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MMMMMMMMM\ /MMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMM\ /MMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMM\ /MMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMM \M/ MMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMM EEEEEEE .GGGGG .AAAAA. MMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMM EE GG AA AA ------- MMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMM EEEEE GG GGG AAAAAAA ------ MMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMM EE GG GG AA AA ------ MMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMM EEEEEEE 'GGGGGG AA AA ------ BBBBBBBBBB BBBBBB. BBBBBBBBBB BBBBBBBBB BBBBBBBBBB BBBBBBBBBB +------+ BBBBBBBBBB BBBBBBBB' +------+ | BBBBBBBBBB BBBB +-------+ | | BBBBBBBBBB BBBBBBBB. .AAAAA. CCCC. KK KK | | | | BBBBBBBBBB BBBBBBBBBB AA AA CC C KK KK | O | |-| BBBBBBBBBB BBBBBBBBBBB AAAAAAA CC KKKK | | |-| BBBBBBBBBB BBBBBBBBBBB AA AA CC C KK KK |___|___| BBBBBBBBBB BBBBBBBB' AA AA CCCC' KK KK ___________________________________________ | | | MegaBack | | | | Comprehensive Backup for PC Systems | | | | March 1992 | | | | User's Guide | | | | | | | | Patri-Soft | | 5225 Canyon Crest Dr | | Suite 71-358 | | Riverside, Ca 92507 | | | | Patriquin's BBS | | (DATA) 714-352-2825 | | (VOICE) 714-352-2820 | | (FAX) 714-352-1527 | | | | Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft | | all rights reserved | |_________________________________________| MegaBack Table of Contents Page i About MegaBack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 MegaBack Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Backing up with MegaBack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Full/Incremental Backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Multiple Hard Disks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Complements Tape Backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Select/Exclude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Reliability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 System Setup/Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Setting system options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Test to verify installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Quick Start guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Starting MegaBack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Backing up files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Starting from the menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Backup processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Backup termination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Restoring files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Restoring files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Initial restore file selection . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Restore now or list specific files . . . . . . . . . . 16 Selecting files from the selection list . . . . . . . . 16 Restore processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Restore termination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 How MegaBack works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Backup Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Backup Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Backup File Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 The Backup Volume Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 MegaBack reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Preparing backup volume sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 MegaBack's Main Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Backup Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Backup Type Selection Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Full Backup <F> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 MegaBack Table of Contents Page ii Incremental Backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 List Files <L> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Backup Status Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Status Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Totals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Current File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Disk Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Request for backup volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Recovering from disk write errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Completing backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Entering Restore Criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Listing Files to Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Restore File Select List Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Starting Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Restore Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Overlaying Files with duplicate Names . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Completing Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Restoring to an Empty System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Making a system recovery boot diskette . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Utility Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Selection/Exclusion Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Backup File Selection Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Marking a full directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Completing file selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Verify backup volume data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Build index from backup volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Reinitialize backup indexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Set alternate display colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Synchronize indexes with hard disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Command Line operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 command line format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Command parameter explanations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Specifying options through DOS environment variables . . . . . . 53 Backup Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Multiple Backup sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Making copies of backup volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 The Context Sensitive Help System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Operating system compatibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Backup device compatibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 MegaBack Table of Contents Page iii Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 I/O errors on disks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Technical Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 IMPORTANT WARRANTY INFORMATION TRIAL USE (SHAREWARE EVALUATION VERSION) WARRANTY: The Shareware evaluation (trial use) version is provided AS IS. Patri- Soft MAKES NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND/OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. REGISTERED VERSION ONLY WARRANTY: Patri-Soft warrants the physical diskette(s) and physical documentation provided with registered versions to be free of defects in materials and workmanship for a period of ninety days from the date of registration. If Patri-Soft receives notification within the warranty period of defects in materials or workmanship, and such notification is determined by Patri-Soft to be correct, Patri-Soft will replace the defective diskette(s) or documentation. The entire and exclusive liability and remedy for breach of this Limited Warranty shall be limited to replacement of defective diskette(s) or documentation and shall not include or extend to any claim for or right to recover any other damages, including but not limited to, loss of profit, data, or use of the software, or special, incidental, or consequential damages or other similar claims, even if Patri-Soft has been specifically advised of the possibility of such damages. In no event will Patri-Soft's liability for any damages to you or any other person ever exceed the lower of suggested list price or actual price paid for the license to use the software, regardless of any form of the claim. Patri-Soft SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ALL OTHER WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY AND/OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 1 About MegaBack MegaBack is a personal backup system for your computer. MegaBack software automates and organizes backup processing for your system. It also provides comprehensive abilities to restore backup files when needed. MegaBack is designed to be easy for all PC users. Its menus are simple and understandable. MegaBack makes backup simple by surrounding all complex backup terms and requirements with a menu driven system. MegaBack Features -- Lets you control backup type by selecting full volume, or incremental backup of updated files. -- Saves your time by letting you optionally view files to be backed up before backup begins. -- Simplifies restore by locating backup files quickly using backup indexes maintained by MegaBack. -- Reduce backup time and diskettes required through a comprehensive exclusion facility that lets you mark directories and files to exclude files from the backup process. -- Saves time and effort by Formatting new diskettes automatically. -- Saves backup space by appending daily backup of updated files to the last backup disk used. -- Saves backup space through very high compression and a smart disk storage techniques. Lets you store the maximum amount of data on a minimum number of diskettes. -- Provides flexibility by optionally restoring files to any specified location. -- Uses multiple storage media. Backup to diskette, removable hard disks, or optical disks. -- Provides transportability of backup data to other systems using portable backup volumes. -- Provides peace of mind through extensive capabilities to recover from backup errors and disk losses. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 2 -- Enhances backup data integrity by letting you create multiple backup disk sets to keep spare backup copies for your data. -- Adapts to your operation preference of menu or command line operation. -- Simplifies learning and operation through instant access to context sensitive help at any time (F1 key). MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 3 Backing up with MegaBack MegaBack keeps compressed and compacted copies of files on offline diskettes volumes and maintains records for every file in a backup index on your hard disk. The backup index lets you immediately examine all information about your backup files without having to scan through backup diskettes. MegaBack compresses each file as it is backed up to make maximum use of diskette storage. Compression usually results in storing files in 1/2 the space they would normally require on diskettes. MegaBack also compacts data on backup disks to improve performance and further reduce disk space required for backup. All files backed up to a single diskette are compacted into a single backup file. Writing this single file is much faster and more efficient than writing multiple files on a backup diskette. In addition to performance, compaction saves disk space used by unoccupied cluster space at the end of each DOS file. Unlike some other backup systems, MegaBack uses standard DOS disk I/O routines when reading and writing backup data. This makes MegaBack much more reliable as it does not depend on unsupported, nonstandard, I/O techniques that may fail on some computers. MegaBack organizes your backup volumes (diskettes) in simple numerical order so it is easy to file and locate backup volumes. All volumes are numbered sequentially starting at 1. Newly backed up files are stored in the next available space on the last used backup volume. Volumes are completely used before new volumes are started. MegaBack tracks volumes by number and records information about the exact location of every stored file in its hard disk index. MegaBack's backup index provides a backup directory containing valuable information about every file backed up. The backup index lets you determine if you have a backup of any file from any directory, and tells you the date and time the backup was made. The following information is maintained about every backup file: File name Drive where file was backed up from Directory where it was backed up from File Size Date the file was created or last changed Time the file was created or last changed File attributes Date the file was backed up Time the file was backed up The number of the backup disk(s) holding the file MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 4 The compressed size of the backup file When you need to restore files or an entire volume, you specify the drive, directory, and file information for all files to be restored. These specifications may be for an exact file or may specify wildcard names for qualifying multiple files. MegaBack can immediately restore all matching files, or it will provide a scrollable selection list for you to select one or more files to be restored. Once you have selected files to be restored, MegaBack determines where the backup files are stored, and requests volumes by number. This organization lets you keep many volumes of backup data while still maintaining easy access to any file. Full/Incremental Backup It is not reasonable to expect you to take the time to backup your entire hard disk volume every time you want to backup. MegaBack provides two backup types. Full backup backs up all files on your hard disk. Use Full backup the first time you use MegaBack, and then periodically to refresh your backups. Full backup is only needed when you have used all your backup disk volumes and want to condense multiple backup copies of the same file down to a single copy. It is also useful after you have deleted many files from your hard disk and want to free up backup disk space used to hold the files. Unbelievably, most users only need to perform a full backup about once every three months. They use incremental backup on a daily basis. Incremental Backup is the term given to the process of backing up only files that have been modified since they were last backed up. DOS always keeps track of modified files for you my marking their directory entries with an archive (changed) attribute. The DOS attribute command (ATTRIB in DOS 5.0) can be used to inspect or change the archive attribute. Whenever a file is created, copied to a new location, or changed by an application, DOS marks the directory entry with the archive attribute. If you have never run backup, the archive attribute will be set for each file on your system. Backup programs remove the archive attribute from files after they have been backed up. MegaBack's Full and Incremental Backups reset the archive (changed) indicator. For testing or special situations, you can disable resetting this attribute through MegaBack options. Incremental Backup can quickly identify all changed files on your system and append them to your backup set. Since many people only MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 5 update a few documents or files each day, incremental backup often only takes a minute or two a day. Since Incremental Backup only backs up a small amount of information, you may use incremental backup each day for months before needing a full backup. Incremental Backup has the effect of storing multiple copies of the same file in the backup set if the file is changed between backups. This would occur when you were editing a word processing document over a period of days. Each day, the current status of the document will be saved to the backup set. Although you may at first think this is a waste of backup disk space, it is really a very beneficial feature. Incremental backups of the same file provides a history of changes to the file. In the event you need to restore an earlier version of the file, you can always find it in MegaBack's backup set. MegaBack's Incremental Backup lets you backup often. In fact, you may want to backup more than once a day when working on critical information you cannot afford to lose. Since Incremental Backup only takes a minute, you won't hesitate to use it. Multiple Hard Disks MegaBack keeps track of all files by drive letter, and pathname so you may backup multiple hard disk volumes using the same set of backup disks and index. When restoring data, simply specify the originating drive to restore data from. Complements Tape Backup Those of you with tape backup systems know how time consuming tape backup can be. Tape backup is great for full volume backup, or for regularly backing up very large systems, but it is often not efficient for regular daily or even hourly backup. Tape processing takes too long! MegaBack does not currently backup to tape devices, but is still a great complement to tape backup systems. Consider using your tape system to do full volume backups of your hard disk drive. Then use MegaBack for Incremental Backup of changed data. Your incremental backups will only take a couple of minutes a day. You will be much more likely to take the time to do daily backup and your hard disk files will be better protected from loss. To restore a system from a combined tape/MegaBack backup, restore the entire backup from tape and then restore from MegaBack. MegaBack will update the changed files with its copy. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 6 Select/Exclude Not all files need backing up! This may sound a little reckless, but there are often many files kept on hard disks that are easily replaced and do not justify using backup time and space. Software developers don't need to backup intermediate compiler .OBJ files and test .EXE files. Word processing systems often create .BAK or .BK! files that are redundant copies of their original files. MegaBack provides a Select/Exclude capability to let you select only the files to be backed up, or to exclude files or directories from backup processing. Use this facility to reduce your backup time and the amount of backup disk space needed. MegaBack options indicate if you want to select files for backup, or back up an entire drive except specified files. You select how its processing is to operate. Reliability The most important question to ask of any backup system is how reliable it is? MegaBack has been designed to safely backup your files and double check the backups to make sure they are accurate and correct. In addition, file and index recovery utilities are provided to make sure files can be restored even when hard disk indexes are lost, or when sections of backup disks are lost or destroyed. MegaBack goes to great lengths to recover as much data as possible from your backup set in the event errors are found. Following are MegaBack's data integrity features: MegaBack uses standard, reliable, DOS I/O routines to read and write backup data. You do not have to worry about it being compatible with your system. You may activate optional DOS VERIFY checking to confirm data is properly written to disk. This causes DOS to verify each record is correctly written to diskette before writing the next record. A second MegaBack backup verification feature rereads all data on a backup volume before continuing to the next volume. Backup data is verified before backup is considered complete. MegaBack keeps a CRC check value on each backup file to confirm files are restored exactly as they were when they were originally backed up. A backup volume verify feature lets you compare backup data with actual hard disk files at any time. You may use it to verify a backup is accurate. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 7 MegaBack detects recovered, and unrecoverable disk I/O errors during backup, and asks you if it can take another backup of all files on the disk to a new volume. MegaBack knows if one file on the diskette has a problem, the diskette cannot be trusted and should be replaced. Restore processing recovers from disk I/O errors and restores all possible files from the bad disk volume. The backup indexes stored on the hard disk are also backed up to the last backup volume, and may be restored from the backup set if they are lost. If the backup indexes stored on the last backup volume are not recoverable, a MegaBack utility is available to scan individual backup disks and recreate the hard disk index. You may think all these precautions are excessive, but users have different and sometimes very stringent requirements for the integrity of their data. MegaBack strives to provide the best data recovery and integrity found in a backup system. You may optionally deactivate the verify features to improve your backup performance if you like. System Setup/Installation To install MegaBack take the following steps... 1. Place distribution diskette in any diskette drive. 2. Enter the following INSTALL command. (If you are not using drive A, substitute the appropriate drive letter as the first letter in the command.) A:INSTALL Once the installation is complete, you will find the following files installed in the selected directory on your hard disk: MB.EXE The MegaBack program file. MegaBack.HLP Contains the context sensitive help. The first time MegaBack is started it builds files it needs for its general operation. They are: MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 8 BAKOPT.DAT The options file. These options are set using the Setup option from the MegaBack menu. BAKVOLIX.DAT MegaBack's index containing information about each backup volume it maintains. BAKFILIX.DAT MegaBack's index containing information about each file maintained in backup sets. Note: Each of the installed file names begin with the letters "BAK". MegaBack allows multiple backup disk sets to be created. Each set is assigned a three letter identification. MegaBack's index and option file names will be prefixed with the three letter identifier on secondary backup sets so backup set data is maintained independently. Alternate backup sets will be discussed further in subsequent sections of this manual. Setting system options MegaBack is installed with default system options. Verify these options before using MegaBack. Enter the MB command from the DOS command line: C> MB<Enter> From MegaBack's Main Menu, select the SetUp function by pressing 'S' or by using the menu selection bar. MegaBack's options will be displayed. Examine and modify the options as they are appropriate for you. The following descriptions will help you decide what options to choose. Help is always available by pressing <F1> at any time. Drive to backup to/from? ------------------------ Enter the letter of the DOS device you will use to write backup data. This may be the drive letter of any valid DOS mountable disk device. You may use 5 1/4 or 3 1/2 diskette formats or large capacity demountable hard disk type devices. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 9 Level of compression desired? ----------------------------- Use the Right and Left cursor positioning keys to select the level of compression desired for data written to backup volumes. NONE Do not compress backup data. Will provide the fastest possible backup, but you will use additional backup disks. MINIMUM Provides about 40% compression of data but is not as slow as higher compression levels. This is the recommended level of compression. STANDARD Provides about 45% compression on data but is not as slow as MAXIMUM compression. MAXIMUM Provides 50-60% compression but is slower than other compression. Disk capacity? -------------- Specify the size of disk you will be using for backup. Each backup disk should be the same size. This size is used when MegaBack formats new diskettes for the backup set. If you incorrectly specify a size of a high density disk and place a low density disk in the drive, MegaBack will format the disk as a high density disk and format errors will be encountered. Backup drives: -------------- Enter the drives you wish MegaBack to backup. If left blank, MegaBack will request a drive letter. Otherwise, MegaBack will automatically scan each specified disk. Verify data after it is written? (Y/N) -------------------------------------- For data integrity, MegaBack can verify backup volume contents after writing all data to a backup volume. The verify process is performed just before you are asked to remove a backup volume from the drive. Verification rereads the entire disk to make sure the data is accessible. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 10 Synchronize backup index? ------------------------ MegaBack can check the hard disk to see if the files in the backup index are still on the hard disk. If they are not, then MegaBack will mark that record as deleted and will not attempt to restore that file. Use DOS Verify flag? (Y/N) -------------------------- DOS provides a Verify feature to check that data is properly written during disk write processing. This feature adds additional time to verify disk data during processing, but provides an additional level of assurance that backup data is properly written to disk and can later be accessed. This verification may also be activated through the DOS VERIFY command. Documentation about VERIFY may be found in DOS reference manuals. Enter 'Y' to have MegaBack activate the DOS VERIFY feature during its operation. We recommend you use this feature. Sound speaker tones when action needed? (Y/N) --------------------------------------------- If you dislike the speaker sounds MegaBack makes during processing, specify <N> to have MegaBack disable all sounds during its operation. When <Y> is specified, you will hear a quiet tic as each file is backed up. This gives you audible signal that backup is currently working. You will also be beeped whenever MegaBack is waiting for you to take an action, such as placing another volume in the drive. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 11 Use exclude/select facility as exclude or select? (E/S)? -------------------------------------------------------- You may setup MegaBack to backup selected files and directories on your hard drive, or to process all files except those specifically excluded. Enter <E> to make MegaBack's file selection facility an exclusion facility. Enter <S> to have the file selection facility specify all files and directories to backup. The file select/exclude facility is found in MegaBack's utilities menu and may be found by pressing from the main menu. Reset archive attribute on files after backup? (Y/N) ---------------------------------------------------- Backup processing normally resets DOS's archive attribute (indicating files have changed since backup) after backing up each file. This lets Incremental Backup locate only newly changed files during its processing. Enter <N> if you do not want the DOS attribute reset. You may want to specify <N> when testing MegaBack, or to run a special backup to a secondary backup diskette set. Reset archive attribute on files after restore? ----------------------------------------------- This option indicates how the DOS archive attribute will be set after MegaBack restores files. If set to N, MegaBack will mark the file as "Not backed up" and will backup the file at next backup time. Reccommended setting is Y. Test to verify installation After MegaBack is successfully installed you will want to take a few minutes to learn how it works and develop come confidence in it. You may test MegaBack without resetting the DOS archive (file changed) flag by setting the "Reset archive attribute" Setup option to <N>. Explore MegaBack's features by backing up and restoring files and directories. When restoring files, always specify an alternate restore target pathname so you will not replace the files on your hard disk during your evaluation. Since MegaBack allows multiple backup sets to be created, you can create a special backup set to test or demonstrate MegaBack. If you would like to use this feature specify /ID:TMP on the MegaBack command line or set a DOS environment variable with the backup set id desired. SET MegaBack=/ID:TMP MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 12 You may delete the test backup set by using the Clean option from MegaBack's utility menu. Backup volumes used for the test backup set may be reused for any other backup set. You do not need to delete the files on the disk before reusing them as MegaBack will do this for you. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 13 Quick Start guide If you dislike reading manuals and want to get right to the action, this section will get you started using MegaBack. Remember the <F1> key provides direct access to information about your current action in MegaBack. The context sensitive help system provides complete information for using the system. Starting MegaBack Use the MB command to start MegaBack. MegaBack may be started from any directory or disk. MegaBack uses indexes and options from the directory \MegaBack. You may place the MegaBack directory in your PATH environment variable (see your DOS manual) or may specify the pathname where the MB command exists as the command prefix. Following are some command examples: MB \MegaBack\MB C:\MegaBack\MB MegaBack can be run from the DOS command line using command line parameters. Command line parameters are documented later in this manual. This section assumes you are using menus to direct MegaBack's operation. We assume you have already used the Setup of the Main Menu to specify system options. If you have not done this yet, do it now. Backing up files 1. Starting from the menu... Select the Backup function from MegaBack's main menu. MegaBack will scan the selected hard drive to determine how many files exist on your volume to be backed up, and will also count all files that are marked with the DOS archive attribute as changed since their last backup. You will be presented with a selection screen that shows totals for full and incremental backup. These totals indicate how many files will be backed up in each type of backup, how many backup disk volumes are to be used, and approximately how long backup will take. The estimated backup time may be off considerably during your first run of MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 14 MegaBack since it has no history of your computer's performance. After the first backup, MegaBack uses the previous backup's performance statistics to estimate required time for backup. Four possible actions are possible from this screen. Use the cursor arrow keys to select an option and then press enter, or press the letter associated with the selection you desire. Full Backup MegaBack will backup all files on your hard disk. If you have selected or excluded files for backup, only those files designated for processing will be backed up. Full backup begins by asking if you want to start a new backup set or to continue adding to an already existing one. Once this decision is made backup processing will begin. Incremental Backup Process only files marked with the DOS archive (file changed since backup) attribute. These will be added to an already existing backup set. If no full backup has been completed, MegaBack will warn you before starting Backup. List Files You may obtain a scrollable list of all files to be backed up with Full or Incremental backup. After selecting this option, you will be asked if ALL files are to be listed, or if CHANGED files to be included in Incremental backup are to be shown. The list files feature lets you verify what data is to be processed before starting backup. It is especially useful to verify Incremental Backup in processing only those files you desire to be backed up. You may want to review this list and make changes before backup. ACTIVE KEYS: Several keys are active in the listing. F5 - Exclude all files in the directory of the current files. <SPACE>, <RIGHT ARROW> Exclude the specific file under the highlight bar. <SPACE> toggles ALT+D - Delete the file under the highlight bar. O Show Other information about the listed files. F10 - Save the changes made to exclude file. Exit back to main menu Press the <Escape> key to return back to MegaBack's main menu. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 15 2. Backup processing... MegaBack will present a backup status display. You will immediately be asked to place a backup volume in the output drive. Place any formatted or unformatted disk in the drive. IF THE DISK CONTAINS DATA IT WILL BE ERASED! Press <Enter> to indicate the volume is ready. Backup processing will progress while continually updating the status on the display. You will be asked for additional disk volumes as they are needed. Label each backup volume with the number indicated by MegaBack. It is usually sufficient to place a label with a large number on it on each diskette. 3. Backup termination... When backup processing ends, MegaBack saves its own indexes and options at the end of the backup data on the volume. This may be used if you need to recover the indexes on another machine. Restoring files 1. Restoring files... From the MegaBack Main Menu, select restore to begin processing. 2. Initial restore file selection... There are two levels of file selection in restore. Each level further qualifies files to be restored. At the first level, you indicate any pathname or filename wildcard entries to be used to select files to be restored. On the same display you can specify beginning and ending dates for files qualify for restore. Press <F10> after entering the information. You are not required to enter any data at this point. Press <F10> to proceed to the next selection display. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 16 3. Restore now or list specific files... MegaBack now asks if you want to restore all files found in the backup indexes matching the selection criteria, or if you want to review a list of these files and select specific ones to restore. If you have already entered enough information to have the proper files restored, you are ready to begin. Start restore by pressing <R>. 4. Selecting files from the selection list... Selecting <L> for List will cause MegaBack to list all files that qualify your selection criteria. Files will be displayed in a scrollable selection list. You may mark any number of files to be restored. Use the <Space Bar> to toggle selection on or off. Press <F1> key for other features of restore. You may sort the list, zoom it larger to fill the display and display alternate information about the backed up data. When finished with the selection list, press <F10> to begin restoring the selected files. 5. Restore processing... The restore status display will be shown and you will immediately be asked to place a specific backup disk in the drive. Press <Enter> to indicate the disk is ready. Restore will begin and its status will be reported until all files are processed. 6. Restore termination... When restore completes, MegaBack displays a message indicating it is done. Remove the backup volume from the drive. That's all there is to basic MegaBack processing. There are several features that have not been mentioned in this quick start section. Use the help system or browse this manual to learn more about the system. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 17 How MegaBack works Backup Volumes Different disk device types may be used to contain backup data. These devices may include 3 1/2 diskettes, 5 1/4 diskettes, removable hard disk devices, optical disk devices, and more. Due to this variety of backup storage devices, any backup storage media is referred to by MegaBack as a backup volume. MegaBack backup processing takes the files you select and writes them on backup volumes. Each file is written to volume in a compressed format. Each MegaBack backup volume contains two files. The first file is a backup volume label file identifying the backup volume as well as information about other volumes written before and after the volume. The second file on a backup volume contains all backup data written to the volume. This file contains any number of compressed backed up files and corresponding information needed to restore them. Since all files are written to a single output file, backup disk space is saved and backup performance is improved. To use volumes efficiently, each volume is completely filled before a new volume is started. Whenever a new backup process is started, MegaBack asks for the last backup volume used for the previous backup. It then appends new data being backed up to the same volume. Backup Sets A set of backup volumes is a series of numbered diskettes or disk volumes containing backup data. MegaBack uses only one set of backup data for any backup process. To use an alternative backup set you must start MegaBack with 3 character set identifier. Use the /ID:xxx parameter on the MegaBack command line. Separate hard disk backup indexes are created for each backup volume set. Basically, backup sets let you keep track of multiple backups on the same system. A common reason for keeping multiple backup sets is to manage a backup set for your own system while still being able to examine and even restore files from secondary backup sets created on other systems. To restore files from another user's backup set, start MegaBack with the /ID:xxx parameter to specify a secondary backup set name. Use MegaBack's index recovery utility to recover the MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 18 user's backup index from their last backup diskette. Now you may list and restore the files as if they were backed up from your own system. Backup File Index As files are backed up, an entry for each file is placed in a backup index maintained in the MegaBack directory on your hard disk. This index is always maintained on the hard disk. The backup index record contains all information necessary for locating and restoring files. The backup index makes it possible for MegaBack to list backup files without having to read backup volumes. When you restore a file, MegaBack uses its index to locate files. When files to be restored are selected, information in the index identifies the exact volumes needed to restore the file. MegaBack starts restore processing and asks you to place specific volumes in the drive as they are needed. The Backup Volume Index In addition to the backup file index, MegaBack also maintains an index about each backup volume. The backup volume index contains information about each volume and its status in the backup set. The index is maintained as a separate file in the MegaBack directory. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 19 MegaBack reference Preparing backup volume sets Before using MegaBack you will need to prepare a set of backup volumes. When using diskettes as backup volumes, start with a fresh box of the highest quality diskettes you can find. Of course, MegaBack can't tell the quality of your disks, but if your backup data is important to you, it is worth a few more cents per disk to avoid the problems and wasted time poor disks can cost you. Take the labels provided with the disks and using a large felt marker, number the disks sequentially 1 through 10 (or whatever). If you plan on keeping multiple backup disk sets, you should mark all the disks in a set with a set identifier. 5________ 4_|______ | 3_|______ || 2_|______ ||| 1_|______ |||| | |||| | O ||| | | || |_______| MegaBack can keep separate indexes for different sets of backup volumes. MegaBack only works with one backup set at a time and places secondary backup set names in the upper right corner of every display so you may be sure to use the correct disks. A good use for different backup sets is to use a secondary backup set name to restore files from another user's backup on your system. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 20 MegaBack's Main Menus Following are examples of MegaBack's main menu structure. The (...) following a menu item indicates the menu item takes you to another sub-menu. All other selections immediately take the action specified. The capitalized character on each menu line indicates the specific menu selection character that can be pressed to immediately select a menu item. You may use a mouse with a single click to select a menu option, or use the cursor up and down keys, followed by the <Enter> key, to select menu items. __________Main Menu__________ | Backup Processing | | Restore Processing | | Specify System Options | | Utilities Menu... | | Help Index | | Print order form | | Exit to DOS | |_____________________________| _______________Utilities___________ | Exclude files from Backup | | Verify backup volume data | | Build indexes from backup volume | | Reinitialize backup indexes | | Set alternate display colors | | synchronize hard disk with backup | | Quit to Main | |___________________________________| Backup Processing Backup begins by asking you to indicate the hard disk to be backed up. Following is an example: ______________________________________________ | | | Select drive to be backed up: | | | | ___ ___ | | | C:| | D:| | | |___| |___| | |________ <Enter> accepts, Esc exits __________| Use a mouse, the drive letter, or the left and right arrow keys followed by enter to specify the drive to be backed up. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 21 MegaBack begins backup by scanning the selected drive to determine the number and size of files to be backed up in either Full or Incremental backup processing. Status lines at the bottom of the display show the progress during this scan. The following display is presented to let you select the type of backup to be done: Backup Type Selection Display ___________________________________________________________________ | MegaBack Select Backup Type Desired F1=HELP | | | | ____________________ | | BACKUP ESTIMATES | | | | ________________ | FULL BACKUP | | | | <F> | | | FULL BACKUP |____________________| | | ____________________ | | Files: 1439 | | | | Characters: 30,483,331 | INCREMENTAL BACKUP | | | Disks: 85 | | | | Minutes: 60 |____________________| | | ____________________ | | INCREMENTAL BACKUP | | | | | LIST FILES | | | Files: 32 | <L> | | | Characters: 1,372,349 |____________________| | | Disks: 4 | | Minutes: 2 Arrows Toggle Selection | | <Enter> Confirms | | <Escape> Exits | | | | Process ALL Files on the Drive | |___________________________________________________________________| The Backup Type Selection Display shows you what files both types of backup will process, how many backup disks will be required for each, and the approximate amount of time that will be required. The estimated backup time may be off considerably during your first run of MegaBack since it has no history of your computer's performance. After the first backup, MegaBack uses the previous backup's performance statistics to estimate required time for backup. Four possible actions are possible from this screen. Use the cursor arrow keys to select an option and then press enter, or press the letter associated with the selection you desire. The box representing MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 22 the action selected will be highlighted and an explanatory line at the bottom of the display, will confirm your selection. Full Backup <F> MegaBack will backup all files on your hard disk. If you have selected or excluded files for backup, only those files designated for processing will be backed up. Full backup begins by asking if you want to start a new backup set, or to continue adding to an already existing one. Once this decision is made, backup processing will begin. Incremental Backup Process only files marked with the DOS archive (file changed since backup) attribute. These will be added to an already existing backup set. If no full backup has been completed, MegaBack will warn you before starting Backup. List Files <L> You may obtain a scrollable list of all files to be backed up with Full or Incremental backup. After selecting this option, you will be asked if ALL files are to be listed, or if CHANGED files to be included in Incremental backup are to be shown. The list files feature lets you verify what data is to be processed before starting backup. It is especially useful to verify Incremental Backup is processing only those files you desire to be backed up. You may want to review this list and then use MegaBack's exclude facility to exclude some files before backup begins. Exit back to main menu <Escape> Press the <Escape> key to return back to MegaBack's main menu. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 23 Backup Status Display ___________________________________________________________________ | ___________ M E G A B A C K | | | .. 100% | Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft | | | .. | Backup processing | | | .. | | | | .. | | | | .. | | | | .. | Total Completed Remaining | | | .. | Files: 43 0 43 | | | .. | Characters: 1,184,121 0 1,184,121 | | | .. | | | | .. | | | | .. | Path: D:\BUD\ | | | XX | Filename: FY1991.WKS | | | XX | Size: 4,397 | | | XX | Date/Time: 31JUL91 / 5:31p | | | XX | | | | XX | Disk statistics for drive A: | | | XX | Volume 1 | | | XX | >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>XXXXXXXXX | | | XX 0% | | | |___________| Total bytes: | | Bytes used: | | Percent Complete Bytes free: | |___________________________________________________________________| The backup display keeps you informed of the progress of backup. It contains the following information: Status Bar The status bar at the left side of the display gives a graphic status of the completion of MegaBack. Totals The totals lines show the number of files and total characters to be processed, completed, and remaining to be processed. Current File Shows information about the file currently being copied to diskette. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 24 Disk Statistics The disk statistics in the lower right portion of the display show the amount of space used on backup volumes and the space remaining. This is useful to help you to know when you will need another volume. For large backups you may want to wait to insert a new volume before going for that short break. Request for backup volumes Immediately upon starting backup you will be asked to insert a new volume in the drive. A message like the one following will be shown: _____________________________________________________ | Insert backup disk 1 into drive A. | | | | Press Enter when ready, or ESC for other options | | | | Waiting | |_____________________________________________________| MegaBack has searched its volume indexes and found volume one to be the next volume to use. Place volume #1 in the drive and press <Enter> to continue processing. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 25 Press <Escape> to be presented with additional options you have when mounting a volume. ______________[ Waiting for disk #1 ]_______________ | | | Select desired action: | | (You may safely quit at this point) | | | | ____ ________ ______________ | | |Quit| |Continue| |Start new disk| | | |____| |________| |______________| | |_____________________________________________________| MegaBack options indicate when you may safely quit processing. When a new volume is requested to hold the second part of a file that spans multiple volumes, you may not quit processing without having to restart backup for the file being processed. Select Continue by pressing <C> and you will be returned to the display requesting the volume to be placed in the drive. When MegaBack is requesting a volume from a previous backup, you may press <S> to start another new disk instead of appending new backup data to the last used volume. Use this feature when you do not have access to the previous backup volume. You might have stored the used disks of your backup set in another location, or temporarily loaned them to someone. Recovering from disk write errors If DOS should encounter a disk write error when writing to the backup volume, you will be presented with messages and options to select to continue from the error. This only applies if the DOS VERIFY flag (see setup) is set on. ______________________________________________________________ | A disk I/O error has occurred during backup processing. | | The file currently being processed may not have been | | safely backed up. Indicate how to continue: | | ____ _________________ _________ ________________________ | ||Quit||Continue Normally||Try again||Force new disk/try again|| ||____||_________________||_________||________________________|| |_____________________ <Enter> accepts ________________________| MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 26 This message is presented after DOS issues its message to RETRY, FAIL, or ABORT after a disk I/O error. If you selected RETRY and processing continued successfully, the file was backed up successfully. If you selected FAIL or IGNORE, the file was not backed up correctly. Select one of the following responses to indicate how to proceed after the I/O error: Quit Stop backing up immediately. Continue Normally The retry was successful and you want to continue backing up. If the error was caused by a faulty volume, you may want to Try again, or Try a new volume to move the data for the file from the questionable volume area. Try again Backup the file again on a new area of the same backup volume. This will skip over the faulty area of a volume. We recommend using Force New disk and try again over this option since it is better not to try and backup more data on a potentially faulty volume. Force new disk and try again (Recommended) Stop writing to the current volume. Ask for a new volume and start backing up for the same file again. The file will be written to the new volume and backup processing will continue. Interrupting/Resuming Backup Both Full and Incremental backup may be interrupted by pressing ESC at any time during backup. MegaBack will remember its status, and continue when you restart backup. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 27 Completing backup Before backup completes the following message is presented on the display. This message is for your information only, you do not need to take any action. MegaBack is letting you know it is saving a copy of its backup indexes to the last output backup volume. _____________________________________________________ | | | Saving Backup index backup to disk. Please wait... | | | |_____________________________________________________| Once backup completes, the following message will be presented on the display. This is to give you a chance to examine backup statistics before leaving the status display. Press enter to indicate you are ready to continue.. The last message shown by backup reminds you to keep track of the last backup volume used as it contains a copy of the backup indexes for emergency recovery. Remove the volume from the drive and file it so you can identify it as the last disk used. Turn it sideways, upside-down, backwards, or just place it in front of all other volumes. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 28 _______________________________________________________ | | | | | Backup complete. Remove volume from the drive and | | store so you may locate it if needed for recovery. | | | | Press <Enter> to continue... | | | |___________________<Enter> to continue ________________| An easy way to keep track of the last volume used is to store disk volumes with the used backup volumes behind the unused ones. Rotate the disks as they are used. Always keep the last disk used in the front of the set. In the following figure, assume volume 3 was the last backup volume used. 2________ 1_|______ | 5_|______ || 4_|______ ||| 3_|______ |||| | Last |||| | O ||| | | || |_______| Once MegaBack has returned you back to its main menu you may start another backup or exit back to DOS. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 29 Restore Restore is the process of copying a backed up file back to normal disk storage. Restore is a copy, not a move. The backup copy remains intact exactly as before the restore. You may delete the restored copy and still have access to the data through the saved backup copy. MegaBack makes locating and restoring files easy. Several features are included to help you organize backups and locate files they hold. Backup data is stored in a special compressed form on consecutive disks of offline storage. The special compressed format obviously saves disk space but also increases backup performance. This compressed format requires you to use MegaBack to restore any file backed up by it. MegaBack indexes all backed up files in a set of hard disk indexes. When you search for a file to be restored, MegaBack's hard disk indexes are used to locate information about the file. MegaBack gets a disk location and a disk number from the index and asks you to place the disk in the drive. It then reads the data and writes it to your hard disk. Restore begins by asking for specifications for files to be restored. There are two levels of restore file selection: 1. First you may optionally enter filename, pathname, and date ranges the file must fall within. 2. Files matching the first specification may be displayed in a scrollable selection list for your examination and processing selection. Once files are selected, restore processing begins. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 30 Entering Restore Criteria After selecting the Restore option from MegaBack's main menu you will be presented with the following display which asks for file selection criteria. You may skip this selection level by pressing <F10> to select all files for restore. Restore File Selection ______________________________________________________________ | Select files BACKED UP from: | | Drive : * | | | | Path : *_____________________________________ | | | | Pattern to restore : *.*__________ | | | | Restore TO directory: ______________________________________ | | | | Overlay files on restore? (Y/N/Ask/Update): _ | | | | Select files backed up AFTER this date : __________ | | | | Select files backed up BEFORE this date: __________ | | | | Enter text | |____________ Press F10 to begin or ESC to abort ______________| Selection criteria specification Drive : * Enter a drive letter indicating the drive files were originally backed up from. '*' indicates to select files backed up from any drive. Path : * Enter a pathname where files were backed up from. '*' indicates to select files backed up from any directory name. A directory specification may end with '*' to indicate the files are to be selected from any directory name beginning with the name specified up to the *. Valid specifications are: \ \WP \WP* MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 31 \WP\LETTERS \WP\LETTERS\ Pattern to restore : *.* Enter a complete filename or wildcard pattern name of the backed up files. Extended wildcard capabilities allow you to enter multiple * in a name specification. The * indicates any number of characters may exist in this portion of the name. Valid specifications are: AUTOEXEC.BAT AUTO*.BAT AUTO*.* *.* *TOEX*.BAT *U*O*X*.BAT Restore TO directory: Optionally enter a target pathname where files are to be restored. This is a full pathname including drive letter. If no directory is specified, the files will be restored to their original drive and directories. Valid specifications are: C:\WP \WP C:\WP\LETTERS\ Overlay files on restore? (Y/N/Ask/Update): If during restore, MegaBack finds a file already defined on the hard disk with the same name as the file being restored, it must decide if the existing file is to be replaced, or to bypass restoring the file. The following options to indicate what action MegaBack is to take when files of duplicate names are found. Yes Replace the existing file with the new file. No Don't overlay the existing file. Skip the restore for the file and continue restoring other files. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 32 Ask Prompt when duplicate files are encountered and ask if the file is to be replaced, or the restore bypassed. Update Replace files that are newer than the ones present on the disk. The DOS date of the file on the hard disk will be compared to the DOS date of the backup file recorded when the file was originally backed up. Select files backed up AFTER this date : Optionally enter a date to reject files last created or updated on or prior to the date. Select files backed up BEFORE this date: Optionally enter a date to reject files last created or updated on or after the date. Listing Files to Restore Once restore file selection has been made, you will be asked if you would like to view and further select files to be restored or immediately begin the restore process. The following display is presented as the last step prior to starting the restore process. ___________________________________________________________ | | | Do you want to List the files for manual selection, or | | Restore them immediately? | | | | _____ ________ | | |List| |Restore| | | |____| |_______| | |_______________ <Enter> accepts, Esc exits ________________| If you have already specified sufficient criteria to select all files to be restored, press <R> to restore all selected files. If you would like to list all files matching the selection criteria entered, press <L>. You will be presented with a scrollable selection list of files. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 33 Restore File Select List Processing Scrollable selection lists provide complete information about files maintained in MegaBack's backup indexes. Due to the amount of data stored about each file, MegaBack provides two different views of this list. Each view shows a different category of information about backed up files. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 34 Contents of backup list views View # 1 --------------------- Filename DOS File Date DOS File Time Original file Size Original Pathname View # 2 --------------------- Filename Backup Date Backup Time Backup Size Original Size(again) Compression Ratio Backup Volume Number When the scrollable selection list is first displayed VIEW #1 is shown. To change between the two different views, press the <F6> key. As <F6> is repeatedly pressed the opposite view is shown. The following keys are active when the restore selection list is displayed: <Space Bar> Toggles selection - marks unmarked files to be selected for restore. Unmarks marked files to remove them from being selected. <Right Arrow> Marks file to be selected for restore. Advances the file selection bar to the next file. Holding down the key will mark a series of files. <Left Arrow> Unmarks file selected for restore. Advances the file selection bar to the next file. Holding down the key will unmark a series of files. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 35 <F1> Help <F2> Zoom. When first displayed, the scrollable list is shown in reduced size to make room for help text at the bottom of the display. Press <F2> to zoom the screen larger. The help text at the bottom of the screen will disappear. Press <F2> again to reduce the display and view the help at the bottom. <F3> Enter a DOS Command <F6> Show next VIEW. Toggles between the different views of the backup file list. <F7> Sort the selection list. You will be presented with a sort selection menu as follows: _Change Sort order__ | Name order | | Directory order | | date order | | Backup date order | | Backup Volume Order| |____________________| Name order Sorts by filename Directory order Sort by filename within directory name. date order Sort by the date the file was last updated or created (before it was backed up). Backup date Sort files in sequence by the date they were backed up. Backup Volume Sort files in the order they exist on the backup volumes. <F10> Start restore. After you have marked one or more files to be restored, press <F10> to accept the selected items and start restore. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 36 <Escape> Exit file selection list and quit restore processing. Following are examples of the different views of the selection list. Select one or more files to be restored or press <Escape> to return to MegaBack's main menu. After selecting the desired files, press <F10> to start restoring the files. VIEW #1 ____Name__________Date______Time______Size_______Path_______ | AUTO.BAT 15JUN91 2:26p 134 C:\BAT\ | | B.BAT 15JUN91 2:39p 64 C:\BAT\ | | BC.BAT 7SEP91 2:39p 83 C:\BAT\ | | BCX.BAT 19MAY91 6:30p 144 C:\BAT\ | | BITFAX.BAT 27MAR91 4:01p 29 C:\BAT\ | | C.BAT 19AUG90 7:29p 99 C:\BAT\ | | C2.BAT 9MAR91 7:54a 56 C:\BAT\ | | DELA.BAT 20DEC90 7:48a 16 C:\BAT\ | | DELB.BAT 19JUL91 6:22a 23 C:\BAT\ | | DIRA.BAT 19NOV86 2:23p 11 C:\BAT\ | | DIRB.BAT 25APR91 6:59a 8 C:\BAT\ | |__________________ F10 accepts, ESC exits __________________| VIEW #2 __Name_______BakDate___BakTime___BakSize_____Ratio___Disk___ | AUTO.BAT 8OCT91 10:17a 134 1.00% 1 | | B.BAT 8OCT91 10:17a 64 1.00% 1 | | BC.BAT 8OCT91 10:17a 83 1.00% 1 | | BCX.BAT 8OCT91 10:17a 144 1.00% 1 | | BITFAX.BAT 8OCT91 10:17a 29 1.00% 1 | | C.BAT 8OCT91 10:17a 99 1.00% 1 | | C2.BAT 8OCT91 10:17a 56 1.00% 1 | | DELA.BAT 8OCT91 10:17a 16 1.00% 1 | | DELB.BAT 8OCT91 10:17a 23 1.00% 1 | | DIRA.BAT 8OCT91 10:17a 11 1.00% 1 | | DIRB.BAT 8OCT91 10:17a 8 1.00% 1 | |___________________ F10 accepts, ESC exits__________________| Starting Restore MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 37 After starting restore MegaBack determines the volumes needed to restore the files and immediately requests you place the first volume needed in the input drive. Following is an example of the volume mount message. _______________________________________________________ | Insert backup 1 into drive A. | | | | Press Enter when ready, or ESC for other options | | | | Waiting | |_______________________________________________________| Locate the requested volume from your set of backup volumes and place it in the drive. You may terminate restore at any time by pressing <Escape>. All files restored to this point of processing are restored correctly. Other files selected will need to be selected again in a subsequent restore process to be restored. Restore Processing The restore display is presented throughout the restore process. It provides status of the restore. Restore Status Display _______________________________________________________________ | _____________ M E G A B A C K | | | .. 100% | Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft | | | .. | Restore processing | | | .. | | | | .. | Total Completed Remaining | | | .. | Files: 3 | | | .. | Characters: 219 | | | .. | | | | .. | Path: C:\BAT\ | | | .. | Filename: B.BAT | | | XX | Size: 64 | | | XX | Date/Time: 15JUN91 / 2:39p | | | XX | | | | XX | Disk statistics for drive C: | | | XX | >>>>>>>>>>>>>XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX | | | XX | 0% freespace 100% | | | XX 0% | | | |___________| Total characters: | | Characters used: | | Percent Complete Characters free: | |_______________________________________________________________| MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 38 The restore status display keeps you informed of the progress of restoring files. It has the following basic contents: Status Bar The status bar at the left side of the display gives a graphic status of the completion of MegaBack. Totals The totals lines show the number of files and total characters to be processed, completed, and remaining to be processed. Current File Shows information about the file currently being restored. Disk Statistics The disk stats shown in the lower right portion of the display show how much space is used on the target hard disk and how much freespace remains. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 39 Overlaying Files with duplicate Names If MegaBack finds that a file with the same name as the one being restored already exists in the target directory, it may overwrite the file with the backup version, bypass restoring the file, or compare the dates and times of the two files and restore the file only if it is a more recent copy than the version on disk. MegaBack Setup options let you specify any of these alternatives as an action to automatically be taken during restore. A special restore option of "Ask" indicates restore processing is to ask what action to take each time a duplicate file name is found. The following question is asked. ________________________________________________________ | | | File B.BAT already exists. Ok to replace? | | | |____ ___ _______ __________________ ___________________ | ||Yes||No||Update||Continuous update||continuous Replace|| ||___||__||______||_________________||__________________|| |_____________ <Enter> accepts, Esc exits _______________| Press Y, N, U, C, or R to indicate the action to take. <Escape> immediately terminates restore. Following are explanations of possible responses: <Yes> Replace the file immediately. The backup file will overlay the already existing file. <No> Do not restore the file. Leave the file on the hard disk. <Update> Restore the file if it is a newer version than the file on the target drive. If the backup file is older than the disk file, bypass restoring this file. <Continuous update> This is the same response as <Update> with the additional feature of indicating MegaBack is not to ask this question again if another duplicate file name is found. A answer of <Update> will be assumed for all future MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 40 instances of this situation during this restore process. <continuous Replace> This is the same response as <Replace> with the additional feature that MegaBack is not to ask this question again if another duplicate file name is found. An answer of <Replace> will be assumed for all future instances of this situation during this restore process. Completing Restore After all files have been restored, the following message will be presented over the Restore Status Display. It is an informational message to let you know the last action taken by MegaBack. Press <Enter> to acknowledge the message and return to MegaBack's main menu. ____________________________ | | | Restore Complete | | | |___ <Enter> to continue ____| Restoring to an Empty System Both DOS and MegaBack must first be present on a system to use MegaBack. If you lose your hard drive and want to restore your backup to it you should take the following steps: 1. Restore DOS to the system. Use procedures outlined in the DOS reference manual. 2. Install MegaBack on the system using your original MegaBack installation diskette or a copy of it. 3. Use MegaBack index rebuild utility to regenerate the MegaBack indexes from your last backup diskette. 4. Use MegaBack restore to restore all files back to your system. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 41 Making a system recovery boot diskette Some users choose to make a MegaBack system recovery boot diskette to use in the event their system is lost. The boot diskette contains a bootable versions of DOS and the MegaBack system files. Take the following steps to make a recovery boot diskette: 1. Format a diskette using Format's DOS /S parameter. This will create a diskette that will boot your machine without DOS being on your system. FORMAT A:/S 2. Copy the following DOS files to the recovery diskette: FORMAT*.COM FDISK.EXE 3. Build a CONFIG.SYS file on the diskette that contains at least the following lines. FILES=30 BUFFERS=30 4. Build an AUTOEXEC.BAT on the diskette to start MegaBack. PROMPT $P$G MD C:\MegaBack CD C:\MegaBack COPY A:MB.EXE COPY A:MegaBack.HLP MB This recovery diskette will boot your system and start MegaBack if the system already has a formatted drive C:. If drive C: is not formatted, use DOS hard disk setup procedures to prepare the hard disk, and then boot your system again with the MegaBack recovery diskette. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 42 Utility Functions The utility menu of MegaBack's main menu provides access to functions supporting MegaBack backup and restore functions. Select Utilities from the main menu to access the following menu of options. _____________Utilities____________ | Advanced system options | | Exclude files from Backup | | Verify backup volume data | | Build indexes from backup volume | | Reinitialize backup indexes | | Set alternate display colors | | synchronize hard disk with backup| | Quit to Main | |__________________________________| Advanced system options: These options are available for further customization of MegaBack. These options are not necessary for normal operation and are set at the recommended defaults. Target Media Type: This indicates to MegaBack about the target media type. At this time, the only difference is MegaBack's disk mounts. For non-removable media, MegaBack supresses a disk mount. MegaBack calls for a volume with all other settings. Directory to backup to: When backing up to a large capacity volume, it is sometimes desirable to put the backup data into a specific directory rather than the root directory. Set this directory here. Scan disk before backup: When backup is started, MegaBack scans the drives to gather the relevant statistics. This can take time on large hard disks, so you may skip this option if so desired. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 43 Maintain Activity Log: MegaBack may optionally keep an activity log of most of its actions. This log is maintained in the MegaBack directory, and is called MEGABACK.LOG. The log currently is somewhat cryptic, but Patri-Soft will soon provide a viewer. Is Activity Log to be Verbose: If you want a record of every file backed up or restored to be placed in the activity log, specify Y for this option. Backup zero byte files: If you do not want files of zero size to be backed up, specify N. Skip Stoaway AutoRestore files. Patri-Soft's Stoaway archival system can be configured to leave zero character empty files on hard disks. If these files are accessed, Stowaway's Auto Restore function will try to restore them so they can be backed up. Specify Y if you use Stowaway to archive data on your system. this option is ignored if you do not use Stowaway. Default restore sort: When a large number of files are selected for restore, MegaBack may take a while to sort it all. In the interest of effciency, MegaBack will sort it in the way that YOU want it sorted in, so that you will not have to resort it. Utilities - Selection/Exclusion Processing MegaBack can backup selected files, or all files on a disk except files excluded from the process. You may specify either select processing, or exclusion processing in MegaBack options. The selection/exclusion facility displays lists of directories and files on your hard disk. While viewing these lists, you mark files to be selected or excluded from processing depending on your option selected. While you are scrolling through the lists of files, you may view the contents of text and WordPerfect files using MegaBack's file viewers. You may sort file lists by file name, age, size, name or extension. Following is an example of a the file selection display area. __________________C:\WP____________________________ | <PARENT> 26APR91 10:32p <DIR> | | <ROOT> 26APR91 10:32p <DIR> | | AGENDAS 5MAY91 4:10p <DIR> | | ARNOLD.LTR 10MAY91 8:15a 20430 | | BACKDAY.NOT 21JUN91 12:15p 3021 | | MONEY.GOT 19JUL91 7:32a 50583 | |__________________F10 accepts, ESC exits___________| The display shows files for one directory at a time. Entries for the current and root directory are always sorted to the top of MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 44 the list along with other subdirectories defined in the listed directory. The top border of the display indicates the drive and name of the directory being displayed. The bottom border gives brief help about keys used to terminate the selection process. The right hand border of the display holds a scroll bar for mouse control of the list (not shown above). Also not shown is a highlighted selection bar that covers one entry at a time in the list. The selection bar's location is modified by using the UP, DOWN, LEFT, and RIGHT cursor control keys. Backup File Selection Operation The following keys are active during backup select/exclude processing: <Space Bar> When positioned on a file name, it either marks the file to be selected or excluded, or if the file has already been marked, unmarks it. Filenames become highlighted in the list after they are marked. A small checkmark symbol is also displayed next to the filename to indicate it is selected. <Right Arrow> Marks the file highlighted by the selection bar. If the file is already marked, it will remain marked. The file selection bar is also moved to the next filename in the list. <Left Arrow> Unmarks the file highlighted by the selection bar. If the file is not marked it will remain unmarked. The file selection bar is also moved to the next filename in the list. <Enter> When the file selection bar is placed over a directory name, changes the list to show the selected directory. Place the highlight bar on any directory name and press the <Enter> key to change to the directory. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 45 Special filenames of <PARENT> and <ROOT> are shown for any subdirectory listed. You may press <Enter> on the <PARENT> entry to list the files in the directory above the current directory listed. Pressing <Enter> on the <ROOT> entry lists the root directory of the currently selected drive. <F1> At any time press the <F1> key for help on the current activity. <F3> Press <F3> to bring up a temporary window to enter a DOS command or to exit to DOS. <F10> The <F10> key signals the end of the file marking process. You will be returned back to the utilities menu. <Escape> Use the <Escape> key to terminate file selection/exclusion processing and return to the MegaBack main menu. The names of marked files are not saved. <A> Press <A> when positioned on a directory name to mark the directory and all its subordinate directories. <D> Press <D> to unmark any directory or file. <S> Press <S> to activate a selection window to specify an alternate sort sequence for the file list. ______________________ | Change List Order | | Sort Date Descending | | Sort Name Ascending | | Sort Size Descending | |______________________| <T> Tag all files in the currently displayed directory. After tagging all files you can untag selected files to be omitted from processing. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 46 Untag all tagged files in the currently displayed directory. <V> Press the <V> key to View text or WordPerfect files. The file viewer can examine up to 500 lines of a file. Use the cursor control keys to control the viewing of a file and press <Escape> from the viewer to return to the file list. Marking a full directory You may position the file selection bar over any subdirectory name and press the <Right Arrow> or <Space Bar> to mark it. MegaBack will immediately present the following question ___________________________________________________ | C:\DIR is marked. Mark all files within it? | | | | ___ ___ | | |Yes| |No | | | |___| |___| | |___________________________________________________| This is a reminder that you will mark the entire directory as well as all directories below it. Press <Y> if this is correct. Press <N> to cancel the mark directory request. Completing file selection Once you have marked all files, press the <F10> key to exit the file selection display and return back to MegaBack's menus. Utilities - Verify backup volume data Use verify to confirm backup has correctly backed up data. Sometimes you may be unsure of the validity of your backup data. This might happen if you suspect faulty backup volumes were used, or a drive might not be functioning properly. MegaBack provides this function to read backup data and verify it can be used to restore the files. Volume verification is quick and easy as it only requires a quick read of each backup volume. No data is actually written to the hard disk. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 47 Two verification processes actually occur. First, DOS verifies all the data can be read from the backup volumes. Second, a CRC check verifies data is accurate by arithmetically verifying the data on the volumes is the same as the data was on the hard disk before it was backed up. Backup verification may verify selected backup files, or an entire backup volume set. Upon selecting the verify function you will be presented with a specification display similar to restore processing. Indicate the qualifications of all files to be verified. __________________________________________________________ | | | Drive to verify : * | | | | Path to verify : * | | | | Pattern to verify : *.* | | | | Select files backed up AFTER this date : | | | | Select files Backed up BEFORE this date: | | | | Enter text | |_____________ Press F10 to begin or ESC to abort _________| You are asked to fill in the following fields: Drive to verify: Enter the drive letter where the files were originally backed up from. (I.E. C, D) Path to verify: Optionally enter the pathname where the files were backed up from. If no path is specified, files from all paths will be selected. I.E. \LETTERS \PICTURES Pattern to verify: Enter a filename pattern to verify. When not specified, all file patterns will be selected. Backed up before/after: Select files by the date they were backed up. You may use one or both of the date specifications. Press <F10> to accept specifications and start verification. <Esc> to quit. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 48 Like restore, you will be asked to place each volume in the input drive until all data is verified. You will be notified with error message displays if any errors are found in the data. Utilities - Build index from backup volume Since the hard disk backup indexes are critical to the system, they are backed up to the last backup volume at the end of every backup. This takes a little time and disk space but ensures indexes are always backed up and are kept with backup data. Since the indexes are kept on backup volumes, each volume set becomes a portable set of files you may take to another computer for use. To use any backup set, the indexes must exist on your hard disk. If they are somehow lost or not available on the computer where you want to restore files, you must first restore the index from the last backup volume. It is your responsibility to keep track of the last backup volume used since MegaBack does not know disk numbers without its indexes. During index recovery MegaBack will ask you to place the last used backup volume in the drive. If you have lost track of the last backup volume, use the DOS directory command to display the files on each volume. The volume with the most recent file dates is the last disk used. Place the last volume in the drive and press <Enter> after MegaBack asks for it. In some cases MegaBack may ask for a second volume if it determines part of the indexes backed up are stored on a previous volume. _______________ Restoring Backup Indexes _______________ | | | Attempting to restore indexes from backup diskettes. | | | | Place the last backup disk used in drive A: | | | | Press <Enter> when volume is ready, <Escape> to exit. | | | |_________________ <Enter> to continue __________________| MegaBack will read the indexes and put them on the hard drive. You will be notified when the indexes are properly restored. If the build of the index from the backup volume fails, Patri- Soft provides an emergency index rebuild utility. BACKRGEN will read individual backup volumes and recreate their index entries in an existing MegaBack index. You will find copies of BACKRGEN MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 49 on the MegaBack distribution diskette. You may also always download it from the Patri-Soft BBS, or other popular BBS systems. BACKRGEN is not always included in the BBS version of MegaBack to reduce the size of data to download. Contact us at Patri-Soft if you have any problems locating this utility. There is no fee for the BACKRGEN utility, it is free to anyone. Utilities - Reinitialize backup indexes This function of MegaBack deletes the current set of backup indexes and create new empty ones. Use it before starting a new full backup for your system. After selecting the index delete function you will be prompted to verify you really do want to complete this process: __________________________________________________________ | | | Refreshing the indexes will erase all | | information about backed up files. | | | | Are you sure you want to refresh the indexes? | | | | ___ __ | | |Yes| |No| | | |___| |__| | |_____________ <Enter> accepts, Esc exits _________________| Respond <Yes> to continue the process and delete the current backup index set. Respond <No> to cancel the index deletion process and return to MegaBack main menus. Utilities - Set alternate display colors MegaBack lets you change the colors of all its display windows to any colors of your choice. Setting alternate display colors involves setting NORMAL, REVERSE, HIGHLIGHT, and BORDER colors for each different type of window. When changing colors, you are presented with a menu of each window type used by MegaBack. You may change colors on any or all window types. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 50 Window colors are stored permanently on disk in the options file so they will be used each time you use MegaBack. When you are finished setting colors, press <Exit> to return to MegaBack's menus. _____________________ Select Colors_____________________ | | | Menus | | Pop-Ups | | User input | | Backup/Restore/Main | | Copyright Message | | Registration Message | | Disk statistics | | disK mounts | | Thermometers | | default colors | | Help Colors | | textured Background | | Exit to main | | | | ____________________________________________________ | | | Change all Menu colors | | | |____________________________________________________| | |_______________ Press <Enter> to select ________________| You are presented with a screen with four major color types to pick across the top and with a screen full of color combinations below. Use the <Space Bar> to move between each color type. Pressing the space bar indicates the current color selection for the active type is to be accepted. Use the <Arrow Keys> to position the selection box on the color combination to be used for the current color type. When you are positioned on the desired color, press the <Space Bar>. Press <Enter> to accept all colors and return to the window type menu. You can then change colors on another window type. Press <Escape> to return to the window selection menu and leave the colors as they were originally defined. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 51 Utilities - Synchronize indexes with hard disk Since you may use Incremental backup for a long period of time before again needing to perform a Full backup, your backup sets will eventually contain copies of files that have been deleted from your hard disk. If you should ever need to recover your hard disk and restore all backup files, it is not desirable to recreate these deleted files. MegaBack's synchronization feature compares the files stored in the backup indexes with the actual files on your hard disk and records files no longer on your hard disk as deleted. MegaBack's restore processing provides options to include, or bypass these "deleted" files during restore. Your data is always available and you make sure not to accidently restore unwanted files. You should perform the backup synchronization feature whenever you have deleted files from your hard drive. Upon selecting synchronization from the menu, MegaBack will immediately begin comparing the indexes with the hard disk files. A status display will be presented to show you the progress of the activity. You may safely terminate the process at any time by pressing any key during the comparison. MegaBack will ask if processing is to terminate or continue. Upon completing synchronization processing you will be returned to MegaBack's menus. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 52 Command Line operation MegaBack is normally operated through its menu structure. This provides a simple technique for backing up files that reassures you at every step with displays and questions to let you make decisions. More experienced users may want to use MegaBack's command line interface to backup their system. When the command line operation is used, MegaBack will take all its basic instructions from the command line and start the backup process. It will still require the proper disks be placed in the drives and may ask for other decisions to be made based on your options. Although not totally automated, it provides a quick start to backing up specific data. The MegaBack command line format MB path /C /EV:vol /F /I /ID:xxx /S /SV:vol /R /AF /NL /NS /V Command parameter explanations path Specify pathname to be restored. You must also specify the /R parameter. /AF Assume Formatted. MegaBack will assume that all input backup disks are formatted. /C Used by MegaBack's installation program to start MegaBack and proceed directly to setting system options. /EV:vol During restore, it is sometimes desirable to only restore files in certain volumes. You may specify a range of disk volumes by using the /EV and /SV parameters. For example, to restore the files after volume 6 and before volume 9, the command line would be: MB /SV:6 /EV:9 /F Start MegaBack and immediately start Full volume backup. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 53 /I Start MegaBack and immediately start Incremental backup processing. /ID:xxx Use alternative backup index set id. Specify any three characters to use an alternate index set. For more information about alternate index sets, see the heading about Backup Index Sets in the manual. When not specified it is assumed the value will be "BAK". /ID:TOM /NL, /V No Log, Verbose. If you wish to supress the log, use /NL. If you would like the log to be verbose, use the /V option. /NS No Scan. This option supresses MegaBack's hard disk scan. /R You may also accomplish restore from the command line. Specify a path and append /R to the command line. /S If you already know the backup volume MegaBack will use, you may place it in the drive prior to starting MegaBack and specify this parameter to have MegaBack assume the volume is present. MegaBack will not ask you to place it in the drive during backup. This parameter is designed for those users backing up to huge capacity disk devices where volume mounting is not normally necessary. /SV:vol To start the restore process with a certain diskette, use this command. For example, to restore only files on disk 6 and above, use the command: MB /SV:6 Specifying options through DOS environment variables Any MegaBack command line parameters may be placed in DOS environment variables to be effective each time MegaBack is started. Use the DOS SET command to add the parameter to the environment string. The environment variable name used by MegaBack is MegaBack. The following example demonstrates the most common use of the environment variable for MegaBack. In this example, the SET command is used to cause MegaBack to use an alternate index set identifier of TOM each time it is started. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 54 SET MegaBack=/ID:TOM See your DOS manual for more information about the SET command. The SET command is often placed in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file on a user's hard disk so it may automatically be issued each time your system is started. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 54 Backup Maintenance Multiple Backup sets MegaBack lets you keep and use multiple backup sets on the same computer system. Although not often necessary, this feature is useful in many situations. Some examples are: -- To create a special backup set apart from your normal set to move files from one system to another. -- To create separate backup sets for multiple users of a system. -- To test your current backup set by restoring its indexes to a different backup set identifier. A backup set consists of hard disk indexes and all backup volumes holding files referenced by those indexes. Backup sets are given three character set identifiers. This identifier is normally "BAK" but may be altered when starting MegaBack by using the /ID:xxx command parameter. An alternate set identifier may also be established by placing the /ID:xxx parameter in MegaBack's DOS environment variable. Backup set indexes consist of a set of two index files and an options file. These files exist on the hard disk in MegaBack's directory. The normal files are named as follows: BAKOPT.DAT BAKVOLIX.DAT BAKFILIX.DAT Alternate backup sets are identical in function and usage to the normal index MegaBack uses. When using alternate index identifiers, be careful to use the correct index set for the files you are processing. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 56 Making copies of backup volumes Each backup volume is in a normal DOS format. Backup volumes may be copied using DOS DISKCOPY, COPY, or XCOPY commands. For safety reasons you may want to take a copy of backup information and store it at an offsite location. To do this, use the DISKCOPY command to copy the original volume to another volume. Store the original volume back with the backup set, and take the copied volumes to your offsite location. When you only have a single drive to read and write a specific disk format use the DOS DISKCOPY command as follows. It will use memory to copy a volume to a new volume. The drive letters for the source and new volumes are the same. DOS will issue messages indicating what volumes to place in the drives and when. DISKCOPY A: A: If you have multiple drives able to read and write the same volume format, use the DISKCOPY command with different drive letters. The first drive identifier is for the source volume, the second letter is for the drive to hold the new volume. DISKCOPY A: B: Backup disks may be copied to different disk formats as long as the new disk has enough capacity to hold all information on the source volume. Once backed up, backup data cannot again be split across multiple volumes. The Context Sensitive Help System MegaBack provides immediate help about its operation at every point of its processing. A comprehensive help system may be interrogated at any time by pressing the <F1> key. When <F1> is pressed, MegaBack automatically determines what function is active and action is being requested. It will search a help index and retrieve information about your current activity. Help systems that bring up help about your current activity are referred to as "context sensitive" meaning they are aware of the context in which they are requested. In addition to being context sensitive, MegaBack help system is layered to let you not only examine help about your current activity, but also lets you browse through the help displays to learn about related topics or other aspects of MegaBack. Press MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 57 the <Home> key any time you are in the help system to display the help menu. The intelligent help system may be examined by using the following navigation keys... <Enter> Takes you to the next related screen <Esc> Takes you back to the processing screen <Alt> Allows you to peek back at the processing screen to review what you are reading help about. <PgUp> Will take you up to a more general topic in the help system <Home> Displays the main help menu The LEFT, RIGHT, UP, and DOWN keys are available when viewing screens smaller than the full page. Use them to move the help window around on the display to view areas hidden by the help window. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 58 System Requirements Operating system compatibilities MegaBack must run on a 100% compatible PC, XT, or AT system and requires DOS 3.2 or above for its operation. MegaBack may operate on some other nonstandard systems but we cannot guarantee its correct operation nor make any promises to make it compatible with those systems. Backup device compatibilities MegaBack uses only standard DOS disk devices for holding backup data. The obvious devices are various forms of 3 1/2 and 5 1/4 diskette systems. MegaBack is also designed to use large format removable disk devices as backup media. These devices must have a standard DOS format and must appear to DOS as a normal disk device. Troubleshooting I/O errors on disks If you should have a problem restoring data from a damaged or faulty volume take the following steps to attempt to circumvent the problem. -- Try turning the disk in the sleeve with your fingers to make sure it is loose and will spin. If 5 1/4 diskettes appear too tight, you can relieve some pressure placed on the magnetic media by drawing each edge of the diskette across the edge of a table applying a reasonable amount of pressure. This will expand the area inside the jacket for the media to move. -- Attempt to copy the diskette to another diskette. If the copy is successful, attempt to use the new disk to restore the data. -- Take the volume in error to another drive on another machine to attempt to restore the data. -- When all else fails, use the "FAIL" option during backup volume read error detection to indicate MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 59 backup is to attempt to read as much data as possible. Error Messages MegaBack has comprehensive error and exception checking designed into every component of the system. MegaBack's help systems contains help about messages issued by MegaBack. Whenever an error message is displayed, press the <F1> key for a complete explanation of the error and suggested actions to take as a result of the error. Technical Support Patri-Soft may be reached for technical support through a variety of sources. Normal technical support hours are 8:30AM through 5:00 PM Monday through Friday (PST). You may contact us through the following methods... CompuServe 76347,2477 Phone 714-352-2820 BBS 714-352-2825 FAX 714-352-1527 Mail: Patri-Soft 5225 Canyon Crest Drive Suite 71-358 Riverside, CA 92507 A special order line is available if you would like to purchase using VISA or MasterCard or discuss other purchase options. When calling for technical support please have the following information ready so we may serve you efficiently: a. The exact version of MegaBack you are using. MegaBack main menu contains this data. b. An exact problem description c. Screen print of the MegaBack directory and all files it contains. d. The software configuration of your system including DOS version, AUTOEXEC.BAT contents as well as CONFIG.SYS contents. e. The hardware configuration of your system. MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 60 A good problem description indicates exactly what you were doing when you encountered the error, and exactly what symptoms occurred as a result of the error. Please avoid the following problem descriptions. They are much too brief to begin to analyze. Poor problem descriptions: a. Backup is not working. b. The machine will not read my disk. c. I can't restore my indexes d. The system fails during backup or restore. Following are examples of better problem descriptions: a. Backup is failing. MegaBack asks for a backup volume and after I place it in the drive, the drive light comes on, goes off, and MegaBack indicates no disk is in the drive. b. I am attempting to restore indexes from a backup volume and MegaBack indicates the indexes are not present. I have displayed the contents of the last used diskette and it appears to be ok. Its contents are... MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 61 Index Archive Attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 setting option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 BACKRGEN Emergency Index Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Backup Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Selecting Backup Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Backup Sets Multiple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Backup type Full Backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Incremental Backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Build Index from backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Command Line operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Compacted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Compressed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Compression Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 CompuServe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 CRC Check Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Date Restore Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Disk Backup Disk Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Diskette Recovering from write errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Diskettes Backup Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Display Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 End volume for backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Environment Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Exclude Select/Exclude options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 FAX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 62 Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Full backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4, 22 Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 I/O Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Incremental Backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4, 22 Indexes Backup File Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Backup Volume Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Emergency Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Recovering Indexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Saving Backup Indexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Initialize Indexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Listing Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Main Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Options Setting Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Ordering MegaBack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Overlay Files with duplicate name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Overlay Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Patri-Soft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Phone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Quick Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Recover Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Reinitialize Indexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Reliability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Boot Diskette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Combined Tape/MegaBack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 system recovery diskette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 to empty system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Restore Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 RETRY disk I/O error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 MegaBack Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft Page 63 Select/Exclude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Select/Exclude options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Select/Exclude Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 SET MEGABACK= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Setup/Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Speaker Setting sounds options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Start volume for backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Starting Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Starting MegaBack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 status bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Synchronize indexes with hard disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Tape Complementing Tape Backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Technical Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Build Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Reinitialize Indexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Setting Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Verify DOS VERIFY option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Verify data after writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Volumes Backup Volume Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Backup Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 copying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Preparing backup volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 specification of start volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 WARRANTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iv