MacUpdate 3.5 is a File Synchronization and Folder Reconciliation program. Works with System 6.0.5 or later, including System 7.x.x. MacUpdate is useful for doing incremental backups, as well as for keeping two or more directories on two or more volumes (disks) up-to-date with each other. MacUpdate works with any HFS volume mounted on the "Desktop", including Hard Disks and Partitions, Floppies, SyQuest Drives, Opticals, and AppleTalk volumes.
On-line Help is available from the About... window, or from the Help key on Extended Keyboards.
To run MacUpdate, just double-click on it. If a "MacUpdate 3.5 Prefs" file is not found, MacUpdate will create a new default preferences file. After initialization, the MacUpdate Setup window, shown below, will be displayed.
The list-and-popup menu combinations prominent in this window are much like the Standard File Dialog we are all so used to. The list on the left tells MacUpdate where to synchronize FROM (the source directory - The most "recent" files are usually located here). The list on the right tells MacUpdate where to synchronize TO (the destination directory - files and folders here WILL be changed and synchronized if their counterparts in the source directory have been changed). The folder or volume name shown IN THE POPUP MENU ABOVE EACH LIST is the selected folder for that list. In the window shown above, MacUpdate will find all folders and files in the source directory "REF System" and update them to the destination disk "Private". MacUpdate will maintain the hierarchical organization of each folder on the source as it synchronizes to the destination.
Selections in the list don't mean anything, but you can double-click on an item in the list to "Open" it and make its name appear in the popup menu. Note that these lists do NOT display files, ONLY folders and volumes.
MacUpdate uses the File Modification Date (visible in the Finder's Get Info window)
to determine if files have changed, and thus, if it is necessary to update. For this reason, it is important that the clocks on both Macintoshes (if you use more than one) are reasonably close to each other. Unless you are synchronizing every hour, even if the clocks are 4 hours off, you probably won't see a problem. If your clocks are a day off, or a week off, however, you are asking for trouble! MacUpdate displays the current system time, and checks before updating a file to make sure it's modification date is NOT beyond the system time/date.
The "Swap Source & Dest button" makes the current source directory the destination, and vice-versa. This is useful for synchronizing in both directions. Automatic bi-directional synchronization is availalble from the "How to Synchronize" dialog, discussed below.
The "Synchronize Now" button, as well as the "Synchronize Now" menu item in the MacUpdate menu begin the synchronization process (after an OK-Cancel Alert). The synchronization process can be cancelled by cmd + period. Cancelling happens after the current file is finished being copied.
The "What to Synchronize" dialog configures MacUpdate for which types of files to try to update. It displays the dialog shown below.
From this dialog, MacUpdate can be configured to check or skip Alias files, Folder Icon files, Invisible files, System-related files, and Applications. Just turn the corresponding checkbox on or off, depending on your preference. The "Normal" Files checkbox can NOT be turned off.
The "How to Synchronize" dialog configures MacUpdate for the ability to update sub-folders, create or delete files, verify copies, synchronize in both directions, and set the copy buffer size. It displays the dialog shown below.
The Include Sub-Folders option allows MacUpdate to search "folders-within-folders", i.e., the entire sub-directory tree. Leaving this option off will ONLY update the FILES from the selected source directory, and MacUpdate will not even look inside any of the folders that may be in the source directory.
The Create Folders/Files option allows MacUpdate to create (in the destination directory, of course) any files or folders it finds in the source directory, but does not find in the destination directory. Use the Ask Me First option if you want to manually choose which files to create. If the Ask Me First option is on, an OK-Cancel Alert will be displayed for each file or folder that MacUpdate tries to create. Hit Cancel to disallow MacUpdate from creating the item, hit OK to allow MacUpdate to create the item.
The Delete Folders/Files option is just the opposite. It allows MacUpdate
to delete any files it finds in the destination directory that it does not find in the source directory. Be very careful when using this option!!! If your source and destination directories are not set up properly, severe loss of data could occur.
By checking both the Create and Delete Folders/Files options, the destination directory will look EXACTLY like the source directory after synchronizing (provided the Include Sub-Folders option is on, if there are sub-folders in the source directory).
The Verify Copies option tells MacUpdate to read back in the file it just updated in the destination directory, and compare it to the original file in the source directory. If errors are found, the file will be re-updated.
The Both Directions option synchronizes from the source to the destination, then "swaps" so the destination is now the source, and vice-versa. Folders and files are then synchronized from the new source to the new destination. Again, be careful using this option!!! If you make different changes to the same document on different volumes, then after synchronizing in both directions, ONLY the document that was modified LAST will exist in BOTH locations.
Copy Block Size is the number of bytes in the copy buffer. In general, the bigger this is, the better your performace will be. If you set it to 64 KB or higher, however, you'll probably have to adjust MacUpdate's Memory Size in the Finder's Get Info window, or get the dreaded Out of Memory error when MacUpdate tries to copy a file.
The "Auto Synchronization" dialog configures MacUpdate for when to automatically perform updates. It displays the dialog shown below.
Auto-Synchronize on Startup will begin the synchronization process on the selected directories when MacUpdate is run (double-clicked on). If this is the ONLY item checked in this dialog, MacUpdate will immediately Quit after the synchronization is finished. To change the setup when this option is on, hold down the mouse button while MacUpdate is starting up, or just after synchronization is complete.
The Every X Hours options lets MacUpdate run in the background, and it will periodically check for updates, based on the value entered for the time period.
The Daily Update Time option lets MacUpdate run in the background, and checks for updates at the specified time of day.
It is OK to have none, one, any or all of the options in this dialog on at the same time. If you have one of the background modes turned on, DON'T quit MacUpdate. It must be running at the specified time in order to check for updates. MacUpdate is well-behaved in the background, and, provided you use a small copy buffer size, will only use 300 K of your precious RAM.
MacUpdate saves its current settings in the "MacUpdate 3.2 Prefs" file. If this file is trashed, the next time MacUpdate runs, source and destination directories will be at the desktop.
Note also that MacUpdate will not let you synchronize a directory to one of it's offspring. For example, you can't synchronize your hard disk to a folder physically located on the same hard disk. You also can't update from the desktop. The Synchronize Now button and menu item will be dimmed if these rules are violated. The menu item's text changes to an "error message".
It is possible to update ONLY the contents of the "Desktop" by choosing the "Desktop Folder" (located in the Volume's root directory) as a source and/or destination.
An alias of MacUpdate may be put in the Startup Items folder inside of the System Folder, and this will insure that MacUpdate is run each time the machine is powered up. If you do this and also use the Auto-Synchronize on Startup option, you must make sure the source and destination volumes are mounted at startup. If the volumes are AppleTalk volumes, this can be accomplished by checking the checkbox in the Chooser for the volume to be auto-mounted. If the volumes are a floppy or hard disk, the disk must be mounted at startup.
Typically, MacUpdate can check 200 files with a total file size of 20.0 MB in about 1 minute on AppleTalk, if network traffic is light. THIS ASSUMES NO UPDATING OCCURS: only the Modifications Dates of the files were compared, and no differences were found. If any file in the destination directory is not up-to-date, it will be copied from the source directory, and this will SIGNIFICANTLY add to the program run time. The same 200 files (20.0 MB worth of data) takes about 25 minutes to be copied over AppleTalk (Assuming ALL 200 files need to be updated).
Usually, only a few files will be out-of-date, and you should experience average run times of less than 2 or 3 minutes (On AppleTalk, depending on the number of out-of-date files, the out-of-date files' sizes, and network/server activity. EtherNet performance should be better. Floppy disk and hard disk times should be similar to the Finder's copy times for these media.).
If you are using Symantec AntiVirus (SAM), you need to know that MacUpdate Bypasses the Resource Manager. If you get warnings to this effect, you may consider clicking on the LEARN button, otherwise you will have to click on the ALLOW button MANY, MANY times. Depending on your Preferences, MacUpdate may also try to create applications, extensions (INITs), and other file types that may trigger SAM.
Upon receipt of your registaration fee, you will be sent the password to access the Apple Menu Setup... item. From here, you will be able to disable that annoying About... Dialog from appearing at startup. You can also password protect the Quit command, in case you are running in the background, and want to insure MacUpdate is never Quit. Please include an E-Mail ID or Postal address where I can send the password to you.
Please contact the author listed at the top of this document with any bug reports, suggestions for improvement, or ideas for future programs.
