Hard disc backup program   

New version (2.63) now 32 bit neutral
Hard Disc Companion costs just £14.90 including UK post
Please add £1 carriage outside the UK

Upgrades from earlier versions -

• From APDL-ProAction version - £6
• From Beebug version - £10

Main features include:

• Runs on any machine with RISC OS 3.1 up to RISC OS 5
• Full, Incremental and Differential backup types
• Fast backup procedure
• Configuration scripts
• Backup to floppies or other devices like second hard drive, removable drives, etc
• Suitable for backing up networks
• Restore backup data to any device or directory
• Backup only specified files, or files having selected filetypes
• Ignore specified files, or files having selected filetypes
• Find facility to locate files in backup data
• Retrieve individual files from backup data
• Verify whilst backing up, for additional security
• Suspend backup and resume at a later date
• Facility to display backup history
• Choices file for customised start-up
• Estimate number of floppy discs required
• Estimate time required to perform the backup
• Efficient compression system

A backup underway

New Features in version 2.61

• Support for long filenames (RISC OS 4) and F+ format discs
• Log file construction is 2-3 times faster, and Backup will request the first disc before building the log file, so that you can leave the backup to proceed automatically. Overall v2.60 is around 20% faster than v2.55.
• Unattended operation has been improved:
• If Backup encounters a problem during a backup - e.g. it can't backup a certain file because it's being used by another application - then it will prompt the user and if there's no response, the problem will be listed in a text window and the backup will continue.
• Unlimited backup size (previous versions had a 2Gb limit on the size of a backup)
• Handling of PC partitions has been improved. Restore will now create a partition to hold the PC files being restored, so that name truncation and large directory problems do not occur. Individual files within a PC partition can now be backed up individually.
• Source and destination directories can be dragged into the corresponding fields in Backup's main window, rather than opening the Source/Destination dialogue box using the menu.
• Comments can be added to entries in the backup history.
• Double click on an entry in the History window to edit the comment associated with that backup.
• Backup and Restore now use dynamic areas where these are available, since this gives a speed increase when running other applications alongside the backup/restore.
• You can now double click on a file in Restore or drag it to an application to view the file.
• Restore now accepts wildcards in the 'Find file' menu '*' denotes any characters (0 or more) '#' denotes any single character.
• Backup provides a "Copy PC partition as a single file" option. If this is ticked, the whole partition (including all unused space within the partition) will be included in the backup. This has the advantage of producing an exact copy of the original partition after it has been restored.
• If the option is not ticked, the files inside the partition will be backed up individually and you will be able to restore single files from the backup. When restoring the whole partition, Restore will recreate a partition of the correct size, but it will not be bootable, and you will have to make it bootable manually.
• "Copy PC partition as a single file" will probably be preferable only if you must have an exact copy of the original partition after the restore, or if the partition is nearly full (in which case the backup will be faster).
• Backups can be made using LanMan on a network
• Removable drives can be used such as SyQuest, SparQ, ZIP etc. for backups that extend across more than one cartridge.