Save Comodo Time Machine!

Well, Melih often writes “We always listen to our users! Always!”. Hopefully it is true in respect to CTM.

Exactly, I just don’t know what lies behind this prolonged silence. I know that Melih and Razvan are very busy, but how long does it take to send a PM or log into the forum and leave a few words? The CTM faithfuls who have supported Comodo through thick and thin, deserve at least this much.

I was supposed to publish this article around Christmas but now I must put it on hold because of the delay associated with the CTM3 and RX10 releases. RX10 is almost ready from what I hear from my sources at Horizon, but then again Horizon has said that before. Faronics Deep Freeze, Shadow Defender and Returnil System Safe Pro will also be featured in the article but those products are ready anyway. I would hate to have to feature everyone else apart from CTM, which is one of my favorite programs of all time…

There is one project ahaead of CTM on Razvan’s table…
as soon as he is done with it…his team will do CTM.
no timetable.

Thank you for clarification of situation.

Postponed but not forgotten, good to hear thanks. :-TU

Glad it is not forgotten.

Also GLAD to hear that it is Postponed but not forgotten, thanks.

I thought of something no one is talking about. The new Windows 8 systems that come preinstalled on new systems will have Secure Boot enabled. (A feature of the UEFI type of bios) Linux distros that wish to dual boot with Windows 8 while Secure Boot is enabled, must have a Secure Boot Key provided by Microsoft. Otherwise Secure Boot treats all non signed boot loaders as malware and prevents them from booting. A user can either disable secure boot while under UEFI bios mode or switch to legacy Bios mode to get around this problem (or have a Key from Microsoft). (Windows 8 will still boot under Legacy Bios or with Secure Boot turned off - it is only required to be enabled when shipping to ensure the user they are getting a system free of malware)

How is CTM’s new version going to get around this problem? Will they have a key built into the tool for Microsoft’s Secure Boot for those that leave Secure Boot enabled?

So RX 10 has been out for a few weeks now and I think it has been a disappointment. It still uses a nasty workaround that disables TRIM in order to ensure SSD compatibility. HDS have been cooking it for a very long time now, so I was expecting many new features and some drastic changes in the program’s approach considering the time and resources they have put into it.

This is a great opportunity for CTM3 to become a real RX killer. If the CTM team achieves true TRIM compatibility, CTM3 could become Comodo’s crowning glory. It would be the only instant recovery program out there that would be fully TRIM-compatible, and this would make it mega-popular among SSD users. If true TRIM compatibility is accomplished, CTM would simply have no competition. There have been some ideas flying around among users, but I think that one of the most logical ones would be for CTM itself to issue TRIM commands during the process of snapshot defragging. Panayiotis has mentioned this at Wilders. It makes sense in my head but I don’t know if it is feasible or not. Razvan, care to share your opinion on this?

I hope that the team can find a way for real TRIM compatibility without dirty workarounds. Logic dictates that CTM3 should be given more resources and increased priority, but at the moment it is getting neither. Melih, I hope you have a plan. It is such a shame to have a unique rough diamond in your hands and just keep delegating it at the bottom of the pile…

.

What can users think of this situation? Each time hope arises, it was just dropped due to other priorities… And this happen for two long long years…

I’m beginning to think that Razvan has encountered unforseen problems in the new CTM3 and as a result it has been put at the bottom of the pile. I have now published an LV/IRS technology introduction at Tweak Town and this will be followed by a full review of Rollback RX 10. I was hoping that CTM3 would have been out by now for a direct comparison. I have contacted Melih and Razvan via PM several times so far and have received no answer.

Here’s a link to the article:

It now looks like that the true instant recovery software club remains an one-member club with Rollback RX being the only such software that works on SSDs (by disabling TRIM that is).

I’m waiting for the day that they do not come here just to say… “no, not this time”, “it’s scheduled”, “other priorities”… 88)

CTM has been mostly a disaster from the very beginning. It was having, and causing, major problems back when I left Comodo for almost 2 years. I was actually surprised it was still even being worked on. Maybe the time to throw in the towel is here.

It still works well for some members.

Thought it can cause serious problems, as always you should backup important documents if you do not you have only yourself to blame.

I did try it at the Alpha stage and never had any problems running on XP at that time.

Dennis

Important documents?
You won’t even boot the system if anything goes wrong…
You need to do full disk (image) backup.

I wouldn’t say it’s a nasty workaround, but it definitely is a Simple one. Actually CTM should install and work on (most) SSDs with Trim off as well ! ( With dropping prices and increased durability of SSDs, I think more and more people would tolerate this way of workaround with SSDs )

Pretty decent article on Tweaktown !

Thank you for your good words regarding the article!

I get what you’re saying; I just hoped that after all the time that HDS has spent cooking RX10 they would have come up with a real alternative that doesn’t have to cripple TRIM. They should have found a way for the RX driver to selectively intercept and block TRIM commands addressed to sectors that contain inactive snapshot data, and allow the rest to pass through to the SSD controller.

Disabling TRIM altogether will definitely affect SSD performace and will shorten the life of the disk. This will be more evident on SSDs whose native GC algorithms are not optimized. Users can regularly leave the PC idling at the Windows log-off screen or at the BIOS/UEFI screen in order for GC to kick-in. This will definitely help, but no degree of idle time GC alone can fully compensate for the lack of TRIM.

Disabling TRIM altogether will definitely affect SSD performace and will shorten the life of the disk.
I am quite aware of these, that's why I said ( With dropping prices and increased durability of SSDs, I think more and more people would tolerate this way of workaround with SSDs ) 8) Currently SSD user who wants to use a Snapshot program will have to decide whether the trade-off is worthwhile.
after all the time HDS has spent cooking RX10 they would have come up with a real alternative that doesn't have to cripple TRIM
Agree, though I do not use Rx.

To really resolve this Trim issue, Snapshot program developers will need to develop Trim Commands of their own !

I agree with everything you said James. I have been talking with the HDS team recently regarding a forthcoming review and I mentioned to them that the cat is out of the bag where TRIM and RX is concerned. We have exchanged some ideas and they told me that they are looking into this issue and will try to find a valid workaround as soon as possible. I’m not very optimistic considering the time they’ve spend on RX10 without finding a proper workaround!

At least now they have the added incentive of negative publicity; so I hope that they’ll manage to ■■■■■ the problem this time around. Currently a lot of SSD users won’t touch RX if it disables TRIM; this is regardless of how cheap SSDs have become or how well internal GC works.

I hope Razvan is working on this as well. I also hope Melih will pop in soon to give us an update.

Good, man. Keep up the good work on TweakTown – I like that part suggesting people to make backups and place them on different mediums/locations; in real life some folks will not even make and keep a single backup, instead they would rely on a Snapshot program to do the work of a Backup program !