How to take a Windows system snapshot - RollBack RX. Creating a system image
No one is immune from failures. This is almost a mathematical law: P + (D*C) = BC, where P is the intensity of work on the computer, D is the amount of data stored on it, C is their value, and BC is the probability of failure.
Microsoft Windows 7 is very easy because all the tools necessary for this are included in the OS. However, you should not start creating an image immediately after installation, but only after the system has acquired the necessary settings and software. Applications can be installed without restrictions, because the system image does not have to be written to a CD or DVD - it can be saved on an external hard drive of any required size.
So, let's see how a system image is created in Windows 7.
Step one
Open the Start menu, enter the key phrase “backup and restore” in the search bar (for the English interface “backup and restore”, without quotes) and click . This opens the Backup and Restore Control Panel tool in Control Panel (Control Panel | Backup and Restore). You can use it to create a system repair disc, select a backup to restore, restore system settings or your computer, and create a system image.
We are interested in the last option. Click the “Create a System Image” link on the left side of the window.
Step two
“On a hard disk”;
“On DVDs” (On one or more DVDs);
“On a network location”.
As an example, let's look at saving an image to a hard drive. Once the search is complete, a drop-down menu will show all available hard drives. Select the appropriate one (Fig. A) and click “Next”.
Step three
Now all that remains is to check what data will be included in the image and how much disk space it will take up. If there is not enough free space on the selected media, the image will not be written, so there is no need to worry about errors. After checking the settings, click the “Archive” button (Start Backup, Fig. B).
Figure B: The system will notify you of the image size before archiving. Typically, the longer you use the system, the larger the file size.
Depending on the size of the image, the archiving process may take a long time. I would generally recommend leaving the system running overnight - just make sure no one interferes with it.
Step four
So, what to do with the resulting system image? Let's say your computer has a serious problem. from an image file? The process is simple, but you will also need a system repair disc to do this.
To create one, open the Start menu and enter the key phrase “system repair disk” in the search bar (for the English interface “system repair”, without quotes). Select the “Create a System Repair Disc” option from the list of results. In the window that opens, select the drive to save. In this case, you can only use an optical drive - CD or DVD, it doesn’t matter: the size of the system recovery disk is not large. After selecting the drive, click the “Create Disc” button.
Step five
Let's hope it doesn't come to that, but if you do need to restore your system, just insert the recovery disc into the drive, boot your computer from it and select the option "Restore Your Computer Using a System Image That" You Created Earlier). Specify the location of the image - and the system itself will begin the recovery process. As a result, the computer will return to the state it was in at the time the image was created.
In conclusion
I hope that you will not have to restore the system, but if you do have to use the method described in the article, you will probably be glad that you were not too lazy to create a system image at the time, otherwise you would have had a hard time. Just keep in mind that it is better to store the created image somewhere safe, and not on the same disk on which the backups are stored. The same can be said about the system repair disk.
Digital photos have long replaced conventional photographs, and this is understandable - after all, digital photos do not need to be developed or paid for printing in order to view them. If previously happy owners of digital cameras still printed out photographs, now there is no particular need for this - after all, now everyone has a computer and it is not difficult to view photographs. There are even digital photo frames on the market that allow you to display slideshows: you connect the digital photo frame to your computer, upload photos to it, and enjoy the slideshow on the wall. The main thing is not to forget to change the batteries.
Working with a digital camera is very simple: after taking pictures, connect it to your computer, and the system will recognize it as a regular flash drive. In some cases, you need to press a special button on the camera. For example, on Olympus cameras, using the menu displayed when connecting the camera via USB, you can select the device to which you connect the camera - a computer or a printer (for printing photos).
Once your computer displays a folder of photos, you can copy them to the Pictures library, which you can access by clicking Start => Pictures.
Now we will figure out how to view photos, how to resize them and how to convert their format. Previously, I would have used a third-party program for this, but now that the standard Paint image editor has become more convenient, we will use only standard Windows 7 tools. So, open the Images library.
To view the image you like, simply double-click on it. At the bottom of the photo viewer are buttons (from left to right) for zoom, set actual size, go to previous image, slide show, go to next image, rotate counterclockwise, rotate clockwise, and delete photo button.
In fact, we have everything you need to view the photo. If you need to change the zoom, for example, to better see the details of a photo, use the zoom button.
If the photo is large, the viewer automatically fits it to the window size. Clicking the Real Size button will set the zoom to 100% - then you will need to use the scroll bars to view the photo. Clicking this button again will make the image fit into the viewer window.
The Previous Image button allows you to go to the previous image. Instead of clicking this button, you can use the (right) button.
Between the Previous Image and Next Image buttons there is a Slide Show button (use the key to quickly call the slide show function). During the slide show, you can right-click on the slide and select the slide speed (from the options Low, Medium, High).
Next to the Next image button there are buttons for rotating the image (counterclockwise and clockwise), as well as a button for deleting the photo file (deleting is done in the Trash).
The File menu has a useful command called Make a copy - it is very useful to make a copy before changing the file and work with it, and not with the original image. The Print menu has a command to print an image, and the Burn menu allows you to burn images to a disc (data or Video-DVD).
We seem to have already sorted out the viewing of photographs. Now let's look at the operation of resizing, cropping and saving under a different format. In the preview window, select Open => Paint.
First, let's deal with resizing. Click the Resize button and enter a new image size. In this case, you can either set the new size as a percentage of the original image, or specify the exact size of the new image.
Cropping is highlighting the most important part of the image. Everything else is cut off. First you need to select this most important part using the Select tool, and then click on the Crop button. The result of cropping is shown in the figure.
To save the image in a different format (if you are not satisfied with the JPEG format for some reason), select File => Save As and select a different format. For example, the TIFF format is often used in printing. Please note that we did all the manipulations with photographs using standard Windows tools - the photo viewer and the Paint graphic editor.
Good day, dear friends, acquaintances, readers, admirers and other individuals.
The safety of our data, and most importantly the operability of the system at any time, is one of the key factors in the operation of your computer, because, in fact, that’s what we use it for (I mean interaction with data and the system).
A lot has already been said about creating entire backups, right inside or outside the system, as well as a bunch of free and paid software, be it, or.
Today I offer you a more interesting way of backing up a system, namely, the use of snapshots, which can be rolled back at any time, both inside the system and outside it (that is, when it is unviable or, say, infected with viruses).
This is an extremely convenient and reasonable approach, which, personally, I really like and, in fact, will allow your system to live almost forever.
However, aside from the lyrics and let's get to the point.
Download, install and review features
We will talk about such a wonderful program as RollBack RX. For home use, it is completely free, supports the Russian language, and is also incredibly useful and easy to use.
You can download this joy of a programmer's thought or. The installation is extremely simple and I will not dwell on it.
After a reboot (and it will be required), if everything went well, then before the loading screen Windows the loading screen will skip RollBack from which it will be possible to restore if the system is inoperative or infected with viruses. But first things first and let's get back to the program.
The program interface is simple and concise, and also, to some extent, reminiscent of the good old recovery system in Windows.
On the right you can see the pictures, as well as their age, size, the reason for which it was taken, as well as, in fact, a calendar with the dates and times of these pictures.
By right-clicking the mouse, you can restore, block, delete and examine pictures (a very convenient thing, which is discussed below in the text).
On the left you can see a menu with only a few items (more, in fact, is not needed). Let's look at each of the points.
For example, on the tab " Fast recovery"You can start restoring both the system itself and, in fact, folders or any files from them. In particular, you can examine any (as I mentioned above) snapshot:
Press the appropriate button, select a photo and wait. The program will mount a virtual disk, which will be accessible through " Conductor" (aka " My computer") and with which you can work as you please, i.e. copy, move and otherwise interact with image files at your discretion.
This is very convenient and cool.. And especially this so-called “feature” will be appreciated by those who once worked with Acronis and other image cutting programs, which are essentially closed and do not allow you to interact with files.
Recovering from any image is very quick, easy and pleasant. You can check the box " Take a snapshot of the current system before the rollback, in case I want to go back" and, in fact, return to any state. This is extremely useful when testing software, drivers and manipulating anything in the system.
The Task Scheduler allows you to manage tasks for creating snapshots or restoring them. You can select the frequency and/or time, configure blocking and unlocking + deleting pictures, tie the whole thing to the moment of reboot, and so on.
The tab with the event log.. Oddly enough, it keeps an event log :) Here, which is logical, you can actually see what, when, why and why happened.
Now, as for the settings and related nuances.
Setup and use
Let's go through each point a little. For example " System security" allows you to enable password requirements and image encryption.
Tab " Basic Shot Control" involves changing the first snapshot created during the installation and configuration of the program. This is the main snapshot of the system, which most likely stores the most current system configuration.
Here you can return to it or update its contents, changing, say, to the current state of the system (do not forget to first configure it as you need :)).
The defragmentation tab involves... defragmenting snapshots, which improves overall performance and all that stuff. In general, you can use this function here, or you can simply resort to using third-party software.
Well, as for the settings, everything is no less simple, easy, concise and, as they say, “nothing superfluous.” I think that everyone will figure them out on their own and configure everything at their own discretion.. Or leave it as is, since the standard settings are quite optimal.
And now the last thing I wanted to mention is the recovery mode mentioned above Windows outside the system, that is, when it does not work or works, but you need to roll back to the old state before loading it.
To do this, when you restart the computer, when the corresponding screen appears, click on the button " Home" and we find ourselves in a shell RollBack RX, where we can take new pictures, restore from old ones, do defragmentation and all that stuff.
Perhaps that’s all and it’s time to move on to the afterword.
Afterword
I strongly recommend this joy of programming thought for careful use. This is one of those programs that will allow you to save a whole car of nerves and make, as I already said, your operating system completely immortal.
As always, if you have questions, additions, opinions or anything else, we will be glad to see them in the comments to this post.
PS (UPD): For those who don't read the comments: support Windows 10(at the time of writing) absent; use defragmenters, Acronis, Chkdisk(with error correction) and others like them are not recommended.
Windows XP, Vista, 7 utility programs include the System Restore utility. For many, she helped return the computer to working condition after unsuccessful installation of programs, updates, new equipment, and for some, get rid of porn banners in the browser. However, not everyone is satisfied with its capabilities. In addition, users with multi-system computers (Windows, with Linux, fortunately, this does not happen) are faced with an unpleasant feature of this program: when you start an earlier version of the system, all restore points of the new system are deleted. Third-party programs help solve these problems.
EAZ-FIX 9.1.0
Computer security software that allows you to take quick snapshots of the operating system and then, if necessary, restore the system from these snapshots. According to the developers, EAZ-FIX can take a snapshot of the system in just 5 seconds, and in order to return the system to its original state, the program only needs 10 seconds. Moreover, the snapshot contains all the operating system settings, installed programs and user data. You can take several snapshots of the system, and then return to any state from these snapshots. You can restore a fully functional operating system even if it refuses to boot (the bootloader or system files are damaged). EAZ-FIX is recommended for use on computers with public access when conducting any experiments with the operating system or installed software. Also, using this program will help ordinary users avoid viruses, crashes, Internet attacks, and protect their privacy when working on a computer, because any changes can be quickly canceled.
EAZ-FIX 9.1.0 program map
Developed by EAZ SOLUTION, INC.
Shareware status
Interface English
Version 9.1.0 | report a new version
File size 106596 kb |
Windows XP/Vista/7 system
RollBack Rx 9.1
A program for creating backup operating system images that can be used to quickly restore a fully functional system after various failures. RollBack Rx allows you to create multiple backup images of the operating system, and then restore the system state to the desired state for a certain period of time. For example, you can make several system images at weekly intervals, and then restore a working operating system from any previously created image. System snapshots can be taken at the user's request or automatically according to a set schedule. RollBack Rx can restore deleted user files, operating system settings, registry settings, desktop items and other information that was on the computer at the time the image was created from previously created snapshots. The program allows you to restore a Windows OS with a damaged boot sector, even if it does not boot. All this will help protect your computer not only from failures, but also from virus infection, inept user actions, accidental or malicious deletion of any important files, and much more.
RollBack Rx 9.1 program map
Horizon DataSys Developer
Shareware status
Interface English
Version 9.1
File size 8726 kb
Windows XP/Vista/7 system
AyRecovery Professional
AyRecovery Professional is a convenient program for system and data recovery. In 20 seconds you can restore your system to the state it was in yesterday, last week or last month. You have the opportunity to choose from 1000 time recovery options. With this program you can work with your computer calmly and without problems.
Main features:
* Protect your computer from any software problems.
* Fast file and system recovery.
* Create selective snapshots of the entire system and data.
* Remove unnecessary programs.
* Ability to create up to 1000 sample images.
System requirements: Windows 2000 / XP / Vista/ 7; Intel or AMD of compatible processors at 1GHz minimum; RAM 128 MB; 30 MB space for installation
Supplier: ayrecovery.com
Product Page: http://www.ayrecovery.com
File size: 9.38 MB
Price: $49.95
Norton GoBack
Norton GoBack (formerly known as WildFile GoBack, Adaptec GoBack Roxio and GoBack) is a data recovery utility from Symantec's Norton SystemWorks suite for Microsoft Windows. When the file system is idle for a few seconds, GoBack marks them as recovery points. The utility allows you to restore the system to any accessible point.
Operating principle
Allows the hard drive to recover even if the operating system is unable to boot; also, if the file system is damaged, it completely restores lost information.
GoBack is compatible with RAID technology.
Product history
*GoBack was developed by Wild File based in Plymouth, Minnesota. The software was submitted to COMDEX in November 1998 and released in December 1998. A patent for the technology was issued in January 2000.
* March 2000: Adaptec acquires Wild File for approximately $29 million.
* April 2001: Adaptec creates Roxio, which retains the GoBack product.
* May 2001: Roxio GoBack 3 Deluxe was released with support for the NTFS file system, which is the most common file system since Windows XP.
* August 2001: Symantec announces Norton SystemWorks 2002, which includes GoBack 3 Personal Edition.
* April 2003: Roxio sells GoBack to Symantec for $13 million.
* September 2004: Symantec releases Norton GoBack 4.0 and includes it in Norton SystemWorks 2005.
* November 2007: Symantec releases a Windows Vista compatible version of Norton SystemWorks 2008 (11.0), which contains an incomplete version of GoBack, but SystemWorks Premier Edition now includes Norton Ghost.
* March 2009: Symantec discontinues GoBack and replaces it with Norton Ghost 14.
Restore IT 7.0
The program allows you to automatically create backup copies of the operating system, with all settings and settings. RestoreIT creates "return points" according to your instructions (or according to a set schedule), activated/deactivated with one click of the mouse without restarting the computer. The program loads before Windows - when you see the program prompt, press the space bar and select whichever of the “fixed” system states you want to restore. To save data, the program creates a hidden partition on your hard drive.
RestoreIT 7.0 program map
Developed by FarStone Technology, Inc.
Website Website RestoreIT
Shareware status
Interface English
Version 7.0
File size 76660 kb |
Windows 2000/XP system
Drive Vaccine 9.0 (Scheduled system recovery)
Drive Vaccine can restore your system at any time or on a schedule.
With Drive Vaccine you can:
restore on reboot.
restore at login,
restore when the computer is idle,
restore on hourly/daily/weekly schedule.
System Requirements
Intel® Pentium® III or equivalent processor,
64MB RAM
1 GB of free hard disk space
FirstDefense-ISR
FirstDefense-ISR is a fast system recovery solution that is designed for enterprise servers, mid-range servers and target critical workstations that run on Windows 2000, XP and Server 2003 operating systems.
FirstDefense-ISR operates in stealth mode and allows administrators to quickly restore their systems to any predefined configuration. No special equipment is required. Moreover, you do not need any special CMOS, or additional disk partitions to create.
FirstDefense-ISR runs on single or multi-partition systems and fully supports RAID 0, 0+1, 5 and/or clustered infrastructures.
FirstDefense-ISR performs full system backups for immediate system recovery purposes.
This concept was developed as a result of analysis by IT professionals on the problems of unrecoverable Windows blue screen, incorrect installation of service kits and damage to critical files. All of these problems prevented the system from booting and the data was unavailable until the problem was fixed.
FirstDefense-ISR periodically (and in invisible mode) takes snapshots of the user's system at its current state and also captures the state of software applications.
This program has the ability to save up to 10 control snapshots of the system. After a system crash, the user can immediately bring it back to life from recent and intact system snapshots. This process will reduce MTTR to virtual zero and allow users and IT staff to quickly recover from system crashes without the loss of productivity that can occur due to expensive computer and server outages.
Specifications:
- Ability to create and maintain up to 10 control snapshots of the system. We load each snapshot of the system without any restructuring.
Various (modified files only) copies of the system for quickly updating system snapshots.
The Data Linking feature will allow you to link data files to any system snapshot that is loaded.
The ability to create compressed system snapshots using NTFS file compression for significantly reduced system snapshots.
Ability to archive system snapshots to other devices.
FirstDefense is a program that allows PC users to immediately restore their system in the event of a failed system setup or if the software is critically damaged.
If you experience a BSoD or the so-called “blue screen of death”, and Windows will not boot and display any errors, you can always use the program and immediately restore the system and continue working.
System Requirements
Intel ® Pentium ® III or higher, 128 MB RAM, 6 MB available hard disk space.
Phoenix Recover Pro v6.01 20060526
Recover Pro is a unique recovery utility. It stores user data, applications, and operating system in a hidden area of the hard drive. Users can easily deploy the saved system image without any additional CD. No more worrying about viruses or system crashes.
Free:
Comodo Time Machine 2.8.155286.178 / 2.9.161985.187 beta
Comodo Time Machine is an alternative to Windows System Restore (Windows recovery system) with advanced capabilities for setting up recovery points.
Unlike the system recovery mechanism built into the OS, Comodo Time Machine allows you to set the settings so that a “snapshot” is created every time the operating system starts, at certain intervals, before installing a new application, or, for example, at the end of each session (a useful option for Internet cafes, etc.), which will allow you to restore the operating system in almost all possible cases - in case of a failure, virus attack, incorrect user actions, etc. etc.
With Comodo Time Machine, you can take snapshots of not only system files, but also user data, such as documents and graphics.
In addition, Comodo Time Machine allows you to “mount” a saved snapshot and view its contents, in which case you can restore or extract individual files from the snapshot.
In case the system stops booting, Comodo Time Machine has a “boot console” that can be used to roll back the system to a working state.
Author: Comodo
Updated: 01/11/2011 10:14
Price: Free
Rus. language: No (there are good Russian translations on the Internet)
Size, OS: 18.65 MB, XP/Vista/7
In general, looking at the descriptions of the developers, you can be sure that your system is completely protected from failure. But it's not that simple. In fact, in terms of their operating principle, these programs are more similar not to System Restore, but to Shadow Defender (I have come across only one program with approximately similar functionality, i.e. 1) backup of important files and OS settings, 2) storage of these backup copies are located in a folder on the system drive. This is the CreateCheckPoint utility from the Fix-It Utilities package). Like Shadow Defender, they create a snapshot of the ENTIRE protected disk, only if Shadow Defender “gives it to be torn to pieces” by the user, recovery programs hide it in free sectors and replace the current state of the system with it at the user’s command or according to the scheduler settings. Several such snapshots can be created, you can restore from any one, and snapshots can be deleted to save disk space. This is where the problems begin. 1) We won’t talk about the availability of free space, this is obvious. 2) Backup images are stored in free sectors (in other words, no one knows where, no matter how many of them you create, nothing will change in Explorer), they seem to be hidden for safety, but only from the user, not for programs; try cleaning up free space with the same CCleaner))).3) If the system crashes, recovery is provided from the console, which boots before Windows, i.e. programs have their own bootloaders in the MBR. If they are damaged or conflict with other bootloaders, there will be very big troubles. 4) If a snapshot of the infected system is taken, when restored from it, the virus will also be returned. All this makes this class of programs quite dangerous; according to reviews on the Internet, they occupy 3rd place in terms of danger to the system after users and viruses)) (to complete the list, in 4th place are various cleaners, optimizers and tweakers, in 5th are antiviruses with their false positives, which can ruin the system with other programs quite problematic, although for an ordinary lamer, Explorer is enough, and especially advanced ones are exiled using Notepad or Registry Editor (if, God forbid, they are found)))
Therefore, the creators of recovery programs (or rather EAZ-FIX, because many others are simply its clones, since they sell their engine to third-party developers) require users to follow certain rules for proper and safe operation (translation taken from the ru-boad forum, in parentheses the application experience is from there).
Briefly the gist is this:
1.The program can only protect one IDE/SATA/PATA hard drive.
2.When booting from external media, the system will not be protected from changes.
3.Do not use encryption programs that require low-level access to the hard drive.
4.Do not use compression on NTFS drives.
5.Do not resize protected partitions.
6.Do not multiboot Windows and Linux on the same hard drive.
7. Do not use defragmenter programs! EAZ-FIX uses its own sector map. It is recommended to use a third-party defragmenter program ONLY before installing EAZ-FIX. Then use only the built-in EAZ-FIX defragmenter. Image defragmenter.
(And you can defragment the disk with COMODO installed. And I personally have used different defragmenters more than once and on more than one machine. The only caveat (I would still warn others, and I haven’t done this myself) is to use any defragmenters with automatic MBR defragmentation Well, after defragmentation you have to update the base snapshot, otherwise a lot of space is really wasted.... And so, for the rest - well, there are absolutely no problems from defragmentation, exactly like from defragmentation of the registry (for those who don’t remember, the registry is the same thing). the same files on the disk). .. Well, this chkdsk is absolutely perfect for COMODO. (Personal experience for Comodo: the checkdisk started automatically for me, as I understand it, due to incorrect installation of the program: on a 2-system computer I (contrary to the requirements) installed it only on the last system , although it protected both partitions, and errors appeared during ANY operations with files on an unprotected system. I don’t advise anyone to experiment like this)
If someone really really really wants to do something with the disk (for example, defragment it, but the built-in defragmenter in COMODO is not suitable for some reason), then everything can be done very simply and painlessly. This advice, by the way, has been on the official website of Easy in FAK for several years now, and it is absolutely 100% applicable to Komodo: uninstall the program in the normal way, do whatever you want with your disk (even repartition it) and put the program back. It won’t take much time to do everything about everything, but then there will be an order of magnitude less complaints and inventions.
Yes, of course, you can not only demolish the system, but generally lose all the information on the screw if you don’t understand how each individual program works and they all work in conjunction with the system. Especially with (again, I repeat) the thoughtless use of programs, especially all kinds of auto programs (cleaners, tweakers, deleters, defragmenters and others like them). But why lump all this into a common pile? And your own ignorance of the hardware, and a lack of understanding of how any particular program works (and how it doesn’t work and how it can’t work at all)?)
8) Before Upgrading (not updating) Windows, remove the program.
That's all I found interesting for now. I would love to hear about your experience using these programs!
The program for viewing images in Windows 7 is installed along with the system and does not require additional configuration. To start viewing an image, you just double-click the left mouse button on the photo icon. An application window will open in front of you and the desired picture will be shown.
The program window contains basic tools that allow you to manage settings and set basic parameters for the image.
If you wish, you can enlarge or reduce the size of the photo using the mouse wheel or the magnifying glass icon at the bottom left of the screen. Click on the zoom icon and left-click the area you want to zoom in on. To reduce, click on the arrow next to the magnifying glass icon and select “Reduce”, then select the desired area in the same way with the left mouse button.
To move to the next picture in the images folder, click on the right arrow. To view the previous picture, click on the left arrow. The central button allows you to start playing a slideshow from the images available in the catalog in full screen. To print a picture, use the “Print” button at the top of the program window. If you want to delete a picture, use the cross button in the lower right part of the program window. Confirm the deletion operation by clicking on the “Yes” button in the dialog box that appears.
Opening through alternative programs
You can view Windows 7 photos through alternative photo viewing apps. Their advantage is the ability to use a wider range of tools when viewing and editing. Among the most multifunctional programs are Picasa, ACDSee, FastStone Image Viewer, XnView, IrfanView.
The programs can scan the file system for photos, and then sort them into categories, apply filters, change colors and create small slideshows.
Study the proposed programs and download them to your computer by visiting the official website of the developer. Run the file received for installation. Complete the installation by following the application instructions. After completing the procedure, right-click on the photo you want to view, and then click “Open with”. Select the program you installed from the list, and then click “Ok.” You can start viewing and editing the image.