I just want to alert everyone to a new program that has caused a lot of excitement at Wilders. This is not a security program but rather a backup and recovery program. The thread that introduced this program in January is now nearly 4000 posts long:
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=339999

For the past twelve years, count them twelve, my favorite backup and recovery program, as with many others at Wilders, has been FirstDefense-ISR. This new program has caused many to finally leave the old, beloved FDISR and switch. As Haven member Peter1250 stated in that thread, "@isso You've managed to create something that is making me finally drop FDISR. And that is no mean feat. Well done."

This program is named AX64 Time Machine: http://www.ax64.com

This program is not quite as flexible as FDISR was, you cannot do as many things with it, but it is easier to use (one of the California company's goals) and takes up much less space on your drives. Just as FDISR was one-of-a-kind, never replicated, so this new program is also unique, so far.

This program is a imaging/snapshotting hybrid program, combining the two technologies. This is not one of those snapshot programs like Rollback RX and its offshoots that trick and fools the sectors in order to work. I DO NOT recommend those type programs, even using standard imaging and defragging programs are difficult and sometimes impossible with them.

AX64 uses real mirror imaging technology, aka ShadowProtect, Acronis, the built-in Windows imaging, but combines it with snapshot technology. What that heck does that mean? It only needs to restore the sectors that have changed since you took your last snapshot. For example with my former favorite mirror program, ShadowProtect, if I wanted to restore my system after testing a new program, I would have to throw in the recovery CD and restore my entire c:drive, ALL 30+ gigs of it. With AX64, I simply pick out which snapshot I want to restore to and you can reboot hot from within Windows, no cd needed. ONLY THE SECTORS THAT HAVE CHANGED since I created my last snapshot will be replaced, not all 30 gig. Folks at Wilders are reporting restoring times of 1-2 minutes and that is counting rebooting. As with FDISR, if you change your mind and want to "go back to the future", you can do that too: you can jump back and forth all over the place.

This program has a 30 day trial period which I am about to embark upon. If anyone wants to purchase this program Wilders members get a discount (I believe 25%??), see post number 3280 in that thread posted above. Beware of incompatibilities, this program does not play nicely with some other mirror imaging programs. If you have ShadowProtect on your system (my former mirror favorite) it will have to be removed as with older versions of Acronis (new versions work fine). AX64 works just fine with all Windows built-in stuff such as System Restore (if you decided to keep SR enabled), the built-in ms imaging program, and defrag.

I'll get back to you and let you know how I like it. As with ANY NEW PROGRAM, backup yourself up before you decide to play with it.

Acadia

EDIT: Just want to add that tech support, so far, has been reported as being excellent.

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The blazing evidence of immortality is our dissatisfaction with any other solution. -- Emerson

Thanks for the information Acadia, will keep an eye on how things go before taking the plunge. At present I have Acronis on both my Windows 7 and Windows 8 machines alongside the Windows program.

My Windows 7 machine does an Acronis image every Friday because the external hard drive is permanently plugged in, my Windows 8 machine is the Notebook so don't have a drive always plugged in but I have another external drive for that machine I plug into the USB3 socket every week to do an Acronis image and also the built in backup.

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Joan Archer
http://crossstitcher.webs.com

Since Peter is a backup maniac I'll certainly have to give this a try. I have a new Win 8 [I'm not so happy] machine and have not yet installed ShadowProtect. It's definitely my favorite so this will have to be darn good to compete with ShadowProtect.

The discount from post 3280 [which is a pain to find] is to email Isso the developer and ask for it. Here is his comment:



This program cost $40 for a single license and $65 for 4 licenses. I invited Isso to stop by.

_________________
Best regards,
Manny Carvalho
MS-MVP since 2002

Acadia

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The blazing evidence of immortality is our dissatisfaction with any other solution. -- Emerson

Oh yes, also should have mentioned, this program does all of the normal mirror imaging stuff including, if your hard drive should fail, a bare metal restore.

Acadia

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The blazing evidence of immortality is our dissatisfaction with any other solution. -- Emerson

OK, but he is EXTREMELY busy if you read thru the gazillion mile long thread at Wilders, he answers EVERY question. Also, he just started a MUCH NEEDED vacation or something like that (very well earned).

Acadia

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The blazing evidence of immortality is our dissatisfaction with any other solution. -- Emerson

I'm sure he is given the accolades that thread is giving him. While I just skimmed that thread I have to say that is one of the most polite I've seen in a long while. It was a real pleasure to see. I'm about to install this software. An update about that experience is coming in a day or two.

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Best regards,
Manny Carvalho
MS-MVP since 2002

And I, for one, will relish YOUR opinion. As for me, I spent most of my entire morning simply preparing for AX64. That included uninstalling two known incompatible programs and doing several backups. Uninstalling of FDISR and trial install of AX64 may have to wait until tomorrow.

Acadia

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The blazing evidence of immortality is our dissatisfaction with any other solution. -- Emerson

Well I go beyond Acadia's enthusiasm. I having a brand spanking new Win 7 X64 machine. Getting FDISR on it was going to be a bit hairy, as the old ShadowProtect trick wasn't available. I put AX64 on it, and have put it thru it's paces, including restoring from the Recovery CD. The more I use it the more I like it. Once the baseline image was made, my average back up time to take a snapshot has been right around 1 minute. The average restore to a previous point has been the time of reboot plus about 1 minute. This program is very simple to use.

I have also added it to my XP Sager Laptop. Here booting to the recovery disk looks like booting to safe mode, but once there you have the same interface as on the desktop. Again restoring worked perfectly.

I am still going to use Shadowprotect in a fall back role, just not installing it.

I am sold.

Pete

Is the price of the program a yearly renewal or a one off deal ?

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Joan Archer
http://crossstitcher.webs.com

Well, I have to comment early and say that this piece of backup software is dead drop simple to use. Making, viewing and mounting backups is simplicity in itself. It seems quick just like Shadow Protect but I'm only on my second backup.

It could have more features such as more extensive scheduling and backup verification but the features out of the box are excellent.

More later...

Joan from their purchase page: "The purchased software license is valid for life, there is no annual fee to pay. Customers who purchase the license are entitled to free minor upgrades. Major software upgrades (i.e. from version 1.x to 2.x) will be available to existing customers at a discount."

_________________
Best regards,
Manny Carvalho
MS-MVP since 2002

That was one of their goals. Some of the "geeky" types at Wilders have been complaining about not having fancier features. A few of us have been saying, "NO!!", if this program becomes too complicated then it will not appeal to the masses and will become like some other programs that we have loved but have gone out-of-business because of lack of sales.

Acadia

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The blazing evidence of immortality is our dissatisfaction with any other solution. -- Emerson

Eagerly awaiting reviews - both first impressions and after using it awhile, especially after doing a restore. With Windows 8.1, Microsoft is supposed to be removing the "legacy" Windows 7 Backup and Restore program which I've been using for system images for years (still the best). I haven't seen anything that says Microsoft is going to change its mind. So I've been wondering what I'm going to do for imaging, for both myself and my clients. This looks like the best option, as I don't like any of the previous options out there.

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Patty MacDuffie
Computer Haven Administrator

Live Long and Prosper
Mr. Spock

WHAT!!!!!! WHY????? I thought that MS had finally gotten their act together when they started to include the mirror program in Windows, and now they are removing it? Sheesh, next thing you know they will be getting rid of their anti-virus and firewall.

Acadia

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The blazing evidence of immortality is our dissatisfaction with any other solution. -- Emerson

One of the things I've tested thoroughly is the ability to have a 2nd set of the files in a 2nd folder. I've set that up and as I add new snapshots, and delete(merge) some the older ones, I've been syncing them to the 2nd folder. Then I've test restored from the 2nd folder, and gone back and restore to the current settings from the primary set. Works like a champ. This ability allows me to stop a chain at some point, and start a new one, while keeping the old chain just in case.

I've also test restored from the recovery media.

Oh, you don't need anything special for the recovery media, you just make it with the click of a button.

Patty give it a try, you will like it.

Pete

Pete you mean a second folder on a different drive? I don't see any way to select another folder on the same backup drive.

This thing is quick. It backed my 60Gb OS partition in 20 minutes - the first image - and the subsequent incremental in a bit over 2 minutes.

_________________
Best regards,
Manny Carvalho
MS-MVP since 2002

Hi Manny

You can only backup to the AXTM folder on the drive you selected. But try this. Get to the point where you have say 4 files. Create a folder on the backup drive and call it ATXM1. Copy the files to it. Then add another incremental. Now create folder ATXM2 and copy all the files to that folder. Now open AT64 and go to the backup brower. Once there click on the Open other Backups button, and then you can navigate to the folders created. Once there you will see the backups you copied there.

One thing to note. If you have 4 files, a baseline and incrementals 1,2,3 want to delete incremental 1, use the delete function in the browser. Just deleting the file windows will break the chain. You will see once you you delete the file, and the browser AT64 will do what is called a merge. When you copy files to other folders you should do a one way sync. That way added files are added, deleted files, deleted, and changed files will be replaced. If you do this you can restore to a chain on any other drive. I've tested this and it works.

Make sense??

Pete

I have yet to look at this software but it sounds good from what you all are saying.

I will take a look when able but have one question that MAY already be answered. From other threads most probably already know that I am not a fan of incremental backups. Pete, you said that you can designate specific 'holding' folders if I read your post right. Do I correctly assume that this means that I could do a total image to one folder and then do another to a different folder? For my purpose I would see this as the ability to rotate between the folders doing complete images... keep deleting the older of the two images and establishing a new in its place. This is how I currently use Windows image system.

From what everyone seems to be saying this could be a life saver if Win 8.1 indeed does kill the imaging function.

Pete, your last post came in while I was typing the above. It sounds like it works exactly the same way that I use Window's imaging. In that case I also rename the backup folders.

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I have the 25% discount coupon code from the developer who said I could share it privately. If any CH member wants it please send me a PM.

As Acadia said the man is taking a vacation and has better things to do, although he did take the time to come by and read this thread.

_________________
Best regards,
Manny Carvalho
MS-MVP since 2002

Pete and Jay,

I can't follow what the heck you're talking about. Of course I haven't installed it yet.

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Patty MacDuffie
Computer Haven Administrator

Live Long and Prosper
Mr. Spock

I received a PM at Wilders from isso. He said once he comes back from vacation that he is going to register here and start answering questions.

Acadia

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The blazing evidence of immortality is our dissatisfaction with any other solution. -- Emerson

Hi Jay

Think of it this way. Normally Incrementals are just as a quick way of adding a new image. Using AT64 it's more like a snapshot in time. If you are familiar with Rollback RX, it's the same concept, only it's reliable. People are bailing from Rollback because it's issues. AT64 has been pretty solid. Also Isso has a group of very knowledge guys who are testing and beating on the software. That is a huge help.

Pete

Patty what we are talking about is this. When I've been using ShadowProtects continuous incrementals, I sync the incrementals to an external drive, so there is an actual copy of what is on the computers D drive. About once every two months I shut the job down, delete the chain on the D drive and start a new one. I retain all these chains on the external drive so they go back aways in time. Should I need to I can mount any point in time in any of those chains, or actually restore to them.

I wanted the same ablity in AX64, and it is indeed there.

Pete

Having a second set of backup points is a nice idea but not part of the feature set of AX64. I see how you are going about doing this Pete but it kind defeats the "set it and forget it" purpose out of the app. Don't you think?

I guess there are all kinds of features this app needs, well, let's say that we would like for it to have since it does what it does extremely well. In fact, it just did a incremental backup in a bit over a minute while I was using the machine and I didn't notice it until I went and checked later. It's working nicely behind the scenes just taking up a tiny bit of memory [2.6 MB] and basically no CPU cycles.

Recovering old files is a breeze so I guess it's time for the restore and bare metal restore tests. I'm going to have to get a bigger flash drive as this just calls for doing without a DVD.

Thus far, I'm liking it.

_________________
Best regards,
Manny Carvalho
MS-MVP since 2002

@Manny For 95% of the folks you are correct about a 2nd set of restore point. But for crazy me first remember I also use these machines for business, and 2nd, I torture them with beta testing. I've gotten myself into some real messes and it's only my backup mania that saves me.

@Jay Consider this when thinking of "Incrementals" vs whole backup each time. I am in the process of building up the software load of this new machine. I was at the point of installing printer stuff for my 4 year old HP Laserjet. Downloaded the x64 Update stuff for my printer. Did a AX64 incremental first. Time 58 Seconds. Then started the install. Since it was a universal set, it had more options then I'd seen before. I selected what I thought was the best one. Minor problem. It didn't work. So rather then fooling with it I just did a restore to the incremental I took before I started. Time to restore 95 seconds including reboot. Then just repeated the install with better options. Huge time saving.

Pete