The WinSite Windows Explosion! 1996 Summer

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***PARK-A-BYTE INC.*** ======== INTRODUCTION Yes! we know "Backups" is not a sexy subject! But unfortunately it is something which CANNOT BE IGNORED unless you are willing to pay an extraordinarily heavy price! Just stop and think for a minute what it would mean to you and yoyur livelihood if your Hard Drive crashed the next minute. These crashes occur far more frequently than you think. There are also VIRUS INFECTIONS to worry about with the same consequences. But Backups are such a chore requiring discipline and time (lots of it especially if you are using floppies or Tapes!). Is there an alternative? Yes, a very elegant, poweful and easy one to use! In adition you do not even have to struggle with any fancy menus, screens and 'train' yourself! Nor do you have to worry about slow.... tapes or (corruptible!!) floppies. Now, you can do COMPLETE BACKUPS leaving them on an AUTOPILOT! Just the way the Plane Pilots do when they are tired! Let the system do it. Not a SINGLE mouseclick or a SINGLE keystroke!!!!! All without the SETUP hassles involved with the tapes and floppies! Dont Believe It? Read the "AUTOPILOT" section below But we are getting ahead of ourselves! This is not the ONLY feature that sets this software apart from EVERY other so-called Backup software, bar none, on the market today! ========================================================================= INNOVATIVE (COPYRIGHTED) FEATURES UNPARALLED BY ANY OTHER BACKUP SOFTWARE Backup software (tape, floppy-based or otherwise) available today (including Microsoft and Symantec (Norton) is nothing but `glorified' copying operations, with lots of fancy screens, menus and prompts! It takes more time to familiarize ("train") yourself with these fancy screens and menus than solving Rubik's cube! On the other hand, when it comes to the real McCoy of `RECOVERY' they literally fall apart, one and all! You have to deal with the messy and excruciatingly slow (and often tangled, in every sense!) tape operating system, and deal with one subdirectory at a time due to the sequential access of the tapes. The slow, snail-like `RETRIEVAL' (you could find Aladdin's treasure faster!) provided by tape operating software is bound to frustrate anyone. It literally takes ages to recover a file (or directory) from the slothlike slow moving tapes (worse if they are huge capacity gigabyte tapes). Then you add HUMAN ERROR which makes matters infinitely worse. Floppies (in addition to being easily corruptible) pile up even for small backups and then you run into the humongous time-consuming chore of LABELLING GENERATIONS of Backups, and storing such tapes or floppies carefully and in proper order so you can recover and access them when you need them (Good Luck!). Backup software, which backs up onto a hard Drive itself (like this One) has its own monumental problems! They back up, simply copying data fronm one portion of hard disk to another or to another hard Drive, wasting an enormous amount of space. When it comes to RETRIEVAL, the User is literally left to 'sink or swim'. Even if the backup is a compressed 'zip' archive file, the User has to 'remember' exactly where on the disk it was stored, then go through another software, to uncompress it and then pick out (which is no small chore!) the correct files in the correct directory. Our software automates the procedure 100%! The User simply specifies the original Directory Path such as C:\Lotus, D:\qpro etc. and the Drive (letter only) of the Backup Drive and the software does the rest accurately, and reliably! (See the section on PRESERVATION OF BACKUPS below for our copyrighted PUBLIC LIBRARY STYLE NDEXING system) We go one EXTRAORDINARY step further! Good old DOS and every other Backup software not only OVERWRITES previous backups but gives the user NO OPTION to PRESERVE any backup for any individual directory unit (inclusive of its subdirectories) from being overwritten by later bckups. This is accomplished by automatically DATE-STAMPING that specific backup (at user's option. Read about this unique unparalled COPYRIGHTED FEATURE next. ================== PRESERVING BACKUPS This is the only system which can `preserve' i.e. protect an INDIVIDUAL compressed backup file from being overwritten by later backups, by actually `date-stamping'(See below) it so that there is no need to preserve a whole GENERATION of backups of entire drives willynily! It is this datestamp feature which enables quick, reliable and AUTOMATIC recovery of the specific individual Directory backup (Preserved or Normal) you are interested in, WITHOUT the Labeling and struggling to find the `stored' labeled tapes, floppies or any other media, WHEN NEEDED, which is required by every other software!! The true hassle you run into with the current backup software is the need to create `generations' of backups, since each successive backup overwrites the previous ones! With our `Backups-on-the-fly' software you have complete FLEXIBILITY and CONTROL of `preserving' any individual backup of any first-level directory (including all nested subdirectories, of course), at your option and whenever you feel like! The software will create an unique Dos-like DATE-STAMP, (copyright 1995) in the form of three character filename extension, which the user can visually interpret as follows: For example, the extension `4AC' will tell you that the backup was created in year 1994 The first character of the datestamp, 4, is the last digit of the year. `A', the second character, in Hex format is 10, and indicates the tenth month of October. The last character `C' represents the date 12 (See table below). Dates 10 and beyond are converted as shown in table below. If you see a backup file with this extension, it was created on October 12 of 1994! DATE ID DATE ID DATE ID ==== == ==== == ==== == 10 A 20 K 30 U 11 B 21 L 31 V 12 C 22 M 13 D 23 N 14 E 24 O 15 F 25 P 16 G 26 Q 17 H 27 R 18 I 28 S 19 J 29 T This is just one among many (copyrighted) features that distinguishes this software from the other software. By simply specifying `p' or `P' (for `preserving') as the third parameter, the user can `preserve' any individual backup for any individual first level directory ( or entire Drive, if you wish). Just by looking at the file extension and the directory (such as D.zip) of the backup Drive where the compressed backup file is placed, the user knows WHEN exactly the backup was created (see the table above), and the path of the original source directory! He may want to retain certain files which are constantly being modified from being overwritten and lost. He can now preserve the particular backup for that directory. With other software, without this datestamp, you are forced to retain every single `generation' of backups (usually for ALL directories) and label and then struggle to retrieve and access them when you need to!! Obviously, this is impractical and very much PRONE TO HUMAN ERROR! In addition, it wastes a tremendous amount of space! Especially tape or floppy backups can never give you this FLEXIBILITY and CONTROL. ============================= RETRIEVING PRESERVED BACKUPS: The Backups-on-the-fly software also automatically ORGANIZES your compressed Backup files (please note that the backup files are COMPRESSED even though the extension is not necessarily `ZIP') in a simple elegant and unique fashion. It creates a directory on the Backup Drive such as D.zip which tells the software that the original Directory resided on Drive (or partition) D:. The name of the file itself will be picked up from the name of the original Directory such as Lotus in Lotus.zip or Lotus.528 (for preserved backup). The file extension (if A PRESERVED BACKUP) tells you WHEN it was created! It is this UNIQUE copyrighted organization system which enables this software to AUTOMATICALLY RETRIEVE any backup (Preserved or normal), which NO OTHER Backup software can accomplish! The DATE-STAMP extension (copyrighted) helps the User clearly see for example, that the backup file Lotus.529 was created on Feb. 9 1995, and came from the original directory D:\Lotus. You can specify the datestamp `529' as the third parameter in the UNPACK command to recover that specific ` preserved' backup. Once you become familiar with this organizational setup, you will realize the tremendous `productivity' and ease of use, as well as the complete control and flexibility this feature offers. =============================== PROCESSING LISTS OF DIRECTORIES You can, if you wish, prepare a simple list of the first-level directories, the data in which gets modified often and therefore needs to be backed up often. Give this list a name, and use that LISTNAME as the first parameter. The software will process the entire list, item by item. To make things easier for you, we have provided an `exe' file named `Preplist' to prepare exactly this kind of a list. For example, Simply type: `Preplist mylist C:\Lotus!D:\Qpro!F:\Excel' and press Enter. Please note that there are no spaces in the second parameter, and the list items are separated by `!' character (none at the end). `Mylist' is the name of the list. This is the LISTNAME you can use in `Bkup' (or Unpack or Bkpext) command. For example, Bkup (or Unpack or Bkpext) mylist K:' will backup (or uncompress) the directories C:\Lotus, D:\Qpro and F:\Excel, one by one, along with all their subdirectories onto (or from) the backup drive K:. The third parameter `p(or P) ` (for preservation) will also work with the listname . NOTE: Please do use 'Preplist.exe' to prepare these lists, because it places the marker 'END' at the end of the list, which you might forget if you prepare the list manually. This marker is absolutely essential for the software to operate properly. ================================ PLACE YOUR BACKUPS ON AUTOPILOT! Imagine the flexibility and control you will have by dealing with LISTS OF first level directories (of your choice), rather than entire drives. You can segregate `modifiable' data from `programs and other unchanging data by simply looking at the first-level directory paths. . Prepare separate lists, for separate projects. Back up just once, the list/s for Data which does not get modified, such as programs, and reference data, and put away the cartridge safe from any virus, human or otherwise as well as from acts of God1! Now study the file Sample.bat included in the package. This is your AUTOPILOT! Here is how you set it up: 1. Prepare a list of all the Directory Paths using Preplist.exe (as explained above), which contain the files you usually work with or modify. Study the file, ^Xlist' provided as an example. 2. Next study the Sample.bat (also provided). Follow the instructions given in the 'REM' statements, to modify this file, to suit your setup. If you wish, you can rename this file, to something like 'PILOT.BAT' and append the command C:\pilot to your autoexec.bat. Be sure to place this batch file in C:\ (or in any other directory in DOS path, in which case simply append 'pilot' to the autoexec.bat). 3. Use this Batch file to enter your windows session anytime other than through autoexec.bat. =============================================================================== THAT'S IT! AUTOPILOT IS ON! (Please Note that Autopilot will NOT work for files modified through DOS environment, as opposed to WINDOWS environment. ====================================================== BACKING UP `EXTENSIONS' (Another Copyrighted Feature): Many times before I developed this utility, I have wished I could segregate important `windows' files such as `DLL' or `INI' or `GRP', in a separate directory so that I could deal with these specific files without hunting' for them (e. g. edit `INI' files etc.) and without disturbing the windows setup. I now use the `Bkpext' command. For example, `Bkpext H:\windows F: dll', will create a compressed file named Windows.dll in `H.zip' directory on the Backup drive, F: When I wish to `retrieve' this particular backup, with the `Unpack' command, I use `Unpack H:\windows F: ^dll'. The 'dll' files are all recovered and placed in a NEW uniquely named (`dllx') subdirectory of H:\windows directory, available for independent processing! Notice the `^' placed in front of `dll' in the command example. This is absolutely necessary so that the software recognises that the parameter is pointing to an `extension' backup and not a 'preserved' (See above) backup. Most projects use distinct extensions in file-names and this facility makes projects more easily identifiable, qccessible and your file structure more project-oriented and therefore, usetr-friendly! ================================= UNDELETING DAMAGED/DELETED FILES: This has never been easier! If you damage or accidentally delete one ( or a group) of filesin any particular directory (or subdir), follow this simple procedure: 1. Delete all the corrupt or damaged files. 2. Issue the command `Bkup C:\Lotus F:', where C:\Lotus, or one of its subs contained the deleted or damaged original file or files. This step will pick up all the files modified since the last backup. (F: is the Backup Drive). This backup should not take too much time, since it processes only the modified or added data. 3. Now issue mirror-like Unpack command, `Unpack C:\Lotus F:'. All the files including deleted/damaged files should be in place! In order for this to work, of course, you should have been making backups with this software, prior to any such disaster! Same procedure will undelete a whole `subdirectory' if you happen to delete it accidentally! ============================================================================== If all this talk about different parameters confuses you, dont worry. We have provided a batch file called GO.BAT. Simply switch to Backups-on-the-Fly' directory, type GO at the DOS command line and Press Enter. Now follow the prompts. You will be prompted for every single parameter that is required! For users who would like more detail about command-line parameters read the command.doc file ======================== EASE OF LEARNING AND USE No fancy menus, screens or prompts! No messy irrecoverable floppies or tapes! No labeling, indexing and other generational Backup hasslles! No difficult training curve either! The best part is that you can do the Backups and recoveries as often as you like. (Actually have fun with it! Can you imagine that?) Each time, only modified, updated or new files will be backed up, so each succeeding backup will be faster! As a matter of fact, you should back up frequently modified data as frequently as possible, so that all the latest additions or modifications get included in the backup. If you do need to retain certain versions of certain modifiable files, you can always back them up using the `p' parameter. No need or the hassle of a backup of a whole generation or labelling the media! ============= BACKUP DRIVE: For Backup drive (second parameter in the command) you may choose any DOS drive (or partition) letter available on which you wish to place the Backups on. Ideally, this should be (but doesn't have to be) an External removable or Portable Drive, which is recognized by DOS, so the backups remain safe from any disaster. ================================= PORTABLE (Cartridge based) DRIVES Also, if possible, please install this software on a portable drive to avoid being destroyed or corrupted. Again, ideally you should own a Portable (or removable) External Drive, which will make your Backups far more easily accessible and give you far greater control over your monster hard disk, which gets out of control once too often! In addition, an external (Cartridge based) Hard Drive gives you an infinite amount of storage space with almost equally fast (sometimes even faster) access as your internal drive. This software organizes the backups on the Backup (external or internal) drive so well, that even after a complete crash of your entire internal drive, you can pinpoint the path of each of the (lost or damaged directory or directories just by looking at the `dir' listing of the backup drive! This is all you need to make a complete recovery!! When making the backups, the software automatically creates a new (unless already existing) directory on the Backup drive, such as `D.Zip'. The Drive letter D tells it that the original directory was on Drive (or partition) D:. The name of the zip file itself is picked up as the name of the original directory, such as Qpro in Qpro.zip (or DRIVE.zip for entire Drive). It is this unique organization (copyrighted) that enables the software to RETRIEVE your backups by simply issuing the mirror-like `Unpack' command. NO OTHER BACKUP SOFTWARE CAN DREAM OF DOING THIS! =============== Important Notes: In order to use this software, you must have a copy of Pkzip.exe and Pkunzip.exe files (from Pkware Inc.) available on every on-line service in Shareware Libraries. If you dont have them already or have difficulty finding them, we will be glad to help you. You must pay attention to any messages issued by the `Pkware' software in their documentation available only with the purchase of their software. Especially please note the space requirements for archiving and unarchiving. Note especially the message `Disk may be Full'. Otherwise, you may lose valuable data, not being backed up due to space requirements. You can always run go.bat from the Windows File Manager, or through the Program Manager after creating an icon for go.bat file. ---------------- ************IMPRTANT WARNINGS********** ---------------- 1. PLEASE MAKE SURE TO INSTALL THIS SOFTWARE ON AN EXTERNAL DRIVE IF YOU POSSIBLY CAN!! Otherwise, you might lose the software along with the rest of the data on the Internal Drive! Get an External or Portable Drive today. We will be glad to recommend one by email if you would write to us. INTERNET Address: actuary@nmaa.org Compuserve Address: 70154.3043@compuserve.com 2. Most BACKUP software is NOT able to backup (copy) files with Read-only, Hidden or System attributes. You should have very few such files. These can be handled with the DOS command 'attrib -(r/h/s) or +(r/h/s)'. Disable the attribute temporarily and place it back after the backup is finished. We will automate this feature in the next version. ======================================= HINTS FOR GREATER PRODUCTIVITY: Identify the first-level Directories incorporating files (or subdirectories) that get modified or updated on a regular basis. Prepare a `named' list of such Directories using `Preplist.exe'. Use this listname in `Bkup' and `Unpack' commands. Modify (by editing) this list if needed. Use go.bat to Backup (or 'Unpack) this listname as often as you like. This will keep the latest versions of all the modifiable data backed up, especially files handled by DOS environment, which AUTOPILOT will not handle. Rest of the data (not modified frequently) can be backed up on the removable cartridges for external drives and put away safely for guaranteed and easy later access if and when needed and safe from viruses, human or otherwise! Use the `P' (preservation) parameter liberally and preserve any backups you think you may need in future. ================================================= USE THE AUTOPILOT! YOUR DATA WILL BE GLAD YOU DID!! No fancy screens, menus and no hassles with tapes or floppies. If you can find any `Backup' software that is safer and more automatic and hassle-free, by all means stay with it! ========================= Disclaimer and Copyright: The user assumes all responsibility for any damages arising out of the use of this software. In any event all claims for any damages shall be limited to the price paid by the user for this software. In other words, if you pirated this software, be assured you get nothing anyway! This software is fully protected by U.S. Copyright and Patents Law. Patent application is pending. All copyrights and the trademark are held by Park-A-Byte Inc. (registered trademark 1995). Anybody using the basic COPYRIIGHTED concepts (the intellectual property under this law), underlying this software, to produce competing software and trying to market such software will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of this Law. ================== EVALUATION PERIOD: It is a sad fact of life that people do abuse Shareware programs by using them free AND FAR beyond a reasonable period required for evaluation. This raises the cost of producing and maintaining quality software. We had to, therefore, place a limit on the evaluation period, which, for this particular Demo copy, will be July 1 1996. If you are convinced like us, that this software will save you the pain of dealing with messy tapes and bulky floppies, you can do your friends a favor by passing on copies of this demo. If you wish to order it send us a check for $24.95 payable to Park-A-Byte Inc. We do not accept credit cards yet and prefer to ship the software by Email. Lastly, your comments and suggestions to improve the product and service will be more than welcome. ================================= ORDERING INFO AND EMAIL ADDRESS:: The price of the software is $24.95 until July 1 1996. If you are a Compuserve member, give us your user-Id or your Internet address and we will e-mail the software to you. Please send the Order form ( file Order.Doc), so that we can register your order and keep you informed of revisions and upgrades. Our EMAIL ADDRESS ON INTERNET: actuary@nmaa.org ----------------------------------------------- Try out the Demo,. If you like it, send us $24.95 for a fully operating version. This price will remain effective until June 30 1996. ================================================================ GUARDIAN OF MOST IMPORTANT COMPUTER DATA IN THE WORLD ---YOURS! Park-a-Byte Inc. Fax: (703) 893-9330 1127 Buchanan St. Voice: (703) 893-0660 McLean VA 22101