High Voltage Shareware/high1.zip/high1/DIR2/CYB26.ZIP/CYB.DOC

Text File | 1993-08-14 | 10KB | 198 lines

                CYB - Cover Your Back(up) Version 2.6
                           August 14, 1993
          (c) 1990-93 Marc R. Feldesman - Flying Pig Software
                         All Rights Reserved

CYB is a DOS utility program I wrote to monitor the backup status of my hard disks
at boot time.  Actually, I wrote it to remind and to harass my secretary about
backing up the hard drive in her office.  It resulted from a particularly cat-
astrophic hard disk failure that destroyed valuable documents and programs
that she had not backed up in a timely manner.

WHAT DOES IT DO:

CYB is designed to warn the user if he/she has exceeded the maximum number
of days allowed between backups, or if, at boot time, it is the user's
regular day to back up the system.   Each time the program is used, it also
gives the user a list of the files that have been modified since the last time
any backup was done.  This way, the USER decides how much risk attaches to
NOT doing a full or incremental backup.  The program is straightforward to run.
Copy CYB.EXE into your root directory.  Then add the following line to your
AUTOEXEC.BAT file :

              CYB <filename> <day> <number> <drive>

where <filename> is the full directory path (including the file name itself)
for the catalog file produced by your backup program, <day> is the NAME of
the day of the week when you routinely plan to backup your system (and want to be
reminded to do it), <number> is some whole NUMBER reflecting the maximum number
of days allowed between full system or incremental backups, and <drive> is
the LETTER of the hard disk drive whose backup status you are checking
(e.g. C, D, etc - it doesn't really make any sense to use the letters A or B).
While the program will not let you enter an invalid drive, it behooves you to
use only valid drive letters with <filename> and <drive>.  If you give CYB an
invalid drive with <filename> the program will report that you have no current
backup catalog, remind you to backup your system, and then give you a list of
the files not backed up on <drive>.  If <drive> is invalid, the program traps
the error and insists upon you giving it a valid drive letter.

My AUTOEXEC.BAT file contains the following specific command line:

              CYB c:\pcbackup\backup1.set Friday 7 c:

The program reports the following outcomes:  current day of the week, current
date, and the date of your last backup. If the backup is more than <number>
days old, or if today is the day you specify to be your normal backup day,
CYB warns you that the backup is xx number of days old and SUGGESTS that you
backup your system.  Under all circumstances, the program uses a recursive
directory search to give you a screen listing of all the files that have changed
since the date of your last backup.  It does so by checking the archive bit on
each file.  All of the backup programs, including DOS BACKUP, reset the archive
bit when the file is officially backed up.  Subsequently the archive bit is re-
set again whenever the file is changed.  The recursive directory search used in
this program is adapted from the functions Jake Richter published in Turbo-
Technix (Volume 1, Number 6, September-October 1988).  Mr. Richter's clearly
written article inspired me to make the modifications in CYB to incorporate
this useful feature.

The program assumes that you are using one of the commercial backup programs
(e.g. PC Tools, Fastback) that leave an audit trail catalog of
the backup set somewhere in a user-specified  location on the hard disk.
In early versions of the program, I didn't really think too much about users
who used the DOS supplied program BACKUP or who used non-floppy disk based
backup systems (e.g. streaming tapes).  The user never has been prevented
from using CYB with one of these alternate procedures; I just wasn't clever
enough early on to figure out how.  (See below now for a simple way to use
CYB with DOS BACKUP or tape backup systems).

Please note that CYB isn't specific to the aforementioned programs.  Many com-
mercial backup programs store a catalog of the files in the backup set some-
where on the hard drive (e.g. PC Tools calls its backup file CDDMMYY.XXX;
Fastback calls its backup catalog FASTBACK.CAT).

FASTBACK PLUS, DOS BACKUP USERS, and PC Tools Deluxe Version 5 users - please
see note at end.

The program depends on the date and time being properly set.  Unless you use
the date and time functions properly, the results won't be meaningful.  If you
are running this program on an IBM PC/XT or compatible, your AUTOEXEC.BAT file
should contain a call to the program that reads your real time clock.   CYB
should be run AFTER the call to your realtime clock.  If you don't have a clock
in your system, your AUTOEXEC.BAT file should contain one line with a call to
DATE and the following line with a call to TIME.  You should get in the habit
of SETTING the correct date and time when you first boot your system.

FASTBACK PLUS NOTES

The new version of Fastback (Fastback PLUS) no longer uses FASTBACK.CAT as
the catalog name. Instead, the date of the backup has become an integral part
of the filename itself.  Thus, a typical FASTBACK catalog will look like
YYMMDD_A.HIS, where YY is the year of the backup, MM is the month, and DD is
the date.  Since the filename is no longer consistent, CYB will accept a
wildcard for the filename.  I recommend that your command line look something
like the following if you are using Fastback PLUS:

                  cyb c:\fastback\*_A.his Sat 7 c:

The * is a wildcard that substitutes for the actual filename.  If we knew the
filename, we wouldn't have to bother running CYB; since the FASTBACK Plus file-
name contains the date as part of its name, obviously we would know when we
last did a backup.  If you have more than one logical (or physical) hard drive
that you have backed up, FASTBACK Plus' catalog files will look like
YYMMDD_A.HIS, YYMMDD_B.HIS, etc.  You should run CYB once for each DIFFERENT
logical or physical drive in your machine.

DOS BACKUP USERS:

The success of CYB depends on the backup program leaving an audit trail in the
form of a catalog.  Since BACKUP doesn't write a useable form of such a beast,
users have been thwarted from using CYB.  Of course, CYB doesn't care what
the actual content of the log file is.  CYB only checks for the existence of
a log file.  Thus, users who use BACKUP as their backup program need only do
the following to permit CYB to work properly.

        1.  Make certain that DATE and TIME are properly set.
        2.  Backup the system using BACKUP
        3.  Immediately following the backup, log on to the root
            directory of the harddisk and enter the following
            command at the "C" prompt:

            C:>dir >backup.cat

            This generates a disk file containing the directory of
            the root directory.  This file is called BACKUP.CAT.

         4. Now set up the autoexec.bat file to contain a line like:

            cyb c:\backup.cat <day of week> <number of days> <drive>

This will work like a charm.  You just need to remember to do this each
time immediately after performing your backup procedure.

PC Tools Deluxe Version 5 Users:

This version of PC Tools Deluxe does not leave an audit trail catalog
on the hard drive.  Instead it places the audit trail catalog on the last disk
in the current backup set.  There are two ways to resolve this problem.  The
first is to employ the same technique recommended for the DOS Backup users (see
above).  The alternate technique is to use the program's ALT-S (save setup)
command.  This produces a file carrying the current date and time that stores
information about the default parameters for the current backup set.  I simply
name my file "backup1.set" and use CYB to search for it at boot time.

NON FLOPPY BACKUP USERS NOTE:

The above procedure will also work with non-floppy disk based backup systems.
Again, the only thing you need to do is create a dummy catalog using the pro-
cedure described above.


OTHER FUNCTIONS:

For users not interested in CYB as a boot time program, or don't want to
be nagged about backups, CYB can also be used just to get a listing of files
that have changed since the last backup.  The command to do this is:

C:>cyb /<drive>      [DO NOT FORGET THE "/"]

where <drive> is the LETTER of the disk drive you want to check.
The program will not let you enter an invalid drive letter.

Users who wish to run CYB as a program from an ordinary C: prompt may do so
without problems.  Use a command line like the following:

                   C:>CYB c:\pcbackup\pcbackc.log Friday 7 c:

OTHER NOTES:

CYB is DOS program intended to run at the time you first boot up your com-
puter.    It is intended to run from the autoexec.bat file and should precede
the call to run Windows (if you run under that system).  While it will run
under Windows (see description immediately above), it doesn't make a great
deal of sense as a Windows application.

=============================================================================
Money and Legal Matters:

CYB is distributed as Shareware.  You are free to share it with your friends or
upload it to bulletin boards or information services, providing the entire com-
pressed file (commonly called an archive file) is uploaded without modification.
If you find that you use CYB regularly, you should send me a $10.00 donation at
the address listed below.  If CYB is used in a commercial or business environ-
ment, you are REQUIRED to send me $10.00 for EACH copy in use.    Site licenses
can be negotiated for a reasonable fee.

If you have any suggestions for modifications or find any "bugs", please let me
know the specifics in writing at the address below.  CYB is distributed without
warranties of any kind.

Dr. Marc Feldesman
Flying Pig Software
4210 SW Comus
Portland, Oregon 97219

PC Tools is a registered trademark of Central Point Software;  Fastback
and Fastback PLUS are registered trademarks of Fifth Generation Systems.