Vista - How good is Vista's System Restore

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.

I use products from here. For the Backup I use Image for DOS.

http://terabyteunlimited.com/

Good Luck.

"Alan Robinson" <AlanRobinson@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:A27327DD-FDF7-4182-8217-D56502BAC654@microsoft.com...
>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.

I have uses Vista's full system restore and it works.

That being said, I much prefer Acronis TrueImage HOME Edition 10.0 to image
the system partition and then restore from the saved image. www.acronis.com

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!



"Alan Robinson" <AlanRobinson@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:A27327DD-FDF7-4182-8217-D56502BAC654@microsoft.com...
>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.

Hi Alan,

I would not recommend using rollback applications that were designed for XP,
and nothing from Norton, who purchased GoBack.

Previous version/Shadow Copy can be used to recover single files and folders.
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/shadow.html

System Restore in Windows Vista well for recovering from system problems.
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/vista.html

For Vista Business and Ultimate users there's Complete PC Backup.
http://www.zdnet.com.au/insight/soft...9272295,00.htm

For Vista Home users, Acronis True Image is a good choice.
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage

Regards,
Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
http://bertk.mvps.org
Member: http://dts-l.org


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" <AlanRobinson@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:A27327DD-FDF7-4182-8217-D56502BAC654@microsoft.com...
>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.


I agree with Bert. The system restore in Vista uses Shadow Copy and is much
more robust than the System Restore in XP. It is however only one part of a
disaster recovery plan. It is not a substitute for a backup.

I would avoid GoBack for any OS.

--
Kerry Brown
Microsoft MVP - Shell/User
http://www.vistahelp.ca

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?

It's very good at what it does, but it does something different to what your
post implies you think it does. VSS, System Restore, etc. are no substitute
for a backup.

Windows Complete Backup and Restore is good, you might want to give it a
try. Windows Vista has at least three different ways to backup for
disaster: System Restore, Backup and Restore wizzard, and Windows Complete
Backup and Restore.

--
/* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* Robert Firth *
* Windows Vista x86 RTM *
* http://www.WinVistaInfo.org *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * */

"Alan Robinson" <AlanRobinson@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:A27327DD-FDF7-4182-8217-D56502BAC654@microsoft.com...
>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.

Unfortunately, CompletePC Backup is not available in all versions.
It only comes in Business and Ultimate.

-Michael

"Robert Firth" <webmaster@winvistainfo.org> wrote in message
news:F8A0C155-51F3-4833-A6AA-6D422E05E29C@microsoft.com...
> Windows Complete Backup and Restore is good, you might want to give it a try. Windows Vista
> has at least three different ways to backup for disaster: System Restore, Backup and Restore
> wizzard, and Windows Complete Backup and Restore.
>
> --
> /* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
> * Robert Firth *
> * Windows Vista x86 RTM *
> * http://www.WinVistaInfo.org *
> * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * */
>
> "Alan Robinson" <AlanRobinson@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:A27327DD-FDF7-4182-8217-D56502BAC654@microsoft.com...
>>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.
>

While i agree Vista's complete PC Backup has its uses it isn't something i
would rely on. From my experience of using it, it doesn't have any
compression options, so if you are imaging (or shadow copying) a drive of,
say 50GB, then you need 50GB available for the image. I haven't tried
imaging to DVDs but, again, from other conversations, i gather that the
'restore' process for DVDs has to go in reverse order. In other words if you
have disk 1 to 5, the you insert 5 first to get the restore going. Insert
disk 1 first and Vista complains.

There are far better third party imaging options available. As manu have
said, Acronis is one, Paragon is another, so is casper.

As for anything from Norton i'd bin it. They were good back in the Windows
95/98 era, but i find Norton applications nowadays cause more trouble than
they actually cure.

--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows Shell/User

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..

"Ed." <ejs(at)zoom.net> wrote in message
news:OGmsshLPHHA.324@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>I use products from here. For the Backup I use Image for DOS.
>
> http://terabyteunlimited.com/
>
> Good Luck.
>
> "Alan Robinson" <AlanRobinson@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:A27327DD-FDF7-4182-8217-D56502BAC654@microsoft.com...
>>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.
>
>

>> While i agree Vista's complete PC Backup has its uses it isn't something
>> i
would rely on. From my experience of using it, it doesn't have any
compression options, so if you are imaging (or shadow copying) a drive of,
say 50GB, then you need 50GB available for the image. I haven't tried
imaging to DVDs but, again, from other conversations, i gather that the
'restore' process for DVDs has to go in reverse order. In other words if you
have disk 1 to 5, the you insert 5 first to get the restore going. Insert
disk 1 first and Vista complains.

There are far better third party imaging options available. As manu have
said, Acronis is one, Paragon is another, so is casper.

John:

I have been evaluating the Acronis True Image 10.0 backup product.
Very impressive product.

As a test, I did a backup and restore of Vista RTM, all from within Vista
RTM.
No problems.
Using the Normal compression setting:
Op system vol: 9.2 GB used
Compressed file size: 3.6GB