Shadow Protect

I have Shadow Protect Desktop 4 installed for disk imaging, would it be possible to also use Rollback RX? I only use Shadow Protect for complete OS restores, so I'd like to use Rollback RX for quick snap backs. Is this possible?

 

Absolutely. Just understand that when you run a typical 'hot' backup (from within Windows) you are just capturing your current system state (RB's current snapshot) ...and when you restore that image you will find that RB is uninstalled (and all of your older snapshots are gone). So then you will have to reinstall RB.

If you want to faithfully backup your entire RB environment, including all RB snapshots, you need to create a 'cold-raw' image by booting your system using SP's boot-disk and then run an All Sectors backup.

Hth,
Aaron

 

Thanks Aaron,

I intend to use SP to take an image of a new build of Windows 7, this will include all updates but no applications. I am using SP more like Norton Ghost than a regular backup system. I will use RB just to take the system snapshots for smaller restores.

Let me get this right, are you saying that if I wanted to take a SP image of Windows with RB installed, I would have to use the "Include Free Space" feature from a boot CD?

Thanks again.

 

vBus, that's correct if you want to preserve your entire RB installation with all RB snapshots. But if you are ok with just capturing your current system state you can simply run a normal SP backup from within Windows (i.e., a normal hot-backup). However, as I mentioned above, this method does not preserve your RB installation. If/when you restore this image, you will find that RB is not installed, and will have to be re-installed (the way I see it, that's not really a 'deal breaker').

Good night,
Aaron

 

Okay Great.

I guess though by using the "All Sectors" backup it will use a lot more space, especially on a 1TB drive?

 

Yes, an all sectors backup will backup everything (instead of just the used space like a normal image would). In general, a 1tb drive using all sectors would create a 1tb image file (instead of, say, a 12gb image of just used data assuming you had 12gb used).

 

Almost all imaging applications that I'm aware of use a lossless compression mechanism when they create a backup image... usually resulting in a 40-50% image size reduction. I s'pect a 1tB drive will wind up closer to a 500gB image.

 

While I agree with what the others have said about raw imaging, you will be making a big mistake if you don't partition your large HDD! I strongly suggest creating a much smaller C-partition for Win 7 + apps (40gigs to 60gigs should do, depending on whether you choose to protect one or both partitions with RB), leaving the remaining space for your personal files (data, docs, music, photos, etc).

The bottom-line is that you really only have to image your C-partition and a small C-partition will result in much smaller and much faster images (normal or raw)!

Aaron

 

Good point Aaron...that's pretty much how I have my home PC setup. While I do image both parttions, you can easily image C: and file copy or use a more traditional backup app for the D: drive.

 

I'm using 2x sata 500GB drives on Intel RAID 0, plus I have a 1TB NAS which I use for Shadow Protect backups but I don't think I'm going to have enough space for an "All Sectors" backup.

I think I will go ahead with Shadow Protect again because it has served me well. However I may reconsider Rollback RX, technically Shadow Protect does offer the backup protection that Rollback does, it will just mean spending a little more time with backup & restores.

Does anyone know if Rollback will work on RAID 0?
Are there any cheaper Rollback alternatives which your may recommend?

 

Raid 0 is purely a hardware function... Rollback RX works fine with it.

Cheaper Rollback alternatives... haven't seen any yet (and NO, Comodo Time Machine is NOT an alternative), except for SALEs occasionally either at HorizonDataSys (Rollback RX) or at eazsolutions (EAZ-FIX, a Rollback RX clone being co-marketed).

 

vBus, HDS usually offers a huge discount on RB every Black Friday (this year it falls on Nov 25th). Last year it amounted to a whopping 65% discount, so be patient and keep a sharp eye around that time on HDS' & Bits Du Jour's websites.

Aaron

 

Thanks for the advice.

Is "1-Click Restore" a good alternative solution? It looks very good and is a lot cheaper than Rollback.

 

No it's not. 1CR is a simplified image-backup program and RB is an ISR program, so it's like comparing apples to oranges. Besides which, you already own SP so it doesn't make any sense (to me) for you to consider other image-backup solutions (assuming SP is working well).

Aaron

 

Ah, I thought 1CR was a Rollback style application.

Thanks

 

Like I said, wait until Black Friday!

 

Moving slightly off topic here...

If Rollback / EAZ-Fix uses free space to store data, does this mean that I can't use applications which wipe free space from the disk?

Secondly, how effective is EAZ-Fix against restoring from a serious malware infection. Are there any instances where restoring with EAZ-Fix would not remove a particular piece of malware?

vBus

 

That's correct. Most of us that use that function will do it while Rollback is uninstalled... during maintenance periods. When I uninstall Rollback I first do any planned partition work, then I defrag and make contiguous all my "used" sector space, then I ZERO all my unused sectors, then re-install Rollback. This prepares all that unused disk space for great compression when the ALL SECTOR backup is done after the re-installation of Rollback. Images done after this preparation are usually only slightly larger (5%) than they would be if doing a "used sector" backup.

Any malware that attacks/affects the MBR (Master Boot Record) will affect the eventual success of Rollback/EAZ-FIX (I've seen this happen once... had to use an image backup to repair). Every other type I've dealt with has successfully been removed by Rollback/EAZ-FIX.

 

TheRollbackFrog,

Which app do you use? Thanks.

 

I happen to use Jetico's BCwipe... but for no particular reason other than someone gave it to me. There's a decent FREEware tool available called "BleachBit" here...

http://bleachbit.sourceforge.net/

I've used it before and it works fine. There are a ton of CleanUp options available... the only one you'll need is under "System" called "Free Disk Space."

 

Brian/TRF,

On a couple of occaisions I've used Disk Redactor (freeware), which Pandlouk recommended several months ago to reduce the size of my raw images.

While it's use did result in somewhat smaller image files it wasn't substantial, so I didn't think it was worth the additional effort as otherwise I don't typically find a need to uninstall RB! (but I do realize that everyone's situation is different).

Aaron

 

Thanks guys. CCleaner is another free app that will wipe free space.

 

I don't have a need to do it often, but I use the East-Tec product (http://www.east-tec.com/).

 

TRF, Thats a good point you have raised about the free space. This mean I won't be backing up a lot of old / deleted data as part of the Shadow Protect image and therefore the image will be a lot smaller. What you are suggesting, I should do in this order....

Install Windows 7 with updates and drivers.
Defrag the drives.
Wipe the drives free space with zeros.
Install EAZ-Fix and take a baseline image.
Take a ShadowPortect (or similar) image with free space.
Install the software.

When you install Rollback RX/EAZ-Fix there is an activation process which needs to be done before the software will work fully. When you keep re-installing this product over and over does this affect the activation process in any way? My understanding is that there is an activation code generated based on the hard drives serial number. If I am reinstalling on the same PC, the activation number will be the same and therefore Rollback RX/EAZ-Fix will activate automatically online.

In regards to Shadow Protect. The software comes with Windows software and a bootable recovery cd which is WinPE? Is it necessary to install the windows software or can I get by just using the bootable CD to make my images?

 

Raza, your 6-steps are fine.

There have been Rollback/EAZ-FIX activation anomalies in the past... after you do the install/uninstall pair a few times, it failed to activate. A phone call to HDS/EZ support got that fixed.

In the most recent update of Rollback, their changenotes say the activation problem has been fixed. Since EAZ-FIX seems to always be a bit behind Rollback as far as release levels go, I would check with EAZ-FIX to see if they've implemented the activation fix yet.

As far as SP is concerned (I'm not fully familiar with it), many imagers that supply COLD BOOT disks, make them from the Windows installation. After its made, the app may be uninstalled from your system and you can use their BOOT disc standalone. If they supply it separately, no need to do the Windows app install.

If the Windows app is required to make the disc, here's a great opportunity to use RB/EZ at what it's good at. Take a manual snapshot prior to installing SP, install SP, make the ISO/CD, then do a RESTORE to the snapshot taken before the installation... RB/EZ is probably the world's greatest and most complete unINSTALLER