DATASTOR Shield™ Professional Backup 9.0 Release Notes

This document contains the release notes for all production releases of DATASTOR Shield™ Professional version 9.0. The latest update is 9.0.3224.2 and was released on September 16, 2022.

RESOLVED ISSUES

Below is the list of issues that have been resolved in each publicly released build.

Resolved in build 9.0.3224.2 - September 16, 2022

Resolved in build 9.0.3224.1 - July 25, 2022

Added (Errors and Warnings) to subject line for Forward on Error checkup report
Added /minimal option export settings option to excluded roll-over logs and the VLM cache
Added TickCountAsString64 for large timespans
Enhanced export option to store minimal VLM cache info (excluding .bak and extraneous .dat files) to reduces export size
Fixed checkup report stats for level 3 verify
Fixed checkup report unexpected termination when Archive Manager service is not running
Fixed checkup report uninitialized finish time to report N/A
Fixed issue with quarantined items -restore option failing on command line parse
Improved Forward-On-Error report to only include detected errors and warnings in report
Improved handling of corrupt configuration files
Updated Inactive Archive criteria from last restore point < Yesterday-Midnight to < One-Week-Ago
Updated default export configuration chunk size 256 MB
Various other stability and performance improvements

Resolved in build 9.0.3094.1 - March 15, 2022

Updated System Recovery Environment (SRE) to WinPE base version to Windows 11
Fixed SRE issue with target volume assignment wasn't cleared when subsequently unchecked
Fixed SRE issue displaying Access Denied message in restore log related to posting EventLog message
Added to SRE display of restore boot mode on launch of SRE
Added to SRE informational message when restore boot mode (UEFI or Legacy-BIOS) is different from restore-point
Added to SRE explicit partition conversion to MBR for to handle issue with previous GPT partitions
Added to SRE Advanced Options to Restore Confirm page
Added to SRE option to save restore logs to restored system drive
Added to SRE option to secure erase target partition before restore
Added to SRE option to use existing partition layout for faster slip-stream restore
Added to SRE command line boot mode override /UEFI or /Legacy to force restore boot mode
Added to SRE informational message during restore when partitions are being cleared
Added to SRE bytes processed to running status for restore
Disabled SRE Boost restore option when running restore with 1 CPU
Fixed issue with CriticalSection initialization to resolve issue with processing Quarantined Items
Fixed issue with object initialization for MapppedVolumes
Fixed issue erroneous file-not-found handling when uploading segments
Fixed issue with license activation/validation that occasionally fails
Fixed issue with Access Violation for -level 3 random content validation (not commonly used)
Added support for new API for disk partition layout
Added retry logic for reading/writing configuration file to address rare file contention issues
Added repair missing and random node selection to Verify Task Advanced Settings
Updated Copyright to 2005-2022
Various other stability and performance improvements

Resolved in build 9.0.2983.1 - November 24, 2021

Added code to save support end date with initial activation
Added datastor website contact to notice for failed activation
Added debug print to report activation PIN failure
Added logic to always check SupportExtension override for activated keys
Added ReservedFreeSpace store config parameter to override minimum free space required for very large object store volume
Added support end date status message on Pro About page
Added support for getting end date from activation server and including in Checkup Report
Added validate license check during software upgrade
Fixed bug with phone activation generating "activation failed. Call technical support."
Fixed download url typo
Fixed file system type check when loading object store parameters
Fixed 'Forward on errors to:' field not being persisted
Fixed issue with using "index" setting for enable/disable of search index
Fixed license auto-reactivation logic
Various other stability and performance improvements

Resolved in build 9.0.2824.1 - June 18, 2021

Added logic to track archive operation code during multi-process archiving
Added logic for detecting vmware virtual machine
Added check for vmware virtual machine
Added logic for validating software license as part of the Software update check
Added LicenseAlreadyInUse and VersionNotLicensed activation error codes
Added LicenseAlreadyInUse and VersionNotLicensed alerts
Added HTML help files for all languages
Added logic update/record license validation
Added quick scan option to search for segment numbers in .ndx and index*.dat files
Fixed issue related to VSS Snapshot error: Security must be initialized before any interfaces are marshalled or unmarshalled. It cannot be changed once initialized.
Fixed issue where free space remaining reported is different that actual (computed) space remaining
Fixed issue reverse iteration logic when deleting files and folder using -mirror restore (regression)
Fixed issue with expiration restore back from recycle bin
Improved CoInitialize / CoInitializeSecurity usage to address error handling and standardized MULTITHREADED usage
Improved impersonation with dynamic cloaking on Windows 8 or greater
Improved exception handling
Updated translations for Spanish, Italian, Japanese and Chinese
Updated Copyright 2021
Various other stability and performance improvements

Resolved in build 9.0.2593.1 - October 30, 2020

Added DATASTOR_LCID environment var for Setup language selection override
Added EFI boot mode detection for System Recovery
Added explicit Eval days to banner
Added logic to test access rights to Store for improved security against ransomware attacks
Added -repairmissing option to ARCHIVE/OBJECTSTORE VERIFY commands to repair missing information from configured backing store
Added rolling base year logic for keys with hard end-dates
Added system information and detection including boot mode for improved system recovery
Added trace statement to display expected record reference address
Added trace statements to track EDB check times
Added Windows 10 Dev Kit Support for WinPE 10 plus additional drivers for System Recovery
Disabled saving partial archive history results to reduce Task.history size and improve UI performance
Fixed handling of errors with file exclusion dialog
Fixed issue restoring files to long paths in multi-threaded restore mode
Fixed issue with clean up of bcd boot info temp files
Fixed issue with verifying and rebuilding task history files when corruptions are detected
Fixed link selection handling in System Recovery wizard
Fixed pre-req message for Server 2016 / 2019 software install
Improved handling of Boot Mode detection using new SystemInfo.xml file stored with restorepoint
Improved handling of ReportEvent errors on WinPE based systems during System Recovery
Improved logic for handling large Task.history file parsing
Replaced default SRE to use UEFI based boot files
Updated -showlongpaths option to 220 chars for reporting long path during file system scan
Updated Spanish, Italian, German, French, Setup translations
Various other stability and performance improvements

Resolved in build 9.0.2370.1 - March 21, 2020

Added "HPE RDX" to supported RDX models
Added breadcrumb of Product Name to logfile banner
Added exclusion of Delivery Optimization Files to System Exclusions
Added feature to auto-repair missing blobs from a configured backing store
Added feature to exclude unneeded volumes referenced by Computer System plan system state
Added feature to perform multi-threaded level-3 verify
Added feature to rebuild archive task history if corrupted or missing
Added -histogram option to scan for reporting file size distribution
Added -local switch for dataset delete to remove local segments without requesting cloud delete
Added logic for faster store delete
Added logic for quarantining Task History files
Added logic to increment the reference count of deleted duplicate elements
Added reference for MSSQL 2019
Added usage for -partitions for erase volume command
Fixed errors reported when indexing catalogs with records for user encrypted files and folders during level 2 verify
Fixed issue where Content Cache was not correctly expiring data
Fixed issue with blocky rendering of startup task options when Display Scaling reset to value other that 100%
Fixed parameter usage for usesecureconnection
Fixed issue to replace absolute path with relative Configurations paths for SystemExcludes.xml plan file
Fixed issue where DataSet folder was not removed for dataset delete operation
Fixed issue where not all files for a point-in-time are deleted or restored from the recycle-bin
Improved handling for removing system files
Improved large sparse block file handling (for files like Windows Search Windows.edb)
Improved log message when reading corrupted history file
Improved messaging for low free space conditions
Improved 'RequestAction' to handle potential race condition on cloud request
Improved retry handling of ERROR_CRC and ERROR_SEM_TIMOUT
Lowered boost multiplier to use less CPU resource by default
Mods for better tracking of usage of security streams
Mods for loading XML fragments and converting to canonical form
Mods for tracking ObjectIds, Security stream, Long paths
Removed diagnostic messaging for affirming base blob resolution (DIAG_EVT)
Updated to copyright and patents notices
Updates to eval, support, product and purchase URL's
Updates to Help.chm

Resolved in build 9.0.2045.1 - May 1, 2019

Fix for v1 scheduler fails to end task, switched logic to v2 scheduler
Added Checkup Report notice for "hidden" plans
Added Checkup Report list of configured plans
Fixed issue with region date/time setting causing inconsistency in Checkup Report
Fixed issue with XML Checkup Report export using region setting for data/time values
Fixed issue with missing items XML Checkup Report export
Added better handling for reporting Offline media
Added reference identification for MSSQL 2017
Added support for 'Lenovo RDX' branded device
Fixed objectstore copy -item with compounding address stores
Mods for automated blob repair from backing store
Fixed link to Release Notes

Resolved in build 9.0.1800.1 - August 29, 2018

Fixed issue where content validation during backup is reporting zero byte 'size error' when running a Protection Plan that targets older version 8.0 formatted Stores (newer version 9.0 formatted Stores are not impacted by this issue)
Fixed issue where disabled search feature was reporting errors in the Event log. The search feature is now enabled for compatible stores
Fixed incorrect reference to notification tray executable

Resolved in build 9.0.1729.1 - June 19, 2018

Fixed issue with accessing update server reporting error 'Unable to contact the update server at this time. Please try again later.'

Resolved in build 9.0.1650.1 - April 2, 2018

Sets default schedule task priority to 'Normal' for improved backup performance
Added aiqutil command option to bulk update schedule task priority
Fixed issue with intermittent restore failures on large files introduced in build 9.0.839.1 (to address this issue users of build 9.0.839.1 or greater should upgrade to build 9.0.1650.1 or later)
Fixed issue with code signing SRE component
Various other product stability enhancements
Synchronized SRE with this release

Resolved in build 9.0.1500.1 - November 2, 2017

Improved Checkup Report to better show summary statistics, highlight partial or incomplete archives, better handle read-only archives in error state
Fixed issue with Checkup Report of Task Scheduler Refused Request (0x800710e0) and Task Already Running (0x0041301) errors
Various other product stability enhancements

Resolved in build 9.0.1315.1 - May 2, 2017

Windows Server 2016 setup and installation support (including updated translations for French, German, Italian)

Resolved in build 9.0.1221.1 - January 27. 2017

Fixed issue where SQL 2016 databases were not detected (Server only)

Resolved in build 9.0.1130.1 - October 28, 2016

Fix for issue: 'Unable to contact the update server at this time. Please try again later.'

Resolved in build 9.0.1109.1 - October 7, 2016

Updated translations for French, German, and Italian

Resolved in build 9.0.1101.1 - September 29, 2016

Disabled multi-threaded restore for older platforms (Windows 2008 R2 SP1, Windows 7 SP1 and older) due to system hang issues - see also https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2740374
Checkup Report enhancements
- New option to email the Checkup Report to add alternate recipients when errors or warnings are detected by the daily Checkup Report. This is helpful, for example, to automatically send the Checkup Report to a ticketing system or escalate the issue to management.
- A new summary section at the top of the report will highlight key stats like how many plans are configured to run and how many actually ran and if there were any errors encountered during the last run. The compact summary is designed for quick review, so if everything is running normally, there’s no need to dive into the full report.
- The Servers not Reachable section is a short list of servers that are configured, but not reachable during checkup report generation and do not have any plan results within the last 24 hours. These may need immediate attention.
- Elapsed plan runtime has been added to the Protection Plan Summary section. Plans with unusually long or short runtimes can be more quickly identified.
- The Store section now includes statistics for Total Managed data, New and Changed content and New stored data as well as a column showing total quarantined items, content repaired, and new quarantined items. A sudden increase in quarantined items can be an early indication of issues with storage or network devices.
- The Store Task section includes a short description of the work done; content verified, disk space reclaimed from a Purge tasks, or bytes copied to another store; useful for confirming certain tasks are completing their expected workload.
- A new Archive Summary section shows the status of every archive and includes information about the last known restore point and current status: Available, Verified, Unavailable, etc. Archives older than a day (midnight on the previous day) are highlighted to better show those that may be unexpectedly out-of-date.
Fixed issue where SRE was not correctly detecting BIOS boot environment on dual boot images
Fixed issue where SRE percent complete control triggered exception
Added common Intel Pro v21.0 Ethernet Drivers to 32 bit and 64 bit SRE ISO images
Disabled "Press any key to boot from CD/DVD" for SRE boot
Improved cache usage for plan histories
Improved support for ReFS managed volumes and stores

Resolved in build 9.0.986.1 - June 6, 2016

Improved error handling for multi-part restore
Added path size and filename size counters and max values for tracking long path names
Fixed x64 boot failure. Removed DotNet package which was causing BSOD on some systems
Fixed x64 SRE startup failure. Added correct platform version for SREWizard and aiqremote64.exe

Resolved in build 9.0.906.1 - March 23, 2016

Fixed issue where an unexpected overwrite of index was detected
Added read retries for non-eof zero length reads which was causing blobs to be quarantined under certain condition (not common)
Fixed issue where large missing.catalog results were not being displayed
Reverted redirect URL's for SRE and product Update to us bypass redirection. This was causing SRE and Update failures.
Added new System Recovery Environment (SRE) based on WinPE 10 (Windows 10) for improved bare metal device detection and handling
Fixed SRE crash when getting drive layout on WinPE 10
Fixed issue where certain extended Ascii codes in filenames were being filtered out
Fixed issue where DEL chars in filenames were being filtered out. The DEL char is a valid Windows file name character

Resolved in build 9.0.839.1 - January 11, 2016

Updated translations for German, French and Italian
Incorrect where-to-buy link
Enhancement: Add Activated On section to the UI to easily identify customers that are in support
Fix for terms referencing SSL which should say 'Use secure connection'
Fix for "Everything" plan failing with file not found errors
Fix API not supported on Windows 2000
Enhancement for large file multi-part threaded restore
Fix for Change Journal being check on non-NTFS volumes
Fix for excluded volumes that were still being selected for volume snapshots
Fix for bad chars written to XML

Resolved in build 9.0.717.1 (first public release) - September 11, 2015

146 issues have been resolved since version 8.0

What's New in 9.0?

Below is a list of the enhancements that have been added to the version 9.0 release since the 8.0 release of the software.

Performance Enhancements*

New Store architecture significantly improves performance of protection plans.
Protection Plans run up to 30% faster than in previous versions of the software.

*Please see important upgrade information in the Installation and Upgrade Notes section below.

SQL Server 2014

SQLServer Databases protection plan type now supports SQLServer 2014.

Windows 10 Support

Computers running Windows 10 operating systems are now supported by the software.

Installation and Upgrade Notes

You must be running version 8.0 or later DATASTOR Shield™ Professional Backup prior to upgrading.

Download DATASTOR Shield™ Professional Backup to a folder on your hard drive and then double-click the downloaded file to begin the installation/upgrade.
Follow the installation/upgrade wizard prompts to completion.

Important upgrade information

Only new "version 9" stores will take advantage of the new Store architecture for improved performance.

A new System Recovery Environment (SRE) 9.0 image file must be used for system recovery (BMR) from version 9.0 stores. This 9.0 SRE will also work with previous store versions. To download the 9.0 SRE image, open the System Recovery tab of the Options page and then click the Save System Recovery Environment link. If you have previously downloaded one of the 8.0 SRE image files, you may have to remove the SRE image files from the SRE folder before the new 9.0 SRE image file becomes available for download. Please use Windows Explorer to navigate to the software installation folder, then the SRE subfolder. Move or delete the 8.0 SRE image files, then return to 'Save System Recovery Environment' and the SRE 9.0 image file will become available for download.

Minimum System Recommendations

Windows Server 2008 R2, CPU 1 GHz or faster CPU, 2 GB RAM, 60 MB disk space for installation