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1991-05-10
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ALARM.COM
======
ALARM.COM is a hard disk back-up reminder. It is designed
specifically for those who - like me - prefer to back up their
entire hard disk regularly - I do mine on a monthly basis - and
back up individual sub-directories containing development work
and data as changes are made.
ALARM works by looking at a file on the hard disk which contains the
date of the last back-up, and comparing it to todays date. If the
interval between the dates is more than the preset interval
between back-ups, a gentle reminder is given that the back-up is
overdue. To be used effectively BK must be run each time the
computer is used, and should therefore be placed in the
AUTOEXEC.BAT file. The syntax is:
ALARM (Option) where Option is either:
a 2 digit number representing the interval between backups
or the Date of last Backup as dd/mm/yy
If an interval between back-ups is not specified, the default is
28 days.
USE
===
Initialise ALARM by typing:
ALARM (date)
where [date] is the date of the last back-up in the form
dd/mm/yy. ALARM will create a file called BACKCHK.DAT in the root
directory of the current logged on drive, which if typed out will
look like:
Last Backed-Up On : 12/04/91
Running ALARM again - without any options - will display the
following:
/--------------------------------\
| Back-up Reminder v2.10 |
| Paul Martin May 1991 |
| |
| Todays Date : 01/05/91 |
| Checking drive : C: |
| Last Backed-Up On : 29/05/91 |
| Interval set at : 28 |
| Days since backup : 18 |
\--------------------------------/
Assuming that the last back-up was carried out on the 1st of
March 1991, running ALARM will result in the following being
displayed - along with an audible reminder.
/--------------------------------\
| Back-up Reminder v2.10 |
| Paul Martin May 1991 |
| |
| Todays Date : 10/05/91 |
| Checking dive : C: |
| Last Backed-Up On : 01/03/91 |
| Interval set at : 28 /---------------------------------\
| Days since backup : 71 | |
\-------------------------| B A C K U P O V E R D U E |
| |
| |
| To Change Date of Last Back-up |
| - press [SPACE] - |
| To Ignore Reminder and Continue |
| - press [RETURN] - |
\---------------------------------/
Pressing just the RETURN key will leave the program without
further action, but assuming a back-up has been carried out,
pressing the SPACE bar will present the opportunity to alter the
date held in ALARMAH.DAT.
/--------------------------------\
| Back-up Reminder v2.10 |
| Paul Martin May 1991 |
| |
| Todays Date : 10/05/91 |
| Checking dive : C: |
| Last Backed-Up On : 01/03/91 |
| Interval set at : 28 /---------------------------------\
| Days since backup : 71 | |
\-------------------------| B A C K U P O V E R D U E |
| |
| |
| Set Date of last Backup : |
| |
| <01/03/91> : / / |
| |
\---------------------------------/
Todays date is presented as the default, and pressing RETURN will
use this date. Any other date can be entered instead.
NOTE: As with the initialisation, the date held in ALARMAH.DAT
can be changed by entering a date in the command line.
RETURN VALUES
=============
ALARM returns the following values to DOS, which can be used with
the IF ERRORLEVEL command in batch files:
3 - Syntax error in command line.
2 - Backup Overdue - Date amended.
1 - Backup Overdue - Warning ignored.
0 - No backup required.
It would be quite possible, for instance, to arrange for your
particular backup program to be run automatically if the date of
the last backup is changed.
REMEMBER: if you use IF ERRORLEVEL, check for the highest FIRST.
If 2 is returned, IF ERRORLEVEL 1 will be TRUE.
MULTI-DRIVE MACHINES
====================
For machines with more than one hard disk drive, different
intervals can be set for each drive. The file ALARMAH.DAT is
created in the root directory of the current drive. On a system
with two hard disks, the AUTOEXEC.BAT file may look like this:
C:
C:\ALARM
D:
C:\ALARM
Although the PATH command could be use to tell DOS where ALARM.COM
is located.
ALARM indicated which drive is being checked when it is run, so
there is little chance of confusion.
IMPORTANT
=========
A certain amount of syntax and date verification is carried out
by the program, but it is not designed to trap every conceivable
error. If something does go wrong, delete ALARMAH.DAT from the
root directory, and start again! If an error is made with the
syntax on the command line, the following will be displayed:
ALARM.COM - Paul Martin May 1991
Syntax : ALARM [option]
Option : 2 digit number - interval between backups
: Date of last Backup as dd/mm/yy