On Mon, 20 Apr 2009 09:51:47 -0400, George <george@nospam.invalid>
wrote:

>Trying to image a running machine always makes me wonder if I got a good
>snapshot.

One of the problems with image backups is that it's difficult to do a
file by file verify. Sure, it's possible to run a checksum on the
entire image file (or files), but that won't tell you which file has
changed. The means you'll might end up with an unrestorable image
mess, like I did. Incidentally, note that the vendor (Farstone) no
longer offers the failed product on their web pile. This should be a
clue.

>Assuming Windows boxes then with TI it all depends on your
>apps being VSS aware.

It wasn't the apps that were a problem. I was paranoid enough to
reboot the computer and make sure as little as possible was running. I
wanted speed, so running the backup in safe mode was undesireable. So,
I had Skype, AVG 8.5, Google Desktop, and various startup programs
(Winamp, AOL, Superantispyware, etc). All of these were trashed on
the backup, in addition to the Windoze services that were running
(print spooler, networking, Windoze update, etc). Simply having apps
that know about Volume Shadow Copy Service, would not have been
sufficient.

>A few years back they just weren't ready for prime
>time. What I used to do previously was boot up on the recovery CD. Then
>you were really sure nothing was open or uncommitted.

Ummm... fire up the task manager and look at the huge list of programs
running in the background. All of them (and their data and log files)
are susceptible to corruption. At this point, I'm abandoning my quest
for a program that runs from Windoze, and only looking at programs
that boot from a CD or flash drive.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558