virus eating up hard disk space and rollback isn't of any use

[HDS-Jacob]

Originally Posted by Pierke

The button was there the first time. After writing my message I pressed it, nothing happened. I got a white page and no ticket number appeared. When trying to type my message a second time, the button had vanished, there only was a link to a website that provided the software for the tickets.

Thanks for the info. Out of curiosity, which browser are you using? Let's see if trying a different browser will produce a different result. I tested it with several browsers and it seems to currently be working.

Jacob

[Pierke]

Originally Posted by HDS-Jacob

Thanks for the info. Out of curiosity, which browser are you using? Let's see if trying a different browser will produce a different result. I tested it with several browsers and it seems to currently be working.

Jacob

I'm using Mozilla Firefox 3.6.12.

[Pierke]

Originally Posted by nexstar

Almost certainly it is the interaction between Diskeeper and RollBack which is causing your problems at the moment. I don't use Diskeeper but I saw that the latest version has something called 'Intelliwrite' which sounds like even more of a recipe for disaster with RB. You may not have the 2010 version though.

Graham

Alas, Graham, I use the 2010 version of Diskeeper. Have been using the software for a couple of years now and till now it kept my machine running very smooth.

I can get into RollBack via the systemtray icon, no problems there. I installed Rollback on December 2, it stopped making snapshots because of lack of room, on December 8. There are about 50 snapshots I can choose from.

[Pierke]

Originally Posted by Jimmy

it would also be helpful if you retrace everything you did on your PC since before the problem first occurred.

did you install a new program ?

did you surf to dangerous sites ?

Didn't install any programs after installing Rollback and didn't use/visit any dangerous sites, as far as I know.

[Pierke]

Originally Posted by Jimmy

why do you assume it's a virus ?

I did assume it's a virus because I couldn't find the files that fill up the hard drive space.

If it's a compatibilty problem between Diskeeper and Rollback, where are the files that one or both programs are making?

[nexstar]

I would now delete some 10-15 of those snapshots to liberate some space. If you hold down the CTRL key then you can select multiple snapshots to delete. It is a bit arbitrary which you choose but I'd tend to choose some around the middle and which are of a decent size.

Make your selection, right-click on one of them and select 'Delete'.

Then go to the 'Snapshot Defragmenter' in Advanced Tasks. Select each partition in turn and defragment them. This might seem to take a while but let it run its course.

When it is all done, close the RB window and reboot the PC.

Out of interest, while it is booting and the RB logo is being displayed, try tapping the Home key and see if you can get into the pre-boot menu now. If you can, don't do anything at this point. Just quit from the menu and allow the PC to carry on booting.

Hopefully, when fully booted, you should find that you've got some 'breathing space' on your partitions. You now have to decide which of Diskeeper and RollBack you want to keep running on your system as they can't be running at the same time without creating more problems.

Rollback doesn't delete any files if they form part of a snapshot. So, if you have a snapshot which contains a file 'xyz.txt' and you subsequently delete xyz.txt then RB will protect the sectors where xyz.txt on the drive until there are no snapshots which contain that file. So you could explore a previous snapshot after deleting the file and retrieve it again if you wanted to.

The problem with a defragger is that RB sees its moving around of sectors as being the same as changes to a file and so it still protects the sectors which have been relocated by the defragger. This can (and does!) result in a very large replication of data to no effect other than to fill up your drive.

The other couple of things you may want to look at if you go the RB route is that you probably accepted the default installation which is why both partitions are protected. Quite a few RB users will only protect the C: (system) partition and will put data onto the second one so that, in the event of rolling back, the data stays current. This is a oersonal choice though.

The other thing is how many snapshots you have. Everybody has different strategies but I automatically take one snapshot per day at some particular time (you can set it to remind you if the PC isn't on). These daily snapshots are unlocked and I have it set to automatically delete unlocked snapshots after 10-14 days. I then normally have a scheduled snapshot taken on the first day of the month. These are locked snapshots which I can always revert to longer term.

On top of this, I normally take a manual, unlocked snapshot before installing any new software or before making any system changes. This protects me in case I end up with some rogue software. These snapshots will be deleted automatically after 14 days along with the daily snapshots.

I'm sure that was far too much information but, hopefully, it might give you an idea of how you can work with RB .

Graham

[Owl]

Originally Posted by Pierke

I did assume it's a virus because I couldn't find the files that fill up the hard drive space.

If it's a compatibilty problem between Diskeeper and Rollback, where are the files that one or both programs are making?

You can't see any files because they are not part of the normal file system.

RBRx is desperately trying to preserve states that you can roll back to, while Diskeeper is happily shovelling data all over the place. REsult: between the two of them your drive gets filled with multiply duplicate data and then neither of them have room to breath.

Use one or the other, but not both. Diskeeper keeps disc access performance slick, and can help offset hard drive sector failures. RBRx gives you the means to recover from a rogue software installation trashing your system. Take your pick.

[Pierke]

Thanks Nexstar and Owl. Had very little time yesterday and today to do anything behind the computer. Will do what Nexstar suggested and try to uninstall Diskeeper. I'll get back to you if it worked and also when it fails And thanks again for all the help.
Pierke

[Owl]

I reckon the lack of disc space is what's causing your browser funnies.

I would suggest the following plan:

1. If possible, disable (rather than going to all the trouble of uninstalling) Diskeeper.

2. Re-baseline RBRx with Diskeeper not running (as mentioned), this will empty out your "missing" hard drive space.

Optionally:

3. Uninstall RBRx temporarily.

4. Run Diskeeper to do a defrag and tune-up, then disable it again.

5. Reinstall RBRx.

3-5 is what to do whenever you want to optimise hard drive performance, and also when installing an updated version of RBRx. The process does however destroy your snapshot history.

[Pierke]

Hello everyone,

I followed Nexstar's intructions and my computer is acting normal again. I've decided to uninstall Diskeeper and Rollback. I will install one of them again, when I've decided which road to go.

Thank you all for your help. It's really a nice feeling to have such help a mouse click away.
Pierke