Is it safe/possible to use Rollback Rx/Drive Cloner in Windows 7 bootcamp in Macbook?

[awong]

I am planning to buy the new Macbook Air 2011 version, and I plan to install Windows 7 64-bit using bootcamp to run side-by-side OS X.

I don't plan to use OS X, so I don't care much if Rollback will affect the OS X partition.

What I like to know if it is safe/possible to install Rollback Rx to protect the Windows 7 partition on the Macbook.

Is this possible? With the latest Rollback Rx version that support EFI boot, does it mean that I can boot to the Rollback interface (that boots before Windows) to execute functions (such as cleanup snapshots).

Likewise, is there any problem with Drive Cloner?

Lastly, am I correct that we no longer need to disable TRIM in Windows 7 since Rollback Rx now supports it?

I am aware that these operations are not officially supported by Horizon DataSys. I just want to know if this is possible and "not officially supported".

[HDS-Jacob]

Hello awong,

It is not advisable and may not be supported. Let's see if we can get additional feedback.

Pasting some info from the Knowledge Base here:

To get its fantastic speeds (backup your hard drive in 2 sec. or less), Rollback Rx uses a technology called Incremental Sector Redirection (ISR). This has been developed in such a way that it works at a very intimate level with the Windows NTFS drivers. Unfortunately, the versions of these drivers implemented by various versions of Boot Camp may or may not support ISR.

In addition, since the ISR code only runs when Windows runs, any changes made to a Windows partition from the Mac OS side can cause may cause the disk to become corrupted from the point-of-view of the Windows side.

[Owl]

It very much depends on how Boot Camp works. *If* it is a straight-forward multi-boot utility like the many available for "normal" PCs, and once you have installed and booted Windows it operates completely stand-alone (maybe with modified drivers to suit the different hardware), then sure, RBRx (and any other utility) has a good chance of working.

If, however, Boot Camp applies any virtualisation, even at the lowest possible level, then I say avoid. There is a risk with anything which "does funny things" mix-and-matching with anything else which "does funny things". Caveat emptor.

The mystery is why would you want to spend a premium price on an Apple and then exclusively run Windows?

[awong]

Thank you to both of your answers.

Can anyone else who has a Macbook running Windows in bootcamp please post your experience of using Rollback Rx?