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1993-04-29
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___________________________________________
| |
| MegaBack |
| |
| Comprehensive Backup for PC Systems |
| |
--> | April 1993 |
| |
| User's Guide |
| |
| |
| |
| Patri-Soft |
| 5225 Canyon Crest Dr |
| Suite 71-358 |
| Riverside, Ca 92507 |
| |
| Patriquin's BBS |
--> | (DATA) 909-352-2825 |
--> | (VOICE) 909-352-2820 |
--> | (FAX) 909-352-1527 |
| |
| Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft |
| all rights reserved |
|_________________________________________|
MegaBack Table of Contents Page i
About MegaBack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
MegaBack Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Backing up with MegaBack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Full/Incremental Backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Multiple Hard Disks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Complements Tape Backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Select/Exclude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Reliability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
System Setup/Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Setting system options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Test to verify installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Quick Start guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Starting MegaBack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Backing up files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Starting from the menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Backup processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Backup termination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Restoring files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Restoring files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Initial restore file selection . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Restore now or list specific files . . . . . . . . . . 14
Selecting files from the selection list . . . . . . . . 14
Restore processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Restore termination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
How MegaBack works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Backup Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Backup Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Backup File Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
The Backup Volume Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
MegaBack reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Preparing backup volume sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
MegaBack's Main Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Backup Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Backup Type Selection Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Full Backup <F> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Incremental Backup <I> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
List Files <L> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Backup Status Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Status Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Totals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Current File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
MegaBack Table of Contents Page ii
Disk Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Request for backup volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Recovering from disk write errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Interrupting/Resuming backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Completing backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Entering Restore Criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Listing Files to Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Restore File Select List Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Starting Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Restore Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Overlaying Files with duplicate Names . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Completing Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Restoring to an Empty System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Making a system recovery boot diskette . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Utility Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Synchronize hard disk. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Reset the backup indexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Recover backup indexes from last backup volume . . . . . . . 37
Verify backup volume data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Selection/Exclusion Procession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Backup File Selection Operation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Marking a full directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Completing file selection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Set basic system options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Advanced System Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Set alternate display type/colors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Command Line operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
command line format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Command parameter explanations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Specifying options through DOS environment variables . . . . . . 48
Backup Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Multiple Backup sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Making copies of backup volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
The Context Sensitive Help System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Alarm/Reminder Utility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Operating system compatibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Backup device compatibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
I/O errors on disks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Technical Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
IMPORTANT WARRANTY INFORMATION
TRIAL USE (SHAREWARE EVALUATION VERSION) WARRANTY:
The Shareware evaluation (trial use) version is provided AS IS. Patri-
Soft MAKES NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND/OR FITNESS
FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
REGISTERED VERSION ONLY WARRANTY:
Patri-Soft warrants the physical diskette(s) and physical
documentation provided with registered versions to be free of defects
in materials and workmanship for a period of ninety days from the date
of registration. If Patri-Soft receives notification within the
warranty period of defects in materials or workmanship, and such
notification is determined by Patri-Soft to be correct, Patri-Soft
will replace the defective diskette(s) or documentation.
The entire and exclusive liability and remedy for breach of this
Limited Warranty shall be limited to replacement of defective
diskette(s) or documentation and shall not include or extend to any
claim for or right to recover any other damages, including but not
limited to, loss of profit, data, or use of the software, or special,
incidental, or consequential damages or other similar claims, even if
Patri-Soft has been specifically advised of the possibility of such
damages. In no event will Patri-Soft's liability for any damages to
you or any other person ever exceed the lower of suggested list price
or actual price paid for the license to use the software, regardless
of any form of the claim.
Patri-Soft SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ALL OTHER WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF
MERCHANTABILITY AND/OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 1
About MegaBack
MegaBack is a personal backup system for your computer. MegaBack
software automates and organizes backup processing for your system.
It also provides comprehensive abilities to restore backup files when
needed.
MegaBack is designed to be easy for all PC users. Its menus are
simple and understandable. MegaBack makes backup simple by
surrounding all complex backup terms and requirements with a menu
driven system.
MegaBack Features
-- Lets you control backup type by selecting full volume, or
incremental backup of updated files.
--> -- Remember to backup regularly by letting MegaBack's alarm feature
remind you when backups are due.
-- Saves your time by letting you optionally view files to be backed
up before backup begins.
-- Simplifies restore by locating backup files quickly using backup
indexes maintained by MegaBack.
-- Simplifies multiple hard drive backup by automatically backing up
all drives in a single backup process.
-- Reduce backup time and diskettes required through a comprehensive
exclusion facility that lets you mark directories and files to
exclude files from the backup process.
-- Saves time and effort by Formatting new diskettes automatically.
-- Saves backup space by appending daily backup of updated files to
the last backup disk used.
-- Saves backup space through very high compression and a smart disk
storage techniques. Lets you store the maximum amount of data on
a minimum number of diskettes.
-- Provides flexibility by optionally restoring files to any
specified location.
-- Uses multiple storage media. Backup to diskette, removable hard
disks, or optical disks.
-- Provides transportability of backup data to other systems using
portable backup volumes.
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 2
-- Provides peace of mind through extensive capabilities to recover
from backup errors and disk losses.
-- Enhances backup data integrity by letting you create multiple
backup disk sets to keep spare backup copies for your data.
-- Adapts to your operation preference of menu or command line
operation.
-- Simplifies learning and operation through instant access to
context sensitive help at any time (F1 key).
-- Helps you use available time by letting you interrupt full or
incremental backup at any time and resume processing when it is
convenient for you.
Backing up with MegaBack
MegaBack keeps compressed and compacted copies of files on offline
diskettes volumes and maintains records for every file in a backup
index on your hard disk. The backup index lets you immediately
examine all information about your backup files without having to scan
through backup diskettes.
MegaBack compresses each file as it is backed up to make maximum use
of diskette storage. Compression usually results in storing files in
1/2 the space they would normally require on diskettes.
MegaBack also compacts data on backup disks to improve performance and
further reduce disk space required for backup. All files backed up to
a single diskette are compacted into a single backup file. Writing
this single file is much faster and more efficient than writing
multiple files on a backup diskette. In addition to performance,
compaction saves disk space used by unoccupied cluster space at the
end of each DOS file.
Unlike some other backup systems, MegaBack uses standard DOS disk I/O
routines when reading and writing backup data. This makes MegaBack
much more reliable as it does not depend on unsupported, nonstandard,
I/O techniques that may fail on some computers.
MegaBack organizes your backup volumes (diskettes) in simple numerical
order so it is easy to file and locate backup volumes. All volumes
are numbered sequentially starting at 1. Newly backed up files are
stored in the next available space on the last used backup volume.
Volumes are completely used before new volumes are started. MegaBack
tracks volumes by number and records information about the exact
location of every stored file in its hard disk index.
MegaBack's backup index provides a backup directory containing
valuable information about every file backed up. The backup index
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 3
lets you determine if you have a backup of any file from any
directory, and tells you the date and time the backup was made. The
following information is maintained about every backup file:
File name
Drive where file was backed up from
Directory where it was backed up from
File Size
Date the file was created or last changed
Time the file was created or last changed
File attributes
Date the file was backed up
Time the file was backed up
The number of the backup disk(s) holding the file
The compressed size of the backup file
When you need to restore files or an entire volume, you specify the
drive, directory, and file information for all files to be restored.
These specifications may be for an exact file or may specify wildcard
names for qualifying multiple files. MegaBack can immediately restore
all matching files, or it will provide a scrollable selection list for
you to select one or more files to be restored. Once you have
selected files to be restored, MegaBack determines where the backup
files are stored, and requests volumes by number.
This organization lets you keep many volumes of backup data while
still maintaining easy access to any file.
Full/Incremental Backup
It is not reasonable to expect you to take the time to backup your
entire hard disk volume every time you want to backup. MegaBack
provides two backup types.
Full backup backs up all files on your hard disk. Use Full backup the
first time you use MegaBack, and then periodically to refresh your
backups. Full backup is only needed when you have used all your
backup disk volumes and want to condense multiple backup copies of the
same file down to a single copy. It is also useful after you have
deleted many files from your hard disk and want to free up backup disk
space used to hold the files. Unbelievably, most users only need to
perform a full backup about once every three months. They use
Incremental Backup is the term given to the process of backing up only
files that have been modified since they were last backed up. DOS
always keeps track of modified files for you my marking their
directory entries with an archive (changed) attribute.
The DOS attribute command (ATTRIB in DOS 5.0) can be used to inspect
or change the archive attribute. Whenever a file is created, copied
to a new location, or changed by an application, DOS marks the
directory entry with the archive attribute. If you have never run
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 4
backup, the archive attribute will be set for each file on your
system. Backup programs remove the archive attribute from files after
they have been backed up. MegaBack's Full and Incremental Backups
reset the archive (changed) indicator. For testing or special
situations, you can disable resetting this attribute through MegaBack
options.
Incremental Backup can quickly identify all changed files on your
system and append them to your backup set. Since many people only
update a few documents or files each day, incremental backup often
only takes a minute or two a day. Since Incremental Backup only backs
up a small amount of information, you may use incremental backup each
day for months before needing a full backup.
Incremental Backup has the effect of storing multiple copies of the
same file in the backup set if the file is changed between backups.
This would occur when you were editing a word processing document over
a period of days. Each day, the current status of the document will
be saved to the backup set. Although you may at first think this is a
waste of backup disk space, it is really a very beneficial feature.
Incremental backups of the same file provides a history of changes to
the file. In the event you need to restore an earlier version of the
file, you can always find it in MegaBack's backup set.
MegaBack's Incremental Backup lets you backup often. In fact, you may
want to backup more than once a day when working on critical
information you cannot afford to lose. Since Incremental Backup only
takes a minute, you won't hesitate to use it.
Multiple Hard Disks
MegaBack keeps track of all files by drive letter, and pathname so you
may backup multiple hard disk volumes using the same set of backup
disks and index. When restoring data, simply specify the originating
drive to restore data from.
Complements Tape Backup
Those of you with tape backup systems know how time consuming tape
backup can be. Tape backup is great for full volume backup, or for
regularly backing up very large systems, but it is often not efficient
for regular daily or even hourly backup. Tape processing takes too
long!
MegaBack does not currently backup to tape devices, but is still a
great complement to tape backup systems. Consider using your tape
system to do full volume backups of your hard disk drive. Then use
MegaBack for Incremental Backup of changed data. Your incremental
backups will only take a couple of minutes a day. You will be much
more likely to take the time to do daily backup and your hard disk
files will be better protected from loss.
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 5
To restore a system from a combined tape/MegaBack backup, restore the
entire backup from tape and then restore from MegaBack. MegaBack will
update the changed files with its copy.
Select/Exclude
Not all files need backing up! This may sound a little reckless, but
there are often many files kept on hard disks that are easily replaced
and do not justify using backup time and space. Software developers
don't need to backup intermediate compiler .OBJ files and test .EXE
files. Word processing systems often create .BAK or .BK! files that
are redundant copies of their original files.
MegaBack provides a Select/Exclude capability to let you select only
the files to be backed up, or to exclude files or directories from
backup processing. Use this facility to reduce your backup time and
the amount of backup disk space needed. MegaBack options indicate if
you want to select files for backup, or back up an entire drive except
specified files. You select how its processing is to operate.
Reliability
The most important question to ask of any backup system is how
reliable it is? MegaBack has been designed to safely backup your
files and double check the backups to make sure they are accurate and
correct. In addition, file and index recovery utilities are provided
to make sure files can be restored even when hard disk indexes are
lost, or when sections of backup disks are lost or destroyed.
MegaBack goes to great lengths to recover as much data as possible
from your backup set in the event errors are found. Following are
MegaBack's data integrity features:
-- MegaBack uses standard, reliable, DOS I/O routines to read and
write backup data. You do not have to worry about it being
compatible with your system.
-- You may activate optional DOS VERIFY checking to confirm data is
properly written to disk. This causes DOS to verify each record
is correctly written to diskette before writing the next record.
-- A second MegaBack backup verification feature rereads all data on
a backup volume before continuing to the next volume. Backup
data is verified before backup is considered complete.
-- MegaBack keeps a CRC check value on each backup file to confirm
files are restored exactly as they were when they were originally
backed up.
-- A backup volume verify feature lets you compare backup data with
actual hard disk files at any time. You may use it to verify a
backup is accurate.
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 6
-- MegaBack detects recovered, and unrecoverable disk I/O errors
during backup, and asks you if it can take another backup of all
files on the disk to a new volume. MegaBack knows if one file on
the diskette has a problem, the diskette cannot be trusted and
should be replaced.
-- Restore processing recovers from disk I/O errors and restores all
possible files from the bad disk volume.
-- The backup indexes stored on the hard disk are also backed up to
the last backup volume, and may be restored from the backup set
if they are lost.
-- If the backup indexes stored on the last backup volume are not
recoverable, a MegaBack utility is available to scan individual
backup disks and recreate the hard disk index.
You may think all these precautions are excessive, but users have
different and sometimes very stringent requirements for the integrity
of their data. MegaBack strives to provide the best data recovery and
integrity found in a backup system. You may optionally deactivate the
verify features to improve your backup performance if you like.
System Setup/Installation
To install MegaBack take the following steps...
1. Place distribution diskette in any diskette drive.
2. Enter the following INSTALL command. (If you are not using
drive A, substitute the appropriate drive letter as the
first letter in the command.)
A:INSTALL
Once the installation is complete, you will find the
following files installed in the selected directory on your
hard disk:
MB.EXE The MegaBack program file.
--> MBALARM.EXE MegaBack's alarm utility to periodically
remind you of backup needs.
MegaBack.HLP Contains the context sensitive help.
The first time MegaBack is started it builds files it needs
for its general operation. They are:
BAKOPT.DAT The options file. These options are set using
the Setup option from the MegaBack menu.
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 7
BAKVOLIX.DAT MegaBack's index containing information about
each backup volume it maintains.
BAKFILIX.DAT MegaBack's index containing information about
each file maintained in backup sets.
Note: Each of the installed file names begin with the
letters "BAK". MegaBack allows multiple backup disk sets to
be created. Each set is assigned a three letter
identification. MegaBack's index and option file names will
be prefixed with the three letter identifier on secondary
backup sets so backup set data is maintained independently.
Alternate backup sets will be discussed further in
subsequent sections of this manual.
--> 3. Consider implementing the backup alarm utility to be
executed each time your system is started. The alarm utility
is documented later in this manual. Basic implementation
requires adding the following lines to your system
AUTOEXEC.BAT file. They should be added after at the end of
the file, but before any menu procedure or DOS shell is
started.
\MEGABACK\MBALARM
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 \MEGABACK\MB
These lines will cause MegaBack to determine if backup is
needed each time you start your computer. When backup is
needed, you will be asked if backup is to be started or
bypassed. Other options for this utility provide additional
capabilities to monitor and remind you of your backup
status.
Setting system options
MegaBack is installed with default system options. Verify these
options before using MegaBack. Enter the MB command from the DOS
command line:
C> MB<Enter>
--> From MegaBack's Main Menu, use the "Options" menu item by
pressing 'O', or by using the menu selection bar. Once in this
options menu, select "Basic system options."
MegaBack's options will be displayed. Examine and modify the
options as they are appropriate for you. The following
descriptions will help you decide what options to choose. Help
is always available by pressing <F1> at any time.
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 8
Drive to backup to?
------------------------
Enter the letter of the DOS device you will use to write backup
data. This may be the drive letter of any valid DOS mountable
disk device. You may use 5 1/4 or 3 1/2 diskette formats or
large capacity demountable hard disk type devices.
--> Disk capacity?
--------------
Specify th size of disk you will be using for backup. Each backup
disk should be the same size. This size is used when MegaBack
formats new diskettes for the backup set.
If you incorrectly specify a size of a high density disk and
place a low density disk in the drive, MegaBack will format the
disk as a high density disk and format errors will be
encountered.
Level of compression desired?
-----------------------------
Use the Right and Left cursor positioning keys to select the
level of compression desired for data written to backup volumes.
NONE Do not compress backup data. Will provide the
fastest possible backup, but you will use
additional backup disks.
MINIMUM Provides about 40% compression of data but is not
as slow as higher compression levels. This is the
recommended level of compression.
STANDARD Provides about 45% compression on data but is not
as slow as MAXIMUM compression.
MAXIMUM Provides 50-60% compression but is slower than
other compression.
Backup drives:
--------------
--> Optionally enter one or more backup device drive letters MegaBack
is to backup data from. For most users, drive letter C will be
specified. You may specify up to eight different drive letters in
any sequence. MegaBack will automatically process all drives
during backup.
If you leave this field blank, MegaBack will use command line
parameters to determine the backup source drive, or will ask for
the drive to process before backup starts.
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 9
--> Synchronize backup index at backup time? (Y/N/Ask)
--------------------------------------------------
Index synchronization is the process of scanning MagaBack's
backup index to mark any files that may have been deleted since
the last backup. Over the course of several incremental backup
processes, files deleted from you system will still be in the
index as existing files. If you need to recover your hard disk,
these files would be incorrectly restored. Periodically it is
good to synchronize the indexes with the contents of your hard
disk to avoid this problem.
Index synchronization is usually done just before backup starts.
Specify <N> to ignore synchronization, <Y> to automatically
synchronize the indexes before every backup, and <A> to be asked
if synchronization is desired before backup. We recommended <A>
or <N> as automatic synchronization on every backup is not
usually needed.
Use DOS Verify flag? (Y/N)
--------------------------
DOS provides a Verify feature to check that data is properly
written during disk write processing. This feature adds
additional time to verify disk data during processing, but
provides an additional level of assurance that backup data is
properly written to disk and can later be accessed. This
verification may also be activated through the DOS VERIFY
command. Documentation about VERIFY may be found in DOS reference
manuals.
Enter 'Y' to have MegaBack activate the DOS VERIFY feature during
its operation. We recommend you use this feature.
--> Verify data after it is written? (Y/N)
--------------------------------------
For data integrity, MegaBack can verify backup volume contents
after writing all data to a backup volume.
The verify process is performed just before you are asked to
remove a backup volume from the drive. Verification rereads the
entire disk to make sure the data is accessible.
Sound speaker tones when action needed? (Y/N)
---------------------------------------------
If you dislike the speaker sounds MegaBack makes during
processing, specify <N> to have MegaBack disable all sounds
during its operation.
When <Y> is specified, you will hear a quiet tic as each file is
backed up. This gives you audible signal that backup is currently
working. You will also be beeped whenever MegaBack is waiting
for you to take an action, such as placing another volume in the
drive.
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 10
Use exclude/select facility as exclude or select? (E/S)?
--------------------------------------------------------
You may setup MegaBack to backup selected files and directories
on your hard drive, or to process all files except those
specifically excluded. Enter <E> to make MegaBack's file
selection facility an exclusion facility. Enter <S> to have the
file selection facility specify all files and directories to
backup. The file select/exclude facility is found in MegaBack's
utilities menu and may be found by pressing <U> from the main
menu.
Reset archive attribute on files after backup? (Y/N)
----------------------------------------------------
Backup processing normally resets DOS's archive attribute
(indicating files have changed since backup) after backing up
each file. This lets Incremental Backup locate only newly
changed files during its processing. Enter <N> if you do not
want the DOS attribute reset.
You may want to specify <N> when testing MegaBack, or to run a
special backup to a secondary backup diskette set.
Reset archive attribute on files after restore?
-----------------------------------------------
--> This option indicates how the DOS archive attribute will be
set after MegaBack restores files. Specify <N> for MegaBack to
set the DOS archive attribute to indicate the file has not been
changed since the last backup. Specify <Y> to set the flag
indicating the file has been changed since backup.
Test to verify installation
After MegaBack is successfully installed you will want to take a
few minutes to learn how it works and develop come confidence in
it. You may test MegaBack without resetting the DOS archive
(file changed) flag by setting the "Reset archive attribute"
Setup option to <N>.
Explore MegaBack's features by backing up and restoring files and
directories. When restoring files, always specify an alternate
restore target pathname so you will not replace the files on your
hard disk during your evaluation.
Since MegaBack allows multiple backup sets to be created, you can
create a special backup set to test or demonstrate MegaBack. If
you would like to use this feature specify /ID:TMP on the
MegaBack command line or set a DOS environment variable with the
backup set id desired.
SET MEGABACK=/ID:TMP
You may delete the test backup set by using the Reset Backup
Indexes option from MegaBack's utility menu.
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 11
Backup volumes used for the test backup set may be reused for any
other backup set. You do not need to delete the files on the
disk before reusing them as MegaBack will do this for you.
Quick Start guide
If you dislike reading manuals and want to get right to the action,
this section will get you started using MegaBack. Remember the <F1>
key provides direct access to information about your current action in
MegaBack. The context sensitive help system provides complete
information for using the system.
Starting MegaBack
Use the MB command to start MegaBack. MegaBack may be started
from any directory or disk. MegaBack uses indexes and options
--> from the directory where MB.EXE is located.
You may place the MegaBack directory in your PATH environment
variable (see your DOS manual) or may specify the pathname where
the MB command exists as the command prefix. Following are some
command examples:
MB
\MegaBack\MB
C:\MegaBack\MB
MegaBack can be run from the DOS command line using command line
parameters. Command line parameters are documented later in this
manual. This section assumes you are using menus to direct
MegaBack's operation.
--> We assume you have already used the "Set system options" of the
Options Menu to specify system options. If you have not done this
yet, do it now.
Backing up files
1. Starting from the menu...
Select the Backup function from MegaBack's main menu.
MegaBack will scan the selected hard drive to determine how
many files exist on your volume to be backed up, and will
also count all files that are marked with the DOS archive
attribute as changed since their last backup.
You will be presented with a selection screen that shows
totals for full and incremental backup. These totals
indicate how many files will be backed up in each type of
backup, how many backup disk volumes are to be used, and
approximately how long backup will take. The estimated
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 12
backup time may be off considerably during your first run of
MegaBack since it has no history of your computer's
performance. After the first backup, MegaBack uses the
previous backup's performance statistics to estimate
required time for backup.
Four possible actions are possible from this screen. Use
the cursor arrow keys to select an option and then press
enter, or press the letter associated with the selection you
desire.
Full Backup
MegaBack will backup all files on your hard disk. If
you have selected or excluded files for backup, only
those files designated for processing will be backed
up.
Full backup begins by asking if you want to start a new
backup set or to continue adding to an already existing
one. Once this decision is made backup processing will
begin.
Incremental Backup
Process only files marked with the DOS archive (file
changed since backup) attribute. These will be added
to an already existing backup set. If no full backup
has been completed, MegaBack will warn you before
starting Backup.
List Files
You may obtain a scrollable list of all files to be
backed up with Full or Incremental backup. After
selecting this option, you will be asked if ALL files
are to be listed, or if CHANGED files to be included in
--> Incremental backup are to be shown. You may press "O"
from the file list display to display Other fields
related to the files being listed.
The list files feature lets you verify what data is to
be processed before starting backup. It is especially
useful to verify Incremental Backup in processing only
those files you desire to be backed up. You may want
--> to review this list and then use MegaBack's exclude
facility to exclude some files before backup begins.
ACTIVE KEYS: Several keys are active in the listing.
X Exclude all files in the directory of the
current files.
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 13
<SPACE>, <RIGHT ARROW>
Exclude the specific file under the highlight
bar. <SPACE> toggles
D Delete the file under the highlight bar.
ALT-D Delete file without confirmation
O Show Other information about the listed files.
F10 Save the changes made to exclude file.
Exit back to main menu
Press the <Escape> key to return back to MegaBack's
main menu.
2. Backup processing...
MegaBack will present a backup status display. You will
immediately be asked to place a backup volume in the output
drive. Place any formatted or unformatted disk in the
drive. IF THE DISK CONTAINS DATA IT WILL BE ERASED! Press
<Enter> to indicate the volume is ready.
Backup processing will progress while continually updating
the status on the display. You will be asked for additional
disk volumes as they are needed. Label each backup volume
with the number indicated by MegaBack. It is usually
sufficient to place a label with a large number on it on
each diskette.
3. Backup termination...
When backup processing ends, MegaBack saves its own indexes
and options at the end of the backup data on the volume.
This may be used if you need to recover the indexes on
another machine.
Restoring files
1. Restoring files...
From the MegaBack Main Menu, select restore to begin
processing.
2. Initial restore file selection...
There are two levels of file selection in restore. Each
level further qualifies files to be restored.
At the first level, you indicate any pathname or filename
wildcard entries to be used to select files to be restored.
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 14
On the same display you can specify beginning and ending
dates for files qualify for restore.
Press <F10> after entering the information. You are not
required to enter any data at this point. Press <F10> to
proceed to the next selection display.
3. Restore now or list specific files...
MegaBack now asks if you want to restore all files found in
the backup indexes matching the selection criteria, or if
you want to review a list of these files and select specific
ones to restore.
If you have already entered enough information to have the
proper files restored, you are ready to begin. Start
restore by pressing <R>.
4. Selecting files from the selection list...
Selecting <L> for List will cause MegaBack to list all files
that qualify your selection criteria. Files will be
displayed in a scrollable selection list. You may mark any
number of files to be restored. Use the <Space Bar> to
toggle selection on or off.
Press <F1> key for other features of restore. You may sort
the list, zoom it larger to fill the display and display
alternate information about the backed up data. When
finished with the selection list, press <F10> to begin
restoring the selected files.
5. Restore processing...
The restore status display will be shown and you will
immediately be asked to place a specific backup disk in the
drive. Press <Enter> to indicate the disk is ready. Restore
will begin and its status will be reported until all files
are processed.
6. Restore termination...
When restore completes, MegaBack displays a message
indicating it is done. Remove the backup volume from the
drive.
That's all there is to basic MegaBack processing. There are
several features that have not been mentioned in this quick start
section. Use the help system or browse this manual to learn
more about the system.
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 15
How MegaBack works
Backup Volumes
Different disk device types may be used to contain backup data.
These devices may include 3 1/2 diskettes, 5 1/4 diskettes,
removable hard disk devices, optical disk devices, and more. Due
to this variety of backup storage devices, any backup storage
media is referred to by MegaBack as a backup volume.
MegaBack backup processing takes the files you select and writes
them on backup volumes. Each file is written to volume in a
compressed format. Each MegaBack backup volume contains two
files. The first file is a backup volume label file identifying
the backup volume as well as information about other volumes
written before and after the volume.
The second file on a backup volume contains all backup data
written to the volume. This file contains any number of
compressed backed up files and corresponding information needed
to restore them. Since all files are written to a single output
file, backup disk space is saved and backup performance is
improved.
To use volumes efficiently, each volume is completely filled
before a new volume is started. Whenever a new backup process is
started, MegaBack asks for the last backup volume used for the
previous backup. It then appends new data being backed up to the
same volume.
Backup Sets
A set of backup volumes is a series of numbered diskettes or disk
volumes containing backup data. MegaBack uses only one set of
backup data for any backup process. To use an alternative backup
set you must start MegaBack with 3 character set identifier. Use
the /ID:xxx parameter on the MegaBack command line.
Separate hard disk backup indexes are created for each backup
volume set. Basically, backup sets let you keep track of
multiple backups on the same system. A common reason for keeping
multiple backup sets is to manage a backup set for your own
system while still being able to examine and even restore files
from secondary backup sets created on other systems.
To restore files from another user's backup set, start MegaBack
with the /ID:xxx parameter to specify a secondary backup set
name. Use MegaBack's index recovery utility to recover the
user's backup index from their last backup diskette. Now you may
list and restore the files as if they were backed up from your
own system.
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 16
Backup File Index
As files are backed up, an entry for each file is placed in a
backup index maintained in the MegaBack directory on your hard
disk. This index is always maintained on the hard disk. The
backup index record contains all information necessary for
locating and restoring files. The backup index makes it possible
for MegaBack to list backup files without having to read backup
volumes.
When you restore a file, MegaBack uses its index to locate files.
When files to be restored are selected, information in the index
identifies the exact volumes needed to restore the file.
MegaBack starts restore processing and asks you to place specific
volumes in the drive as they are needed.
The Backup Volume Index
In addition to the backup file index, MegaBack also maintains an
index about each backup volume. The backup volume index contains
information about each volume and its status in the backup set.
The index is maintained as a separate file in the MegaBack
directory.
MegaBack reference
Preparing backup volume sets
Before using MegaBack you will need to prepare a set of backup
volumes. When using diskettes as backup volumes, start with a
fresh box of the highest quality diskettes you can find. Of
course, MegaBack can't tell the quality of your disks, but if
your backup data is important to you, it is worth a few more
cents per disk to avoid the problems and wasted time poor disks
can cost you.
Take the labels provided with the disks and using a large felt
marker, number the disks sequentially 1 through 10 (or whatever).
If you plan on keeping multiple backup disk sets, you should mark
all the disks in a set with a set identifier.
MegaBack can keep separate indexes for different sets of backup
volumes. MegaBack only works with one backup set at a time and
places secondary backup set names in the upper right corner of
every display so you may be sure to use the correct disks. A
good use for different backup sets is to use a secondary backup
set name to restore files from another user's backup on your
system.
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 17
MegaBack's Main Menus
Following are examples of MegaBack's main menu structure. The
(...) following a menu item indicates the menu item takes you to
another sub-menu. All other selections immediately take the
action specified.
The capitalized character on each menu line indicates the
specific menu selection character that can be pressed to
immediately select a menu item. You may use a mouse with a
single click to select a menu option, or use the cursor up and
down keys, followed by the <Enter> key, to select menu items.
Main Menu
Begin backup
Restore backup data
Utilities...
Options...
Exit
Utilities
Synchronize hard disk
Reset backup indexes
recover backup Indexes
Verify backup data
Quit to main
Options
Exclude/select files from backup
Basic system options
Advanced system options
Set alternate display type
Quit to main
Backup Processing
Backup begins by asking you to indicate the hard disk to be backed up.
Following is an example:
--> ______________________________________________
| |
| Select drive to be backed up: |
| |
| ___ ___ _______ |
| | C:| | D:| | Other | |
| |___| |___| |_______| |
|________ <Enter> accepts, Esc exits __________|
--> Use a mouse, the drive letter, or the left and right arrow keys
followed by enter to specify the drive to be acked up. When you
select "Other", MegaBack will ask you to specify the drive letter to
be processed.
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 18
MegaBack begins backup by scanning the selected drive to determine the
number and size of files to be backed up in either Full or Incremental
backup processing. Status lines at the bottom of the display show the
progress during this scan.
The following display is presented to let you select the type of
backup to be done:
Backup Type Selection Display
___________________________________________________________________
| MegaBack Select Backup Type Desired F1=HELP |
| |
| ____________________ |
| BACKUP ESTIMATES | | |
| ________________ | FULL BACKUP | |
| | <F> | |
| FULL BACKUP |____________________| |
| ____________________ |
| Files: 1439 | | |
| Characters: 30,483,331 | INCREMENTAL BACKUP | |
| Disks: 85 | <I> | |
| Minutes: 60 |____________________| |
| ____________________ |
| INCREMENTAL BACKUP | | |
| | LIST FILES | |
| Files: 32 | <L> | |
| Characters: 1,372,349 |____________________| |
| Disks: 4 |
| Minutes: 2 Arrows Toggle Selection |
| <Enter> Confirms |
| <Escape> Exits |
| |
| Process ALL Files on the Drive |
|___________________________________________________________________|
The Backup Type Selection Display shows you what files both types of
backup will process, how many backup disks will be required for each,
and the approximate amount of time that will be required.
The estimated backup time may be off considerably during your first
run of MegaBack since it has no history of your computer's
performance. After the first backup, MegaBack uses the previous
backup's performance statistics to estimate required time for backup.
Four possible actions are possible from this screen. Use the cursor
arrow keys to select an option and then press enter, or press the
letter associated with the selection you desire. The box representing
the action selected will be highlighted and an explanatory line at the
bottom of the display, will confirm your selection.
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 19
Full Backup <F>
MegaBack will backup all files on your hard disk. If you have
selected or excluded files for backup, only those files
designated for processing will be backed up.
Full backup begins by asking if you want to start a new backup
set, or to continue adding to an already existing one. Once this
decision is made, backup processing will begin.
Incremental Backup <I>
Process only files marked with the DOS archive (file changed
since backup) attribute. These will be added to an already
existing backup set. If no full backup has been completed,
MegaBack will warn you before starting Backup.
List Files <L>
You may obtain a scrollable list of all files to be backed up
with Full or Incremental backup. After selecting this option,
you will be asked if ALL files are to be listed, or if CHANGED
files to be included in Incremental backup are to be shown.
The list files feature lets you verify what data is to be
processed before starting backup. It is especially useful to
verify Incremental Backup is processing only those files you
desire to be backed up. You may want to review this list and
then use MegaBack's exclude facility to exclude some files before
backup begins.
--> You may delete files from the List files display by pressing
ALT-D at any time. Press <O> at any time to view different
information about files listed.
--> If you see files you want excluded from the backup process, use
the left and right arrow keys to unexclude, or exclude files
from the backup process. Press <X> over any file and the entire
directory the file is located in will be excluded from the backup
process. These exclude criteria will also be stored in
MegaBack's permanent exclude file so the files will be excluded
from all subsequent backup runs. If you exclude files from these
displays, MegaBack will again rescan the drives to be backed
to gather new backup statistics.
Exit back to main menu <Escape>
Press the <Escape> key to return back to MegaBack's main menu.
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 20
Backup Status Display
___________________________________________________________________
| ___________ M E G A B A C K |
| | .. 100% | Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft |
| | .. | Backup processing |
| | .. | |
| | .. | |
| | .. | |
| | .. | Total Completed Remaining |
| | .. | Files: 43 0 43 |
| | .. | Characters: 1,184,121 0 1,184,121 |
| | .. | |
| | .. | |
| | .. | Path: D:\BUD\ |
| | XX | Filename: FY1991.WKS |
| | XX | Size: 4,397 |
| | XX | Date/Time: 31JUL91 / 5:31p |
| | XX | |
| | XX | Disk statistics for drive A: |
| | XX | Volume 1 |
| | XX | >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>XXXXXXXXX |
| | XX 0% | |
| |___________| Total bytes: |
| Bytes used: |
| Percent Complete Bytes free: |
|___________________________________________________________________|
The backup display keeps you informed of the progress of backup. It
contains the following information:
Status Bar
The status bar at the left side of the display gives a
graphic status of the completion of MegaBack.
Totals
The totals lines show the number of files and total
characters to be processed, completed, and remaining to be
processed.
Current File
Shows information about the file currently being copied to
diskette.
Disk Statistics
--> The disk statistics, in the lower right portion of the
display, show the amount of space used, and the free space
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 21
remaining on the backup volume being written to. This
is useful to help you know how long it will be before
MegaBack will ask for the next backup volume.
Request for backup volumes
Immediately upon starting backup you will be asked to insert a
new volume in the drive. A message like the one following will
be shown:
_____________________________________________________
| Insert backup disk 1 into drive A. |
| |
| Press Enter when ready, or ESC for other options |
| |
| Waiting |
|_____________________________________________________|
MegaBack has searched its volume indexes and found volume one to
be the next volume to use. Place volume #1 in the drive and
press <Enter> to continue processing.
Press <Escape> to be presented with additional options you have
when mounting a volume.
______________[ Waiting for disk #1 ]_______________
| |
| Select desired action: |
| (You may safely quit at this point) |
| |
| ____ ________ ______________ |
| |Quit| |Continue| |Start new disk| |
| |____| |________| |______________| |
|_____________________________________________________|
MegaBack options indicate when you may safely quit processing.
When a new volume is requested to hold the second part of a file
that spans multiple volumes, you may not quit processing without
having to restart backup for the file being processed.
Select Continue by pressing <C> and you will be returned to the
display requesting the volume to be placed in the drive.
When MegaBack is requesting a volume from a previous backup, you
may press <S> to start another new disk instead of appending new
backup data to the last used volume. Use this feature when you
do not have access to the previous backup volume. You might have
stored the used disks of your backup set in another location, or
temporarily loaned them to someone.
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 22
Recovering from disk write errors
If DOS should encounter a disk write error when writing to the
backup volume, you will be presented with messages and options to
select to continue from the error. This only applies if the DOS
VERIFY flag (see setup) is set on.
______________________________________________________________
| A disk I/O error has occurred during backup processing. |
| The file currently being processed may not have been |
| safely backed up. Indicate how to continue: |
| ____ _________________ _________ ________________________ |
||Quit||Continue Normally||Try again||Force new disk/try again||
||____||_________________||_________||________________________||
|_____________________ <Enter> accepts ________________________|
This message is presented after DOS issues its message to RETRY,
FAIL, or ABORT after a disk I/O error. If you selected RETRY and
processing continued successfully, the file was backed up
successfully. If you selected FAIL or IGNORE, the file was not
backed up correctly. Select one of the following responses to
indicate how to proceed after the I/O error:
Quit
Stop backing up immediately.
Continue Normally
The retry was successful and you want to continue
backing up. If the error was caused by a faulty
volume, you may want to Try again, or Try a new volume
to move the data for the file from the questionable
volume area.
Try again
Backup the file again on a new area of the same backup
volume. This will skip over the faulty area of a
volume. We recommend using Force New disk and try
again over this option since it is better not to try
and backup more data on a potentially faulty volume.
Force new disk and try again
(Recommended)
Stop writing to the current volume. Ask for a new
volume and start backing up for the same file again.
The file will be written to the new volume and backup
processing will continue.
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 23
Interrupting/Resuming Backup
Both incremental and full backup processes may be
interrupted before they are complete. MegaBack will
keep track of its current status and can continue
processing at a later time.
--> To interrupt backup, press ESC during backup
processing. Processing will pause after the file
currently being processed is backed up to disk. You
will be asked to verify you want to interrupt
processing or continue without stopping.
--> When you interrrupt processing, the backup indexes
will be written to the backup volumes and processing
will end. You may terminate MagaBack and power off
your system. The next time MegaBack backup is
started, you may select the same backup process and
processing will resume where it left off.
Completing backup
Before backup completes the following message is presented on the
display. This message is for your information only, you do not
need to take any action. MegaBack is letting you know it is
saving a copy of its backup indexes to the last output backup
volume.
_____________________________________________________
| |
| Saving Backup index backup to disk. Please wait... |
| |
|_____________________________________________________|
Once backup completes, the following message will be presented on
the display. This is to give you a chance to examine backup
statistics before leaving the status display. Press enter to
indicate you are ready to continue.
The last message shown by backup reminds you to keep track of the
last backup volume used as it contains a copy of the backup
indexes for emergency recovery. Remove the volume from the drive
and file it so you can identify it as the last disk used. Turn
it sideways, upside-down, backwards, or just place it in front of
all other volumes.
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 24
_______________________________________________________
| |
| |
| Backup complete. Remove volume from the drive and |
| store so you may relocate it if needed for recovery. |
| |
| Press <Enter> to continue... |
| |
|___________________<Enter> to continue ________________|
An easy way to keep track of the last volume used is to store
disk volumes with the used backup volumes behind the unused ones.
Rotate the disks as they are used. Always keep the last disk
used in the front of the set. In the following figure, assume
volume 3 was the last backup volume used.
2________
1_|______ |
5_|______ ||
4_|______ |||
3_|______ |||-
| Last |||-
| O ||-
| | |-
|_______|
Once MegaBack has returned you back to its main menu you may
start another backup or exit back to DOS.
Restore
Restore is the process of copying a backed up file back to normal
disk storage. Restore is a copy, not a move. The backup copy remains
intact exactly as before the restore. You may delete the restored
copy and still have access to the data through the saved backup copy.
MegaBack makes locating and restoring files easy. Several features
are included to help you organize backups and locate files they hold.
Backup data is stored in a special compressed form on consecutive
disks of offline storage. The special compressed format obviously
saves disk space but also increases backup performance. This
compressed format requires you to use MegaBack to restore any file
backed up by it.
MegaBack indexes all backed up files in a set of hard disk indexes.
When you search for a file to be restored, MegaBack's hard disk
indexes are used to locate information about the file.
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 25
MegaBack gets a disk location and a disk number from the index and
asks you to place the disk in the drive. It then reads the data and
writes it to your hard disk.
Restore begins by asking for specifications for files to be restored.
There are two levels of restore file selection:
1. First you may optionally enter filename, pathname, and date
ranges the file must fall within.
2. Files matching the first specification may be displayed in a
scrollable selection list for your examination and
processing selection.
Once files are selected, restore processing begins.
Entering Restore Criteria
After selecting the Restore option from MegaBack's main menu you will
be presented with the following display which asks for file selection
criteria. You may skip this selection level by pressing <F10> to
select all files for restore.
Restore File Selection
______________________________________________________________
| Select files BACKED UP from: |
| Drive : * |
| |
| Path : *_____________________________________ |
| |
| Pattern to restore : *.*__________ |
| |
| Restore TO directory: ______________________________________ |
| |
| Overlay files on restore? (Y/N/Ask/Update): _ |
| |
| Select files backed up AFTER this date : __________ |
| |
| Select files backed up BEFORE this date: __________ |
| |
| Enter text |
|____________ Press F10 to begin or ESC to abort ______________|
Selection criteria specification
Drive : *
Enter a drive letter indicating the drive files were
originally backed up from. '*' indicates to select
files backed up from any drive.
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 26
Path : *
Enter a pathname where files were backed up from. '*'
indicates to select files backed up from any directory
name. A directory specification may end with '*' to
indicate the files are to be selected from any
directory name beginning with the name specified up to
the *. Valid specifications are:
\
\WP
\WP*
\WP\LETTERS
\WP\LETTERS\
Pattern to restore : *.*
Enter a complete filename or wildcard pattern name of
the backed up files. Extended wildcard capabilities
allow you to enter multiple * in a name specification.
The * indicates any number of characters may exist in
this portion of the name. Valid specifications are:
AUTOEXEC.BAT
AUTO*.BAT
AUTO*.*
*.*
*TOEX*.BAT
*U*O*X*.BAT
Restore TO directory:
Optionally enter a target pathname where files are to
be restored. This is a full pathname including drive
letter. If no directory is specified, the files will
be restored to their original drive and directories.
Valid specifications are:
C:\WP
\WP
C:\WP\LETTERS\
--> You may also specify a drive designator without a
directory name to indicate files are to be restored to
the original directory name on a different drive.
Specify the drive letter followed by a colon:
D:
--> Replace duplicate files? (Y/N/Ask/Update):
If during restore, MegaBack finds a file already
defined on the hard disk with the same name as the file
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 27
being restored, it must decide if the existing file is
to be replaced, or to bypass restoring the file.
The following options to indicate what action MegaBack
is to take when files of duplicate names are found.
Yes Replace the existing file with the new file.
No Don't overlay the existing file. Skip the
restore for the file and continue restoring
other files.
Ask Prompt when duplicate files are encountered
and ask if the file is to be replaced, or the
restore bypassed.
Update
Replace files that are newer than the ones
present on the disk. The DOS date of the
file on the hard disk will be compared to the
DOS date of the backup file recorded when the
file was originally backed up.
Select files backed up AFTER this date :
Optionally enter a date to reject files last created or
updated on or prior to the date.
Select files backed up BEFORE this date:
Optionally enter a date to reject files last created or
updated on or after the date.
Listing Files to Restore
Once restore file selection has been made, you will be asked if
you would like to view and further select files to be restored or
immediately begin the restore process. The following display is
presented as the last step prior to starting the restore process.
___________________________________________________________
| |
| Do you want to List the files for manual selection, or |
| Restore them immediately? |
| |
| ____ _______ |
| |List| |Restore| |
| |____| |_______| |
|_______________ <Enter> accepts, Esc exits ________________|
If you have already specified sufficient criteria to select all
files to be restored, press <R> to restore all selected files.
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 28
If you would like to list all files matching the selection
criteria entered, press <L>. You will be presented with a
scrollable selection list of files.
Restore File Select List Processing
Scrollable selection lists provide complete information about
files maintained in MegaBack's backup indexes. Due to the amount
of data stored about each file, MegaBack provides two different
views of this list. Each view shows a different category of
information about backed up files.
Contents of backup list views
View # 1
---------------------
Filename
DOS File Date
DOS File Time
Original file Size
Original Pathname
View # 2
---------------------
Filename
Backup Date
Backup Time
Backup Size
Original Size(again)
Compression Ratio
Backup Volume Number
When the scrollable selection list is first displayed VIEW #1 is
shown. To change between the two different views, press the <F6> key.
As <F6> is repeatedly pressed the opposite view is shown.
The following keys are active when the restore selection list is
displayed:
<Space Bar> Toggles selection - marks unmarked files to be selected
for restore. Unmarks marked files to remove them from
being selected.
<Right Arrow>
Marks file to be selected for restore. Advances the
file selection bar to the next file. Holding down the
key will mark a series of files.
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 29
<Left Arrow> Unmarks file selected for restore. Advances the file
selection bar to the next file. Holding down the key
will unmark a series of files.
<F1> Help
<F2> Zoom. When first displayed, the scrollable list is
shown in reduced size to make room for help text at the
bottom of the display. Press <F2> to zoom the screen
larger. The help text at the bottom of the screen will
disappear. Press <F2> again to reduce the display and
view the help at the bottom.
<F3> Enter a DOS Command
<F6> Show next VIEW. Toggles between the different views of
the backup file list.
<F7> Sort the selection list. You will be presented with a
sort selection menu as follows:
--> __Change Sort order__
| Name order |
| Directory order |
| daTe order |
| Backup date order |
--> | Size order |
--> | Volume/offset order |
|_____________________|
Name order Sorts by filename.
Directory order
Sort by filename within directory name.
daTe order Sort by the date the file was last
updated or created (before it was backed
up).
Backup date Sort files in sequence by the date they
were backed up.
--> Size order Sorts by file size.
--> Volume/offset Sort files in the order they exist on
the backup volumes.
--> <F8> Print the list being displayed. You will be asked to
be asked to indicate the printer identifier the list is
to be printed on.
<F10> Start restore. After you have marked one or more files
to be restored, press <F10> to accept the selected
items and start restore.
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 30
<Escape> Exit file selection list and quit restore processing.
Following are examples of the different views of the selection list.
Select one or more files to be restored or press <Escape> to return to
MegaBack's main menu. After selecting the desired files, press <F10>
to start restoring the files.
VIEW #1
____Name__________Date______Time______Size_______Path_______
| AUTO.BAT 15JUN91 2:26p 134 C:\BAT\ |
| B.BAT 15JUN91 2:39p 64 C:\BAT\ |
| BC.BAT 7SEP91 2:39p 83 C:\BAT\ |
| BCX.BAT 19MAY91 6:30p 144 C:\BAT\ |
| BITFAX.BAT 27MAR91 4:01p 29 C:\BAT\ |
| C.BAT 19AUG90 7:29p 99 C:\BAT\ |
| C2.BAT 9MAR91 7:54a 56 C:\BAT\ |
| DELA.BAT 20DEC90 7:48a 16 C:\BAT\ |
| DELB.BAT 19JUL91 6:22a 23 C:\BAT\ |
| DIRA.BAT 19NOV86 2:23p 11 C:\BAT\ |
| DIRB.BAT 25APR91 6:59a 8 C:\BAT\ |
|__________________ F10 accepts, ESC exits __________________|
VIEW #2
__Name_______BakDate___BakTime___BakSize_____Ratio___Disk___
| AUTO.BAT 8OCT91 10:17a 134 1.00% 1 |
| B.BAT 8OCT91 10:17a 64 1.00% 1 |
| BC.BAT 8OCT91 10:17a 83 1.00% 1 |
| BCX.BAT 8OCT91 10:17a 144 1.00% 1 |
| BITFAX.BAT 8OCT91 10:17a 29 1.00% 1 |
| C.BAT 8OCT91 10:17a 99 1.00% 1 |
| C2.BAT 8OCT91 10:17a 56 1.00% 1 |
| DELA.BAT 8OCT91 10:17a 16 1.00% 1 |
| DELB.BAT 8OCT91 10:17a 23 1.00% 1 |
| DIRA.BAT 8OCT91 10:17a 11 1.00% 1 |
| DIRB.BAT 8OCT91 10:17a 8 1.00% 1 |
|___________________ F10 accepts, ESC exits__________________|
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 31
Starting Restore
After starting restore MegaBack determines the volumes needed to
restore the files and immediately requests you place the first volume
needed in the input drive. Following is an example of the volume
mount message.
_______________________________________________________
| Insert backup 1 into drive A. |
| |
| Press Enter when ready, or ESC for other options |
| |
| Waiting |
|_______________________________________________________|
Locate the requested volume from your set of backup volumes and place
it in the drive. You may terminate restore at any time by pressing
<Escape>. All files restored to this point of processing are restored
correctly. Other files selected will need to be selected again in a
subsequent restore process to be restored.
Restore Processing
The restore display is presented throughout the restore process. It
provides status of the restore.
Restore Status Display
_______________________________________________________________
| _____________ M E G A B A C K |
| | .. 100% | Copyright 1992 by Patri-Soft |
| | .. | Restore processing |
| | .. | |
| | .. | Total Completed Remaining |
| | .. | Files: 3 |
| | .. | Characters: 219 |
| | .. | |
| | .. | Path: C:\BAT\ |
| | .. | Filename: B.BAT |
| | XX | Size: 64 |
| | XX | Date/Time: 15JUN91 / 2:39p |
| | XX | |
| | XX | Disk statistics for drive C: |
| | XX | >>>>>>>>>>>>>XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX |
| | XX | 0% freespace 100% |
| | XX 0% | |
| |___________| Total characters: |
| Characters used: |
| Percent Complete Characters free: |
|_______________________________________________________________|
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 32
The restore status display keeps you informed of the progress of
restoring files. It has the following basic contents:
Status Bar
The status bar at the left side of the display gives a
graphic status of the completion of MegaBack.
Totals
The totals lines show the number of files and total
characters to be processed, completed, and remaining to be
processed.
Current File
Shows information about the file currently being restored.
Disk Statistics
The disk stats shown in the lower right portion of the
display show how much space is used on the target hard disk
and how much freespace remains.
Overlaying Files with duplicate Names
If MegaBack finds that a file with the same name as the one being
restored already exists in the target directory, it may overwrite
the file with the backup version, bypass restoring the file, or
compare the dates and times of the two files and restore the file
only if it is a more recent copy than the version on disk.
MegaBack Setup options let you specify any of these alternatives
as an action to automatically be taken during restore. A special
restore option of "Ask" indicates restore processing is to ask
what action to take each time a duplicate file name is found.
The following question is asked.
______________________________________________________
--> | |
| File B.BAT already exists. Ok to replace? |
| ___ __ ______ __________ __________ __________ |
|| || || ||Continuous||continuous||continuous| |
||Yes||No||Update||update ||Replace ||No replace| |
||___||__||______||__________||__________||__________| |
| |
|_____________ <Enter> accepts, Esc exits _____________|
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 33
Press Y, N, U, C, or R to indicate the action to take. <Escape>
immediately terminates restore. Following are explanations of
possible responses:
<Yes> Replace the file immediately. The backup file will
overlay the already existing file.
<No> Do not restore the file. Leave the file on the
hard disk.
<Update> Restore the file if it is a newer version than the
file on the target drive. If the backup file is
older than the disk file, bypass restoring this
file.
<Continuous update>
This is the same response as <Update> with the
additional feature of indicating MegaBack is not to
ask this question again if another duplicate file
name is found. An answer of <Update> will be
assumed for all future instances of this situation
during this restore process.
<continuous Replace>
This is the same response as <Replace> with the
additional feature that MegaBack is not to ask this
question again if another duplicate file name is
found. An answer of <Replace> will be assumed for
all future instances of this situation during this
restore process.
--> <continuous No replace>
Takes the same action as <No>, and indicates to not
replace any additional diplicate files found.
Completing Restore
After all files have been restored, the following message will be
presented over the Restore Status Display. It is an
informational message to let you know the last action taken by
MegaBack. Press <Enter> to acknowledge the message and return to
MegaBack's main menu.
____________________________
| |
| Restore Complete |
| |
|___ <Enter> to continue ____|
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 34
Restoring to an Empty System
Both DOS and MegaBack must first be present on a system to use
MegaBack. If you lose your hard drive and want to restore your backup
to it you should take the following steps:
1. Restore DOS to the system. Use procedures outlined in the DOS
reference manual.
2. Install MegaBack on the system using your original MegaBack
installation diskette or a copy of it.
3. Use MegaBack index rebuild utility to regenerate the MegaBack
indexes from your last backup diskette.
4. Use MegaBack restore to restore all files back to your system.
Making a system recovery boot diskette
Some users choose to make a MegaBack system recovery boot diskette to
use in the event their system is lost. The boot diskette contains a
bootable versions of DOS and the MegaBack system files. Take the
following steps to make a recovery boot diskette:
1. Format a diskette using Format's DOS /S parameter. This will
create a diskette that will boot your machine without DOS being
on your system.
FORMAT A:/S
2. Copy the following DOS files to the recovery diskette:
FORMAT*.COM
FDISK.EXE
3. Build a CONFIG.SYS file on the diskette that contains at least
the following lines.
FILES=30
BUFFERS=30
4. Build an AUTOEXEC.BAT on the diskette to start MegaBack.
PROMPT $P$G
MD C:\MegaBack
CD C:\MegaBack
COPY A:MB.EXE
COPY A:MegaBack.HLP
MB
This recovery diskette will boot your system and start MegaBack if the
system already has a formatted drive C:. If drive C: is not
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 35
formatted, use DOS hard disk setup procedures to prepare the hard
disk, and then boot your system again with the MegaBack recovery
diskette.
Utility Functions
The utility menu of MegaBack's main menu provides access to
functions supporting MegaBack backup and restore functions.
Select Utilities from the main menu to access the following menu
of options.
--> __________Utilities_____________
| Synchronize hard disk |
| Reset backup indexes |
| recover backup Indexes |
| Verify backup data |
| Quit to main |
|________________________________|
--> Utilities - Synchronize indexes with hard disk
Since you may use Incremental backup for a long period of time
before again needing to perform a Full backup, your backup sets
will eventually contain copies of files that have been deleted
from your hard disk. If you should ever need to recover your
hard disk and restore all backup files, it is not desirable to
recreate these deleted files.
MegaBack's synchronization feature compares the files stored in
the backup indexes with the actual files on your hard disk and
records files no longer on your hard disk as deleted.
MegaBack's restore processing provides options to include, or
bypass these "deleted" files during restore. Your data is always
available and you make sure not to accidently restore unwanted
files.
You should perform the backup synchronization feature whenever
you have deleted files from your hard drive.
Upon selecting synchronization from the menu, MegaBack will
immediately begin comparing the indexes with the hard disk files.
A status display will be presented to show you the progress of
the activity. You may safely terminate the process at any time
by pressing any key during the comparison. MegaBack will ask if
processing is to terminate or continue.
Upon completing synchronization processing you will be returned
to MegaBack's menus.
The following display will be presented if you have selected the
<Ask> option for index synchronization. This display explains
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 36
that MegaBack synchronization processing may be performed at this
point in backup processing. Press Y to perform synchronization
or N to bypass synchronization for this backup. Synchronization
is only needed when you have deleted files from your hard disk,
so is not necessary to run for every backup.
_________ Synchronize hard disk with backup index ________
| |
| The synchronize feature allows you to make sure that all |
| files that exist in the backup index are present on the |
| physical hard disk. If you have records for non-existent |
| files, MegaBack will then delete the records. Then, at |
| restore time, MegaBack will not attempt to restore files |
| that had been deleted from your hard disk. |
| |
| Do you want to synchronize the index? |
| |
| _____ ____ |
| | Yes | | No | |
| |_____| |____| |
| |
|_______ -> <- changes, <Enter> accepts, Esc exits ________|
--> Utilities - Reset the backup indexes
This function of MegaBack deletes the current set of backup
indexes and creates new empty ones. Use it before starting a new
full backup for your system.
After selecting the index delete function you will be prompted to
verify you really do want to complete this process:
__________________________________________________________
| |
| Resetting the indexes will erase all |
| information about backed up files. |
| |
| Are you sure you want to reset the indexes? |
| |
| ___ __ |
| |Yes| |No| |
| |___| |__| |
|_____________ <Enter> accepts, Esc exits _________________|
Respond <Yes> to continue the process and delete the current
backup index set.
Respond <No> to cancel the index deletion process and return
to MegaBack main menus.
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 37
--> Utilities - Recover backup indexes from last backup volume
Since the hard disk backup indexes are critical to the system,
they are backed up to the last backup volume at the end of every
backup. This takes a little time and disk space but ensures
indexes are always backed up and are kept with backup data.
Since the indexes are kept on backup volumes, each volume set
becomes a portable set of files you may take to another computer
for use.
To use any backup set, the indexes must exist on your hard disk.
If they are somehow lost or not available on the computer where
you want to restore files, you must first restore the index from
the last backup volume. It is your responsibility to keep track
of the last backup volume used since MegaBack does not know disk
numbers without its indexes. During index recovery MegaBack will
ask you to place the last used backup volume in the drive.
If you have lost track of the last backup volume, use the DOS
directory command to display the files on each volume. The
volume with the most recent file dates is the last disk used.
Place the last volume in the drive and press <Enter> after
MegaBack asks for it. In some cases MegaBack may ask for a
second volume if it determines part of the indexes backed up are
stored on a previous volume.
_______________ Restoring Backup Indexes _______________
| |
| Attempting to restore indexes from backup diskettes. |
| |
| Place the last backup disk used in drive A: |
| |
| Press <Enter> when volume is ready, <Escape> to exit. |
| |
|_________________ <Enter> to continue __________________|
MegaBack will read the indexes and put them on the hard drive.
You will be notified when the indexes are properly restored.
If the build of the index from the backup volume fails, Patri-
Soft provides an emergency index rebuild utility. MEGARGEN will
read individual backup volumes and recreate their index entries
in an existing MegaBack index. You will find copies of MEGARGEN
on the MegaBack distribution diskette. You may also always
download it from the Patri-Soft BBS, or other popular BBS
systems.
MEGARGEN is not always included in the BBS version of MegaBack to
reduce the size of data to download. Contact us at Patri-Soft if
you have any problems locating this utility. There is no fee for
the MEGARGEN utility, it is free to anyone.
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 38
--> Utilities - Verify backup volume data
Use verify to confirm backup has correctly backed up data.
Sometimes you may be unsure of the validity of your backup data.
This might happen if you suspect faulty backup volumes were used,
or a drive might not be functioning properly. MegaBack provides
this function to read backup data and verify it can be used to
restore the files.
Volume verification is quick and easy as it only requires a quick
read of each backup volume. No data is actually written to the
hard disk.
Two verification processes actually occur. First, DOS verifies
all the data can be read from the backup volumes. Second, a CRC
check verifies data is accurate by arithmetically verifying the
data on the volumes is the same as the data was on the hard disk
before it was backed up.
Backup verification may verify selected backup files, or an
entire backup volume set. Upon selecting the verify function you
will be presented with a specification display similar to restore
processing. Indicate the qualifications of all files to be
verified.
__________________________________________________________
| |
| Drive to verify : * |
| |
| Path to verify : * |
| |
| Pattern to verify : *.* |
| |
| Select files backed up AFTER this date : |
| |
| Select files Backed up BEFORE this date: |
| |
| Enter text |
|_____________ Press F10 to begin or ESC to abort _________|
You are asked to fill in the following fields:
Drive to verify: Enter the drive letter where the files were
originally backed up from. (I.E. C, D)
Path to verify: Optionally enter the pathname where the files
were backed up from. If no path is specified,
files from all paths will be selected. I.E.
\LETTERS \PICTURES
Pattern to verify: Enter a filename pattern to verify. When not
specified, all file patterns will be
selected.
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 39
Backed up before/after:
Select files by the date they were backed up.
You may use one or both of the date
specifications.
Press <F10> to accept specifications and start verification.
<Esc> to quit.
Like restore, you will be asked to place each volume in the input
drive until all data is verified. You will be notified with
error message displays if any errors are found in the data.
--> Options
The Options menu is comprised of functions that alter the
operation and control of MegaBack.
Options
Exclude/select files from backup
Basic system options
Advanced system options
Set alternate display type/color
Quit to main
Options - Selection/Exclusion Processing
MegaBack can backup selected files, or all files on a disk except
files excluded from the process. You may specify either select
processing, or exclusion processing in MegaBack options.
The selection/exclusion facility displays lists of directories
and files on your hard disk. While viewing these lists, you mark
files to be selected or excluded from processing depending on
your option selected.
While you are scrolling through the lists of files, you may view
the contents of text and WordPerfect files using MegaBack's file
viewers. You may sort file lists by file name, age, size, name
or extension.
Following is an example of a the file selection display area.
__________________C:\WP____________________________
| <PARENT> 26APR91 10:32p <DIR> |
| <ROOT> 26APR91 10:32p <DIR> |
| AGENDAS 5MAY91 4:10p <DIR> |
| ARNOLD.LTR 10MAY91 8:15a 20430 |
| BACKDAY.NOT 21JUN91 12:15p 3021 |
| MONEY.GOT 19JUL91 7:32a 50583 |
|__________________F10 accepts, ESC exits___________|
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 40
The display shows files for one directory at a time. Entries for
the current and root directory are always sorted to the top of
the list along with other subdirectories defined in the listed
directory.
The top border of the display indicates the drive and name of the
directory being displayed. The bottom border gives brief help
about keys used to terminate the selection process. The right
hand border of the display holds a scroll bar for mouse control
of the list (not shown above). Also not shown is a highlighted
selection bar that covers one entry at a time in the list. The
selection bar's location is modified by using the UP, DOWN, LEFT,
and RIGHT cursor control keys.
Backup File Selection Operation
The following keys are active during backup select/exclude
processing:
<Space Bar>
When positioned on a file name, it either marks the
file to be selected or excluded, or if the file has
already been marked, unmarks it. Filenames become
highlighted in the list after they are marked. A small
checkmark symbol is also displayed next to the filename
to indicate it is selected.
<Right Arrow>
Marks the file highlighted by the selection bar. If the
file is already marked, it will remain marked. The file
selection bar is also moved to the next filename in the
list.
<Left Arrow>
Unmarks the file highlighted by the selection bar. If
the file is not marked it will remain unmarked. The
file selection bar is also moved to the next filename
in the list.
<Enter> When the file selection bar is placed over a directory
name, changes the list to show the selected directory.
Place the highlight bar on any directory name and press
the <Enter> key to change to the directory.
Special filenames of <PARENT> and <ROOT> are shown for
any subdirectory listed. You may press <Enter> on the
<PARENT> entry to list the files in the directory above
the current directory listed. Pressing <Enter> on the
<ROOT> entry lists the root directory of the currently
selected drive.
<F1> At any time press the <F1> key for help on the current
activity.
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 41
<F3> Press <F3> to bring up a temporary window to enter a
DOS command or to exit to DOS.
<F10> The <F10> key signals the end of the file marking
process. You will be returned back to the utilities
menu.
<Escape> Use the <Escape> key to terminate file
selection/exclusion processing and return to the
MegaBack main menu. The names of marked files are not
saved.
<A> Press <A> when positioned on a directory name to mark
the directory and all its subordinate directories.
<D> Press <D> to unmark any directory or file.
<S> Press <S> to activate a selection window to specify an
alternate sort sequence for the file list.
______________________
| Change List Order |
| Sort Date Descending |
| Sort Name Ascending |
| Sort Size Descending |
|______________________|
<T> Tag all files in the currently displayed directory.
After tagging all files you can untag selected files to
be omitted from processing.
<U> Untag all tagged files in the currently displayed
directory.
<V> Press the <V> key to View text or WordPerfect files.
The file viewer can examine up to 500 lines of a file.
Use the cursor control keys to control the viewing of a
file and press <Escape> from the viewer to return to
the file list.
Marking a full directory
You may position the file selection bar over any
subdirectory name and press the <Right Arrow> or <Space Bar>
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 42
to mark it. MegaBack will immediately present the following
question:
___________________________________________________
| C:\DIR is marked. Mark all files within it? |
| |
| ___ ___ |
| |Yes| |No | |
| |___| |___| |
|___________________________________________________|
This is a reminder that you will mark the entire directory
as well as all directories below it. Press <Y> if this is
correct. Press <N> to cancel the mark directory request.
Completing file selection
Once you have marked all files, press the <F10> key to exit the
file selection display and return back to MegaBack's menus.
Options - Set basic system options
Basic system options are discussed earlier in this manual. See
the section on "System Setup/Installation".
--> Options - Advanced System Options
--> MegaBack's advanced options are intended to provide a finer
granularity of control for special backup implemenations. Most
users will not have a need to alter these options. If you are
unsure of the correct value of any option, leave the value as it
was distributed with MegaBack.
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 43
--> Following is the advanced options display and explanations of
each option:
_______________ Specify advanced system options_________________
| |
| Target media type...................................: Diskette |
| Directory to backup to:.............................: \ |
| |
| Scan disk before backup (Y/N/Ask)...................: Y |
| |
| Default restore sort sequence.......................: Filename |
| |
| Maintain activity log (Y/N).........................: Y |
| Is activity log to be verbose (Y/N).................: N |
| |
| Backup zero byte files (Y/N)........................: N |
| Skip Stowaway auto-restore files (Y/N)..............: N |
| |
| Press -> <- to change |
|____________ Press F10 when finished or ESC to abort ___________|
--> Target Media Type:
Use the right and left arrow keys to select the type of
media MegaBack will use to hold backup data. At this time,
the only difference in processing between the different
types is diskette backup will ask for volumes to be place
in the drive before processing. Other devices assume non-
removable media and will not ask for individual volumes to
be placed in drives.
--> Directory to backup to:
For other than diskette based backup, you may specify a
subdirectory to hold backup data. For example, if you want
to backup to another hard disk, specify a subdirectory of
D:\MB\MBDATA. All backup files will be written to this
directory.
--> Scan disk before backup (Y/N/Ask):
When backup is started, MegaBack normally scans the drive to
be backed up to gather statistics about the backup process.
These statistics are displayed on a backup selection display
where you can decide if you want to do incremental or full
backup (a value of Y for this parameter).
--> If you want to avoid this first disk scan and immediately
start backup, specify <N>. MegaBack will then immediately
ask you if you want Full or Incremental backup. No
statistics will be presented. Specify <A> for this parameter
if you want MegaBack to ask you, before backup, if the scan
is to be done.
--> For MegaBack to give you statistics of the number and size
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 44
of files to be processed for full and incremental backup, it
will first need to scan all directories of the drives to be
backed up. It will then show the statistics and let you
choose between Full or Incremental backup.
___________________________________________________
| Do you want to scan the disk? |
| |
| ___ ___ |
| |Yes| |No | |
| |___| |___| |
| |
|_____ -><- changes, <Enter> accepts, Esc exits ____|
--> Press <Y> to start the scan to gather the statistics. Press
<N> to skip the directory scan and immediately ask you if
Full or Incremental backup is desired. This message box may
be permanently modified through MegaBack's advanced system
options.
--> If <N> is specified, the following box will be shown for you
to select the type of backup desired.
______________________________________________________
| By your request, MegaBack will not scan the disk. |
| Do you want to perform a Full or Incremental backup? |
| |
| ____ ___________ |
| |Full| |Incremental| |
| |____| |___________| |
| |
|_____ -><- changes, <Enter> accepts, Esc exits _______|
--> Default restore sort
When a large number of files are selected for restore,
MegaBack may take awhile to sort it all. In the interest of
ffciency, MegaBack will sort it in the way that YOU want it
sorted in, so that you will not have to resort it.
--> Maintain Activity Log:
MegaBack may optionally keep an activity log of all its
actions. This is a sequential text file named MEGABACK.LOG
that is kept in MegaBack's hard disk directory. You may
browse this file at any time to review the backup actions
you have taken in the past. Specify <Y> to maintain this
log, <N> to not create a log.
--> The backup log will requre a small amount of disk space but
may be deleted at any time. MegaBack will automatically
create the log file if one is not found.
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 45
--> Is activity log to be verbose:
If you want a record of every file backed up or restored to
be placed in the activity log, specify <Y> for the verbose
option. This will require significant hard disk space.
Normally the activity log only indicates a backup or
restore was done and the number of files processed.
--> Backup zero byte files (Y/N)
If you do not want files of zero size to be backed up,
specify <N> for this parameter. This should only be used
in special situations. We recommend <Y> for this parameter.
--> Skip Stoaway auto-restore files (Y/N)
Patri-Soft's Stowaway archival system can be configured to
leave zero character empty files on hard disks. If these
files are accessed, Stowaway's auto restore function will
try to restore them so they can be backed up. Specify Y if
you use Stowaway to archive data on your system. This
option is ignored if you do not use Stowaway.
--> Options - Set alternate display type/colors
--> MegaBack has three predefined available color schemes. After
selecting this option, you will be prompted with the following
screen:
________________________________________________________________
| Select color type |
| |
| __________ ___________ ______________ ________________ |
| |LCD colors| |Mono colors| |Default colors| |Customize colors| |
| |__________| |___________| |______________| |________________| |
|_________ -> changes, <Enter> accepts, Esc exits _______________|
--> Select LCD colors, Mono Colors, or Default colors to change
MegaBack's colors to suit your monitor. If you select Customized
Colors, read the following:
MegaBack lets you change the colors of all its display windows to
any colors of your choice. Setting alternate display colors
involves setting NORMAL, REVERSE, HIGHLIGHT, and BORDER colors
for each different type of window.
When changing colors, you are presented with a menu of each
window type used by MegaBack. You may change colors on any or
all window types.
Window colors are stored permanently on disk in the options file
so they will be used each time you use MegaBack. When you are
finished setting colors, press <Exit> to return to MegaBack's
menus.
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 46
_____________________ Select Colors_____________________
| |
| Menus |
| Pop-Ups |
| User input |
| Backup/Restore/Main |
| Copyright Message |
| Registration Message |
| Disk statistics |
| disK mounts |
| Thermometers |
| default colors |
| Help Colors |
| textured Background |
| Exit to main |
| |
| ____________________________________________________ |
| | Change all Menu colors | |
| |____________________________________________________| |
|_______________ Press <Enter> to select ________________|
You are presented with a screen with four major color types to
pick across the top and with a screen full of color combinations
below.
Use the <Space Bar> to move between each color type. Pressing
the space bar indicates the current color selection for the
active type is to be accepted.
Use the <Arrow Keys> to position the selection box on the color
combination to be used for the current color type. When you are
positioned on the desired color, press the <Space Bar>.
Press <Enter> to accept all colors and return to the window type
menu. You can then change colors on another window type.
Press <Escape> to return to the window selection menu and leave
the colors as they were originally defined.
Command Line operation
MegaBack is normally operated through its menu structure. This
provides a simple technique for backing up files that reassures
you at every step with displays and questions to let you make
decisions.
More experienced users may want to use MegaBack's command line
interface to backup their system. When the command line
operation is used, MegaBack will take all its basic instructions
from the command line and start the backup process. It will
still require the proper disks be placed in the drives and may
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 47
ask for other decisions to be made based on your options.
Although not totally automated, it provides a quick start to
backing up specific data.
The MegaBack command line format
MB path /C /EV:vol /F /I /ID:xxx /S /SV:vol
/R /AF /NL /NS /V
Command parameter explanations
path Specify pathname to be restored. You must also
specify the /R parameter.
--> /AF Assume Formatted. MegaBack will assume that all
input backup disks are formatted and thus will not
take the time to check them.
/C Used by MegaBack's installation program to start
MegaBack and proceed directly to setting system
options.
/EV:vol During restore, it is sometimes desirable to only
restore files in certain volumes. You may specify
a range of disk volumes by using the /EV and /SV
parameters. For example, to restore the files
after volume 6 and before volume 9, the command
line would be:
MB /SV:6 /EV:9
/F Start MegaBack and immediately start Full volume
backup.
/I Start MegaBack and immediately start Incremental
backup processing.
/ID:xxx Use alternative backup index set id. Specify any
three characters to use an alternate index set.
For more information about alternate index sets,
see the heading about Backup Index Sets in the
manual. When not specified it is assumed the
value will be "BAK".
/ID:TOM
--> /NL No Log. MegaBack normally creates and maintains
MEGABACK.LOG. To suppress this feature, use /NL
parameter.
--> /NS No Scan. MegaBack normally scans the disk to
determine which files need backup in order to
supply the user with the processing statistics.
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 48
To skip this operation, use this parameter.
MegaBack will not provide ongoing backup
statistics, but this may save time on machines
with large hard disks.
/R You may also accomplish restore from the command
line. Specify a path and append /R to the command
line.
/S If you already know the backup volume MegaBack
will use, you may place it in the drive prior to
starting MegaBack and specify this parameter to
have MegaBack assume the volume is present.
MegaBack will not ask you to place it in the drive
during backup.
This parameter is designed for those users backing
up to huge capacity disk devices where volume
mounting is not normally necessary.
/SV:vol To start the restore process with a certain
diskette, use this command. For example, to
restore only files on disk 6 and above, use the
command:
MB /SV:6
/V Verbose log. MegaBack's log keeps track of only
the major functions performed. For a more verbose
log, specify this parameter. MegaBack will log
files backed up, restored, and more.
Specifying options through DOS environment variables
Any MegaBack command line parameters may be placed in DOS
environment variables to be effective each time MegaBack is
started. Use the DOS SET command to add the parameter to the
environment string. The environment variable name used by
MegaBack is MegaBack. The following example demonstrates the
most common use of the environment variable for MegaBack. In this
example, the SET command is used to cause MegaBack to use an
alternate index set identifier of TOM each time it is started.
SET MegaBack=/ID:TOM
See your DOS manual for more information about the SET command.
The SET command is often placed in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file on a
user's hard disk so it may automatically be issued each time your
system is started.
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 49
Backup Maintenance
Multiple Backup sets
MegaBack lets you keep and use multiple backup sets on the same
computer system. Although not often necessary, this feature is
useful in many situations. Some examples are:
-- To create a special backup set apart from your normal
set to move files from one system to another.
-- To create separate backup sets for multiple users of a
system.
-- To test your current backup set by restoring its
indexes to a different backup set identifier.
A backup set consists of hard disk indexes and all backup volumes
holding files referenced by those indexes. Backup sets are given
three character set identifiers. This identifier is normally
"BAK" but may be altered when starting MegaBack by using the
/ID:xxx command parameter. An alternate set identifier may also
be established by placing the /ID:xxx parameter in MegaBack's DOS
environment variable.
Backup set indexes consist of a set of two index files and an
options file. These files exist on the hard disk in MegaBack's
directory. The normal files are named as follows:
BAKOPT.DAT
BAKVOLIX.DAT
BAKFILIX.DAT
Alternate backup sets are identical in function and usage to the
normal index MegaBack uses. When using alternate index
identifiers, be careful to use the correct index set for the
files you are processing.
Making copies of backup volumes
Each backup volume is in a normal DOS format. Backup volumes may
be copied using DOS DISKCOPY, COPY, or XCOPY commands.
For safety reasons you may want to take a copy of backup
information and store it at an offsite location. To do this, use
the DISKCOPY command to copy the original volume to another
volume. Store the original volume back with the backup set, and
take the copied volumes to your offsite location.
When you only have a single drive to read and write a specific
disk format use the DOS DISKCOPY command as follows. It will use
memory to copy a volume to a new volume. The drive letters for
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 50
the source and new volumes are the same. DOS will issue messages
indicating what volumes to place in the drives and when.
DISKCOPY A: A:
If you have multiple drives able to read and write the same
volume format, use the DISKCOPY command with different drive
letters. The first drive identifier is for the source volume,
the second letter is for the drive to hold the new volume.
DISKCOPY A: B:
Backup disks may be copied to different disk formats as long as
the new disk has enough capacity to hold all information on the
source volume. Once backed up, backup data cannot again be split
across multiple volumes.
The Context Sensitive Help System
MegaBack provides immediate help about its operation at every
point of its processing. A comprehensive help system may be
interrogated at any time by pressing the <F1> key. When <F1> is
pressed, MegaBack automatically determines what function is
active and action is being requested. It will search a help
index and retrieve information about your current activity. Help
systems that bring up help about your current activity are
referred to as "context sensitive" meaning they are aware of the
context in which they are requested.
In addition to being context sensitive, MegaBack help system is
layered to let you not only examine help about your current
activity, but also lets you browse through the help displays to
learn about related topics or other aspects of MegaBack. Press
the <Home> key any time you are in the help system to display the
help menu.
The intelligent help system may be examined by using the
following navigation keys...
<Enter> Takes you to the next related screen
<Esc> Takes you back to the processing screen
<Alt> Allows you to peek back at the processing screen to
review what you are reading help about.
<PgUp> Will take you up to a more general topic in the help
system
<Home> Displays the main help menu
The LEFT, RIGHT, UP, and DOWN keys are available when viewing
screens smaller than the full page. Use them to move the help
window around on the display to view areas hidden by the help
window.
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 51
--> Alarm/Reminder Utility
--> Included with MegaBack is its MBALARM utility that may
optionally be implemented to remind you when backup is needed.
MBALARM has many options to let you specify how often, and when,
you are to be reminded backup is needed.
--> MBALARM is a stand alone utility that may be run at any time,
but it is usually implemented in your system's AUTOEXEC.BAT file
so it is automatically run every time your system is started.
Its normal mode is to check for backup once each day, and scan
your system to determine if backup is needed. When it determines
backup is needed, you will be prompted to indicate if backup is
to be started, or skipped. Placing the following two lines in
you AUTOEXEC.BAT file will implement MBALARM with its standard
options.
\MEGABACK\MBALARM
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 \MEGABACK\MB
--> The first line runs the alarm utility. The second line starts
MegaBack if MBALARM has set ERRORLEVEL to 1 indicating backup is
to be started.
--> The following command line parameters may be placed on the
MBALARM statement. They modify its operation to best suit your
needs.
--> /A Include All files, updated or not in backup scan. Use
to dtermine the amount of data to be backed up for full
volume backup.
--> /CD:nn
Check for backup nn days since last backup. Normally,
MBALARM checks once a day to determine if backup is
needed. Use to delay checking for backup to every nn
days. /CD:4 causes MBALARM to remain inactive until
4 days since the last backup.
--> /D:xx
Disk volumes to be checked. You may provide an
optional list of volumes to be scanned to determine
when backup is needed. If this list is not provided,
the list provided in MegaBack options is used. If
both are absent, the current drive is scanned.
--> /F Force backup when it is needed. Do not let user select
if backup is to be started.
--> /FD:nn
Force backup after nn days since last backup. Like the
force (/F), except force is not implemented until nn
days after the last backup. Use to give the user the
option to backup for a few days, then force a backup.
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 52
--> /M Cause MBALARM to check backup every time it is started,
instead of only one time each day.
--> /NC Prevent clearing of the display during MBALARM
processing.
--> /ND Don't display statistics of backup status on the
display MBALARM processing. Take appropriate backup
action based on parameters supplied. Do not let user
decide if backup is to be started. This parameter also
sets the /F (force) option.
--> /NL Do not let the user select the option to display a list
of directories to be backed up when asked if backup
should be done.
--> /NS Don't scan directories to determine if backup is needed
and display totals of files needing backup. The
decision to backup will be made solely on the number of
days since the last backup, or on the users decision.
--> /NX Ignore eXclusion criteria and count all updated files
found on the scanned drives. Normally MBALARM uses
MegaBack exclusion criteria to ignore files regularly
excluded from the backup process.
--> /XM Print exit messages on the display showing the value
MBALARM set ERRORLEVEL to before it ended.
--> MBALARM Examples:
--> Following are examples of different MBALARM implementations:
--> To check for backup once a day, and ask user if backup is
to be started:
\MEGABACK\MBALARM
--> To check for backup once a day, and force backup when
needed:
\MEGABACK\MBALARM /F
--> To check backup every time your computer is started, and ask
user to incicate if backup is to be started:
\MEGABACK\MBALARM /M
--> To check for buackup once a day, and force backup once a
week:
\MEGABACK\MBALARM /FD:7
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 53
--> To check for backup every other day, and force backup once
a week:
\MEGABACK\MBALARM /CD:2/FD:7
--> Don't scan to find any updated files. Ask user each day if
backup is to be started:
\MEGABACK\MBALARM /NS
--> Adding MBALARM to AUTOEXEC.BAT file
--> Use the DOS, EDIT command, EDLIN command, or your favorite
text editor, to modify your AUTOEXEC.BAT file to include
MBALARM statements. If you are unfamiliar with the
AUTOEXEC.BAT file, or its function, consult your DOS
reference manual.
--> The MBALARM statements may be added at any location in the
file, but are usually added at the end, before control is
given to DOS or another application.
--> Following is a sample AUTOEXEC.BAT file before MBALARM
statements are added.
SET COMSPEC=COMMAND.COM
PATH C:\DOS50;C:\BAT
PROMPT $P$G
DOSKEY
SHARE
MODE CON: RATE=25 DELAY=2
DOSSHELL
--> Following is the same example with the MBALARM statements
added:
SET COMSPEC=COMMAND.COM
PATH C:\DOS50;C:\BAT
PROMPT $P$G
DOSKEY
SHARE
MODE CON: RATE=25 DELAY=2
REM ************************
\MEGABACK\MBALARM /CD:2/FD:7
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 \MEGABACK\MB
REM ************************
DOSSHELL
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 54
System Requirements
Operating system compatibilities
MegaBack must run on a 100% compatible PC, XT, or AT system
and requires DOS 3.2 or above for its operation. MegaBack
may operate on some other nonstandard systems but we cannot
guarantee its correct operation nor make any promises to
make it compatible with those systems.
Backup device compatibilities
MegaBack uses only standard DOS disk devices for holding
backup data. The obvious devices are various forms of 3 1/2
and 5 1/4 diskette systems.
MegaBack is also designed to use large format removable disk
devices as backup media. These devices must have a standard
DOS format and must appear to DOS as a normal disk device.
Troubleshooting
I/O errors on disks
If you should have a problem restoring data from a damaged
or faulty volume take the following steps to attempt to
circumvent the problem.
-- Try turning the disk in the sleeve with your
fingers to make sure it is loose and will spin.
If 5 1/4 diskettes appear too tight, you can
relieve some pressure placed on the magnetic media
by drawing each edge of the diskette across the
edge of a table applying a reasonable amount of
pressure. This will expand the area inside the
jacket for the media to move.
-- Attempt to copy the diskette to another diskette.
If the copy is successful, attempt to use the new
disk to restore the data.
-- Take the volume in error to another drive on
another machine to attempt to restore the data.
-- When all else fails, use the "FAIL" option during
backup volume read error detection to indicate
backup is to attempt to read as much data as
possible.
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 55
Error Messages
MegaBack has comprehensive error and exception checking
designed into every component of the system. MegaBack's
help systems contains help about messages issued by
MegaBack. Whenever an error message is displayed, press the
<F1> key for a complete explanation of the error and
suggested actions to take as a result of the error.
Technical Support
Patri-Soft may be reached for technical support through a variety
of sources. Normal technical support hours are 8:30AM through
5:00 PM Monday through Friday (PST).
You may contact us through the following methods...
CompuServe 76347,2477
Phone 909-352-2820
BBS 909-352-2825
FAX 909-352-1527
Mail:
Patri-Soft
5225 Canyon Crest Drive Suite 71-358
Riverside, CA 92507
A special order line is available if you would like to purchase
using VISA or MasterCard or discuss other purchase options.
When calling for technical support please have the following
information ready so we may serve you efficiently:
a. The exact version of MegaBack you are using. MegaBack
main menu contains this data.
b. An exact problem description
c. Screen print of the MegaBack directory and all files it
contains.
d. The software configuration of your system including DOS
version, AUTOEXEC.BAT contents as well as CONFIG.SYS
contents.
e. The hardware configuration of your system.
A good problem description indicates exactly what you were doing
when you encountered the error, and exactly what symptoms
occurred as a result of the error. Please avoid the following
problem descriptions. They are much too brief to begin to
analyze.
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 56
Poor problem descriptions:
a. Backup is not working.
b. The machine will not read my disk.
c. I can't restore my indexes
d. The system fails during backup or restore.
Following are examples of better problem descriptions:
a. Backup is failing. MegaBack asks for a backup volume
and after I place it in the drive, the drive light
comes on, goes off, and MegaBack indicates no disk is
in the drive.
b. I am attempting to restore indexes from a backup volume
and MegaBack indicates the indexes are not present. I
have displayed the contents of the last used diskette
and it appears to be ok. Its contents are...
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 57
Index
Advanced options
MegaBack's . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Alarm Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Archive Attribute
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
setting option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Backup
Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Selecting Backup Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Backup data
Verify . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Backup Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Backup Sets
Multiple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Backup type
Full Backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Incremental Backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Build Index from backup
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Colors
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Command line format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Command Line operation
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Compacted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Compressed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Compression Option
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
CompuServe
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
CRC Check Value
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Date
Restore Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Disk
Backup Disk Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Diskette
Recovering from write errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Diskettes
Backup Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Display Colors
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
End volume for backup
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Environment Variables
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Error Messages
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Exclude
Select/Exclude options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 58
FAX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Full backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 18
Help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
I/O Errors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Incremental Backup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 19
Indexes
Backup File Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Backup Volume Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Emergency Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
MEGARGEN Index recovery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Recovering Indexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Saving Backup Indexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Initialize Indexes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Listing Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Main Menus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
MBALARM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Options
Advanced system options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Basic system options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Exclude/Select files from backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Set display type/colors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Setting Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Ordering MegaBack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Overlay
Files with duplicate name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Overlay Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Patri-Soft. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Phone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Quick Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Recover Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Reinitialize Indexes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Reliability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Boot Diskette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Combined Tape/MegaBack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
system recovery diskette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
to empty system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Restore Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
RETRY
disk I/O error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Select/Exclude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Select/Exclude options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Select/Exclude Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
SET MEGABACK= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Set system options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Setup/Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Speaker
Setting sounds options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Start volume for backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
MegaBack Copyright 1993 by Patri-Soft Page 59
Starting
Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Starting MegaBack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
status bar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Synchronize hard disk with indexes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
System
Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Tape
Complementing Tape Backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Technical Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Synchronize hard disk. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Recover backup indexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Reset backup indexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Verify backup data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Verify
DOS VERIFY option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Verify data after writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Verify backup data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Volumes
Backup Volume Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Backup Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
copying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Preparing backup volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
specification of start volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48