Hardware based recovery solutions were introduced over 20 years ago by many hard disk recovery card manufacturers in Asia. The Recovery Card was designed to restore PC hard drives from all user changes - thus maintaining a consistent system configurations on every restart...

Initially, the primary difference between restore cards and recovery based software was, that on the recovery cards the software (firmware) is hard-coded onto the actual card. In fact Drive Vaccine (software) started off as a hardware based restore PCI card. Many current hard drive recovery card manufacturers use the hardware card as a simple "dongle", as software piracy is still quite prevalent in many developing countries.

Hard Drive Recovery Cards: Moving Forward

In recent years - corporate, educational, institutional and end-point users wanted the same type of robust hardware based protection without the deployment issues of installation, driver configurations, and upgrades. This requirement brought on a new breed of software based recovery/restore solutions.

Schools and public-access computing environment were content with the simple reboot-and- restore technology. However, many IT professionals wanted more features - such as; The ability to accept Windows and Antivirus updates and the ability to save data to a particular partition or persistent harddisk space (Drive Vaccine).

Today many of the legacy hard drive recovery-card manufactures are part of a dying breed. Advancements in software have made recovery cards completely obsolete. Products such as Drive Vaccine have become successful replacements for legacy recovery cards.

Why Hard Drive Recovery Cards are becoming obsolete:

Hard Drive Recovery Cards are hard to deploy over large corporate environments.
Hard Drive Recovery Cards are more expensive than software based reboot and restore solutions.
Hard Drive Recovery Cards are used as a dongle to prevent piracy in third world countries. However, advancements in software licensing and authentication have made software based solutions more popular.
Hard Drive Recovery Cards provide a "all-or-nothing" (reboot-restore) solution. Whereas software based recovery solutions have many features, making it usefull for a larger IT audience.
Hard Drive Recovery Cards require shipping, as opposed to electronic download of software based solutions.
Hard Drive Recovery Cards have potential hardware conflicts with certain systems and OS drivers.
Advancements in low-level kernal more drivers allows solutions like Drive Vaccine to provide robust protection, without hardware recovery card installation and setup procedures.
Software based solutions can accept windows OS and antivirus updates without the need of unprotection status or unnecessary system reboots. More features with sofware based solutions.

Hard Drive Recovery Cards can be seen a part of a Static Complete System Solution - when comparing it in our PC Evolution path.

Recovery cards: How do they compare with Reboot Restore Software?

Reboot and Restore is a commonly used term in IT that refers to a technique in which the disk of a computer is automatically wiped and restored from a "clean slate", or master image every time the computer or device is restarted, rebooted or turned on. Disk imaging always was the "Brick and Mortar" method of rebuilding a computer from scratch. Hard drive cloning is still used today in most disciplined IT shops to recover a PC from bare metal. The process of rebooting and restoring is not a technology - it is a process of automation. Since hard disk cloning was a time consuming and arduous task - it would require too much resources for IT departments where Public access computers were available. It would be too difficult for IT departments to spend resources to image PC's after public use (schools, internet cafes, kiosks etc.). Many organizations searched for ways in which the process of disk imaging could be automated. Thus, restoring PC's automatically on every reboot. Reboot and Restore - A Technique not a Technology Reboot to Restore evolved into a process of re-imaging PC's. The idea being that the workstations should be in full working order and should have been wiped clean for viruses and malware. The other need that this process addressed was that PC's would be available at all times, eliminating downtime and thus a less burden on IT departments. Today the process of restoring on restart is widely used by cybercafes and some training and educational institutions, and helps ensure that even if a user maliciously hacks the registry or downloads inappropriate programs, or infects a computer with a virus, the computer will be restored to a clean, working state. The reboot and restore process can either take place irregularly when a computer shows signs of malfunctioning, on a regular basis (e.g., on reboot) or even, in some cases, every time a user logs off or nightly. Drive Vaccine Restore on Reboot simplifies classroom PC management by securing the Windows operating systems and workstations from unwanted or malicious changes,. Using patented RollBack Rx technology and sector mapping hard disk algorithms - When required, the system will restore back to a previous point in time, in seconds.

The most common advice that an IT administrator gives when something goes wacky on a PC:

"Just reboot it!"

Restore on Reboot: Technology or Process?

Reboot to restore is a commonly used term in IT that refers to a technique in which the disk of a computer is automatically wiped and restored to a "clean slate", or master image every time the computer or device is restarted, rebooted or turned on.

The Reboot and Restore Concept: How it originated

Disk imaging is and always was considered the "Brick and Mortar" method of rebuilding a system from bare-metal. Hard drive cloning is still used today in most disciplined IT shops to recover a PC from bare metal. The process of rebooting and restoring is not a technology - it is a process of automation.

Since hard disk cloning was a time consuming and arduous task - it would require too much resources for IT departments where Public access computers were available. It would be too difficult for IT departments to spend resources to image PC's after public use (schools, internet cafes, kiosks etc.). Many organizations searched for ways in which the process of disk imaging could be automated. Thus, restoring PC's automatically on every reboot.

Reboot to Restore evolved into a process of re-imaging PC's. The idea being that the workstations should be in full working order and should have been wiped clean for viruses and malware. The other need that this process addressed was that PC's would be available at all times, eliminating downtime and thus a less burden on IT departments. Today the process of restoring on restart is widely used by cybercafes and some training and educational institutions, and helps ensure that even if a user maliciously hacks the registry or downloads inappropriate programs, or infects a computer with a virus, the computer will be restored to a clean, working state. The reboot and restore process can either take place irregularly when a computer shows signs of malfunctioning, on a regular basis (e.g., on reboot) or even, in some cases, every time a user logs off or nightly.

The reason that Restore on Reboot is a process and not a technology is that there are many products available using a wide variety of technologies that will restore PC's by rebooting. Some technologies essentially write-protect the hard drive, some use advanced Windows programming that makes the user believe that they are working on an unprotected system; when in actuality they are working in a buffer space that is wiped clean on restart and the previous baseline is restored on every system startup.

Hardware Recovery Cards: Reboot Restore cards begin

In the early 90’s Hardware based Restore cards were invented. Hardware restore cards were designed to protect a hard drive at the sector level, similar to what block level protection applications today. The card would sit inside the PC on a PCI slot and would redirect reads/writes on a drive to a buffer space.

Write-Protection for hard drive

Many eons ago we use to have “floppy disks” and in order to protect the data that was saved on the disk we would “Write-Protect” the disk by simply sliding a small piece of plastic. This would simply tell the PC that this disk can only be read but not written too. Another way to look at the technology of Reboot Restore would be to think of write-protecting the entire hard drive. Many of today’s solutions are based on this single fundamental. Do not allow users to make any permanent writes onto the hard disk.

Reboot Restore – Who is Reboot Restore really designed for?

Originally the Reboot to Restore solutions were designed for public access computer environments where the IT objective is to automate the process of maintaining a consistent computer baseline and to make sure that workstations are always available for multiple users. Public access computer environments are also known as shared computers.

Free Reboot Restore software solutions

The most notable freeware utilities used for restoring PC’s on every reboot are as follows:

Windows SteadyState: SteadyState (formerly called Shared Computer Toolkit) was part of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s ongoing drive to put computers into schools and libraries. SteadyState, was offered by Microsoft as a free alternative for preventing unwanted changes to public PCs. Microsoft has discontinued developing SteadyState since 2010.

Reboot Restore Rx: Reboot Restore Rx™ is a Freeware utility that makes it easy to maintain PC’s in small public access computing environments (classrooms, computer labs, kiosks, internet cafes, libraries, etc.). Every time you restart the PC’s - they will automatically reset to your desired baseline settings on every restart (hence Reboot Restore technology)

Commercial Solutions that can Restore on every Reboot

The only time you would look at commercial software designed to restore on reboot would be if you were looking are more advanced features or functionality beyond restoring every time the workstations are restarted. The most feature rich yet cost effective solutions are as follows:

Drive Vaccine: Drive Vaccine immunizes your PC's from any changes being made - making PC's bullet-proof and unbreakable! It is designed for public access computing environments, such as computer labs, kiosks, internet cafes, libraries, etc..

View the Reboot Restore product comparison chart for a full list of available features.

RollBack Rx: RollBack Rx™ is an instant time machine for your PC... A Comprehensive Windows System Restore solution that empowers users and IT administrators to easily restore their PC's to any previous state within seconds!

View the Reboot Restore product comparison chart for a full list of available features

Many users of legacy Hard Drive Recovery Cards have switched to Drive Vaccine, a more technologically advanced restoration utility for various reasons. In Fact, a majority of large school districts across North America depend on the PC restore on reboot functionality of Drive Vaccine.

How does Drive Vaccine Compare to Hard Drive Recovery Cards

Drive Vaccine PC Restore Plus integrates Reboot-and-Restore, a simple technology designed to keep computers fully functional and optimally configured. However, Drive Vaccine uses sector mapping technology to acheive its restore on reboot funtionality. This results in a more robust, faster, and more efficient computing experience. In addition to restoring on reboot, Drive Vaccine PC Restore Plus can Restore on User Log-Off and can also maintain a safe, unchaging "persistent" space for file and data storage. RecoveryGenius uses a buffering technique that requires protection to be disabled whenever system updates are needed. With Drive Vaccine, Systems can be updated without complicated scripting etc. The protection is always on; and users can easily backout of failed software/OS updates.

Simple to use: Just Reboot or Log-off and Restore

Since the protection is invisible; users feel as though they have absolute control of the system. Regardless of what they may attempt to do, including erasing files, installing software or even modifying registry settings, the computers will restore to their configured baseline settings every time they are restarted or when a user logs-off. Making the workstations perfectly configured and available for the next user.

Video Demo: Drive Vaccine In Action
Click To Watch Drive Vaccine In Action!

Drive Vaccines PC Restore on Reboot or Log-off drastically reduces computer maintenance and is widely used to protect public access computers, (ie. kiosks, public library computers, school PC Labs, internet cafes, etc) or shared computing environments where a workstation could be misused or damaged either intentionally by a malicious user or accidentally by a learning student.

Hard Drive Recovery Cards - The Evolution

WHO NEEDS DATA RECOVERY CARD

The PC hard drive recovery cards is protecting several thousands of PC’s worldwide and growing. Some of our clients are :

Support / Security Intensive environments: • Hard Drive Recovery Cards for Small & Medium Enterprises
• Hard Drive Recovery Cards for Large corporations
• Hard Drive Recovery Cards for Government agencies
• Hard Drive Recovery Cards for Large Institutions
• Hard Drive Recovery Cards for Banks
• Hard Drive Recovery Cards for Militaries
• Hard Drive Recovery Cards for Security services
• Hard Drive Recovery Cards for Telecommunication companies
• Hard Drive Recovery Cards for Hi-tech companies

Computers with multiple users:
• Hard Drive Recovery Cards for Schools
• Hard Drive Recovery Cards for Universities
• Hard Drive Recovery Cards for Exhibitions
• Hard Drive Recovery Cards for Education centers
• Hard Drive Recovery Cards for Libraries
• Hard Drive Recovery Cards for Computers labs
• Hard Drive Recovery Cards for Internet cafes
• Hard Drive Recovery Cards for Business lounges
• Hard Drive Recovery Cards for Home computers

Providers of first-level support services:
• VARs
• Assemblers
• Integrators • Hard Drive Recovery Cards for Support/maintenance organizations • Internal IT departments

Hard Drive Recovery Cards history

The hard drive recovery card was introduced over 20 years ago by many hdd recovery card manufacturers in Asia. The Recovery Card was designed to protect PC hard drives from inadvertant user changes as well as automating the maintenance of PC - consistant system configurations on every restart...

Initially, the primary difference between restore cards and recovery based software was, that on the recovery cards the software (firmware) is hard coded onto the actual card. In fact Drive Vaccine's birth originated as a hardware based recovery card. Many current hard drive recovery card manufacturers use the hardware card as a simple "dongle", as software piracy is still quite rampant in many developing countries.

Recovery Cards: Moving Forward

PC hard drive recovery cards : HARD DISK DATA RECOVERY CARD

The PC hard drive recovery cards is a powerful instant data recover card system for your PC. It provides you with the ultimate protection for any form of corruption or unwanted modification, accidental or intentional damage to your hard drive, hacking, viruses, tampering, and most other kinds of accidents including formatting.

It easily fits into your PCI slot. Easy to Install and Instant Recovery of Data.

1. Support DOS and Windows 95 / 98 / ME / NT /2000 /XP / 2003, better for servers. 2. Support all sorts of Motherboards, covering latest Intel 865. 3. Support Intel P4 Hyper-Threading CPU. 4. Support all sorts of HD interfaces, covering latest SATA. Max 256GB. This is a hardware-based PCI card that provides several levels of protection to an organization's infrastructure and easily integrates into your existing environment. The unique innovation of this technology resides partially in an original algorithm that converts system data into a binary code and combined with an exclusive dynamic buffer system places the information in the optimum location on your hard drive. The PC hard drive recovery cards's main objective is to eliminate computer downtime. This PC hard drive recovery cards hard disk data recovery card can withstand the most threatening form of viral strikes, spy wares, trojans, accidental formatting, unauthorized user attacks, etc., This powerful hard disk data recovery card protection will help you to resume business in seconds, not days. The PC hard drive recovery cards is a must in every organization and will give you amazing return on investment (ROI) through dramatic reduction in TCO. There may be some software's available in the market, but they cant do the wonder what the PC hard drive recovery cards does. This hard disk data recovery card almost cost you the same as the software, but several times faster in data recovery. Data recovery software's will take few minutes to finish the job whereas PC hard drive recovery cards, the hard disk data recovery card will finish the job in just few seconds. PC hard drive recovery cards : KEY BENEFITS Virtually eliminate business disruptions caused by computer problems. Enhanced computer protection and stability One use provides an instant return on investment. Dramatic decreased operational (TCO) and maintenance costs. Slashes technical support and service call requirements. Instant recovery puts you back in business and focused on your priorities. Quick turnkey solution with no learning curve Tight and routine control on the configuration of the systems Enforces policies PC hard drive recovery cards : KEY FEATURES Guards against accidental deletion or corruption of files, sudden power loss, hacking or tampering, operating system crashes, configurations changes, Windows registry crashes, power failure, Corrupted files, lost CMOS setup data, changing system settings, Trojans, worms and Cookies. Built in driver for most operation system (Win NT, 2000,XP require a supplied driver) A simple reboot of the system reverts to an operational state Protects from formatting including f-disk Plug-and-Play installation, in less than 1 minute Takes virtually no disk space Does not rely on software to function and therefore is not vulnerable to system damage Holds no data on card Instant protection after the installation process Rapid update of protected disk image Auto-Restore Intervals (Every time, daily, weekly, monthly, manually) Exceptionally small, approximately 2" long by 1" wide Invisible to end-user, risk of tampering is negligible Supports all file systems (FAT 16, FAT 32, NTFS) Support ATA33/66/100 / SATA disk interface Available in PCI and LAN versions CMOS protection, recovery, and hard disk parameter recovery Can installed anytime by anyone Prevents virus infection and corruption Protects against all software based changes Protects hard drives upto 256 GB (IDE and SCSI interfaces) Support all HDD brands Supports multiple file extensions Automatic recognition of your bootable partition and the moment you go through the installation process the protection begins Supports up to 8 partitions each containing separate software configurations such as different operating systems During start-up, a user may choose a Start-up Partition to boot. The user has the option to restore from a saved backup copy of the partition, erasing changes made by the previous user Supports multi-boots and third party multi-boot software Auto/Manual recovery mode selection Administrator password Support IBM 80386 PC and compatible Restores all critical system files along all user preferences, macros and bookmarks FCC/CE approve In recent years - corporation, educational institution and end-point users wanted the same type of robust hardware based protection; without the deployment issues of installation, driver configurations and upgrades. This requirement brought on a new breed of software based recovery/restore solutions. Schools and public access computing environment were content with the simple reboot and restore technology. However, many IT professionals wanted more features - such as; The ability to accept Windows & Antivirus updates and the ability to save data to a particular partition or Freeze space (Drive Vaccine). Today � many of the legacy hard drive recovery card manufactures are part of a dieing breed. Advancements in software have made recovery cards completely obsolete. Products such as Drive Vaccine have become successful replacements for legacy recovery cards. Why Hard Drive Recovery Cards are becoming obsolete: Hard Drive recovery cards are hard to deploy over large corporate environments. Hard Drive recovery cards are more expensive than software based reboot and restore solutions. Hard Drive recovery cards are used as a dongle to prevent piracy in third world countries � However, advancements in software licensing and authentication have made software based solutions more popular. Hard Drive recovery cards provide a "all-or-nothing" (reboot-restore) solution. Whereas software based recovery solutions have many features, making it usefull for a larger IT audience.
Hard Drive recovery cards require shipping � as opposed to electronic download of software based solutions. Hard Drive recovery cards have potential hardware conflicts with certain systems and OS drivers. Advancements in low-level kernal more drivers allows solutions like Drive Vaccine to provide robust protection, without hardware recovery card installation and setup procedures. Software based solutions can accept windows OS and antivirus updates without the need of unprotection status or unnecessary system reboots. More features with sofware based solutions. Hard Drive recovery cards can be seen a part of a Static Complete System Solution - when comparing it in our PC Evolution path. Recovery cards: How does it compare with Drive Vaccine? Many users of legacy Hard Drive Recovery Cards have switched to the more technologically advanced restoration utility Drive Vaccine for various reasons. In Fact, a majority of large school districts across North America depend on the PC restore on reboot functionality of Drive Vaccine. How does Drive Vaccine Compare to Hard Drive recovery cards Drive Vaccine PC Restore Plus integrates Reboot-and-Restore, a simple technology designed to keep computers fully functional and optimally configured. However, Drive Vaccine uses sector mapping technology to acheive its restore on reboot funtionality. This results in a more robust, faster, and more efficient computing experience. In addition to restoring on reboot, Drive Vaccine PC Restore Plus can Restore on User Log-Off and can also maintain a safe "Freeze" space for file and data storage. RecoveryGenius uses a buffering technique that requires protection to be disabled whenever system updates are needed. With Drive Vaccine, Systems can be updated without complicated scripting etc. - The protection is always on; and users can easily backout of failed software/OS updates. Simple to use: Just Reboot or Log-off and Restore Since the protection is invisible; users feel as though they have absolute control of the system. Regardless of what they may attempt to do, including erasing files, installing software or even modifying registry settings, the computers will restore to their configured baseline settings everytime they are restarted or when a user logs-off. Making the workstations perfectly configured and available for the next user. Video Demo: Drive Vaccine In Action Drive Vaccines PC Restore on Reboot or Log-off drastically reduces computer maintenance, and is widely used to protect public access computers, (ie. library public computers, school PC Labs, etc) or shared computing environments where a workstation could be misused or damaged either intentionally by a malicious user or accidentally by a learning student.