Snapshot - Remote Backup -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As a System administrator, keeping disk images for many computers current can be quite time consuming. Due to Drive Snapshot's easy command line interface, this can be done much more easily. Using RLOGIN/RCONSOLE from the Windows NT Resource pack, or the ingenious PSEXEC utility from Sysinternals, you can easily automate this process, or control it from your own working place. Example for PSEXEC: C::\>PSEXEC \\userComputer -u administrator -p AdminPasswd -c -f -h c:\Programme\snapshot\Snapshot.exe C: \\Server\Backup\user\C-drive.SNA This will: login to the computer 'Usercomputer' as an administrator (required); copy Snapshot.exe to the other computer, and start a backup of the C:-drive to some space on your \\Server. Please see PSEXEC documentation for more details. Note: when backing up a Vista or Windows 7 computer, please use -h If the target system is Vista or higher, has the process run with the account's elevated token, if available. Otherwise you will get a UAC (User Account Control) prompt that no one is able to answer.
Thursday, 29 September 2011
Snapshot Backup - FAQ How can I verify that Snapshot did what it claimed - backup all my data The easiest and fastest way: Backup a drive. Map the drive as virtual drive. Use WINDIFF or similar file compare tools to compare the two drives; they should be identical. You will see differences, because WINDIFF will not be able to open the PAGEFILE or registry files on the original drive; but that's not SNAPSHOT's fault. For these files you have to trust us (of course we tested this, using slightly more complicated setup's) Do I have to shut down all Windows programs (highly recommended) No. It's probably a good idea to save your open files before starting Snapshot Backup. Otherwise you would eventually get outdated data on your disk. After Snapshot has started you may continue to work normally, the image will reflect the data at start time. May I install a new VIRUS, while Snapshot is running? Yes. It won't make you happy, but Snapshot won't care. The created image will not contain any sign of a virus, ready to be restored. May I FORMAT/FDISK the disk that is currently being Snapshot'ed? No. It is not possible to run programs that access the disk directly while Snapshot is running. What File systems does Snapshot support? SnapShot relies mostly on the operating system to support a drive. All file systems known to Windows(FAT16, FAT32, NTFS) are supported; additionally some LINUX file systems (EXT2,EXT3,Reiser) are 'manually' supported. Other file system are stored completely, ignoring any free space information. Does Snapshot support enhanced NTFS features like encryption, security, hard and symbolic links, mount points, multiple data streams, extended attributes,quota,... Yes. Snapshot is sector-oriented. Snapshot will backup all sectors relevant for the file system, and restore them exactly the same way. Snapshot never interprets these data on its own, the interpretation of these data is up to the file system. Snapshot only provides the necessary data. The same is true for the Image Viewer. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Snapshot - Restoring a volume from Dos Quick steps Boot your system from a DOS boot disk. Below it is assumed that your image data are accessible as drive W:\C-DRIVE.SNA. If you want to (or have to) repartition your drive, because it is new or completely damaged, enter: A:>SNAPSHOT RESTORE HD1 partitionstructure W:\C-DRIVE.SNA -Y This will partition the whole drive (HD1) in exactly the same way as your original drive. You don't need to do that, and shouldn't do it, if you only want to restore a single, damaged volume. A:>SNAPSHOT RESTORE HD1 auto W:\C-DRIVE.SNA -Y -V This restores all data in the automatically selected partition from the image saved on C-drive, will not ask for confirmation (-Y), and will verify that all data were indeed written correctly (-V). Details Boot your system (from a DOS bootdisk) If you don't have a DOS bootdisk available, here is more information on how to create one. When restoring a partition, all data on it will be deleted and replaced by the data at the time of the backup. If you think you need some of the data, you have to copy them to somewhere else before restoring the image. After the restore, the system will be identical to the time you created the image. To restore an image, the imagefile must be accessible to DOS (you must be able to say C:>DIR); for more information about how to access a file on CDROM, Network, or local NTFS click here. actions to be performed show information about the hard disk's partition structure show information about the Image file restore the partition structure restore the partition data test image file for internal consistency (optional) restore Master Boot Sector (MBR) (rarely needed) show information about the hard disk's partition structure snapshot.exe show [HDx] [HDx]: number of hard disk, HD1 is the first hard disk A:>SNAPSHOT SHOW HD1 SNAPSHOT for DOS V1.21 [Feb 27 2003] Copyright (c) tom ehlert 1 hard disk(s) detected disk 1 - 1022 cylinders, 255 heads, 63 sectors, 512 byte total physical size 29314 MB Primary partitions start - end : start, size 1:06 FAT16 CHS 0 1 1- 129 254 63 : 0MB, 1020MB 2:05 extended Part. CHS 130 0 1- 2 254 63 : 1019MB, 7037MB 3:07 NTFS inst FS CHS 3 0 1- 249 254 63 : 8056MB, 18003MB 4:0C FAT32 LBA CHS 250 0 1- 663 254 63 : 26058MB, 3248MB Logical partitions 1:06 FAT16 CHS 130 1 1- 194 254 63 : 1019MB, 510MB 2:06 FAT16 CHS 195 1 1- 324 254 63 : 1529MB, 1020MB 3:06 FAT16 CHS 439 1 1- 568 254 63 : 3443MB, 1020MB 4:07 NTFS inst FS CHS 569 1 1-1014 254 63 : 4463MB, 3499MB 5:07 NTFS inst FS CHS 1015 1 1-1015 254 63 : 7961MB, 8MB 6:04 FAT16 < 32MB CHS 1016 1 1-1019 254 63 : 7969MB, 32MB highest used sector on disk 60018840 (29307 MB) show information about the Image file snapshot.exe show imagefile imagefile: path and name of the image file This shows information about the saved volume as it was stored at backup time. Additionally, the partition structure of the original disk is shown. A:>snapshot show x:\c-drive.sna Information about the saved volume from Computer 'TP', drive C:, Label 'C-TP ', Filesystem FAT (06) Hard disk 1 Primary Partition 1- size 2.097.393.664 =1999MB total size 1999 MB - 420 MB free - 32768 Bytes per cluster disk 1 - 1222 cylinders, 255 heads, 63 sectors, 512 byte total physical size 9585 MB Primary partitions start - end : start, size 1:06 FAT16 CHS 0 1 1- 254 254 63 : 0MB, 2001MB 2:0F extended Part CHS 255 0 1-1023 254 63 : 2000MB, 7586MB Logical partitions 1:07 NTFS inst FS CHS 255 1 1- 514 254 63 : 2000MB, 2040MB 2:06 FAT16 CHS 515 1 1- 641 254 63 : 4039MB, 997MB 3:07 NTFS inst FS CHS 642 1 1-1023 254 63 : 5036MB, 2997MB 4:07 NTFS inst FS CHS 1023 1 1-1023 254 63 : 8032MB, 1554MB highest used sector on disk 19631430 (9586 MB) restore the partition structure This is required, if your disk is new (not partitioned), or partitioned differently. Snapshot will restore the exact partitioning of the original disk. The necessary information is available in each Snapshot image file. If for some reason you want to partition the disk in a different way, you have to use FDISK or similar tools. Note: for this to work it is necessary, that the new disk is at least as large as the partitioned area on the original disk; Snapshot will not modify the partition information in any way. A:>snapshot restore [HDx] partitionstructure imagefile [HDx]: Number of hard disk, starting with HD1 [imagefile]: Path and name of Image file restore the partition data The real restore action. This will overwrite all data on this partition and replace it with the original data. After that, the partition is identical to the original state. snapshot.exe restore [HDx] {auto/primary#/logical#} imagefile [HDx]: Number of hard disk {auto/primary#/logical#}: automatically select the destination partition, or force a primary or logical partition to be restored [imagefile]: Path and name of image file AUTO - PRIMARY1 - LOGICAL5 Snapshot knows which partition is contained in the image file; option 'AUTO' will use this partition as the destination. Should you want to restore a different partition, you may select this by PRIMARY1 or LOGICAL2. Please use the SHOW command first to verify what partition you want to restore. option -V ( Verify) this will cause a verification run after the restore is completed, to verify that all data are readable and correct. You may abort the verification at any time by pressing Ctrl-C. Parameter -Y (Yes) -Y (YES) will skip the 'are you really sure' question. the command to automatically restore the C-drive from network drive W: should look similar to: A:\>snapshot.exe restore HD1 auto W:\c.drive.sna -Y -V test image file for internal consistency A:>snapshot test X:C-DRIVE.SNA this reads the complete image file, and verifies readability and consistency. This is useful, if you want to make sure, for example, that all your CDROM is readable before starting the restore. restore Master Boot Sector (MBR) This is rarely needed, but useful if some software installed a different boot loader in the MBR. It will restore the very first sector on the disk. A:>snapshot.exe restore HD1 MBR W:\c.drive.sna
Snapshot - command line options Well - having a nice Windows interface is a fine thing - unless you want to automate certain things, which often is sheer impossible with all this Windows wizardry, often requiring dozens of clicks to accomplish even trivial tasks - just try to automate a Backup of your data with your favourite CD-ROM burning program. Drive Snapshot has a very easy command line interface: Backup Drive to file C:\> SNAPSHOT C: X:\C-Drive.sna this will backup the C: drive to X:\C-Drive.SNA. To save several Volumes, simply create a Batch file like SNAPSHOT C: \\Server\Backups\C-Drive.sna SNAPSHOT D: \\Server\Backups\D-Drive.sna SNAPSHOT E: \\Server\Backups\E-Drive.sna This will backup C:, D:, E: to your server.. Option -L650 Most of the time, it's sensible to limit the size of a single image file to some maximum value, so it can be written to a CD-ROM. The default maximum size is 650MB; you can change this with the -L parameter. To avoid trouble with DOS when restoring your drives, you should keep this below 2 GB. Option -Ssize Equivalent to Bytemode of Advanced Options. -S0 -- always use Bytemode. -S8192 -- use Bytemode, if clustersize is >= 8192 -S100000 -- never use Bytemode (default) Option -R [empty Recycle bin ] This will empty the Recycle Bin for this drive before starting the backup. Option -W [Wait] If the cursor is in the top left corner at the time of start, Snapshot assumes it has been started from a batchfile, and waits for the key at end, so you can control the execution. This is probably unwanted, if it was started from the scheduler. This WaitForAnyKey can be suppressed with -W. Option -G [Graphical] For those who have created a shortcut to a customized Snapshot command, but still want to see a graphical progress. Useful if you have configured a shortcut or similar for automatic backup, telling the user 'Click here to backup your drive'. It has a few sub modes like -G show progress, wait for user to click [exit] when done -Go show progress, exit when done if everything worked, else tell him so -Gx show progress, always exit when done Option -T [Test] You can request a test of the image for validity, after it has been created. This will completely reread the image and check its consistency, checksums,... However (in particular in batchfiles) it's probably better to test the image separately ;like snapshot x:\image.sna -T so you can know whether a failure was due to the destination server being down, or 'unreliable data written'. Any failure will be returned as Errorlevel > 0. Differential Backups please see differential.htm for detail Set a Default Password from command line -PW=MySuperSecretPassword This password will be used for backup, restore, and mount from now on. Restore and mount will ask for the password, should it be needed. Restoring a Volume C:\> SNAPSHOT X:\D-Drive.sna D: restores the D: drive from X:\D-Drive.sna. This will overwrite all data on the D: drive !! The limitations are identical to the normal Snapshot Restore. Setting the password from the command line From the command line, you can set the password with -PW= C:>Snapshot C: X:\Backup\c-drive.sna -PW=SuperSecret This overrides a default password for this command only. If you have a default password, and don't set one from the command line, the default is used. If you have a default, but nevertheless don't want your image encrypted, you have to indicate an empty password: C:>Snapshot C: X:\Backup\c-drive.sna -PW= Excluding files/directories from backup In some cases it can be useful to exclude some files or directories from backup. That's always the case for (and is always done automagically) for PAGEFILE.SYS and HIBERFIL.SYS, but can also be useful for temporary files, big movie archives (which you have on the bought DVD anyway and similar stuff. Due to technical reasons, the data in excluded files are not saved, but the directory entries ARE saved. Therefore, both when viewing the backup, and after restoring, the files *look* intact, but contain all zero's (when viewing) or random data (after restore). For this reason, the image contains a fresh created Batch job 'SnapshotDeleteAfterRestore.BAT'. After restore it should be executed to avoid possible confusion (it will delete all unsaved files). Files and directories can be excluded by --exclude:\Temp --exclude:\Temp\* (which is equivalent) --exclude:\Windows\Memory.dmp options can be concatenated with commas like --exclude:\Temp,\Windows\Memory.dmp,\Windows\Minidump\*,"\Documents and Settings" ,"\Program Files",\Windows\$NtUninstall* (1.38) Note: \temp and \temp\* are equivalent Spaces in Filenames have to be enclosed by `"` Subdirectories are also always excluded. Creation of filenames with date, weekday, ... Some 'magic' strings in the command line are replaced with the data, computer name, disk, etc. So it makes sense to c:\>snapshot C: \\server\backups\$computername\$DISK-$DATE.sna $date Date 6-digit YYMMDD $computername Computer name $type for differential Images --> 'dif' $disk the drive letter (C,D,...) $weekday weekday, 2 letters $year year (4 digits) $month month (1..12) $day day in month (1..31) Mount a disk Image as virtual drive C:\> SNAPSHOT X:\C-Drive.sna Z: -V mounts the image X:\C-Drive.SNA as drive Z: with a couple of variants: -VM just mount the image, don't start Explorer to be used in batch files -VQ Z: mounts the volume, doesn't show any dialog -!unmount:Z unmount Z: -!unmount unmount all mounted drives (from 1.38) Snapshot should be started with 'start' like start Snapshot x:\image.bat Z: -vq xcopy z:\Data c:\Data Snapshot -!unmount:Z Drive Snapshot 1.39 supports additionally File Extensions --exclude:"\*.MP3,\*.TMP" works as expected [1.39]reparing damaged images Unfortunately, images can be damaged. Some image sub-files may be missing or unreadable, data may be damaged, etc., and the image isn't mountable any longer. As a disk image, this is useless as you will never know what data are missing. But often all you need is a few files from the image. If the .SNA file is existing, c:>snapshot x:\DAMAGED.SNA --repair:Y:\REPAIRED.SNA will try to reconstruct something mountable; at least after running CHKDSK over the virtual drive you should be able to retrieve some data. [1.39]Migration on different hardware If you restore using VistaPE/BartPE, running c:>snapshot --AddDriver will ask you for the driver to be installed, and the location of the (restored) Windows, and install this driver as an additional disk driver more special Options snapshot --? shows all (documented ;) special commands --unmount - unmount all virtual disks and terminate snapshot started with -VQ --unmount:Z - unmount virtual disk Z --resize X: - show possible resize range for drive X: --resize X: 1000 - (try to) resize drive X: to 1000 MB --resizepart X: 1000 - (try to) grow partition and filesystem to 1000 MB resizepart is unable to shrink partitions or filesystems! --exec:RestartExchange.Bat --exec:"NET START ORACLE" - execute commands as soon as backup really started MUST be the last option on the command line! --ClearSignature HD1 --SetSignature HD1 01234567 --Checkboot HD1 - test if HD1 seems to be bootable --Activate X: set active flag for drive X: --Deactivate X: clear active flag for drive X: --RestoreMBR HD1 filename - writes the MBR from filename to HD1 --RestorePartitionStructure HD1 filename - writes the partition information from filename to HD1 --exclude:filename1,filename2,... excludes all given filenames from backup --exclude:@filename.txt exclude from file filename.txt --LogFile:filename.log - append log output to file filename.log --DontLogStdout - don't write VSS log output to standard output --DontLogProgress - don't write the progress report lines to stderr --novss - don't use the volume shadow service (more about VSS) --usevss - use the volume shadow service if available --forcevss - use the volume shadow service. If not available exit with error. --register:License.lic - register snapshot --setdefaultpwd=MyPassword - sets the default password to MyPassword --SearchFull:path1,path2,path3 while working with differential images search the full image in the given path. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Snapshot - DiskImage Restore for Windows NT/2000/XP Test the Snapshot Userinterface Obviously, a disk image program would be of little value without a restore. Snapshot does restore disk images, but has some limitations. However, these are the same limitations that apply to FORMAT and CHKDSK, which result from the fact that WinNT won't allow access to open files. So most important, the system drive and all drives with a PAGEFILE cannot be restored while WinNT is running. To restore a System Volume you have to use DOS restore. All other volumes can be restored from WinNT. See some Screenshots of a restore operation.
Disk Image Restore 1 2 3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Screenshots Drive Snapshot can restore a drive completely to its former state. If you restore a drive, all current data on the drive will be lost !! Proceed as follows: First, you select the disk image file to be restored. To aid you, all known properties about the image at creation time are shown. After selecting the image, please click [Next]
1. Select the Volume to be saved For each Partition, you see detailed Information. Select the Drive you want to back up, then click Next Drive The usual Windows drive letter (C:, D:,...) HD (HardDisk) The hard disk, which hosts this drive (in case you have more then one hard disk). PartNo The Partition number and type, primary or logical PartStart The Partition's location on the physical disk PartSize ... and its size P... (Partitionstyp) Label the volume's name FS (FileSystem) is usually FAT16, FAT32, or NTFS Size The size in the Partition that is used by the file system, regardless of how full the file system is. Usually, it's slightly smaller then the Partsize above, and can never be larger. However it's entirely legal to have a logical, used size much smaller then the available space in the partition. Used The amount of used data, that will have to be saved Free free space .
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