═══ 1. Getting Started ═══ Welcome to BackMaster Getting Started On-line Help ! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This small information section is here to help guide you through the basics of BackMaster. There are only two basic steps to using BackMaster: o File Selection o Start Backup In order for BackMaster to backup files, it must first know which files to backup. Here is some need-to-know terminology: o Pointer - The small arrow on the screen controlled by the mouse. o Click -- Refers to the mouse buttons. This means place the pointer on the desired choice and press and release the mouse button indicated once. o Double-Click -- This means place the pointer on the desired choice and press and release the button indicated twice. This must be done quickly or it will not work properly! o Folder -- This is another name for a directory or a collection of files. o Window -- This is a term for a box that appears on the screen at any given time. o Icon -- A graphical representation of a word. Many folder icons will appear during the file selection process. o Button -- A graphical representation of a command or selection. File Selection Once BackMaster is loaded, select files to backup. Using the left mouse button, click on Backup located on the menu bar. Select Files will no appear below Backup. Now, using the left mouse button, click on Select Files. Note: When a menu selection is Highlighted, pressing the Enter key (instead of using the mouse) to activate the selection works the same as using the mouse button. A small box will now pop-up on the screen that reads Reading Directory Tree. BackMaster is looking at all the directories and files on the hard drive. Note: If you have more than one hard drive, a dialog/list box will appear with choices of the drives to choose. Choose one or more drives to read. Choosing more than one drive takes longer to read and display files. BackMaster will now read all the drives selected. Soon, a window titled Selection Window will appear with a graphical representation of the drive(s) selected. Now you must begin selecting files to backup. Note: A plus(+) sign to the left of a folder means that folder has more folders inside it. To see the folders inside a folder, click on the plus sign with the pointer using the left mouse button. A minus(-) sign will take the place of the plus(+) sign. To close the folder, click on the minus(-) sign again. To see the files within a folder, click on that folder and an Options window will appear with a list of the files in that folder. To select or deselect a file, click on the row of the file desired. The row of the file selected will change to a reversed image from the previous image. Selection of Individual Files: Double-click on a folder, and another window will appear. This window will contain the files in that folder. Use the left mouse button to highlight the files which will be backed up. Any files not highlighted will not be backed up. Selection of Entire Folders: Click the right mouse button on the folder desired to select. A box will appear with the following choices: o File Filters... o Select Folder o Deselect Folder After completing the file selection process, click on Backup at the top of the screen. Now select Start Backup to begin backing up. ═══ 2. Backup ═══ Backup copies one or more files from hard disk to either floppy disk or tape. To begin the backup process, click on Backup located in the top left corner of the window. Now click on Start Backup. Note: Files must first be selected in order to start backing up! ═══ 2.1. Select Files ═══ When the Select Files menu is chosen, the current directory tree(s) of the drive(s) specified are read. Now a window will appear inside the main window. This is the File Selection Window. This window contains a graphical representation of the data on the drive(s) selected. Note: Selections of data to backup may be made on a directory or an individual file basis. One or more drive icons will appear with a plus mark to the left of the icon. Using the mouse, click on the plus mark(s) to open the folders. In order to see the folders below the root directory, click on the plus mark beside the desired folder. To select an entire folder (Sub Directory) to be backed up, click on the desired folder with the right mouse button. A menu will appear with the following choices: o File Filters... o Select Folder o Deselect Folder By choosing Select Folder, a red check mark will appear on the folder icon of the folder selected. This will indicate that the folder, and all files in that folder are to be backed up. Individual folders, or an entire drive may be selected for backup in this manner. During the selection of individual files in a folder, the folder icon in the Backup File Selection window may have a partial or hashed check mark instead of no check mark at all. No check mark indicates that no files in the folder are selected. A solid red check mark indicates that all the files in the folder are selected. Note: For faster selection and de-selection of folders, the mouse pointer always appears on the option that is the reverse of the current state of the folder so to reverse the choice, hit the mouse button again. ═══ 2.2. Start Backup ═══ After selecting the folder(s) and file(s) wanted to backup, choose Start Backup from the Backup menu bar. BackMaster will then begin to backup (copy) all the data selected to the designated drive. A progress window will appear showing the backup procedure as it works. ═══ 2.3. Cancel Backup ═══ At any time during the file selection or backup process, Cancel Backup will abort the backup procedure. ═══ 3. Restore ═══ Restore is the process of taking a backed-up file and changing it back to it's original form. If you backed-up the entire C: drive, restore command will copy everything to the destination hard drive exactly as it was on the source drive. Note: Restore only takes files from floppy disk or tape for transfer to a hard drive. ═══ 4. Verify ═══ Verify compares the restored files from the backup with the original files to make sure they are identical. ═══ 4.1. Select Files to Verify ═══ Select Files to Verify lets the user select only desired files to verify restoration of. Note: Verifying only desired individual files is a lot faster than verifying all restored files! ═══ 4.2. Start Verify ═══ Start Verify starts comparing the file(s) selected to verify. Note: Before BackMaster can start verifying, file(s) must first be selected. ═══ 4.3. Cancel Verify ═══ At any time during the verification process, choosing Cancel Verify will abort the verification process and return to the main window. ═══ 5. Options ═══ The Options menu bar contains several choices to choose from. At the current time, the available options are: o File Filters... o Message Log o Floppy Utilities o Tape Utilities o Settings These options help customize the backup procedure. ═══ 5.1. File Filters ═══ File Filters: This menu option causes the file filter dialog box to appear. In the dialog box are entry fields for file name and date filter entry. In the name field, enter the files (one per line) that should be selected for backup. Since standard wildcards (*.* and ?.?) are supported along with multiple entries, this can be a powerful selection tool. Note: The default wildcard is *.* ═══ 5.2. Message Log ═══ The Message Log records all viable information about the backup. ═══ 5.3. Progress ═══ The Progress help is not developed at this time. ═══ 5.4. Floppy Utilities ═══ o Format Diskette Floppy Utilities are individual tasks that can be performed on a floppy diskette. The current available tasks are : o Format Diskette ═══ 5.4.1. Format Diskette ═══ To prepare a diskette for first time use, the diskette must be formatted. Formatting a disk removes any information previously stored on that disk and prepares the disk to be compatible with the disk drive installed in your computer. Warning: Format Diskette will erase all data from the diskette! ═══ 5.5. Tape Utilities ═══ The current Tape Utilities developed at this time are: ul compact. li.Format Tape ═══ 5.5.1. Format Tape ═══ To prepare a tape for first time use, the tape must be formatted. Formatting a tape removes any information previously stored on that tape and prepares the tape to be compatible with the tape drive installed in your computer. You need to check the tape before formatting or valuable backed-up data may be lost. Warning: Format will erase all data fro the tape! ═══ 5.5.2. Cartridge Information ═══ Cartridge Information gives statistical information about the data on the tape cartridge. ═══ 5.5.3. Tape Drive Information ═══ Tape Drive Information gives specific statistical information about the tape drive begin used. ═══ 5.6. Settings ═══ Settings has not been developed at this time. ═══ 5.6.1. General S/W ═══ General S/W is used for setting up BackMaster to suit the user's needs. ═══ 5.6.2. Floppy Settings ═══ Floppy Settings is used for customizing floppy backups. ═══ 5.6.3. Tape Settings ═══ Tape Settings is used for customizing tape backups. ═══ ═══ File Selection is the process of choosing the files to backup. Note: In order to start the backup process, files or folders must first be selected first. ═══ ═══ Backup is the process of copying one or more files from one disk to another. Note: Currently, BackMaster only supports backups from hard disk to tape and hard disk to floppy diskette. ═══ ═══ File filters are used to select many or few files at once without having to manually look through and pick out the files wanted to see or select. An example of a file filter is *.*. This will choose all the files in the current directory. If the file filter *.EXE was used, BackMaster will only look for the files that have the extension .EXE . ═══ ═══ After selection of files, Deselection of one or more file(s) will remove those files from the list of selected file(s). ═══ ═══ Message Log footnote still needs to be developed. ═══ ═══ Floppy Utilities are individual tasks that can be performed on a floppy diskette. The current available tasks are : ═══ ═══ To prepare a diskette for first time use, the diskette must be formated. Formatting a disk removes any information previously stored on that disk and prepares the disk to be compatible with the disk drive installed in your computer. Warning: Format Diskette will erase all data from the diskette! ═══ ═══ Tape Utilities footnote has not yet been developed. ═══ ═══ To prepare a tape for first time use, the tape must be formatted. Formatting a tape removes any information previously stored on that tape and prepares the tape to be compatible with the tape drive installed in your computer. You need to check the tape before formatting or valuable backed-up data may be lost. Warning: Format will erase all data from the tape! ═══ ═══ Settings footnote has not yet been developed.