RollbackRX Pro 10.4 50% off Black Fri Cyb Mon

[MilesAhead]

I just purchased RollbackRX Pro at a 25% discount using this link:
https://horizondatas...m/281/purl-wdtrpromo

I am in Florida and no sales tax was charged.  $51.75

Important Note:  RollbackRX does not support Trim.  If you are looking for a snapshot utility for an SSD try another product.  I have a spinner and I doubt I will update to an SSD any time soon.  So for me it is worth the $51.75.

Note that there is no version number shown on the promo download but I checked with the Rollback RX Pro forum and was told it is a license for v. 10.x and will activate the latest v. 10.4.  What I did was download the 30 day trial, made sure it installed ok and did a snapshot restore as test.  All as expected.  The demo activated with the provided license key(requires reboot as Rollback does the activation stuff beneath Windows to outsmart cracks.) I have been using the Home free version for a couple of weeks so I am confident I have figured out how to use the utility(after reading the forums for it.)

Speaking of the free version, it may be downloaded here:
http://www.horizonda...roductId=40#Features

Home works fine on my Laptop but it is limited to 7 snapshots.  With the baseline made during installation that leaves only 6 to play with.

Note that before deciding if you want to use this software you should know that the recommended method of imaging your system with programs like Macrium Reflect is to save your system image before installing Rollback.  If you make an image with Rollback installed, then re3store it, the link in the MBR will try to call non-existent Rollback code.  IOW, your system will not boot.  Also defrag messes up the snapshots.  If you wish to defrag with Rollback installed it is recommended to consolidate the baseline snapshot as soon as the defrag completes.

Windows System Restore does not work on my Laptop.  So for me it is good to have RollbackRX as a replacement.  Having played around with the Home version for a couple of weeks I have found that I can uninstall Rollback, defrag my system, make a Macrium incremental backup to establish a new Macrium image baseline, then install Rollback again, in about an hour.  To just defrag my system requires consolidating the baseline after defrag which takes a few minutes and a reboot.

The alternative image backup is to use their Drive Cloner RX product.  This will back up the snapshots with Rollback installed, but only  if you do a full backup image.

If you decide to try RollbackRX please read through their forums first.  From what I read just winging it and defragging your HD without then consolidating the Rollback baseline snapshot is a quirk way to end up with a scrambled system that may not boot or may require restoring your backup image or, lacking that you may get stuck doing a repair install or at least an MBR fix.

I think it can be a valuable utility for spinners especially if System Restore is not reliable on your system.

Edit:  You can read the product page to comapre Home vs Pro but the major enhancement in Pro is a Custom Install option to support multi-boot or just partitioned drives.  Home will snapshot drive C: .During Custom Installation you are presented with a check list of partitions you wish to include in the snapshots.

Edit2:  I could not find any indication how long the 25% discount will be in effect.  All I can say is it worked today. 

Edit3:  The forums for this software may be found here:
http://community.hor...zondatasys.com/forum

Edit4:  One last bit of info.  I made cursory test of the bootup menu.  I hit the Home key when  prompted on boot and made a snapshot, and on another boot, I restored a snapshot.  It all seems to have gone well.  It is a relief to have a restore capability without having to plug in my USB stick. 

[MilesAhead]

Looks like this discount is still in effect.  The TipRadar page date has been updated to Nov. 10.

Just to update on usage, I have had no problems using this with Macrium Reflect Server provided that when I want to do a new incremental backup with Macrium I first uninstall Rollback.  Usually I do scans for malware and tracking cookies.  Then I delete temp files using CCleaner.  Also I may delete my browser caches and defrag the HD.

Once I update my Macrium backup to the current state of the system I install Rollback again.  Typically this takes me about 45 minutes total. (Edit: Come to think of it MBAM threat scan takes about 1/2 hour by itself.  So say 75 minutes or thereabouts.)

Another thing I found out from the Rollback forums, it also watches the MBR.  If any changes are detected it undoes them.  Note that if  you have a GPT HD there is still an MBR wrapper around it.

[MilesAhead]

https://horizondatas...purl-blackfriday2015

So it goes.  I go for the 25% discount.  A couple weeks later a 50% discount shows up.

But anyway, I don't recommend Rollback RX PC for SSD or those who love to defrag.  I find it useful because System Restore does not work on my Laptop and it has a spinner.

If you like to keep you spinner defragged the only safe way I have found is to uninstall Rollbaxk RX first.  Do all your cleanup routines, defrag, scan for tracking cookies etc..  Then reinstall Rollback.  Also I found it better to turn off all the automatic snapshot defragging and snapshot taking on first boot of the day.  The only "automatic" setting I left enabled is automatically snapshot the current system before rolling back.

I found with the automatic snapshot defrag it could try to defrag stuff already deleted.  Also it makes for faster boots.  If you want a snapshot first boot of the day just take one after all your startup programs are done loading.

Looking back I think the free version would have been enough for me.  The major difference with the Pro is that the free protects C: and that's it.  With the Pro you have the option to protect all partitions on the physical system drive.  Although non Windows OS are not supported.

I typically keep only a few snapshots so I could have gotten by with the 7 maximum of the free or Home edition.  But for $50 I'm not crying.  It would be more fun if it didn't require so much maintenance.  But I am glad to have a restore capability.

Edit:  Just for grins I posted on Rollback RX Pro forum asking if they would "roll back" the price to the $34.95 level since it was more or less on the heels of my $51 and change purchase.  So far, no response.  Maybe they don't like puns? 

Edit2:  I posted as a bit of a joke(and to post the rollback pun) but they told me to PM them the transaction number.   

Edit3:  To give credit where due(pun intended) I got a notice today a refund of $16 and change is in the process of being credited to me.  Very cool. 

[MilesAhead]

Just thought some considering or using this utility may want to read my thread where I experiment with excluding large folders from the rollback.  Counterintuitively excluding folders invokes a lot of extra processing time, disk space and uninstall time.  See my thread on their forum.