ShadowDefender or Returnil?

looking forward to version 2.0!

Returnil rock....specially its freeware and works great in my PC!

 

Hi Mike,

I am one of those people who need the file/folder exclusion feature. I do however prefer the SD method of automatically excluding specified folders from the shadow volume rather than the Returnil method of having to manually save updated folders. This method is too cumbersome for me. I cannot expect other users of my PC to have to carry out this procedure. There is also a risk of valuable work being lost before the save is carried out.

If Returnil was modified to allow automatic exclusion of folders/files, I would use it instead. Are there any plans to implement this?

Does the Scheduler turn system protection on and off automatically? Can I use this to create periods during which my daily AV/AS auto updates can be carried out? If that is the case, could this be extended to allow the user to manually switch protection off?

 

Shadow Defender is going to have it so when you disable the screen icon, the tray icon will turn orange for Shadow mode and the current color when you are out. Coldmoon, you know I am fond of both products. May they both prove to be winners and aid us in our ability to totally protect our computers.

 

I assume theres no issue having both installed? I can't re-test ShadowDefender as my trial expired from testing it when it first came out. And does ShadowDefender work OK with FR-ISR?

 

I have installed both and they seem happy enough. Obviously using one or the other, not both together.

I would also like to know if SD works OK with FD-ISR. I assume it would be safer to exit shadow mode before carrying out a snapshot Copy/Update.

 

yes and yes

 

Hi trjam,

You didn't write the SD help file by any chance?

 

no, learning by trial and error.

 

Thank you for that. I would have never guessed that description would be it. I will do that and again great products but I will try to stay with SD for a while now.

Gary

 

Is SD license still lifetime because I can't find any other information.

MikeNAS

 

you betch ya, err, yes it is.

 

Hi hammerman,

We have been looking at a variation of this idea for a while now and may be exploring it in a future build. It is more important at the moment to establish the stability of the base commit functionality before we add an automation option for content added to the File Manager.

The scheduler is session related and not a service. It does however turn the protection feature on and off automatically based on your schedule. In the case of AV/AS updates, the FM is better for this purpose as there is always the potential for getting a bad signature update. Additionally, even if you are using System Protection without selectively saving the signature update itself, you still have updated. That is, your AV will still have the most recent update until you reboot your computer.

One user described a method during a previous beta series that they do this regularly by rebooting once a week where they would then perform a more permanent update of the signatures as well as other maintenance tasks without issue. 2.0 will allow you to commit the signature update through the FM.

Mike

Edit: clarification

 

This is pretty much what I do, my main box runs pretty much 24/5 and will usually get rebooted at the weekend, when I have the opportunity to allow for permanent updates, and have had the luxuary of running them all week to detect any problems.

 

Am I wrong or are both ShadowDefender and Returnil + all the others whom do the same thing targeted at mostly one partitioned hard drive and not multiple drives?

dja2k

 

SD does multiple drives.

 

Yes but it doesn't play well with multiple partitions on the same drive.

dja2k

 

Hmm, that one I have not heard before but will report it to them. May try it out myself in a moment Either way, if it is a issue, the vendor deserves a chance to fix it. thanks

 

I've not seen that as a problem at all.

Blue

 

So you were able to install it on an operation system that is a part of a multiple partition? Maybe it has to do with it being a Raid0 on my part.

dja2k

 

I just did a partition of drive C and copied some folders to it. Went back into shadowmode with no issue. Peter uses Raid0 doesnt he?

 

Yes but he doesn't use partitions.

dja2k

 

Yes, my main system is set up as disk0 [C:\ and E:\, C:\ bootable] and disk1 [D:\ and F:\, D:\ bootable]. It works fine. At various times both C:\ and D:\ have been home to a light virtualization product.

Blue

 

Owe I have it different, I have my Operating Systems all in the same Raid i.e., my raid is in four partitions, three operating systems and one temp drive, but SD still mess that up, don't know how though. Does SD write to the MBR or something?

dja2k

 

Found out today I got the same dreaded Acrobat 7 Standard needs to be activated message when using SD in shadow mode. Same problem with DeepFreeze in frozen mode. So back to the most compatable program with my laptop which is free - Returnil - no problems so far at all.

Gary