Got|Apex? Review: Rogev Computers Ltd. MagicCard 08/07/2002

Leon · 08-07-2002, 03:19 AM

Thanks for reading the review. Please post any questions or comments in this thread.

http://www.gotapex.com/reviews.php?r...ard/index.html

Jeffbx · 08-07-2002, 05:41 AM

Wow - that's pretty amazing!

Couple questions - if you are protecting your C:\ drive (only partition), where do you save data files? Also, how do you go about installing new software on the drive - is there an update feature so you can change your 'image'?

smurphy · 08-07-2002, 09:25 AM

Hi,

You could setup 2 partitions, C and D. This will allow you to save data files to D and not worry about anything on C. This of course assumes that you are running DOS or Win9X. If you run WinNT-XP you can simply have your profiles pointed to save data to D or use the Netcopy utility to copy the profile info during bootup from a server and you are saving you data on a server. I was not able to test that functionality as I do not have a NT or 2000 server to test.

As for new applications you would simply run a new setup of the C drive after the install. To do that, you would need to prevent the auto protection from running on every reboot by selecting manual protection in the setup menu of the MagicCard before you install the software. This would allow you to test the installed software and then once you know it is OK to take a new image and set the auto protection again.

Cheers,
Scott

Webhead211 · 08-07-2002, 10:03 AM

Quick Question:

Say i have a 300mb avi file, then i install the MagicCard and enable protection, and then when i reboot i delete the avi.. will MagicCard restore it? Does its "powers"

have a memory limit?

webhead211
"and that's about the time she walked away from me." -blink-182

Webhead211 · 08-07-2002, 10:04 AM

and oh yeah.. great article! thanks

webhead211
guy1: "are we going clockwise or counter-clockwise?"
guy2: "neither. we're going in a circle."
webhead211: sigh...

smurphy · 08-07-2002, 11:48 AM

Hey Web, thanks.

When you install the MagicCard and enable protection before you deleted it, yes, your file would come back on your next reboot if you use automatic protection or you can restore the hard drive image manually. This restores the whole drive partition and not just the one file though.

There is no real limit, but the MagicCard does create and use up to 1% of your hard drive to store some info about your hard drive state at the time it is installed.

Cheers,
Scott

Hiro · 08-07-2002, 11:55 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jeffbx
Wow - that's pretty amazing!

nhbilly · 08-07-2002, 12:08 PM

will this work with SCSI?

BTW nice review........wish i had one just not the $$$$

yes it does.......read to fast.

smurphy · 08-07-2002, 12:13 PM

Yes the MagicCard does work with SCSI (all speeds)

Cheers,
Scott

LegendKiller · 08-07-2002, 04:09 PM

Yeah, that is a pretty cool product, if only I knew of it 3 years ago when I was doing sys admin/user support. Professors were always screwing up their computers...

Good review scott.

LK

hapoo · 08-08-2002, 02:01 AM

ok, now i'm wondering how the heck this thing can restore files. Deleting a file just erases the pointer to it. It would make sense if this device just restored the pointer, but what if you delete the file and rewrite over it similar to what some security software does, would it still recover?

GraingerGuy · 08-08-2002, 03:14 AM

Hey...this is just the the "reborn cards" we have over here.
The students would erase things all the time....until we got these things...then they could do whatever they wanted and the computer files would come back...good as new!

Great review!

smurphy · 08-08-2002, 08:52 AM

Hapoo - There is software that will do just that. Overwrite it completely but it would take a fairly long time.

The files on the hard disk when the image is take are stored using an algorithm that compares the 1's and 0's on the hard drive when your reboot it and makes the changes back to the original state.

The reason or focus of the MagicCard is to prevent down time and provide users in a business world a reliable machine, free of virus's and non-standard software, while enforcing corporate security by forcing users to save all their data on a network server.

For home use this would be useful only if you have 2 partitions and saved all profile and user data to the second partition. You would then have a fresh system every reboot and when you need new software, you would then disbale the card, install software, enable the card by taking a new image of the hard drive.

Cheers,
Scott

irwin · 08-08-2002, 10:03 AM

This thing seems like it'd be perfect for my local lan center. Jerks over there are always downloading zip files and cluttering up the desktop on every station.

hapoo · 08-08-2002, 10:46 AM

well in order to restore it the card would have to set aside a backup of all the files. If its using only 1% of the hard drive that would mean that somehow its storing all the files in the 1% which makes no sense. That would be an amazing 99:1 compression. ohh well

i'm just curious

Webhead211 · 08-08-2002, 10:54 AM

yeah.. that's what i was trying to get at before.. i don't understand where all the data goes.

webhead211
"why should i change? he's the one that sucks!" -Micheal Bolton

smurphy · 08-08-2002, 11:16 AM

hapoo - the MagicCard uses an algorithm that simply takes a snap shot of the 1's and 0's state on the drive and does not care what the files are. There is no compression used. The card simply forces the drive to it's original state when the image was taken.

I had a long talk with the manufacture about this and it took an even longer time to get my head around it!! Because I was able to work with it to answer my questions really helped.

Cheers,
Scott

Jeffbx · 08-08-2002, 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by hapoo
well in order to restore it the card would have to set aside a backup of all the files. If its using only 1% of the hard drive that would mean that somehow its storing all the files in the 1% which makes no sense. That would be an amazing 99:1 compression. ohh well i'm just curious

Network Appliance has a similar technology, but it takes more overhead than 1%.... it doesn't take an image, but it stores some alogorithm to file pointers, or some such thing. It's pretty cool technology - allows you to go back up to 30 file revisions if you want to. Accidentally delete an entire partition? No problem - just reset the file pointer & the files are back - no need to run a restore.

smurphy · 08-08-2002, 01:13 PM

That Network Appliance SnapVault is pretty cool too. Looks like it is very robust and easy to use, would be perfect for quick restoring of any file from a local system. Only problem is that it is server based so it would not prevent downtime if the OS is corrupt etc. Both products fill a very useful end user need and administration requirement. Thanks for the heads up on that.

Cheers,
Scott

Ladogaboy · 08-08-2002, 02:10 PM

Yeah, I could see how this would be useful. A local Office of Education server was hacked by an "elite"

hacker who managed to get into the system, but only managed to delete files. Still, it took them 3 days to recover the system.

08-07-2002, 03:19 AM	#1
Leon Administrator Join Date: Dec 1999 Location: San Diego, CA Posts: 3,219	Got\|Apex? Review: Rogev Computers Ltd. MagicCard 08/07/2002 Thanks for reading the review. Please post any questions or comments in this thread. http://www.gotapex.com/reviews.php?r...ard/index.html

08-07-2002, 05:41 AM	#2
Jeffbx Fleet Admiral Join Date: Mar 2000 Location: Michigan Posts: 9,390	Wow - that's pretty amazing! Couple questions - if you are protecting your C:\ drive (only partition), where do you save data files? Also, how do you go about installing new software on the drive - is there an update feature so you can change your 'image'? Last edited by Jeffbx : 08-07-2002 at 05:53 AM.

08-07-2002, 11:48 AM	#6
smurphy Lieutenant Junior Grade Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Igloo in Canada Posts: 144	Hey Web, thanks. When you install the MagicCard and enable protection before you deleted it, yes, your file would come back on your next reboot if you use automatic protection or you can restore the hard drive image manually. This restores the whole drive partition and not just the one file though. There is no real limit, but the MagicCard does create and use up to 1% of your hard drive to store some info about your hard drive state at the time it is installed. Cheers, Scott Last edited by smurphy : 08-07-2002 at 11:53 AM.

08-07-2002, 12:08 PM	#8
nhbilly Commander Join Date: May 2000 Location: santa ana ca usa Posts: 1,156	will this work with SCSI? BTW nice review........wish i had one just not the $$$$ yes it does.......read to fast. __________________ PAIN IS WEAKNESS LEAVING YOUR BODY.....

08-08-2002, 02:01 AM	#11
hapoo Fleet Admiral Join Date: Jan 2000 Location: 742 Evergreen Terrace, Springfield USA Posts: 9,276	ok, now i'm wondering how the heck this thing can restore files. Deleting a file just erases the pointer to it. It would make sense if this device just restored the pointer, but what if you delete the file and rewrite over it similar to what some security software does, would it still recover? __________________

08-07-2002, 09:25 AM	#3
smurphy Lieutenant Junior Grade Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Igloo in Canada Posts: 144	Hi, You could setup 2 partitions, C and D. This will allow you to save data files to D and not worry about anything on C. This of course assumes that you are running DOS or Win9X. If you run WinNT-XP you can simply have your profiles pointed to save data to D or use the Netcopy utility to copy the profile info during bootup from a server and you are saving you data on a server. I was not able to test that functionality as I do not have a NT or 2000 server to test. As for new applications you would simply run a new setup of the C drive after the install. To do that, you would need to prevent the auto protection from running on every reboot by selecting manual protection in the setup menu of the MagicCard before you install the software. This would allow you to test the installed software and then once you know it is OK to take a new image and set the auto protection again. Cheers, Scott

08-07-2002, 10:03 AM	#4
Webhead211 Lieutenant Junior Grade Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Mass Posts: 54	Quick Question: Say i have a 300mb avi file, then i install the MagicCard and enable protection, and then when i reboot i delete the avi.. will MagicCard restore it? Does its "powers" have a memory limit? webhead211 "and that's about the time she walked away from me." -blink-182

08-07-2002, 10:04 AM	#5
Webhead211 Lieutenant Junior Grade Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Mass Posts: 54	and oh yeah.. great article! thanks webhead211 guy1: "are we going clockwise or counter-clockwise?" guy2: "neither. we're going in a circle." webhead211: sigh...

08-07-2002, 12:13 PM	#9
smurphy Lieutenant Junior Grade Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Igloo in Canada Posts: 144	Yes the MagicCard does work with SCSI (all speeds) Cheers, Scott

08-07-2002, 04:09 PM	#10
LegendKiller Vice Admiral Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Northern VA Posts: 4,927	Yeah, that is a pretty cool product, if only I knew of it 3 years ago when I was doing sys admin/user support. Professors were always screwing up their computers... Good review scott. LK

08-08-2002, 03:14 AM	#12
GraingerGuy Rear Admiral Upper Half Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Working....and working...and working some more Posts: 3,573	Hey...this is just the the "reborn cards" we have over here. The students would erase things all the time....until we got these things...then they could do whatever they wanted and the computer files would come back...good as new! Great review! __________________ potato gun + marshmallow gun = FLAMING MARSHMALLOWS OF DOOM!!!!! -Welfareloser 4/13/05 Time to switch to AMD now I guess... (just kidding... ) -Darkfury 5/23/05 I don't think this'll stop anything though - the better you idiot-proof a system, the more impressive the idiot becomes. -ShawnLee 5/30/08

08-08-2002, 08:52 AM	#13
smurphy Lieutenant Junior Grade Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Igloo in Canada Posts: 144	Hapoo - There is software that will do just that. Overwrite it completely but it would take a fairly long time. The files on the hard disk when the image is take are stored using an algorithm that compares the 1's and 0's on the hard drive when your reboot it and makes the changes back to the original state. The reason or focus of the MagicCard is to prevent down time and provide users in a business world a reliable machine, free of virus's and non-standard software, while enforcing corporate security by forcing users to save all their data on a network server. For home use this would be useful only if you have 2 partitions and saved all profile and user data to the second partition. You would then have a fresh system every reboot and when you need new software, you would then disbale the card, install software, enable the card by taking a new image of the hard drive. Cheers, Scott

08-08-2002, 10:03 AM	#14
irwin Vice Admiral Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: ohi Posts: 4,525	This thing seems like it'd be perfect for my local lan center. Jerks over there are always downloading zip files and cluttering up the desktop on every station.

08-08-2002, 10:46 AM	#15
hapoo Fleet Admiral Join Date: Jan 2000 Location: 742 Evergreen Terrace, Springfield USA Posts: 9,276	well in order to restore it the card would have to set aside a backup of all the files. If its using only 1% of the hard drive that would mean that somehow its storing all the files in the 1% which makes no sense. That would be an amazing 99:1 compression. ohh well i'm just curious

08-08-2002, 10:54 AM	#16
Webhead211 Lieutenant Junior Grade Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Mass Posts: 54	yeah.. that's what i was trying to get at before.. i don't understand where all the data goes. webhead211 "why should i change? he's the one that sucks!" -Micheal Bolton

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08-08-2002, 11:16 AM	#17
smurphy Lieutenant Junior Grade Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Igloo in Canada Posts: 144	hapoo - the MagicCard uses an algorithm that simply takes a snap shot of the 1's and 0's state on the drive and does not care what the files are. There is no compression used. The card simply forces the drive to it's original state when the image was taken. I had a long talk with the manufacture about this and it took an even longer time to get my head around it!! Because I was able to work with it to answer my questions really helped. Cheers, Scott

08-08-2002, 01:13 PM	#19
smurphy Lieutenant Junior Grade Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Igloo in Canada Posts: 144	That Network Appliance SnapVault is pretty cool too. Looks like it is very robust and easy to use, would be perfect for quick restoring of any file from a local system. Only problem is that it is server based so it would not prevent downtime if the OS is corrupt etc. Both products fill a very useful end user need and administration requirement. Thanks for the heads up on that. Cheers, Scott

08-08-2002, 02:10 PM	#20
Ladogaboy Admiral Join Date: Jan 2000 Location: Hiding amongst the minnows Posts: 6,843	Yeah, I could see how this would be useful. A local Office of Education server was hacked by an "elite" hacker who managed to get into the system, but only managed to delete files. Still, it took them 3 days to recover the system. __________________ It is not enough to merely touch the face of god; you also must open your eyes so that you may see your palm.

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