ImageStor is an easy-to-use data management program. It provides a quick method for backing up and restoring your entire system drive or volume.
To get help on a specific item on an ImageStor screen, select the desired item using the mouse or keyboard. Then, press [F1]. A help topic describing that item is displayed.
Copy Source
Select the device containing the data to be backed up from the drop-down list. Scroll through the list of available devices by using either your mouse or the down-arrow key on your keyboard.
Make Diskette]
A bootable disk contains the programs and files necessary to load your system and restore data to your primary hard drive or volume. In the event of a system crash, you can use the bootable diskette and the backup you create with ImageStor to restore your system.
To create a bootable diskette, follow the steps below:
1. Insert a blank, formatted diskette into one of your disk drives.
2. Select Drive A: or Drive B: to indicate the drive that contains the blank diskette.
3. Click Make Diskette now to begin the process.
Response: The DOS system files and the ImageStor program files are copied to the diskette.
Action: Should you experience a system failure, use this diskette to bring your system back up. ImageStor will start automatically when your system loads from this diskette. Use ImageStor to restore your data to a new disk drive.
Copy Help
It is important to backup your data regularly so that you can easily recover it in the event of a disk failure. The Copy function provides a quick and easy method of backing up.
To backup your data:
1. Select the drive you want to copy from the Source drop-down list.
2. Select the device to which you want to send the copied data from the Destination drop-down list.
3. Click Details to display more information about the source and destination devices you have selected.
4. Click OK to begin the copy process.
Restore Destination7
Select the device to receive the restored data from the drop-down list. This list shows all drives on your system or only the tape drives on your system, depending on how you set your preferences.
Scroll through the list of available devices by using either your mouse or the down-arrow key on your keyboard.
Restore Source
Select the device containing the data to be restored from the drop-down list. Scroll through the list of available devices by using either your mouse or the down-arrow key on your keyboard.
Restore Help
If you lose data due to a system failure, you can restore data that has been backed up with ImageStor by using the Restore function.
To restore your data:
1. Select the drive containing the data to be restored from the Source drop-down list.
2. Select the device to which you want to send the restored data from the Destination drop-down list.
3. Click Details to display more information about the source and destination devices you have selected.
4. Click OK to begin the copy process.
Preferences Help
You can set preferences in ImageStor to define copy and restore operations. Choose from the following options:
-- Copy: Choose whether you want to display all your system drives or only the tape drives attached to your system in the Destination drop-down list.
-- Restore: Choose whether you want to display all your system drives or only the disk drives attached to your system in the Destination drop-down list.
-- Image File: Set the directory (perhaps on a network drive) where you want ImageStor to access an "image file". A special file (DEVIMG.ISF) will be available in that directory as either a Source or Destination for ImageStor transfers. The directory you specify must already exist.
You can select an option by clicking it with the mouse. If you have no mouse, you may use the tab key to get to the desired group, then the up and down arrow keys to select the desired option.
Custom .DSK Configuration Files
When an ImageStor boot diskette is created, your hard disk's CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files are normally scanned to locate needed drivers. This automatic scan will usually locate DOS mouse drivers and ASPI SCSI drivers, and will transfer them to the boot diskette so that you can use your mouse and SCSI drives to restore a disk image.
There are some cases when the automatic scan is not sufficient. For example, Windows '95 does not require or ship with DOS mouse drivers. This is not a problem when running ImageStor under Windows '95, since mouse services are automatically provided.
But the ImageStor boot diskette simply runs DOS. To use the mouse when running from a boot diskette, a DOS mouse driver must have been available to ImageStor when that diskette is made.
That's where the CONFIG.DSK and AUTOEXEC.DSK files come in handy. You can use these files, which you create in the ImageStor installation directory, as an alternate way to tell ImageStor which DOS drivers it should copy to the boot diskettes it creates.
By using the .DSK files, you don't have to complicate your actual CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files with real mode DOS drivers which may be unnecessary in your normal working environment.
In addition, you can use the AUTOEXEC.DSK file to specify network drivers to load when booting the ImageStor diskette. Because there are so many possible network driver configurations, the normal AUTOEXEC.BAT scan does not attempt to locate and copy these components.
Here are some short sample .DSK files.
Sample CONFIG.DSK:
DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\OLDMOUSE\MSCMOUSE.SYS
DEVICE=C:\DOSASPI\ASPI2DOS.SYS
Sample AUTOEXEC.DSK:
REM Note that drivers may even be on a shared
REM network volume during diskette creation...
F:\NVLDRVR\IPX.COM
F:\NVLDRVR\NETX.COM
Make sure to place the .DSK files in the ImageStor installation directory, even if the drivers themselves are located elsewhere.
EFILE_HELP:
PREF_BUTTON_HELP;
COPY_DESTINATION<
NOMOUSE_HELP=
NOASPI_HELP>
NOMOUSE_NOASPI_HELP
Using Image Files
ImageStor can transfer disk images either to another disk, a tape, or an "image file". An image file is a standard DOS file on another disk (or perhaps on a network server disk). This file contains the binary image of a disk's partition(s), and can be used to restore the entire disk contents elsewhere.
ImageStor allows you to specify the drive and subdirectory to which a disk image will be copied, or from which an image can be restored. The name of the file in this subdirectory is DEVIMG.ISF.
* Use the Image file section of the Preferences screen to set the image file path.
In order to copy a disk image to a DEVIMG.ISF file, there must be sufficient free space on the destination drive to hold the source image.
Preference screen buttonsn
The Preferences screen contains three action buttons:
OK saves the currently displayed preferences. Pressing the Enter key while editing the Image file path is equivalent to using the OK button.
Set defaults establishes ImageStor standard preferences.
Undo causes the displayed preferences to revert to what they were when the Preferences screen was opened.
Copy Destination
Select the device to receive the backup data from the drop-down list. This list shows all drives on your system or only the tape drives on your system, depending on how you set your preferences.
Scroll through the list of available devices by using either your mouse or the down-arrow key on your keyboard.
You may copy to an "image file", rather than a device. First enter the drive:\directory in the Preferences, Image File page. The file DEVIMG.ISF will now appear as a valid destination in the Copy page.
Mouse not detected
To run this program without the mouse, you may:
* Use the Alt+<underlined character> keys to change pages. For example, Alt+M selects the Make Diskette page.
* Use the Tab key to move from control to control.
* Use the Enter key to activate a button.
* Use the Up or Down arrow keys to select items in a list.
* Press either F3 or Alt+F4 to terminate ImageStor.
To run ImageStor with a mouse you must load a DOS mode mouse driver (MSCMOUSE, for example) either in CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT unless you are running under Windows '95.
To guarantee that ImageStor boot diskettes contain the needed driver, you must either:
* Load the mouse driver via CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT in the root directory of your C: drive.
- or -
* Place the mouse driver in the root directory of your C: drive.
- or -
* Use the alternate CONFIG.DSK or AUTOEXEC.DSK files you can create in your ImageStor installation directory. For more details on CONFIG.DSK and AUTOEXEC.DSK, see the help topic "Custom .DSK Configuration Files".
ASPI SCSI driver not detected
Unless you're running Windows '95, you must install a DOS mode ASPI driver (ASPI8DOS.SYS, for example) in CONFIG.SYS in order for ImageStor to access some SCSI devices, particularly SCSI tape drives.
Although SCSI disk drives can often be accessed without ASPI, you will notice improved ImageStor disk performance when ASPI is present.
To guarantee that ImageStor boot diskettes contain the needed driver, you must either:
* Load the driver via CONFIG.SYS in the root directory of your C: drive.
- or -
* Place the driver itself in the root directory of your C: drive.
- or -
* Use the alternate CONFIG.DSK file you can create in your ImageStor installation directory. For more details on CONFIG.DSK, see the help topic "Custom .DSK Configuration Files".
Neither mouse nor ASPI detectedu
To run this program without the mouse, you may:
* Use the Alt+<underlined character> keys to change pages. For example, Alt+M selects the Make Diskette page.
* Use the Tab key to move from control to control.
* Use the Enter key to activate a button.
* Use the Up or Down arrow keys to select items in a list.
* Press either F3 or Alt+F4 to terminate ImageStor.
For details about how to use mouse drivers under ImageStor, see "Mouse not detected".
To run ImageStor without ASPI, you may use the Preferences, Image File page to assign an existing subdirectory on another disk drive (including a mapped network drive) where an "image file" will be created. This file can then be used for disk copy and restore operations. See "Using image files" for details.
For details about how to use ASPI drivers for SCSI devices under ImageStor, see "ASPI SCSI driver not detected".
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