Rollback V11 is out... but have questions

[mrdutchie]

BTW,
What does your INI look like for rollback?

This is Mine.

This is the ini file
[General]
autorun=0
reboot=0
;pagefile=0
;hibernate=0
;BootExec=0
ReserveMemory=1 ;
;fontsize=12*18
;CompressRatio=4
BootDiskNumber=0
;ProtectMBR=1
;CompressedDrive=1 ;If=1, allow setup on compressed drives. But the program files folder cannot be compressed.
;VerifySector=0 ;If=0, do not check the sector consistency between Windows and BIOS.
UseVss=1
diskcachesize=80
;pbr=1


I just received a PM, with the following
--------------
When you remove the; it initiates the ini command and will base it according to the number (0 for disable , 1 for enable)

Page- file allows protection of the pagefile.sys
Hibernation allows protection of the hibernation data

As far as i am aware both are protected by default now (This seems to change per build according to the pogramming structure)
-------------------

To me it seems like there is no protection for those files since they are marked with a ;
unless the default is 1 when there is a ;

[Ram Sarma]

Hey, Dutchie sent you a response but didn't realize you were referring to this post. It is a bit weird how it looks but it was more for the programmability

Again let me explain

;pagefile=0
;hibernate=0

the ; in front of these switches forces the inert default which is 1

If you remove the semicolon then its dependant on what you want (1 or 0)

thanks!

[Rakdar]

All I have set to keep the same is My Documents and Desktop.

/

mrdutchie

You can try do disable file&folder exclusions and then check how fast your system boots (with Fast Boot disabled, of course ).

In my experience, exclusions can considerably slow down the boot procees, because all excluded files are being COPIED (via shdsync.exe) during bootup from the last snapshot to the one you're loading, every single time.

I, too, have a black screen during bootup for 15-20 seconds before the copy process starts if I have exclusions enabled.

Maybe that's the time required to load and mount the previous snapshot in the background?

[mrdutchie]

Nah that's not the problem. it's the new Nvidia Video driver that's causing the problem with Rollback. The older Video driver works.
This was the same in V10 as well.

The restore should not take over an hour.. for 0 files to be replaced. (since it keeps freezing.. Keyboard is also locked up)
when I disable Hibernate, then everything it fine.

Even tried a default install with no exclusions. so that's not the problem

[mrdutchie]

I spoke to soon.
Did a rollback to a previous snapshot that I made 5 minutes ago, and it locked up again.
So this is randomly just happening, on the file synchronization..
Had opened a ticket but it's been 2 weeks.. and not a single word

[Rakdar]

While testing RollBack Rx, I also had it lock up during file synchronization, when I deliberately tried what the manual says you should not do: exclude folders with system files inside.

So, I excluded my system32 folder, and sure enough, sync froze at one point...which makes sense, since the synchronization tries to replace system files being used during booting.

Now, you mentioned that you only exclude your "My Documents" folder and the Desktop, so it theoretically should not be an issue...but just maybe some file _is_ being accessed during bootup...for example, some icons on the desktops are not just pure links to .exe files, but to installers that pass some parameters to a launcher.

Or maybe you have something that's auto-starting from your "My Documents" folder?

Anyway, it's just a theory with nothing to back it up, it still should _not_ happed, because normally the Desktop and autostarts in the registry are processed later during the bootup, after the synching is already done...

[mrdutchie]

Last time I checked I only have shortcuts on my desktop to files in misc folders, and none of them are auto starting.
Also if that's the cause, RX should SKIP the files are are in use during bootup I guess.. but who am I.

For now I turned the whole exclude part off. so if I have try it again and see what happens.
And actually, I used 2 of the favorites in the pre-defined list for the exclusion.
I picked Documents and Desktop.
I know desktop (and other folders) have hidden files like thumb.db and some ini files ... i can't inmagine RX is freezing on that.
although i am not surprised at all any more at this moment.

Over 5 years I've never been able to have a successful installation, and nobody at Rollback gives a ****. (Tickets are just being closed / ignored / deleted)

[mrdutchie]

ok, heard back from my ticket and Hibernate file is NOT supported and needs to be disabled.
Then I still have the freezing problem left over for restoring files.

[carfal]

Here's my two cents...

I think RB's implementation of the timing for syncing is wrong.

1.The syncing should occur as the last process after booting has finished. A window should appear asking if "File Sync" should start with an option to cancel at this time.

2. If you choose to continue, the snapshot you've just rolled back from should be silently mounted in the background and all sync processes processed, snapshot then unmounted and system returned to normal state( an icon in the task bar should indicate progression).

3. If you cancel, then the ability to start the sync at your convenience should also be allowed... with a twist. A window should open with the last snapshot rolled back from selected as default. At this stage you can choose another snapshot to sync from if it pleases you. How awesome would that be? Of coarse there are many conditions to take into account such as if the last snapshot was deleted (then select the next last snapshot, etc), if a file being synced is in use then post warning to close it or skip it, etc, etc. HDS as the developers should consider all of this, not us as the user. However i will mention an important point, the option to create a snapshot before a rollback should be enabled and greyed out in the "Settings" and "RightClick>Rollback Computer" window when file syncing is enabled.

This is the sort of new feature that RB desperately needs to justify incrementing to the next version, instead of using the under the bonnet improvements already implemented on the previous version to justify a new major version cost. A discussion for another thread (for the umpteenth time......

[lunarjetman]

Well, if I read all the responses correctly, what we have here in v11 is a bunch of v10 bug fixes AND the ability to move the RBrx BOOT code fom the MBR to the PBR... other than that, not a single new feature. And for that, you're asking users who have been licensed more that 60-days ago to pony up for those repairs, even the users whose Systems contain the bugs you're claiming to fix.

To me, this just doesn't sound like the method you want to take to retain users of your application. You're basically making them pay to repair a version they've already purchased... this is something HDS is supposed to do, not users, with flakey versions of the software.

For users that don't seem to have any of the problems your v11 is supposed to fix, what are they getting in the v11 upgrade that makes it worth their investment? I guess I'm still pretty confused...

The inability to support TRIM properly is also acknowledged by other users on other forums. It would be better if HDS just came clean about this and built in some scheduling so that Rollback can be uninstalled, the disk property TRIMmed , and then Rollback RX reinstalled. This would give HDS and the product more legitimacy on security forums, which is where the software is really sold to new customers. The current company line is somewhat deceptive- not exactly lying, but using a well thought out set of words to cover up the issue. Its still going to be a good product- but just be more up front about this and work from there. People will accept it.

I would also agrree with Froggie that v11 is just an incremental update to v10. I still bought it, because I like it. But the pace of updates and innovations has slowed in recent years, and this concerns me. Certain features (such as automoatic product updates) should have been addressed a while ago in my opinion It would also be nice to save snapshots.

[dbolotin]

Version 11 of Rollback Rx Pro works with the major October update to Windows 10 (Version 1809)! I didn't have to uninstall or disable the program, and the (successful) update didn't even re-enable Fast Boot. But in order to do this -- or so I believe -- I had to enable the setting, listed under advanced settings, "allow install of Windows Updates that cannot be rolled back." That setting is not enabled by default, for some reason. And I shudder to think what might have happened if I had not enabled that setting.

[carfal]

I can confirm that RB works perfectly after the October update v1809. However i didnt take a chance so i uninstalled RB, installed 1809 then reinstalled RB.

All went without a hitch.

But in order to do this -- or so I believe -- I had to enable the setting, listed under advanced settings, "allow install of Windows Updates that cannot be rolled back." That setting is not enabled by default, for some reason. And I shudder to think what might have happened if I had not enabled that setting.

I believe the update would have simply failed at which point you would enable the mentioned setting or choose to uninstall RB.

and the (successful) update didn't even re-enable Fast Boot

Yes i was very surprised myself!

[carfal]

I would just like to add that there is one very annoying thing that installing all versions of RB does and that is it renames the "Winre.wim" file (in the recovery partition) to "Winre.shd". This breaks the windows recovery environment and can cause issues with 3rd party programs trying to create boot disks.

So i have to manually rename that file back to "Winre.wim" which requires jumping through a few hoops since its on a protected partition (by windows) every time i reinstall RB. I believe HDS do this to stop people from running the recovery environment which will probably nuke the system but surely there is a way to add the RB driver to this or even add a warning at the recovery menu that RB snapshots may be damaged if you continue.

Macrium reflect are able to manipulate this so why cant you guys at HDS make this work??