New Drive Snapshot build released.

https://i.imgur.com/j6vLXku.png

I purchased the above version of Drive Snapshot 1.44 (October 2016) and have used it on loads of computers and whilst I've tried the newer versions. I always just use the old version because it has been perfect on everything that I've ran it on.

Recently I used that old version to restore an image on a laptop running Windows 11 and it worked fine, so it is future proof for a very long time.

 

I run the v.1.48 and it's still picture perfect even for my ONE Windows 10 system. The rest are 8.1's fully customized, fully secured, etc and most with advanced system and other (not just eye candy), but MODERN symmetrical clean looking icons; because frankly Microsoft's default one's makes it look like your still running a Windows 95 or a kindergarten toy IMO. I detested every version of their lousy icons up until Windows 11 so i incorporate even some of them (AND AUDIO) onto Windows 8.1 and presto! Looks way more professional and neat.

I still almost dirty myself when i found out Windows 11 still had Windows 7 backup in it's Control Panel- Such amateurs
Windows 8.1 Custom Refresh is infinitely more stable and best of all RELIABLE!

Purpose is that Microsoft hasn't no real brain for innovation or else they would have revisited and improved those earlier versions before kicking them to the curb along with their once loyal user's (many i know threw in the towel for MacOS or Linux)- But i intend to SUSTAIN these 8.1's going as far as installing onto higher end newer computers with all the zip zap power hardware etc.

DS assists greatly in preserving every inch, every customization, every setting of those once the hardware pukes out.

 

New version available (Digital Signature: October 4, 2022)
Drive Snapshot (x86) 1.50.0.636 - (1,222,944 bytes)
Drive Snapshot (x64) 1.50.0.637 - (1.306,400 bytes)
Website

 

Thanks @Adric for the new updated DS notice.
Personally and like some others i maintain using a same version a few updates back simply because it's served spectacularly and continues to restore and backup flawlessly as ever.

 

Drive Snapshot (x86) 1.49.0.19132 - (461,640 bytes)
Drive Snapshot (x64) 1.49.0.19131 - (466,248 bytes)

Hi friends, does anyone have a portable version and the last installer for 1.49, I can't use the last version because my license has expired, thank you

 

For anyone interested, below is the final 1.49 version information.

Final 1.49 Version (Digital Signature: August 16, 2022)
Drive Snapshot (x86) 1.49.0.19134 - 450 KB (461,608 bytes) MD5: 56D527E4F5FBB060B5F71300D6BE6E9F
Drive Snapshot (x64) 1.49.0.19135 - 455 KB (466,216 bytes) MD5: DEAEC34E2F8393961CE331854E74E0EA
setup.exe 5.85 MB (6,139,480 bytes) MD5: 653EACAB6EB12EE597ECC12EE8E18575

 

I just sent you a PM, thank you

 

Walang

Here are the files if you still require them (and anyone else).

https://www42.zippyshare.com/v/5sNLqOEw/file.html

 

Think we're all wrapped up here on this end. Annual massive offline storage backups-DS was even running backups faster than anticipated and i have kept the 1 TeraByte HDD's at least 1/3 full if not less except for the Disk's that hold tons of my favorite 1960's family tv shows and Sci-Fi Films generously available from archive dot com.

On current 'active' systems, (including one Windows 10) there is Macrium and Backupper to perform 'incrementals' on the fly- oddly i rarely do 'differentials' yet DS can and does perform those flawlessly as well.

Have to admit i was more skeptical of the new WD 2 TeraByte External than DS's capability to deliver, but after wiping and reformatting it to eliminate some weird driver loading each time you plugged it in, all is in good order.

Drive Snapshot continues to be an amazing and time-tested reliable backup solution.
I doubt in our lifetime we will ever see (if ever) an "incremental" built-in DS feature but it's a cool thought nonetheless.

 

It's a great piece of software as Drive Snapshot (just like Image for Windows) gives the user complete control over the software, which there isn't any other imaging software that I've come across (apart from Symantec Ghost) that allows this and at such a small file size.

I can't see how the developer can even improve Drive Snapshot any further as it just works and apart from an UEFI bug many years ago (that was quickly fixed) I've never seen anyone mention any issues that they've encounted whilst using the program.

 

I get an occasional dirty flag set on a restored partition. Mostly when backing up a live system and later restoring it. I simply use fsutil query dirty to check the partition before booting. If dirty, I do a r/o chkdsk to see if anything is corrupt. After that I use the /f parm to clear the flag. I don't see this behavior backing up offline systems.

 

Thanks for this info.

Have you actually encounter anything corrupt?
If anything is what do you do?

Could you describe or some steps to do the above method please?

TIA

 

Thanks @Adric - Good info to know that such a possibility might exist and worth keeping a watch for.
Makes sense too. I always wondered how imagers when they lock the disk at a point-in-time, kept from a few changes affecting perhaps the files system from time to time on a live (Windows running) backup.

 

Have a look at this screenshot -

https://i.ibb.co/W0yP7C1/Capture.png

Are you restoring your images using this method?

 

Link for screenshot not working for me.
Anyone else having an issue?

Update: Brave and adblocker preventing it on 2 devices.

 

Shows up perfect on this end.

 

I've tried that method before, just once cause I'm no DS user, just for testing purposes and got the same issue as @Adric :

 

No corruptions to date. I do the r/o chkdsk just in case there is a corruption. This way I have a chance to research the problem. I do clean installs every 4 months (04 08 12) + online differentials for the other Patch Tuesdays. If I should ever have a corruption, I can always go back to my offline weekly differentials. The clean installs are also offline backups.

 

I have a multi-boot setup and always restore the target using another system. I.e. restore W7 or W8 from W10. I use the above method on my test partition which saves me time.

 

In Windows you should only --UseVSS with Drive Snapshot when making images of the current OS that you're booting from.

The boot environment that Drive Snapshot uses absolutely causes the chkdsk issue, which I believe it is caused by having to boot the OS initially before Drive Snapshot takes over and restores an image over the booted OS. Other programs boot to a PE, so the booted OS isn't used.

 

Yes. I agree this is the reason behind such issue and I trust your long time experience not encountering any real corruption which might affect the OS integrity.

So I'm going to try DS on a weekly basis from now on.

 

Thanks for the accurate clarification as to why that particular result can happen and the best way to avoid it

 

The reboot and restore method used in Drive Snapshot is absolute garbage.

As much as I like the software. Using the installed OS to start an image restore task to that same OS is not clean way to do that.

Symantec Ghost would reboot to a dos version of Ghost (Ghost.exe) and run a batch script........How I wish they'd improved Ghost for 2022.

 

That explains the reboot-restore situation, but what about when doing an online backup and later restoring using another system? This is where I see the occasional dirty flag being set on the restored system. It doesn't always happen though. It may be related to the driver that was used (internal or VSS) when doing the backup. http://www.drivesnapshot.de/en/snapshot_vss.htm

 

If I use Drive Snapshot with its default settings. I can 100% guarantee that restoring an image, which was created from an online OS will trigger a chkdsk prompt on every single computer that I use it on (the same with the reboot - restore).

Most of the time I only use batch files with Drive Snapshot and when using the command "--UseVSS" I've never had chkdsk appear. You can try this when creating a new image of an online OS.