Horizon DataSys

Owl · #21 (**permalink**) 02-28-2011, 02:37 PM

Amazing. It's like a parallel universe.

Froggie · #22 (**permalink**) 02-28-2011, 02:37 PM

Hey PV! This is a quick take... I'll look it over deeper a bit later.

In their discussion concerning the success of IFW with RBRX, one major flaw has existed in his testing... and one which both Graham and I saw while we were playing, I plan to re-examine just in case we couldn't see the forest through the trees while we were testing

During their restore discussion, no mention is ever made of having to restore the MBR which contains the RBRX sub-CONSOLE. I believe if you restore a partition (without a PhyLock UpperFilter change) and have no need to reconstruct your MBR and/or Track0 (leaving out the "Restore first track" option when restoring), the RBRX image will return in tact (I'll retest but that's what my notes say). If you have to reconstruct the MBR at the same time, without the PhyLock change I don't believe you have a prayer of doing this. Graham noticed this first during his testing and he even produced a side-by-side MBR comparison showing that they were significantly different (I will retest this also). So, if you just have a need for the partition and don't need an MBR or any of Track0, I think you're fine without the REGISTRY change.

His restoration procedure from Windows to Windows is a bit cryptic but functional... once it's created. It's nothing more than a pre-Windows BATCH file (Acronis uses them, some defraggers use them... it's a common use of a facility). BUT... to use it, you'll also need to license "Image For DOS" on the Windows system, which, I don't believe, comes with IFW... it's a separate product (I think another $30). You do get the ability to build a TRIAL IFD CD with IFW, but that can't be used in the procedure discussed in that article without a license. There is a package available that includes both but unless you're really into restoration automation, I don't see the value. It only takes a minute or so to fire up the BartPE or WinPE version and start the restoration... then yer gonna go off and watch the news anyway

I'll read more carefully later and revisit a few of my tests but the above probably covers my initial observations fairly well. It's clearly an "engaged" group... that's always good.

Froggie · #23 (**permalink**) 02-28-2011, 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Owl

Amazing. It's like a parallel universe.

Yea, the thread's pretty kewl... I coulda saved a lot of typing with just a teeny bit of plagiarism

Froggie · #24 (**permalink**) 02-28-2011, 03:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Froggie

In their discussion concerning the success of IFW with RBRX, one major flaw has existed in his testing... and one which both Graham and I saw while we were playing, I plan to re-examine just in case we couldn't see the forest through the trees while we were testing

During their restore discussion, no mention is ever made of having to restore the MBR which contains the RBRX sub-CONSOLE. I believe if you restore a partition (without a PhyLock UpperFilter change) and have no need to reconstruct your MBR and/or Track0 (leaving out the "Restore first track" option when restoring), the RBRX image will return in tact (I'll retest but that's what my notes say). If you have to reconstruct the MBR at the same time, without the PhyLock change I don't believe you have a prayer of doing this. Graham noticed this first during his testing and he even produced a side-by-side MBR comparison showing that they were significantly different (I will retest this also). So, if you just have a need for the partition and don't need an MBR or any of Track0, I think you're fine without the REGISTRY change.

Sorry, but I have to make this addition to my statement above. I made a small mention of it in my strawman procedure but I'll reiterate it here once again.

The Wilders testing member may have fallen into a small trap here. I did say in the strawman that if you install IFW on your system AFTER you have RBRX installed, all the above will work, incl. an MBR restoration. Reason: the PhyLock UpperFilters entry is placed in front of, or above, the RBRX entry during the install. This is where it needs to be to work properly in its entirety. If RBRX is installed AFTER IFW, or RBRX is reinstalled once IFW is on your system, the MBR/Track0 restoration will not work properly.

If the Wilder's forum member installed IFW after RBRX was on his system, even if he/she tested the MBR/Track0 restoration facility, it would work just fine.

This is what our testing has found...

Froggie · #25 (**permalink**) 02-28-2011, 05:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Froggie

The Wilders testing member may have fallen into a small trap here. I did say in the strawman that if you install IFW on your system AFTER you have RBRX installed, all the above will work, incl. an MBR restoration. Reason: the PhyLock UpperFilters entry is placed in front of, or above, the RBRX entry during the install. This is where it needs to be to work properly in its entirety. If RBRX is installed AFTER IFW, or RBRX is reinstalled once IFW is on your system, the MBR/Track0 restoration will not work properly.

If the Wilder's forum member installed IFW after RBRX was on his system, even if he/she tested the MBR/Track0 restoration facility, it would work just fine.

This is what our testing has found...

I have retested in the area mentioned above with the following results...

If the Windows REGISTRY change suggested in the strawman document is NOT MADE/CHECKED ("PhyLock" must be above "Shield" in the registry key's list), an IFW backup will restore a STANDARD Windows MBR (I think it's the one RBRX replaced when it installed itself) rather than the proper RBRX MBR, and some modified Track0 space (I found a copy of the MBR in sector 21 and some other stuff in 22), as well as providing the machine state at backup time as the new Baseline state. This, of course, is a non-functional restore.

If the Windows REGISTRY modification is made successfully ("PhyLock" above "Shield"), all structures return to their original state if asked to do so.

This is information the Wilder's FORUM folks would probably wanna know.

pvsurfer · #26 (**permalink**) 02-28-2011, 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Froggie

...This is information the Wilder's FORUM folks would probably wanna know.

Froggie,

I agree - so why not register at Wilders and exchange test-results, etc., with Pandlouk?

pv

Owl · #27 (**permalink**) 02-28-2011, 11:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pvsurfer

I agree - so why not register at Wilders and exchange test-results, etc., with Pandlouk?

Here's another idea - as you are a member of the other forum, how about you post a link to this discussion (maybe you have).

I'm on a few forums for various things, and I know how much time they can consume.