New Drive Snapshot build released.

Another update dated today, 11/8/12. Versions are:

x32: 1.41.0.16442
x64: 1.41.0.16441

 

LOL (with my timing),

5 hours ago it was still on 1.41.0.16339

Panagiotis

 

Still the same command-oriented DOS recovery disk.

 

At times like this it would be helpful to have a changelog so as not to waste time updating unnecessarily.

I just wrote to them to ask them either to start posting changelogs or to post in this thread. (I love the app but don't hold your breath.)

 

Here's the reply I received this morning. Sorry it isn't more satisfactory...

 

Not even so much as a notice that an update is available!

Thanks Blues. I've pretty much come to the realization that a changelog with every new build, just like a user-friendly DOS recovery disk, is not going to happen. Brian K tried to help with the latter issue, and he came very close to achieving it, but in the end it wasn't to be.

Cruise

 

You're welcome Cruise. It's too bad since DS is a great product in so many ways.

I alternate its use with Macrium Reflect (Standard) since it allows me to restore an image during the boot up process and has saved me a time or two when I couldn't access DS properly after a problem with an installation or uninstall.

Having options is always good.

 

I certainly agree and despite the aforementioned shortcomings DS is still the simplest and most straight-forward disk imaging backup I've ever used.

Yup, having options is very reassuring (my alternate is IFW/IFD).

Cruise

 

Another new release dated 11/16/12... v1.41.16451.

 

These rapidly released updates have me believing v1.41 bugs are being discovered!

 

Great. Thanks.

 

I wonder if it's not just best to stay with a version which has proven to be reliable previously?

 

does anyone have this problem, after restore a image Win7 or Win 8 x64 after finish restore and reboot Windows have to repair my C Drive, i use intel 520 SSD Drive don't know if that could be the problem

 

Hi mata7

Indeed, when I tried DS out nearly 2 years ago, when 1.40 came out, I had several problems upon restore. 1) After restore, I would get the windows boot menu and it would state that windows was improperly shutdown, and I would simply choose start windows normally if I recall correctly. 2) Then often it would show in event viewer a 'dirty volume' for NTFS. Other times it would go right into Check disk as you experienced again due to 'windows was improperly shut down' or something to that effect.

I found personally, that with "hot" imaging, this can often happen, windows thinking it was improperly shut down as it was imaged within windows, then when restored, there is no record of proper shutdown. Hot images can also produce the 'dirty volume' event which is not a good thing and is often tied to improper shutdown in some cases. Usually chkdsk would take care of it, but it happened often, and i decided to not use DS, although I think it is a good app, it appeared to have these issues and I was not comfortable with that. When restore after restart was introduced in version 1.40, i really had issues with that, and dirty volumes, etc. It just seemed as if the restore was either incomplete or a bit messy. Certainly a great feature, but for me, never solid.

I contacted Tom Ehlert of DS and he asked me to try using VSS, which seemed to improve the image quality, but I still had chkdsk asking to run due to the improper shutdown. One thing to note, at least in my experience, when I started doing only "cold images", these issues went away. I mainly use IFL and never had windows complain about shutdown or dirty volume issues since. Also, others I use, Macrium Winpe to make cold images, and Lazesoft recovery suite, no issues after restore doing cold images.

So for me, I just perform cold imaging, but many have had no issues with hot imaging, although typically after a restore of a hot image taken from within windows, if you check the event viewer, often it will show under the 'critical' portion a kernel power event and improper shutdown which is no big deal, it is due to restoring an image that does not have a record of being properly shut down. the 'dirty volume' issue was one that bothered me though, and that stopped upon doing cold images, outside of windows, at least for me.

Hope that helps in some way.

Jim

 

thanks jim great explanation, yeah i try change to vss and dint make any diferent, for now i just gone stop use it and keep using IFW RE, what i really like the snapshot is reboot and restore but it look like is a mess at least on my pc

 

Jim,

I don't have an answer for that one. I've restored thousands of hot images and never seen that or any other issues.

 

Same here.

 

Hi Brian

I suspect that this issue does not happen with IFW, maybe due to Phylock? It is good to hear in any case you and others have not seen this. I had the event happen regularly with both hot images of Macrium and DS, especially with DS, but this was over the last 2 years. With Macrium, upon a restore of a hot image, it would always show up under event viewer 'Critical' entry as a Kernel power event, Improper shutdown after restore but I never found an explanation other than what I assumed to be an effect of restoring a hot image that had no record of proper shutdown, then showing that kernel power event in response. I never had a dirty volume with Macrium though, but I did regularly have that restoring from a DS hot image especially utilizing the "Restore after restart" implemented in DS version 1.40, and I was never able to get that feature to work cleanly, sometimes immediately after the restore would say complete, I may get a split second blue screen, or the windows menu stating Windows was not shut down properly. I never figured it out, other than it simply did not appear a complete sector restore.

I do hope it has become a rare issue, and it sounds at least for IFW, the methods used to acquire the lock on the volume is maybe more complete? I do not have the answer other than cold imaging with IFL and Macrium, and even Lazesoft, I have not had these issues, but I am glad to hear maybe hot imaging is fairing better with less windows complaints, as it should be.

Thank you Brian and Amit for chiming in on this I remember Brian that you had mentioned that all the times you have done hot images with IFW, you never had issues which is great. The times it happened to me, it was a head scratcher, though I do not recall this event using IFW the short time I had it installed before using mainly IFL now, not so much the improper shutdown event, as I understood at the time how this could happen, but the dirty volume issues after a hot image "restore after restart" with DS I was unable to solve, I would hope by now it is a rare issue, and the windows prompting for a chkdsk after a restore is often related simply to the shut down issue, but the dirty volume issue to me appeared to be in some cases a restore flaw, at least at the time.

Recently zfactor had these issues with Active@, and also saw the event reports showing these issues, so unfortunately it still happens with some imagers, and my suspicion with zfactors problem was that when he restored an image, it simply failed at a sector level, and did more of an overwrite causing the fragmentation and other volume issues. Only thing I can think of when this event happens, that it is some sort of software failure perhaps on the sector level.

Have a peaceful day, thanks again for your thoughts

Jim

 

Drive Snapshot v1.42 (dated Dec 10 2012) is now up on their download page.

Wendi

 

Thanks for the heads up, Wendi.

 

Thanks!

 

A new version is out today, 1/3/13...

v1.41.0.16484

 

I have Windows 7 x64 as my main system. Is the 64-bit version of Drive Snapshot better than the 32-bit version in some way on 64-bit systems? (faster?)

 

No but you need this exe to restore in x64 PE/RE environments.

 

Must have found an issue...another new release on 1/4/13 (the next day)...

v1.41.0.16486