Introducing AX64 Time Machine - hybrid imaging/snapshot software

Re: Add Backup shemes

Panagiotis,

Thank you very much, I've added your suggestions to the same idea.

Isso

 

Hi WYC999,

I think it should be available in about 3-4 months. PM-ed about the discount.

Isso

 

Hi Isso,

I submitted a ticket about Windows halting at shutdown randomly. Hope you can look into it.

Thank you.

 

I have two more suggestions to add:

1. The icons used in the right-click menu of a file listed in the Backup Browser are bigger than the the space allocated for them.

2. There should be double-buffering used in the main window and Backup Browser to get rid of the flickering of the text that's in them.

 

Well, I finally took the leap and installed AX64 1.1.0.996 with RBRX 10 already installed (I have been using previous versions of RBRX for years). I thought perhaps my experience might be useful to those who are thinking about doing the same but have hesitated. Backup and Restore worked fine. When I created the Recovery Media, I was asked to insert the Windows 8 installation DVD. That went smoothly and the Recovery Disk was created. When I tested it out, I got to the browser and minimized it to see what was behind it (curiosity and the cat notwithstanding). That was a mistake but a minor one. I saw only a white rectangle in the lower left corner. I clicked on where I thought I needed to in order to restore the browser and clicked X instead. Not a problem. My action just rebooted the computer to my Windows 8 Desktop. Bottom line: it looks like AX64 did everything it was supposed to do and did it well.

Now, I have a question. I have read previous posts warning about problems that result from uninstalling RBRX. I have done this many times in order to defrag but I always reinstalled it immediately afterward. Is there a risk involved with using AX64 after uninstalling RBRX? I can’t imagine what that might be but I thought I'd better check first.

TIA,
sb

 

Hi sb,

I see that you have RXRB v10 installed. Prior to v10, one of things RBRX did was to rename WinRE.wim to WinRE.dat on installation. When RBRX was uninstalled, it left the WinRE.dat without renaming it back to WinRE.win.

The above was not known at that time, therefore I couldn't create a Recovery Media (Disk) for Image For Windows (IFW).

Thus, you have people who are not able to create Recovery Media for AXTM, due to missing WinRE.wim.

Refer to post #1860 of Zero3K on page 75.

Best regards,

Mohamed

 

Isso,

Two separate issues. The CDs load after 2 minutes of "flashing cursor". The UFDs have the MBR issue (having the BIBM MBR) which I can fix by writing boot code. Both issues apply to boot media created in Win8.

I couldn't get boot media created in WinXP to boot at all. Using a CD, in one computer I saw a hal.dll error and in another computer I saw a 7B BSOD. Using a UFD (from WinXP) (after writing Standard boot code) I saw "Remove disks or other media, Press any key to boot".

I'll try UFDs again, several UFDs, and let you know. I'll just test from Win8. Sorry, the above is like a pig's breakfast.

 

Isso,

Using Win8 64-bit. Two UFDs, one 1 GB and the other 8 GB. Identical results with each.

Neither UFD loaded into the recovery environment because they had BIBM boot code. The error was

BootIt EMBRI 4.0
EMBRI missing - System Halted!

After writing Standard boot code to the UFDs the Recovery Environment loaded.
After writing Win7 boot code to the UFDs the Recovery Environment loaded.

In my old test computer I saw a flashing cursor for 45 seconds before loading commenced. In my new computer I saw a flashing cursor for 25 seconds before loading commenced. The recovery environment was fully loaded 30 seconds later.

Anything else you would like me to try?

 

atomomega,

Thank you for filing this problem. I'll see if I can reproduce it.

Isso

 

Zero3K,

Thank you, noted. Will fix as soon as we are done with current tasks.

Isso

 

Hi Mohamed,

Thanks for the info. See my PM

Regards,
sb

 

Hi SB,

As Mohamed mentioned AX64 requested to insert the Windows 8 installation DVD because Rollback renamed the .wim file. Otherwise AX64 would create Recovery Media without DVD. I think I need to address this because lot of users get affected.

For running AX64 after uninstalling RBX - I don't see any problem with it. Carfal or Froggie might know it for sure.

Isso

 

Brian,

Thank you so much for your help. Now I see what's happening. For MBR - that will be fixed in upcoming update. For delay on startup - I'll see if I can find a solution. Thank you

Isso

 

Hi Alladin, If the WinRE.dat problem is caused by pre RBRx V10 versions, would upgrading to V10 and the resulting WinRe.wim prior to trying to create a AXTM recovery media solve that? Then they can uninstall RBRx if they want to.

 

Hi there,

No need to install and uninstall RBRX. Just search for WinRE.dat and rename it to WinRE.wim and that should solve the problem for creating Recovery Media.

It could be WinRE.wim is not at the right location too, therefore one needs to make a \Recovery\WinRE directory and copy WinRE.wim to there.

Best regards,

Mohamed

 

I have uninstalled RB v10 many times with AX64 still installed and have had no issues. But as a precaution, after i reinstall RB i delete everything in the AXTM folder and create a new baseline with AX64 just in case. It's probably not necessary but i like to take no chances.

 

Twl845, Mohamed's advice is the quickest solution to the WinRE.win problem. Initially i may have said that the renaming of WinRE.wim to WinRE.dat was resolved in RB v10 but have concluded after many installs and uninstalls that RB continues to rename this file and does not rename it back when RB v10 is uninstalled. When i tested this previously i thought that it was renamed back but that must have been an anomoly or i somehow got confused in my excitement at the time. Sorry for misleading you guys.

 

Thanks, Isso!
sb

 

Right! Thanks for the info.

 

Thanks, Carfal; I was going to ask about deleting the AXTM folder snapshots after uninstalling RBRX for a defrag and reinstalling it!
sbf

 

Carfal, Thanks for the heads up. If I AM able to create a Recovery Media, should I assume I have WINRE.win? I uninstalled RX shortly after installing AX. I was able to create the recovery media before uninstalling RB and again after uninstalling.

 

Carfal,
I think you are right. I installed RBRX 10 after upgrading from Win XP to Win 8, which only saved my data files, and I still needed the installation DVD to make the AXTM Recovery Media.
Regards, sb

 

Re: Add Backup shemes

Thanks Isso.

I have two questions unrelated to the above.
1) About the backup/restore of mbr.
How does AX64 handles the mbr backup/restore. It backups and restores only LBA 0 or LBAs 0-62?
When taking an incremental the mbr in the image gets updated or not? If yes is it possible to always retain the initial mbr or better yet the initial track0 (LBA 0-62) and during the restore to allow the user to select what mbr or track he wants to restore (the initial or the current)?

Also please add an option to allow the users to select the default method for restoring.
Personally I never restore the mbr unless I have a reason to do it and having to un-tick the checkmark on every restore starts to get on my nerves.

2) The snapshot tree has ramifications or it is linear?
e.g. Initial snapshot -> snapshot 1 -> snapshot 2 -> snapshot 3
from snapshot 3 the user reverts to initial snapshot and then takes three snapshots 4-> 5 -> 6.
The snapshot's 4 parent will be the snapshot 3 or the initial snapshot?
Initial->1->2->3->4->5->6
or
Initial ->1->2->3
Initial ->4->5->6

Panagiotis

 

Re: Add Backup shemes

Panagiotis,

For your questions:

1) The program backs up MBR every time it takes a backup. It backs up only LBA0, but I'm planning to add entire Track0 too. It's possible of course to add MBR selection option, I'll add it to the wish list, along with setting for default MBR restore option.

2) The parent will be the initial snapshot, so it's indeed looks like a tree. Please see Froggie's drawing here. We have plans to add a Tree view too - as it's a more natural way of representing the backups.

Isso

 

Re: Add Backup shemes

Thanks.
About (1), since the mbr is always updated in the image I guess that on restore it excludes automatically the partition table. Is there a way to restore the partition table too in case it gets damaged?

Panagiotis