home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
The PC-SIG Library 10
/
The PC-Sig Library - Shareware for the IBM PC and Compatibles (PC-SIG)(Tenth Edition Disks 1-2804)(1991).iso
/
PC_SIGCD
/
24
/
4
/
DISK2445.ZIP
/
BACKREM.DOC
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1989-12-15
|
21KB
|
472 lines
BackRem 2.0 - User's Manual
------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright (C) 1989, Matrix Computer Consulting
Copyright (C) 1989, Stuart Morris
All Rights Reserved
November, 1989
Matrix Computer Consulting, 1-406 Baxter St.
Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada Y1A 2T5
BackRem 2.0 User Manual - 1
------------------------------------------------------------
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Table of Contents.................................1
Copyright Information.............................2
Introduction......................................2
How BackRem Works............................3
Backups and Your Hard Disk...................3
Installing BackRem................................5
Configuring BackRem...............................5
The Configuration File Name..................6
The Backup Program...........................6
Number of Backups............................6
Number of Days Between Backups...............6
Running BackRem...................................6
Batch Files.......................................6
Special Backups...................................7
Forcing Backreq to Activate.......................7
Using a Different Configuration File..............7
Options When BackRem is Active....................8
Editing Configuration Files.......................9
BackRem 2.0 User Manual - 2
------------------------------------------------------------
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
Although this program is copyrighted and is NOT in the
public domain, it can be copied and used by any person
for personal, private use as long as the following
conditions are met:
- The program and/or its files be unchanged;
- The program and/or its files must not be included
or bundled with any other product, especially
other software, without the written permission of
Matrix Computer Consulting;
- No fee may be charged for the program and/or its
files, or for the service of providing the program
and or its files (other than legitimate connection
charges to computer bulletin board services)
without the written permission of Matrix Computer
Consulting;
- BackRem may ONLY be used by individuals for
personal use. Organizations and/or companies
wishing to use BackRem on a site license basis are
required to make licensing arrangements with
Matrix Computer Consulting.
If you like this program and feel like supporting the
author, a registration fee of $10 would be greatly
appreciated. Cheques should be made out to Matrix
Computer Consulting, and sent to 1-406 Baxter St.,
Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada, Y1A 2T5.
INTRODUCTION
Getting someone (including yourself) to do regular
backups can be a near-impossible task. When the user
and/or computer system is new, backups are done
regularly with enthusiasm. However, several months of
backups without the reward of a hard disk crash is
enough to rob even this task of its considerable charm.
Longer and longer periods go by between backups, until
the inevitable loss of several months worth of data.
BackRem (BACKup REMinder) is designed to be a reminder
from the system itself that it's time to do a backup.
The program calls up whatever backup program that you
use, and remembers the time and date of the backup. It
can also manage a cyclical backup system for sensitive
data.
BackRem 2.0 User Manual - 3
------------------------------------------------------------
IMPORTANT - BackRem does NOT and CANNOT do backups
itself. It isn't a backup program. Instead, it calls
other programs that you specify to do the backup. It's
up to you to make sure that the backup program that you
use is reliable and will do the job properly.
HOW BACKREM WORKS
When BackRem is run, it reads a configuration file that
contains information about the name and location of
your backup program, how often you want to do backups,
and the number of discrete backups you have in your
system.
If you've told BackRem that you want a certain number
of days to pass between backups, it checks the system
clock for today's date, and then compares that with the
date of the last backup. If the number of elapsed days
have exceeded the safety limit, and pops up with a
reminder.
If you have a cyclical backup system, BackRem remembers
which backup was done last time, and can prompt you for
the appropriate backup.
BACKUPS AND YOUR HARD DISK
Before going any further, a note about backups and your
hard disk. Doing backups is a pain. Anything that you
can do to make the experience less tedious will pay off
in more frequent backups. Try these steps toward a more
fulfilling backup experience.
- Get a good backup program. Floppy disk-based
backup systems are getting cheaper and faster all
the time. The less time you spend shuffling disks
in and out of your drives the better. A tape based
backup system is slower and more expensive, but
you don't have to do the floppy disk shuffle.
- You seldom need to back up your entire hard disk.
Most of the occupied bytes on your hard disk are
programs, and you already have those on floppy
disk, right? Then why spend 80% of your backup
time copying them to floppy disk again? If you
have a hard disk crash, you'll have to spend some
time re-configuring and installing, but the time
you'll save during the backup itself pays for
itself a hundred times over.
BackRem 2.0 User Manual - 4
------------------------------------------------------------
- If you still feel that you have to back up your
entire hard disk, create two backups: A volatile
data backup done frequently, and a second system-
wide backup done less frequently. BackRem can
handle multiple backups with ease.
- Arrange your hard disk properly so that backups
can be done to entire branches of subdirectories.
For example, if you have a lot of word processing
and database files that need backing up, put them
into a subdirectory system something like this:
ROOT +----- APP +----- (application programs
| +----- here - no volatile
| +----- data)
|
+----- DATA +----- PROJECT (all user data
| +----- DATABASE goes in this
| +----- GRAPHICS area)
| +----- ETC
|
(etc)
This keeps things simple: all your volatile data
is stored in the same branch. All you have to do
is tell your backup program to back up \DATA and
all its subdirectories.
- Use multiple backup cycles for sensitive data.
Suppose you're doing a backup of your critical
accounting data, and a power surge flattens both
your hard disk AND your backup? What then? Or what
if your hard disk crashes, you go to restore your
carefully backed up data, and you find that the
disks are bad? Not good.
The solution is to do a multiple backup cycle.
EG - do three separate backups of the same data.
You do backup "A" on Monday, backup "B" on
Tuesday, backup "C" on Wednesday, and backup "A"
on Thursday. You use more disks, but it's easy and
it's safe. It also has the additional advantage of
allowing you access to data from several backups.
If you've ever corrupted a database, gone to the
backup and found that also corrupted, you'll see
the advantage of this feature.
BackRem 2.0 User Manual - 5
------------------------------------------------------------
INSTALLING BACKREM
All the BackRem files should be in the same
subdirectory (BACKREM.EXE, BRCONFIG.EXE, and *.BRC
files). The backup program that you use does NOT have
to be in the subdirectory, but you have to tell BackRem
where the backup program is. The BackRem files can be
on any drive, but it's strongly recommended that they
be installed on a hard disk.
If BackRem and BRConfig are placed in a directory on
the DOS Path, then they can be called simply by typing
their names. Otherwise they have to be called by typing
in their full path and filename.
If BackRem and BRConfig are being used under DOS 3.0 or
higher, they can find their configuration files
themself by searching the directory that their program
files are stored in.
CONFIGURING BACKREM
Before BackRem can be used, it has to be configured
first. This is done using the BRCONFIG program (Backup
Reminder CONFIGuration). BRConfig allows you to create
and edit the BackRem configuration files, letting it
know things like the name and location of your backup
program, how often you'd like a reminder to back up,
and the number of backup cycles that you intend to use.
To run BRConfig, type in its name on the command line,
followed (optionally) by the name of the configuration
file that you're going to work with.
BRConfig will ask you for four pieces of information:
- the name of the configuration file to work with;
- the name and location of your backup program;
- the number of backups in your backup cycle; and
- the number of days that should elapse before a
backup reminder.
BackRem 2.0 User Manual - 6
------------------------------------------------------------
THE CONFIGURATION FILE NAME
When you call BackRem without specifying a
configuration file name, it looks for its default
configuration file BACKREM.BRC. If you only do one type
of backup on your system, this is the file you want to
configure.
If you tell BRConfig that you want to edit a
configuration file that doesn't exist, it'll ask you if
you want to create a file of that name.
THE BACKUP PROGRAM
When telling BRConfig the name of your backup program,
you should specify the full pathname, the filename
extension (.EXE, .COM. or .BAT), and include any
command line parameters. After pressing ENTER, BRConfig
will make sure that the file exists. If it doesn't,
it'll let you know.
NUMBER OF BACKUPS
If you use a multiple backup cycle, enter the number of
backups that you use in this field. BackRem can handle
up to 5 backups in a cycle, and it labels them A to E.
NUMBER OF DAYS BETWEEN BACKUPS
If you want BackRem to pop up every time it's called,
this field should contain "0".
However, if you're calling BackRem from a batch file
(like the Autoexec.bat file), you should set this to
the number of days that you feel it's safe to pass
between backups. If you want to perform a backup every
week, enter "6" in this field. This way, every seventh
day, BackRem will pop up when you turn on your system.
RUNNING BACKREM
BATCH FILES
BackRem is really designed to be called from a batch
file, particularly from the Autoexec.bat file. For
example, if you have BackRem configured to be activated
after 3 days have elapsed without a backup, and BackRem
is called by your Autoexec.bat file, BackRem will check
the system date every time you turn on or boot your
system. If three days or less have elapsed, you'll just
BackRem 2.0 User Manual - 7
------------------------------------------------------------
get a message on your screen indicating the number of
days since your last backup.
After the specified number of days is exceeded, the
full BackRem screen will pop up and ask you if you want
to do a backup. If there isn't time to do a backup, you
can tell it to shut up, and it will, but it'll pop up
again the next time you boot.
Once a backup is done, it'll go dormant again until the
number of days since the last backup has been exceeded.
SPECIAL BACKUPS
If you want BackRem to be run every time you run your
accounting program, you should tie BackRem into the
batch file that you use to call the program. For
example, if you were using an accounting package called
"ACCOUNT.EXE", you might have a batch file along these
lines:
CD \DATA\ACC_DATA
\UTIL\BACKREM
\APP\ACC\ACCOUNT
CD \
This way, every time the accounting program is run,
BackRem checks to see when the last backup of the
accounting data was done.
FORCING BACKREM TO ACTIVATE
Sometimes you may wish BackRem to activate no matter
how many days have elapsed since the last backup
(before testing some potentially disk-damaging
software, for example). Simply call BackRem with a "/F"
on the command line. For example, if you had BackRem in
a subdirectory called \UTIL, you could force it to
activate by typing:
\UTIL\BACKREM /F
USING A DIFFERENT CONFIGURATION FILE
Suppose that you wanted to use BackRem for two separate
backups? For example, if you did a regular backup of
your volatile data, but also did a complete system
backup once per month, you could set up a separate
configuration file for the system backup called
SYSTEM.BRC. Then, in your Autoexec.bat file, you could
have the following two lines:
BackRem 2.0 User Manual - 8
------------------------------------------------------------
\UTIL\BACKREM
\UTIL\BACKREM SYSTEM
The first line calls BackRem without specifying a
configuration file. This makes it use its default
configuration file BACKREM.BRC.
The second line calls BackRem, but tells it to use the
information in a configuration file called SYSTEM.BRC.
Note that unless a subdirectory name is included with
the configuration filename, BackRem will look for the
configuration file in the same subdirectory as the
BACKREM.EXE file, NOT the current subdirectory.
OPTIONS WHEN BACKREM IS ACTIVE
When BackRem has been activated, it displays a window
in the centre of the screen showing the times and dates
of the last five backups. If you're on a multiple
backup cycle, it'll also show the letters of the
backups (A, B, C, etc).
In a window near the bottom of the screen, it'll tell
you how many days have elapsed since the last backup,
and asks if it should do one now. At this point you
should type "Y" for Yes, "N" for No, or "R" for Re-do
the last backup.
If you respond with "N" for no, BackRem will simply
terminate. If you respond with "Y" for yes, BackRem
will tell you to prepare your backup before continuing.
You can press the ESC key at this point to back up, or
any other key to proceed with the backup.
At this point, BackRem runs the backup program that
you've specified. Once it has finished, control of the
computer returns to BackRem, and the configuration file
is updated.
IMPORTANT - BackRem has no way of knowing whether the
backup was successful or not. If the backup is messed
up for some reason, run BackRem with the a "/F" on the
command line (see above) and choose "R" to re-do the
backup. It's also strongly recommended that you test
your backup on a regular basis to ensure that your
backup program is working properly and that the data
being backed up is valid.
BackRem 2.0 User Manual - 9
------------------------------------------------------------
EDITING CONFIGURATION FILES
BackRem's configuration files can be re-edited at any
point using BRCONFIG. Dates and times of backups will
be retained, even if the number of days between backups
or number of backups in a cycle is changed.
