Xfast RAM V2.0.28 conflict with Windows 7 Image Backup

[ramon zarat]

Hi.

I have Xfast RAM V2.0.28 with a 8GB RAM disk installed (out of 16GB available). Proprieties of the RAM disk shows it's exFAT file system. Xfast RAM has the following configuration:

Drive letter: H:
Disk Size: 8192
Ready boost: OFF
System Temp Files: ON
IE Cache Files: ON
WinRAR Temp File: ON
Virtual memory Paging file: OFF
User Temp files: ON
Chrome Cache Files: ON
Opera Cache Files: OFF (not installed)
Backup at system shutdown: OFF
Restore after system boot: OFF


Problem:
In Windows 7 64 Ultimate "backup and restore", I try to make a system image backup. I click on "create a system image" and then, as per on screen instruction, I select my destination drive (D: WD 1TB Black ) and click "NEXT". The next screen report that the backup location is "D:" and "The following drives will be backed up:"

"System (C:) (System)"
"System Reserved (System)"
"ASR_RAM (H:) (System)"

NOTE: Windows backup DOESN'T let you choose the drive to be backed up. The 3 drives mentioned are imposed as default.

I then press "Start backup" but the application report "The backup failed" with the following explanation:

"One of the volumes specified for the backup is invalid because it is either not a fixed drive, is not formated -NTFS, or is read only"

IMPORTANT: As soon as I deactivate Xfast RAM completely and reboot, the same backup process work perfectly.

After some research and testing, this is what I have found:

1- Xfast RAM is definitively the problem
2- Windows backup clearly specify NTFS partition is required. Xfast RAM at 8GB use exFAT
3- The RAM disk drive "ASR_RAM (H:) (System)" shouldn't even appear in the backup list in the first place.
3- In Windows 7 Disk Management, the "ASR_RAM (H:)" partition is set to "Active", which explain why it appears in the imposed drive list to be backed up and shows as a "System" drive. There is no need to set this RAM disk partition as active as it is impossible to boot from it!

Conclusion:

Impossible to backup my PC with Xfast RAM activated because the RAM disk is set as active partition and therefore is considered as a "System" disk that need to be backed up. Unfortunately, the partition is exFAT, which is incompatible with Windows backup NTFS requirement...

Each time I want to backup, I MUST deactivate Xfast RAM, reboot, backup, reactivated it again and reboot again. This is a real pain.... Can anyone report this to ASRock so they can update Xfast RAM to set RAM disk partition as ***NON-active*** and if it must be kept as active for some technical reasons, at least switch exFAT for NTFS.

Thanks,

Ramon

[- wardog -]

I'm thinking it's exFat as NTFS has to much "overhead' to use in this situation.

For Tech Support and Suggestions:
ASRock > Support Request Form

[ramon zarat]

I'm thinking it's exFat as NTFS has to much "overhead' to use in this situation.

For Tech Support and Suggestions:
ASRock > Support Request Form

Yeah, NTFS is hardly the best choice for a RAM disk. But that's beside the point as the RAM disk drive shouldn't appear in the backup drive list in the first place. I only mentioned this as a last resort.


At 4GB and below, Xfast RAM use FAT32 for it's file system. FAT32 is known for having issue with partition over 4GB so I guess that's why ASRock decided to use exFAT. I don't mind at all since Crystal disk mark show the RAM disk to be faster with exFAT than FAT32 anyway. In fact, I wonder why they don't stick with exFAT all the way. The problem is unfortunately the same with FAT32 as with exFAT; the partition is set as "Active" and shows in the drives to be backed-up AND obviously, it doesn't meet the NTFS requirement...

The only real solution is to make sure the RAM disk is not configured as a system drive with active partition. Then it won't show in the backup list, as it should be.

NOTE: I already sent i support request directly to ASrock about this. I'm just trying to see if people here might have other solution or suggestions to this problem.

NOTE2: Are you able to replicate this problem?


Ramon

[- wardog -]

Then a MS issue since MS app isn't playing nice.

Have you looked into whether or not the app can be config'd to exclude the "drive' when run from the command line?

[parsec]

I did not have a XFast RAM disk created on my ASR Z77 board, but I created a 8GB one to test this issue. The XFast RAM version I have is 2.0.9. and Windows 7 sees it as exFAT.

This could be a problem with the XFast RAM disk, but I'm wondering why your ASR_RAM(H:) volume is considered a "System" volume. That is why it is being backed up IMO. Mine is not a System disk, but is Active, as shown in Disk Management.

I have a storage disk (non-OS) that is marked as Active, and not System, and it does not appear automatically as not removable in the list of disks to be backed up.

If I click on Create a system image, my RAM disk is not even listed as a disk that can be backed up. I have System and User Temporary files, and Firefox Cache files set to be on the RAM Disk. I am not backing up the RAM disk, and my version of XFast RAM/AXTU does not have a Restore after system boot setting.

I'll fool around with the RAM Disk for a while, but IMO the reason why your RAM disk is included and not removable from the list of disks being backed up is because it is marked as a System disk. That may be due to the version you have, but I don't know if that is the case.

[ramon zarat]

Then a MS issue since MS app isn't playing nice.

Have you looked into whether or not the app can be config'd to exclude the "drive' when run from the command line?

As you can see in my first post, unfortunately, Windows doesn't allow you to choose, it simply tell you which drive will be backed up. It seems that any drive marked as "System" will be included by default.

I did not have a XFast RAM disk created on my ASR Z77 board, but I created a 8GB one to test this issue. The XFast RAM version I have is 2.0.9. and Windows 7 sees it as exFAT.

This could be a problem with the XFast RAM disk, but I'm wondering why your ASR_RAM(H:) volume is considered a "System" volume. That is why it is being backed up IMO. Mine is not a System disk, but is Active, as shown in Disk Management.

I have a storage disk (non-OS) that is marked as Active, and not System, and it does not appear automatically as not removable in the list of disks to be backed up.

If I click on Create a system image, my RAM disk is not even listed as a disk that can be backed up. I have System and User Temporary files, and Firefox Cache files set to be on the RAM Disk. I am not backing up the RAM disk, and my version of XFast RAM/AXTU does not have a Restore after system boot setting.

I'll fool around with the RAM Disk for a while, but IMO the reason why your RAM disk is included and not removable from the list of disks being backed up is because it is marked as a System disk. That may be due to the version you have, but I don't know if that is the case.

Thanks a lot for taking some of your time to test this, I really appreciate. So "Active" doesn't mean it's included in the back up list, that's one less thing to care about, thanks! So it's really this "System" status that cause the problem here. The thing is, "Disk management" report the RAM disk as "Active, primary partition" an not system, but the backup app is showing it as "system". Very strange...

As for the version, Asrock has this strange habit of updating the download page of a specific motherboard only for the very essential stuff, such as new BIOS version, but very rarely for apps. For latest apps version, I go on Asrock website and click on "download" on the top menu of the home page and then on "Latest Utilities Update". The only problem is you only get the latest 10-13 apps and as new one appears, the last one is removed. So you have to visit this page on a regular basis! This is how I got version 2.0.28 of xfast RAM. If you want to try this version, I traced it back to this page: ASRock > Products > Motherboard > H67DE3 > Download

Snap shot of disk management for the RAM drive and backup drive list:

[ramon zarat]

Apparently, I'm not allowed to upload more than ***1*** pic per post! Wow... And 120 seconds between 2 post! LMAO! What is this? Orson Welles
web version of 1984? Anyway, there it is and as you can see, the RAM drive is there and it's labeled "System":

[parsec]

I believed you that it is included in the list of drives to be backed up. It's also very strange that the create system image utility sees it as a System disk, and not Disk Management.

Regardless, what is it that causes the RAM drive to be seen as a System disk?

If you check Disk Management, you'll see that on your OS drive, only the System Reserved partition is labeled System. The main OS partition is labeled Boot, Crash Dump, Primary Partition. If you click on More Actions, and All Tasks, when a partition is highlighted that is not Active, and if you click Mark Partition as Active, a message is displayed about only marking OS partitions as Active, or a partition that contains system files.

Ignoring the possibility of a bug, is anything stored on your RAM disk that is a system file? Since you delete and rebuild it, and basically have temporary files stored there, how could that be?

My board does not have a separate download for XFast RAM, it is installed as a part of the AXTU download, and is a later version than the one listed on the download page where you found the version of XFast RAM you are using.

[profJim]

On my Gigabyte P35 win7 system my boot drive is an ssd and my D: partition is on my hard drive.
I've set the backup partition location to H: on my hard drive.
My D: drive has pagefile.sys, windows TMP and TEMP folders, IE and FireFox cache folders and the windows Indexer folder.
I set windows backup to only backup my C: drive, but it automatically includes my D: drive in the backup.

[- wardog -]

Ignoring the possibility of a bug, is anything stored on your RAM disk that is a system file?

This sounds like a possible scenario here. ie: system file(s)