SPACE 2/SPACE - Library 2 - Volume 1.iso/apps/700/elfback/elfback.doc

Text File | 1993-01-15 | 6KB | 129 lines

                         E.L.F Software
                       ELFBACK User Guide

I. General Description

     ELFBACK.PRG provides an easy way to do hard disk backups for
the TT030 platform.  It uses LHARC.TTP to compress the files, and
uses a built-in ramdisk (similar to TURTLE) to speed up I/O.
     Like TURTLE, it uses the "archive bit" in the file directory
to indicate that the file has been archived (for use with
incremental backups).
     It also allows you to inspect each floppy before you write
on it, and to either reformat, erase (faster than reformatting),
or use the remaining space on the floppy and preserve the
existing files.
     Files with an LZH extension will not be backed up (a
limitation of LHARC). You can use LHARC.TTP to restore all or
some of the files (see LHARC documentation).

II. Select Drive

     The first menu is used to select the hard disk drive to be
backed up, and whether to back up the entire disk or only a those
files in a given folder (including all folders in that folder,
etc.).  Note: folder, directory, and pathname all mean the same
thing, more or less.

III. Select Directory

     If you click the "Select Pathname" button, you will now see
the file selector.  Your only goal here is to set the Directory
name (the long line of text above the directory listing).  The
filename selected (the short line of text to the right of the
directory listing) will be ignored (unless it is a folder).
     If you specify a file extension or partial wildcard, only
matching files will be backed up.  For example, "C:\*.DOC" will
back up all "DOC" files on drive C.  "D:\CODE\TEST.?" will back
up all files in the "D:\CODE" folder named "TEST" and any one
letter extension, such as "TEST.C", "TEST.H", and "TEST.O".
     If you click the "Cancel" button, the program will quit.

IV.  Options Menu

     Here you can set the file name of the LZH file to be written
to floppies.  Note: the name will automatically end with "1",
which increments to "2" etc. as each floppy is filled.
     If you click the "Files" box, ELFBACK will display the
number of files which will be backed up using the current option
settings.
     The "FULL" option backs up every file, whereas the
"Incremental" option only backs up those files which have not
been backed up before, provided the "Set Archive Bit" was
selected during the previous backup.
      The "No *.BAK" option means that no files with a BAK
extension will be saved (OK, so it's a personal hang up).

V.   Insert new Floppy

     You will now be asked to insert the floppy on which you wish
to write the LZH file.  The ringing will stop as soon as you move
the mouse or press any key.  Click "A" for drive A or "B" drive
B.

VI.  Verify Floppy

     If the disk is already formatted, the file selector will now
appear so that you can inspect the floppy and decide whether you
really want to reformat or erase it.  If you have the Universal
Item Selector, you can also selectively delete files, etc.  You
can even rename the LZH file at this point.
     If you swap floppies, clicking the bar above the directory
listing will produce a new listing.  Once you have found a floppy
you don't mind losing, click "OK".  The "Cancel" button
allows you to quit the program.

VII. Floppy Options

     "As Is" will use the remaining space on the floppy,
preserving all existing files.  "Erase" wipes out the directory
and FAT, which achieves the same effect as deleting all files
(only much faster).  "Reformat" will reformat the floppy.
     The reformat menu is pretty self explanatory.  The default
settings are for maximum floppy size, but may not be readable by
other computers. "Cancel" can be used to either quit the program
or return to the Verify Floppy step.

VIII. Status Display

     At this point you might want to go do something else.  The
computer will start ringing when it's time to insert a new
floppy.  But if you have nothing better to do, you can always
watch the status display.
     The top slide bar (containing the pathname) shows how much
of the hard disk you have processed.  The middle slide bar shows
how much of the ramdisk has been filled (maximum equals the
available space on the floppy).  The bottom slide bar shows how
much of the LZH file has been copied from the ramdisk to the
floppy (which obviously doesn't start until the ramdisk is filled
or the backup is complete).
     The next two lines of text shows the filename currently
being processed.  Don't get worried if you see " * Failed"
appear.  This just means that the resulting LZH file was too big
to fit on the floppy (see next section).  The last file added
will be removed and a smaller one will be tried.  Also, the
filenames will be displayed a second time (after the floppy is
written) when the archive bits are being set.  If you blink,
you'll miss it.
     Finally, "Size:" is the size of this file (uncompressed) in
bytes.  "Files:" is the number of files left to go, "Floppy #" is
the index of the current floppy disk.

IX.  Compression

     Since ELFBACK doesn't know how large a file will be after
compression, it chooses the largest file it "thinks" will fit in
the available space.  If the compressed file doesn't fit, it
remembers how large the compressed file is, so any given file
will only have to be compressed at most two times.

X.   Errors

     Standard Out is redirected to a file LHARC.LOG, which will
preserve any error description for posterity (see LHARC
documentation).  Also, if an error occurs while the ramdisk is
active, the file selector will appear to allow you to save the
contents of the ramdisk to some other floppy or hard disk.