New Drive Snapshot build released.

Discussion in 'backup, imaging & disk mgmt' started by Aaron Here, Dec 10, 2010.

  1. Cruise

    Cruise Registered Member

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    Obviously DS is not your preferred image backup software - I get it, so why belabor the issue here? If the secure boot limitation really bothers you why not email Tom, asking him when you can expect that feature?

    Cruise
     
    Last edited: Jul 26, 2014
  2. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    I don't think SECURE BOOT is an issue. SECURE BOOT must be supported in the pre-BOOT environment, not in the application itself. Once the pre-BOOT environment is up and running, any app that can be run under it will run... I believe.

    If the REPAIR ENVIRONMENT of your installed Windows OS is SECURE BOOT enabled (either by installed access or by using the standard Windows distribution), you may use the COMMAND PROMPT option available in that environment to run DS, there shouldn't be an issue. LINUX is another issue all together and only important to the individual user who may be multi-BOOTing to it.
     
  3. oliverjia

    oliverjia Registered Member

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    LOL, What's your problem?

    This is a thread for discussing DS, its pros and cons. You are in no position stopping me saying anything related to DS. This is a public forum. I talked about a valid point, so if you like DS such much and don't want to hear anything bad about it, simply ignore my post, why bother replying to my post? If you still got a problem with what I said, simply go away.
    No, DS does not bother me, I am not using it now.
     
  4. oliverjia

    oliverjia Registered Member

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    In theory you are right. However I've encountered problems with Active Disk Image when using it from a Win8SE environment, which support UEFI and secure boot. ADI was able to run in Win8SE, and make backups of the partitions. However the restored partitions is not bootable, it gave error message like "bcd store", and I had to repair the problem using Win8.1 installation media.
    Of course, I would imagine if you only image the C partition and restore it, it might be able to work. However sometimes I wipe out the whole disk to try some Linux distroes, and then want to go back to Windows using disk images I made before. In this case DS won't work because all the partition information are gone.
     
  5. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    oliverjia,

    So you have a blank HD and in DS (from WinPE boot media) you click Restore Partition Structure and you don't get your partitions back? Is that what happens? Interesting.
     
  6. Enigma83

    Enigma83 Registered Member

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    I realize that most people in this thread are posting in regards to backing up/restoring Windows with DS, but I'm trying to use it to backup Arch Linux from Windows, and got an error.

    I have previously used DS with Linux Mint and Kali (ext4), both the backups and restores were successful. I simply formatted the partition from a live CD first before restoring, edited /etc/fstab to reflect the new UUIDs of the partition, and fixing GRUB. Upon booting those OSes after restore a filesystem check and repair was performed, and I was able to login. Everything appeared normal, never had any issues.

    But now, with Arch, DS is able to correctly see both the used/total/free space of the partition. But after commencing backup it never starts, within seconds I receive some sort of "block mismatch" error, and it states that it sees X number of blocks, but also says that the reported number of blocks doesn't match. So basically, this appears to be related to mismatched checksums.

    I'm absolutely certain the partition isn't corrupt, I even did an FS check from live CD to verify (in GParted), no errors were reported. This is a fresh Arch install that I havent even booted into for the first time yet, I'm new to Arch and want to make a baseline backup/snapshot, mainly because I botched the install several times before getting it right (in a VM), and it is easier and quicker to restore than reinstall. I'm also doing this in part to avoid making a sector for sector backup, my Arch is over 500 gigs. I have yet to find a software that can make an incremental/differential of a Linux partition from Windows (without adding a lot of complexity to the process), with the exception of DS, which makes it so simple (usually).

    Thanks in advance for any help!
     
  7. Allen L.

    Allen L. Registered Member

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    Easiest thing I see for you Enigma, is to contact the program author and ask him your question. Most users of Snapshot are more familiar with what the program can do with Windows - and I'm sure that is what this program started out designed to image -- not Linux. So contact the author IMO.
     
  8. Enigma83

    Enigma83 Registered Member

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    @Allen L.: Thanks for the advice. I kind of figured I should do that. But it says on the DS website that it is fully compatible with Ext4, which is the filesystem that most modern Linuxes use by default. Should I PM the author on this forum, send an email, or what? I'm sure he gets enough support requests as it is, he might not even notice. I just figured this thread would be appropriate to post in, it appears to be the official support thread, and I'm sure he posts here.

    I'm actually relatively new to backup and backup solutions in general, as well as Linux. Arch is one of the more advanced distros and, having already used Ubuntu and Mint for awhile, wanted to try something more challenging. I'm sure Linux has far better options to back itself up than Windows can provide, and I fully intend to explore those options. But for now I just need something simple so I can recover in an emergency, and that meets my needs stated in the last post (incremental, differential, without having to make a full clone).

    I have tried DS in the past in combination with DiskCryptor and Windows 8, backups went fine but restore always failed. I just assumed that DC somehow interfered. I now use BestCrypt with Windows 7 and it works like a charm, I don't even have to re-encrypt after a restore, everything is in a fully crypted state.

    I'm also wondering whether something like TeraByte Image For Windows/Linux can do what I need, I tried it in the past but never fully explored it.

    Thanks again!
     
  9. Allen L.

    Allen L. Registered Member

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    I would send him an email - what the hell. He never tells us anything on this forum except "New Issue" (never a changelog). So I doubt he reads this forum that much and we have no idea where else he may be active.
     
  10. Enigma83

    Enigma83 Registered Member

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    Thanks, I'll shoot him an email, then. On a sidenote, I just tested Terabyte Image For Windows Again, it appears to do most of what I need. It was able to copy only Arch's used space, which totalled around 10 gigs. The backup itself is compressed and is only half a gig, which is impressive. It looks like it does incremental but not differential, but hey, it works. I have yet to test the backup to see if it will work and boot, but a backup is no good if you're not sure if it works, so I guess I'd better man up and get around to it. Worst case scenario is that I have to reinstall Arch, which takes about an hour now that I'm used to it. I still like the simplicity of DS though, I'd use it over TIFW in a heartbeat if it would work properly.
     
  11. oliverjia

    oliverjia Registered Member

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    Yes, the restore partition structure menu greyed out. I emailed Tom the developer regarding this problem, and he asked for my system config. After I sent that info to him, he said he'll work on it but never get back to me with a solution or possible reasons.
     
  12. oliverjia

    oliverjia Registered Member

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    I contacted Tom before regarding when would he add the support for Linux EXT4, and he said he had no plan on implementing that feature because Linux users only account for tiny share of the PC market.

    Edit: I read my email correspondence with Tom again and the above was not what he said - maybe the above was from some other developers (maybe Active Disk Image developers?). There was a problem of imaging EXT4 in my system (could not recognize the correct size of used data) and Tom said that was a failure of DS. He wanted to use team viewer to help me identify the problem, however I did not feel comfortable to do that so only give him my hard disk configuration. As a result, he did not provide me with a solution to solve the EXT4 imaging problem.
     
    Last edited: Jul 27, 2014
  13. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    oliverjia,

    I just tried this on a GPT data disk, not containing an OS. Seven partitions. I imaged one partition with DS and then wiped the drive. In a WinPE, DS was used to select the partition image and I clicked Restore Partition Structure. All seven partitions appeared on the blank HD. OK on my test computer.
     
  14. oliverjia

    oliverjia Registered Member

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    Image for Linux/Windows or Acronis can definitely do what you need. I dual boot Windows 8.1 and Ubuntu 14.04 x64, and IFL and acronis can image both disk without any problems.
     
  15. oliverjia

    oliverjia Registered Member

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    Thanks Brian for the test. Do you have Secure boot enabled in the UEFI?
     
  16. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    That wasn't a UEFI computer. I can't see how Secure boot would make it different. But o_O??
     
  17. oliverjia

    oliverjia Registered Member

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    Yes it does appear UEFI and secure boot will make a difference on my test. On my computer the restore partition option greyed out.
    Active Disk Image could not work properly on UEFI computer with secure boot enabled either, while it works perfectly on a BIOS computer. So most likely there is some difference in there.


     
  18. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    OK. Can you try disabling (for a few minutes) UEFI and Secure Boot on the computer where DS is failing. Does it let DS work, or not?
     
  19. oliverjia

    oliverjia Registered Member

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    I ditched DS a while ago, together with the Win8SE boot disk. If I got a chance to test it later I'll post it here...
     
  20. Allen L.

    Allen L. Registered Member

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    I look at these issues like this: Test the worst case scenario happening and see if you can recover from it. If so your good, because the worse case scenario is not going to happen often - if at all.
     
  21. cesabo

    cesabo Registered Member

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    Version 1.43.0.17018 was posted today...
     
  22. donaddams

    donaddams Registered Member

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    Thanks for the heads up on new build
     
  23. Gaddster

    Gaddster Registered Member

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    If I use the Snapshot GUI on my sisters machine, the restore partition structure menu is greyed out. However running the following command via a batch works

    Snapshot --RestorePartitionStructure HD1 E:\Images\09-10-2014 -W -Y

    All partitions and mbr are restored.

    I personally don't use the Snapshot GUI at all any more as it takes longer than using pre-made batch scripts.
     
  24. EASTER

    EASTER Registered Member

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    A little late but thanks for the updated notice. Always use DS.
     
  25. oliverjia

    oliverjia Registered Member

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    FYI:

    "Dear Tom,

    I have a question: if I make an disk/partition image of an SSD OS drive (UEFI GPT disk with secure boot turned on, therefore there are 4 GPT partitions: Recovery, EFI, MSR and C: partition) using Drive Snapshot, and later restore the whole OS disk, will the 4k alignment still preserved? I mean the partition starting offset still preserved as the same as the original partition offset?.
    Many thanks."

    His answer:

    "Hello xxx,

    yes, if you use the "Restore partition structure"
    (http://www.drivesnapshot.de/en/rest2.htm) function of
    Snapshot, the whole partition information will be restored. All
    partition will have the same offsets and the correct alignment.


    Mit freundlichen Grüßen / With kind regards

    Hardy Pawletta

    Tom Ehlert Software"
     
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