Differences Between Conventional Data Backup Systems and Rollback RX

Historically, our defense against a hard drive crash has been a complete disk image kept at a physically separate location - this image is copied back on to a replacement hard drive. This is the foundation of all Data Backup Software (MS Backup, Ghost, etc.) – the physical imaging of data.

But image-based backups have two major problems: they are very resource-hungry and they require a lot of manual intervention. So arduous is this that even disciplined IT shops do it as infrequently as is possible. Most small businesses and individuals seldom get around to doing backups.

But when the time comes to restore – the older the backup, the more work is lost. There is some “logging” software that tries to maintain continuous change tracking, but again, it is very demanding on resources.

As disk hard ware is very stable, the impulse to defer a backup is high. But content corruption has become a major issue. Spyware, Adware, faulty “Upgrades”, incomplete Uninstalls, Key Loggers, Root Kits, and Viruses hit us almost daily. Firewalls, anti-viruses and intrusion detectors lessen the risks, but it is a question of “when” security will be breached, not “if”. The need for a frequent, fast, and efficient backup and restore has never been greater.

Now, Horizon DataSys has come out with RollBack Rx Pro™ that takes a bit-level snapshot of your hard drive in 1 to 3 seconds. You read that correctly, that’s seconds! Rollback Rx is based on a groundbreaking new technology called “incremental sector mapping”. This technology gives it its blazing snapshot speed. And, as only changed sectors are snapshot – the more often you use it, the faster it works. I can’t think of a better encouragement to use it more often.

At Horizon DataSys for example, all the machines in their network are set on an automatic hourly snapshot. When asked why they were doing such frequent backups, President Lyle Patel’s answer was, “’…because we can!” There is literally zero impact on productivity - machines marginally slow for about one second an hour.

And that’s not all. The Rollback Rx Restore function is a true bit-for-bit recovery of the complete hard drive. Pick any snapshot and get back everything as of that point in time: the programs, the drivers, the data, the Registry settings, everything. Rollback Rx even recovers the contents of your Recycle Bin! And how long does that take? Try about 3 seconds plus a restart.

Also, Rollback Rx will store 60,000 snapshots in less than 0.1% of your disk. Multiple restore points are available to you. So, even if you don’t know when your drive was infected, you can step back gingerly until you are clear.

Back from the future

But, if you have to revert a day, a week or a month, what about all the lost work? Believe it or not, Rollback RX recovers data from the future! Let us say that you go back to a snapshot from a month ago. You can ask Rollback Rx to “recover data to latest image”. Rollback RX will hunt forward and update data files (only) from any later snapshots you have taken! If you do hourly snapshots – well, you get the picture.

Here is how you would recover even more. You get an error or discover an infection. Close out all open documents and take an immediate snapshot, infection, error and all. Use Rollback RX to go back to the last clean baseline and ask it to recover data forward. Now, you’ve got every last keystroke back.

A Real Example

Rollback Rx’s performance sounds almost miraculous, but I can personally attest to it. Here is my (Robin Chakravarti) actual experience of my first Snapshot and a Restore.
Using MS Backup: As a benchmark, I backed up my work system: (XP Pro SP2, Kaspersky, MS Office and some data files – altogether around 6 GB). It estimated 4 hours and 40 minutes and an additional 4.3 GB to back up to a second internal hard drive. I tried to work, but the machine just crawled during the backup so, around 2 hours in, I cancelled the job. Does this sound familiar?

Using Rollback Rx Pro: With the same 6 GB system, I did the first snapshot – it took 3 seconds, 400K used. I then immediately took second snapshot – it took 1 second, zero K used. It was so fast that, frankly, I had my suspicions that Rollback was really doing anything.

Then, at my boss’s urging, I deleted the following: MyDocs, MS Office and almost all of \System32 (!).I cleaned all the icons off y Desktop. He wanted me to continue deleting things till I got a BSoD. By this time, I thought I was totally toast anyway and to go on till a BSoD would be overkill. I then took the “restore” option on Rollback. The machine restarted, and offered me a choice of restore points. I selected one and 3 seconds later, EVERYTHING was back- my icons, \System32, MyDocs, MS Office, everything. My “recently opened files” lists were restored into every application. Even my Recycle Bin was back!

Differences from MS System Restore

XP has a built-in System Restore function, but this is restricted to recovering (some not all) system files only. This means that you can uninstall a failing driver or update, but nothing else. Now newer malware survives a System Restore. In addition, System Restore has a certain (ahem!) unfortunate reputation.

Rollback Rx recovers every single bit on the drive. It will recover a system from BSoD, the Blue Screen of Death. It will even rescue a PC whose drive has been formatted AND Fdisked!

Enterprise version

Rollback Rx Pro comes in an Enterprise version that permits remote management of snapshots and rollbacks. Working through a web interface, the security manager can manage any machine in a network from anywhere. This version is popular with large commercial Customers.

Public Access Machines?

Rollback Rx also comes in a “Standard” version that permits only a single snapshot, and not the 60,000 permitted by the Pro version. This snapshot can automatically be restored on logoff or restart; so the next user can have a clean baseline system. This version is popular with institution with a lot of Public Access machines such as School Districts and Libraries. Incidentally, if you take the Enterprise version, you can have any mix of Standard and Pro clients that you please.

Conclusions

I don’t quite know how to phrase this but Rollback Rx is a “complete new thing”. It’s not just another “me too” backup product, offering to work marginally faster and take marginally less space than the competition. Rollback Rx Pro works in seconds and restores in seconds and restores a complete bit-image. Now backup and restore has become a trivial thing.

I had actually begun to dread going the Internet, as it had so many traps for the unwary – but now I lost my fear. I feel like I am back to the first careless days of the Net, when you could safely browse everywhere and hardly ever end up with a virus. And even if I do get infected, it is a trivial matter to back out cleanly.
Of course, you still have to be identify nasty-ware in order to remove it, but hopefully spyware identifiers and firewalls will continue to do a good job. Rollback RX Pro, however, does a much better job of backing you out from an infection.