Vista - How good is Vista's System Restore

Best backup software? Acronis True Image Workstation® - any version after 9.1
(build 3,832) works on Vista RTM without problems. Compresses to about 40%
(on a medium setting), is super fast for backups and restoring, works from
‘outside’ Windows as well as from ‘inside’, allows image mounting in either
read-only or read & write modes, and uses its own highly secure file-system
partition. Beats anything Microsoft has to offer!

"Alan Robinson" wrote:

> I have been using Symantec's GoBack for many years and it has saved my bacon
> on many occassions. But will not be available for Vista. I have been looking
> at Rollback RX which is supposed to be really good but you have problems
> defraging your hard disk. You have to uninstall rollback, defrag and then
> re-intsall and then you lose your restore points. So how good is Vista's
> system restore? Would I be able to bank on it in an emergency? Any thoughts
> and ideas would be appreciated. I did think of Acronis True Image as a
> companion, but was rreally looking for something along the lines of GoBack.
> Many thanks,
> Alan.

"Alan Robinson" wrote:
> I have been using Symantec's GoBack for many years and it has saved my bacon
> on many occassions. But will not be available for Vista. I have been looking
> at Rollback RX which is supposed to be really good but you have problems
> defraging your hard disk. You have to uninstall rollback, defrag and then
> re-intsall and then you lose yourrestorepoints. So how good is Vista's
> systemrestore? Would I be able to bank on it in an emergency? Any thoughts
> and ideas would be appreciated. I did think of Acronis True Image as a
> companion, but was rreally looking for something along the lines of GoBack.
> Many thanks,
> Alan.

Hi, Alan

Paragon Drive Backup 8.5 supports Vista perfectly.
http://www.drive-backup.com/
I tested it on my home PC with Windows Vista installed. I use Paragon
products for 3 years and absolutely pleased with it. The function of
differential backup helps to save free space and gives the ability to
restore system condition on the certain date. Schedule backup is very
usefull too, once scheduled, it will be done, for example, every night
without any actions from your side. If something happens with your
windows installation, you can always boot from recovery CD and restore
your system. And another very important thing is Paragon's Support. It
works divinely! There is no situation when they can't help me!

"ozziaj" <ozziaj@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:4092A564-8511-49F8-92BE-EDEBE12F7024@microsoft.com...
> Best backup software? Acronis True Image Workstation® - any version after
> 9.1
> (build 3,832) works on Vista RTM without problems. Compresses to about 40%
> (on a medium setting), is super fast for backups and restoring, works from
> ‘outside’ Windows as well as from ‘inside’, allows image mounting in
> either
> read-only or read & write modes, and uses its own highly secure
> file-system
> partition. Beats anything Microsoft has to offer!

Acronis True Image is a good product, no doubt...I have been using it long
before Vista...But they are indeed having Vista issues...TI-10 is the
current version for Vista, but there are still problems for quite a few
folks...Check out their support forum...
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/forumdisplay.php?f=65

I am currently unable to do a confident backup of my vista drive nightly
like I did under XP/MCE and True Image 9...The backup runs successfully but
the validate fails...

Greenwing

>> Acronis True Image is a good product, no doubt...I have been using it
>> long
before Vista...But they are indeed having Vista issues...TI-10 is the
current version for Vista, but there are still problems for quite a few
folks...Check out their support forum...
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/forumdisplay.php?f=65

I am currently unable to do a confident backup of my vista drive nightly
like I did under XP/MCE and True Image 9...The backup runs successfully but
the validate fails...

Greenwing:

Do you have the latest build: 4940

>"CZ" <CZ@no99spam.com> wrote in message
>news:%236WvvIHVHHA.4076@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> Do you have the latest build: 4940

Yes I do...Installed it the day it was released...

here is a link to my issue at their support site...ACRONIS has yet to
respond...

Had info in another thread on their site but decided to start a new one in
hopes someone from Acronis would respond...

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=166028

Greenwing

My build reads 4.871. Do you have a link for build 4940 ? Thank you

"CZ" <CZ@no99spam.com> wrote in message
news:%236WvvIHVHHA.4076@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>>> Acronis True Image is a good product, no doubt...I have been using it
>>> long
> before Vista...But they are indeed having Vista issues...TI-10 is the
> current version for Vista, but there are still problems for quite a few
> folks...Check out their support forum...
> http://www.wilderssecurity.com/forumdisplay.php?f=65
>
> I am currently unable to do a confident backup of my vista drive nightly
> like I did under XP/MCE and True Image 9...The backup runs successfully
> but
> the validate fails...
>
> Greenwing:
>
> Do you have the latest build: 4940

Never mind, figured it out

"nick" <nick@google.com> wrote in message
news:%235L8U1HVHHA.1000@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> My build reads 4.871. Do you have a link for build 4940 ? Thank you
>
> "CZ" <CZ@no99spam.com> wrote in message
> news:%236WvvIHVHHA.4076@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>>>> Acronis True Image is a good product, no doubt...I have been using it
>>>> long
>> before Vista...But they are indeed having Vista issues...TI-10 is the
>> current version for Vista, but there are still problems for quite a few
>> folks...Check out their support forum...
>> http://www.wilderssecurity.com/forumdisplay.php?f=65
>>
>> I am currently unable to do a confident backup of my vista drive nightly
>> like I did under XP/MCE and True Image 9...The backup runs successfully
>> but
>> the validate fails...
>>
>> Greenwing:
>>
>> Do you have the latest build: 4940
>

In my view Vistas System Restore stinks. I created 2 backups one DVD based
and one Reserve disk based, then I attemted test restoration to a couple of
test disks ( I have dual boot XP and Vista) which I connected in stead of the
origina disks.

My findings so far:
Vista did not find the DVD based backup. Some people here wrote that the
DVDs must be inserted in reversed order. I belive I tryed this too but with
the same negative result.

When trying the Disk based backup Vista complanied that it either is not
finding the disks or that they are too small. Correctly the are of smaller
size than the original disks but large enough to contain both Operative
systems each. From what I found on the net Vista suppots only restoration to
the exact disk the backup was taken from, if so this is an unexaptable
limitation for a backup and restore software.

In addition, I have XP on my C: and Vista on V: Most likely upon failure
only one of them fails and needs restoration while the other is still in tact
but VIsta forces me to restore both.

I have been using Ghost 2003 before which I was very happy with but
unfortunately no longer supported for Vista.
--
Adam


"Alan Robinson" wrote:

> I have been using Symantec's GoBack for many years and it has saved my bacon
> on many occassions. But will not be available for Vista. I have been looking
> at Rollback RX which is supposed to be really good but you have problems
> defraging your hard disk. You have to uninstall rollback, defrag and then
> re-intsall and then you lose your restore points. So how good is Vista's
> system restore? Would I be able to bank on it in an emergency? Any thoughts
> and ideas would be appreciated. I did think of Acronis True Image as a
> companion, but was rreally looking for something along the lines of GoBack.
> Many thanks,
> Alan.

If you are just trying to make a backup image of a disk and not restore an
entire computer, you can use the wbadmin command-line tool. Complete PC will
always back up the system and boot volumes (in your case C and V) so that it
can restore the computer to the same functional state. Wbadmin does not have
this requirement and you can back up an individual volume.

I'm not sure what you mean by "Vista did not find the DVD-based backup." I
see a lot of customers do, say, a File Backup and then try to restore using
Complete PC and vice versa. This might be what you are running into. Also,
you mention trying System Restore but this doesn't use DVDs, so I'm not
clear on what you tried to do here.

--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Want to learn more about Windows file and storage technologies? Visit our
team blog at http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/default.aspx.
"Adam" <Adam@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:BE977899-CD1D-4F2B-90C0-42E9D64CCACB@microsoft.com...
> In my view Vistas System Restore stinks. I created 2 backups one DVD based
> and one Reserve disk based, then I attemted test restoration to a couple
> of
> test disks ( I have dual boot XP and Vista) which I connected in stead of
> the
> origina disks.
>
> My findings so far:
> Vista did not find the DVD based backup. Some people here wrote that the
> DVDs must be inserted in reversed order. I belive I tryed this too but
> with
> the same negative result.
>
> When trying the Disk based backup Vista complanied that it either is not
> finding the disks or that they are too small. Correctly the are of smaller
> size than the original disks but large enough to contain both Operative
> systems each. From what I found on the net Vista suppots only restoration
> to
> the exact disk the backup was taken from, if so this is an unexaptable
> limitation for a backup and restore software.
>
> In addition, I have XP on my C: and Vista on V: Most likely upon failure
> only one of them fails and needs restoration while the other is still in
> tact
> but VIsta forces me to restore both.
>
> I have been using Ghost 2003 before which I was very happy with but
> unfortunately no longer supported for Vista.
> --
> Adam
>
>
> "Alan Robinson" wrote:
>
>> I have been using Symantec's GoBack for many years and it has saved my
>> bacon
>> on many occassions. But will not be available for Vista. I have been
>> looking
>> at Rollback RX which is supposed to be really good but you have problems
>> defraging your hard disk. You have to uninstall rollback, defrag and then
>> re-intsall and then you lose your restore points. So how good is Vista's
>> system restore? Would I be able to bank on it in an emergency? Any
>> thoughts
>> and ideas would be appreciated. I did think of Acronis True Image as a
>> companion, but was rreally looking for something along the lines of
>> GoBack.
>> Many thanks,
>> Alan.

THanks for the infor about wbadmin command-line tool. I didnt know about this one and will try it on some occation. Does this tool image the whole disk ? including boot sector and hidden system files ?

As for the DVD based backup. I am backing up into DVD,s. I burn Nr1 first, the system askes me to put Nr2 in when Nr1 is full which I do.
WHen I try to restore, logically I start with inserting Nr1 DVD. Restore tells me it does not find any backup. Evidently when you restore you have to start with N2 DVD first and then go on with Nr1. Not very logical but if it works its OK.

Then there is also the problem that the retored disks must be exactly the same is size as the Disks the backup was taken from. THis will not happen in the following important scenarios:
- After I took the backup I want to restore test it. I will not restore it to the original disks because if the backup is bad my originals are destroied and I am left with nothing. Therefore I want to test restore to a coupe of test disks that I have but no longer use. They are smaller but have suficient space. With the exact size limitation I cannot do this
- In case of a disk breakdown, I need to purchase a new disk. The chance of getting exact size is unlikely, I probably get a bigger disk. Again because I dont have an exact size mach the restoration will fail.
Does wbadmin command-line tool have the same exact size limitation ?
/Adam