Conventional Backup & RollBack Comparison

Conventional Backup and RollBack Comparison

A strategic disaster recovery plan for your critical data is a basic requirement. Service disruptions with all their attendant impact on everyday business activity, lost revenues, frustrated customers, employee productivity losses, angry incoming calls to the helpdesk, and so forth are easily avoided with a secure, up-to-date data storage system. Yet most businesses don't have such a contingency plan in place because traditional backup and recovery is very time-consuming. Even users who resolve to back-up regularly may go lengthy periods between backups. But the usefulness of your recovery option is only as good as when you last made your backup image and this is typically may have been a good month or more ago. So the age old question is – Which technology is better traditional Backup or RollBack?

Imaging technology because of its time requirements is best considered a last resort solution for the once-in-a-blue-moon occasion when you can’t seem to reset the PC any other way. It’s not a practical solution as most IT shops seldom get around to making backups.  Once a crash occurs, they usually have to resort to a previous backup.  Unfortunately, the amount of data lost is proportional to the amount of time that lapsed since their last backup…  Furthermore,  recovering single files or folders are next to impossible when dealing with complete system images.  Rollback technology on the other hand delivers a quick bounce back from most such disasters.

If you’re looking for a PC rollback solution then RollBack Rx is the fastest and most reliable rollback software that I’ve found. It's the only PC backup and recovery software that can reasonably be called "instant PC backup" and "instant PC recovery."
RollBack Rx seamlessly integrates with Windows to backup every last byte of data on your system. Windows system restore only protects Windows System files and some limited installed programs. System Restore doesn't backup your personal vacation photos, work spreadsheets, e-mail contacts, financial data, and so forth. If you're relying on Windows system restore all this information is vulnerable to a data disaster. RollBack Rx is the Windows System Restore replacement. (or Refresh and Reset in Windows 8) It only takes RollBack Rx a second or two to archive a complete instances of your system state in a "snapshot." As an alternative to Windows System Restore, RollBack Rx allows you to store many thousands of these snapshots.

RollBack Rx gives your staff powerful tools to fix the PCs themselves by going back in time to earlier snapshots rather than having to call technical support. And your help desk no longer has to do manual rebuilds, re-image, or troubleshoot PC-related issues. Any software incidents -- from accidentally deleted files, virus infections, the Blue Screen of Death, on up to issues that cause Windows to no longer boot -- are quickly resolved by restoring to earlier snapshots. And RollBack makes it simple to always have an up-to-date snapshot to restore to. In short, RollBack Rx crash-proofs your computers so that easily recoverable from most common issues that occupy your IT staff's time. Most business experience a significant uptick in endpoint uptimes and productivity while drastically reducing support costs.

What’s the Best Alternative for Windows SteadyState Users?

Many small networks in schools, libraries, computer labs, kiosks, internet cafes, etc. have to deal regularly with unintentionally changes to the desktop appearance, reconfigured system settings, unwanted software installations, virus infections, and so forth. But these small institutions don't usually have the staff or resources to do regular manual rebuilds, re-image the machines, or otherwise troubleshoot these sorts of everyday computer issues. Also, with regular use Windows experiences incidental system degradation, that is, performance inevitably degrades over time. Eventually, these systems require the occasional reinstall of Windows from scratch.

One affordable alternative for a lot of these small networks is to use desktop lockdown software, limiting the users' Windows accounts to restrict access to many functions such as the Registry Editor, Task Manager, and Control Panel. Limiting Windows privileges makes PC management easier but would necessarily also eliminate useful Windows functionality and constrains the users' productivity.

There used to be a free solution offered by Microsoft called SteadyState (or Shared Computer Toolkit) which provided teachers, librarians, and other non-technical staff with an easy to administer method for reconfiguring public access computers to regularly return to a baseline state. But SteadyState was a cumbersome system which involved many unnecessary complexities and hassles and not very appropriate for staff members who lacked the technical training or wherewithal to acquaint themselves with Group Policies, Active Directory, Windows Server Update Services, et cetra, et cetra,... Perhaps, due to the low uptake of SteadyState and the servicing headaches it involved, Microsoft discontinued offering SteadyState in 2010. So what’s the best SteadyState alternative available today?

If you’re looking for a freeware replacement for Steady State look no further. Reboot Restore Rx is a freeware for removing unwanted changes that users may have made on public access machines.  Reboot Restore Rx simply wipes the system of all the changes any user may have made during their session and returns to a clean slate of Windows. So it would be ideal if after one public user has ended their session and the next user logs on that the machines would automatically return to a baseline. That’s exactly what it does! Reboot Restore Rx simplifies PC management by automating the process of maintaining a consistent computer baseline by reverting the PCs back to a pristine condition, discarding any software downloads, virus infections, or other changes made by the public user. Reboot Restore Rx essentially write-protects the hard drive so that any changes made by the user are discarded on restart. With Reboot Restore Rx installed users are free to attempt to hack the registry, infect the computer with malware, delete system files, etc. and the computer will still return to its predefined working state on every reboot. Since Reboot Restore Rx is a non-restrictive restore technology it doesn’t limit your public users’ Windows functionality and allows you to grant them all admin privileges.