not seeing my external drive.

Tim

 

Scoobs72, anuraag, timcan - at this moment I can't tell you exactly the reason for those errors, sorry. However when we release the beta, it'll have detailed logging feature which I'll use to solve those issues. We are planning to release the beta in about 2-3 weeks. Thank you

 

Mohamed, genieautravail,

I agree that single volume is limiting the features. However I figured that we should go with a single volume support for the first version, because it's simpler and because this type of backup/snapshot program is mostly required specifically for system volume.
However in one of the future releases we'll add multiple volumes along with more advanced features.

Regards,
Isso

 

Hi Isso

I want to tell you that I think you and your dev team are handling these issues quite well, good job my friend.

There is nothing easy about trying to address every possible system configuration, especially when some are using other software that is potentially interfering with AXTM operations. I know you are doing the best you can do and it shows the quality of your support and software as this matures.

Thank you Isso, and thank you to everyone who has been testing AXTM. I can imagine it is invaluable to Isso and team to enable their product to perform at its best potential.

Isso, please DO keep it as simple as possible, as that is part of the beauty of it without being invasive. As it matures and gains better stability, other features for advanced operation could be useful, but do not lose sight or get too sidetracked from your goal for this software and what makes AXTM a very unique and simple solution for most. Just some thoughts my friend.

Have a great weekend

Jim

 

Dearest Isso,

My requirements are only one partition. I just brought it up for other users.

My OS and Programs are on "C" on every computer. My personal four computers have SSDs, and they only have a single partition. My data is on a separate drive/partition and syncs to Dropbox. The family computers are again have OS and Programs on "C" partition and their data is on a different partition, which again syncs to Dropbox.

Best regards,

 

Dearest Jim,

Couldn't agree anymore with you, you took the words out of my mouth.

Have a exciting weekend, my weekend just finished tonight.

Best regards,

Mohamed

 

Jim, Mohamed, thank you very much! Your words are very encouraging.

By the way we found out another problem with SSD drive backup, that sometimes results in corrupted images. Please don't use this version on real systems with SSDs and TRIM enabled until we fix it. I'll update the web page too. Sorry about it.

Isso

 

Thanks for the warning, I'm running them on a testbed ATM just to observe possible conflicts. This system gets formatted and restored regularly, I use it as a conflict trap.

 

I agree as well Mohamed. The options I mentioned earlier could perhaps be part of a future Ultimate Edition; but the basic edition of the program should remain trimmed and bloat-free.

 

I tried it on two real systems, XP laptops. Same error on each system.

 

aigle,

Sorry about it, please wait for the beta - we'll address those issues there.

Regards,
Isso

 

should be nice to be able to modify the comments of the snapshot (not only before create the image).

i noticed some delays between dialogs. Looks like the software is doing some checking and AX64 is not responsive in a couple of seconds.

all working fine here

 

I have the latest AX64.

• I installed Macrium Reflect Pro.
• Took the initial image (no problem)
• I made a schedule in Macrium to do a differential.
• When that job started Macrium went into a loop and crawled down everything.
• Rebooted but windows went to a loop and would not boot. Tried several times.
• Rebooted with tha AX64 recovery media (USB stick) and restored. Restoring went just fine (about 5 minutes)

I have done this procedure 3 times. Conclusion:
Macrium does not play well with AX64. At least in my machine. But I guess that is to be expected with two somewhat similar software?
Restoring process with AX64 recovery media seems to be reliable so far. I must say that for being a software in alpha stage it works pretty well.

Questions:
What kind of speed are you hoping for when making a snapshot?

Is the time to make a snapshot dependent on how much data (MB) has changed between the snapshots?
When I take a snapshot where much hasn't changed (ie no large new installs) it takes about 30 seconds to make a snapshot. I have SSD for my system (snapshot source) but save the snapshots on a regular mechanical hard drive.

Suggestion for the future:
A tray icon from where you can do a fast snapshot via right click.

 

I tested Macrium with AXTM. They both don't like each other when they are both initializing VSS. Otherwize I had no problems taking an AXTM snapshot while Macrium was doing a backup (albeit it was a slow process).

 

MarcP,

I see you own Rollback Rx. Out of curiosity, are you using the above with Rollback Rx, still installed.

Best regards,

 

Ohh no. I wouldn't dare. Didn't try it on my main machine because the product is still in alpha phase. That was under a clone of my machine under VMWare Workstation (with RBX removed).

 

Dear Isso,

Thanks for the above. Good to hear about the news on SSDs as most of us have SSDs on their machines. And, second more importantly, it still doesn't work on any of my nine machines at home, due to conflict I am getting the Imaging Error : C10000A.

Best regards,

Mohamed

 

lol. OK thanks.

Best regards,

 

flamerz, thank you!

For modification of the comments - will be done.

For delay - the program is just querying some basic information about all drives on the system. Looks like you have one slow-to-respond drive. I'll think about changing this process to go in background.

 

sukarof:

Thank you for sharing your experience. We'll be checking the compatibility with Macrium soon and I'll return with our findings then.

For restoring - have you tried restore from the Backup Browser (rather than recovery media)? Does it work for you?

For the speed - both backup and restore speed depend on the amount of data that has been changed on the drive between backups, and on the speed of your target drive.
So if you say installed a program that changed 100 MB of data on the drive, and you are using an external USB drive with 20 MB/sec speed, you can expect the backup and restore to take about 5 sec. In fact the backup operation takes more, because it involves "preparing" phase, that is taking 10-20 sec alone. In one of the upcoming releases we'll try to decrease that time.

Regarding backup from tray - great idea, thank you! Will add to the list.