Drag'n Back is a personal backup program for System 7®. Drag'n Back is the first program that uses drag and drop method to backup files from the desktop.
Why does one need to backup files?
Philosophically, nothing is imperishable even the atoms. Your files on disk are no exception. Backup is to make a copy of a file, usually on a different media. Backup does not guarentee the eternity of your files. However, it provides a very rewarding insurance against the disater of losing important files.
What can happen to files?
First of all, a disk file can be inadvertently deleted. Therefore, a lot of users feel some uneasiness when they are dragging files to the trash can. However, if you have backed up files, you will have a peace of mind when deleting files.
Second, a file on disk can become corrupted. This can happen when it was being improperly saved or after it is saved. Most of the times, a program can not open a file after it is corrupted.
Third, the hard disk may crash either physically or by a virus, rendering total loss of files on the hard disk.
Fourth, a fire or a theft may result in the loss of all you computer equipment including the backup media.
Finally, a file changes every time you work on it and saves it. Almost all applications save a file by replacing older version on disk. Thus, you can not undo the changes after you quit the application. However, a backup makes undo possible on this level.
Why does one need a backup program?
Theoretically, file copy can be done on the desktop. Some pundits even wrote books teaching you how to do it. If your work involves a single file. This solution may be suitable for you. However, we all knew Macintosh owners use more applications than their PC counterpart. If more than one file need be backed up, the copying job will quickly become tedius and time consuming.
A backup program automates the copying process. It creates a template to record the files you backed up and where the backups are stored. Therefore, you need not to bother about these things after the template is created. Besides other things, you use a computer to 'automate' work, to finish work faster, don't you?
Why do you need Drag'n Back?
Drag'n Back is a backup program for the rest of us. It is intuitive to use. Most other backup software force you to back up everything on the hard drive. Drag'n Back lets you select the files or folders you want to back up right on the desktop. Daily backups can take as few as 30 seconds to complete.
The following are complete instructions on using the program.
Before you begin, make sure your computer is running System 7. To install Drag’n Back, copy it to a folder on any disk. Make an alias of that copy, then drag the alias icon to the desktop.
Backup a Whole Disk
On the desktop, drag the disk’s icon over Drag’n Back’s icon then release the mouse button. Drag’n Back will back up every file on the disk-you need only to follow the instructions.
Selecting a Backup Disk
Follow instructions at the bottom of the backup dialog window throughout the backup process. Backup will start after you told Drag’n Back what backup disk to use.
To select a mounted disk as the backup disk, click the box at the top center of the dialog. It is a pop-up menu listing all mounted disks. Select a disk using this menu then click the Start button to start the backup.
If you insert a disk, it will be used as a backup disk. If the disk is used for backup the first time, Drag’n Back will ask you whether or not to delete all files on the disk and whether or not to rename it.
If you made a mistake, clicking the mouse will stop the deletion. Drag’n Back will start automatically at the end of deletion. If you need to eject a disk so you can insert a different one, use the ejection icon at the center of the dialog to select a disk to eject.
Backup Folders or Files
If you only need to backup certain individual files or folders of files, instead of dragging the disk icon, just drag and drop file or folder icons over Drag’n Back.
Update Backup Files
After the initial backup, you need to update the corresponding backup files when you changed the source files by 1) drag and drop the disk or file icon over Drag’n Back again; or 2) launch Drag’n Back. Drag’n Back will ask you to insert a backup disk when needed.
That is it. The rest of this documentation simply tells you additional features that will let you customize your backup.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
Backup Template
Drag’n Back uses a template to control backup. When you do a backup as described in Quick Start, Drag’n Back creates a template and saves it in the same folder Drag’n Back resides. The default template name is “Drag’n Back Template”.
When you open Drag’n Back, this template will be opened and used for backup.You can also open the template explicitly by double clicking on its icon, or dragging its icon to Drag’n Back, or selecting it then choosing the Open… command from the Finder’s File menu. The files in the template will be displayed in a window as a list. You can use the template to exclude files from being backed up, to update backup files, to restore files from backup disks, or to keep track of files.
Creating Multiple Templates
When you open Drag’n Back, it always attempts to open a preferred template first. If it can not find the preferred template, it will then open the default template. If it can not find the default template, it will create a new default template.
You can move or rename the default template. When you open the changed template, it will become the preferred template.
Adding Files to Template
Dragging icons to Drag’n Back tells Drag’n Back to back them up. They will be added to the template. But, if the files are already in the template, Drag’n Back will back them up (if needed) without adding them to the template again.
Mirror Image Backup
When Drag’n Back backs up files, it copies source files and the hierarchical folders they reside to the backup disk. That is, if you try to open the backup file, you will find the folders and the files are in the same position on the desktop as the original.
When you update the template, only the source files that have changed since the last backup will be copied to the backup disk, replacing older versions of the backup file. Thus the mirror images relationship is maintained after the update.
Recommended Backups
We recommend you create two templates backing up important files twice. Alternate between these two templates with each backup. There are at least two advantages of using this method. First, when you need to restore a file and one backup is coruppted, you can use the other backup. Second, the two backups are usually different versions of the source file, thus providing you the ability to go back to an older version.
Options Menu
You can set options to suit your preferences. You change options through the Options sub-menu in the Drag’n Back menu. The Options sub-menu can be accessed during backup. The changes are stored with each template, so you don’t have to set them again. Any changes will take effect immediately.
1. Pause Before Backing up a File
You will need to click the Start button in the backup dialog before each file is copied to the backup disk.
2. Check Template Only
Drag’n Back will determine whether the source file has changed since last backup by comparing information stored in the template to that of the source file.
If this option is not chosen, Drag’n Back will compare the modified date of the backup file to that of the source file to determine whether the source file has changed. This may slow down backup and require you to insert every backup disk.
3. Compare Backup Files
Drag’n Back will compare the source file with backup file when their modified dates are the same. This will insure highest integrity of files. If comparison fails, you need to find out through other means whether the source file or the backup file is corrupt.
4. Ignore Creation Dates
Drag’n Back will not compare creation dates of the source file and the backup file. If this option is not chosen, Drag’n Back will warn you if the creation dates are different. For example, if you delete a file then create a new file with the same name, the creation date of the new file will be different.
5. Verify Backup Files
After each source file is copied, Drag’n Back will compare it with the backup file.
6. Copy File Memo
Drag’n Back will copy file memos to the backup disk when the file itself is being backed up. However, file memos will not be copied to or from a floppy disk.
7. Update Template
Drag’n Back will scan the source disk for new files when you set the option and when it opens the template next time. For each parent folder of the files in the template, it will scan the corresponding folder in the disk. When it finds a file that is not listed in the template, it will put it into the template.
8. Resolve Alias Files
If this option is selected, Drag’n Back will find the original object pointed to by an alias file. Otherwise the alias file will be treated as an ordinary file. If an object pointed to by an alias file is an alias file too, then this new object will be treated as an ordinary file.
Note that Finder always pass the original object to Drag’n Back when the object you are dropping is an alias file. Therefore Drag’n Back will resolve an alias file contained in the original object if this option is selected. However, if the object is a disk or volume, then no alias file contained in it will be resolved.
For a new template, the first time Drag’n Back encounters an alias file, Drag’n Back will ask you whether or not to resolve the alias file. Drag’n Back will then set this option according to your preference. When the template file is saved, Drag’n Back will save this option too.
9. Background Backup Speed
This item in the Options submenu is another sub-menu. It allows you to choose how fast backup will proceed when Drag’n Back is switched into background during backup. The higher the number chosen, the faster backup will proceed. However, your mouse movement may be interfered.
List Window
The template is displayed in a list window. Each file in the template is listed on a line. Four attributes of each file is shown: the file name, the source disk name, the parent folder name, and the backup disk name. The backup disk name will be blank if the file has not been backed up.
You can also see all the folders the file is nested in by pressing the shift key. A small box will appear listing the source disk name, the folders, and the file name. If the option key is also pressed, the backup disk name will be shown instead of the source disk name.
Markers
The file exclusion marker •: Mark a file with this symbol if you want to exclude it from backup. If you click the “Skip File” button during backup, Drag’n Back will mark the skipped file with this bullet.
The marker applies to individual files. To assign a marker to a file, click the corresponding position at the left of the file name. Clicking again will remove it.
Editing a Template
To edit a template, you can open it from the desktop. You can select files from the list by clicking and dragging or shift-clicking the list.
Drag’n Back provides menu commands for you to change the template quickly. From the Edit menu, you can select all files, mark selected files, delete selected files from the list, etc.
Sort
You can sort the list by any one of four attributes. Sorting affects the order of files in the catalog window. You can also sort by the path, which means the files will be listed folder by folder, starting from the disk window down to the deepest nested folder. On the other hand, sorting by folder will list the folders alphabetically.
You can also choose the “Multiple Sort…” command, which allows you to sort the list by up to four attributes simultaneously.
Find
There are two ways you can find files from the list window. You can type a search string then press the return key (your typing will not show up on the screen). If a file name matches the search string, this file will be highlighted and brought into view. Press the return key again, another search will be performed. Type a new string to search a different name. If you use the vertical scroll bar to scroll the list to a new position, search will resume from the new position.
You can also choose the Find… command from the Edit menu to find files. A dialog will allow you to specify additional search criteria. For example, you can search a folder name by choosing the “Parent folder” button and/or the “Folder containing parent folder” button. The criteria will stay in effect after you dispose of the dialog.
Oversized Files
If a source file is too large to fit into a single backup disk, it will be split and copied into multiple backup disks. Drag’n Back will create multiple lists of the same file name in the template. Drag’n Back will use this information to rejoin the split files into a single large file. Do not try to open or change these split files.
Restoring Files
To restore source files from the backup disks, you need to use the backup template. Drag’n Back always tries to save a copy of the template in the last backup disk after it saves the template. Choose the Backup… command from the Drag’n Back menu. Drag’n Back will copy files from the backup disks to the source disk.
Renaming or Moving a File or a Folder
If you rename or move a file or its folders, the backup template will need to be updated as well as the file and its folders on the backup disk. This is done when you do a backup. Drag’n Back will ask you to locate the missing file on the source disk. If you locate the file, the template will be updated and the corresponding backup file in the backup disk will be renamed or moved to the new folder. If you click the skip button, the file on the template will be marked with the exclusion mark so you won’t be asked again next time.
File Overflow
The following situation may happen during file update. If a source file grows bigger and there is not enough free disk space on the backup disk, the source file will be copied to new backup disk. Afterward, the older version of backup file will be deleted. Just follow instructions to swap the backup disks as told.
Naming Backup Disks
Each time a new backup disk is inserted, Drag’n Back will ask you whether to delete all files in it and to rename it. Drag’n Back will supply a default name for you, this name is appended with a space and the sequence number of backup disks. If you use a different name, Drag’n Back will use it as the default name for the next backup disk.
Merging a Template File
After a template file is opened and you open another template, the new one will replace the old one on screen. However, if you press the option key down then open another template, it will be merged with the one already opened.
Deleting Files
Sometimes you want to purge files from the backup disk. This can be done as follows. Select the files from the catalog then choose the Delete… command from the Selected submenu of the Edit menu. A dialog will guide you through the deletion process. If you press the option key before selecting the command, then the source files will be deleted instead.
Template Size Limit
The maximum number of files in a template is 16,000. The size of the template file varies with the number of files in it. For example, the template will be approximately 60k for a thousand files.
The memory size of Drag’n Back needs to be increased in order to work on a large template. The preferred memory size is 256K, enough for about 1000 files. Drag’n Back will adjust memory size when needed. All you need to do is to quit the application and try again.
Backup Devices
Since the backup files are mirror images of the source files, the backup device you use should be “Finder mountable”. That is, its icon should show up on the Finder desktop.
Older Systems
You can back up files using an existing template in Systems 6 and earlier. However, you need to create a backup template from System 7 first.
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You can try this program free for 30 days. After that, if you want to continue to use this program, mail $30(US) to:
Enterprise Software
12943 Andy Dr.
Cerritos, CA 90701
Please include your name, company name, address, phone number, and version number of Drag'n Back so we can register you. Registered user will receive a free upgrade to version 1.1. Version 1.1 can do automatic generational backup and defragment source disk making it faster.
Copyright notices
You are welcome to give copies of the program and this file to any other party. However, the program and this file should be bundled together. Under no cicumstances should the program or this file be changed then give away. If you feel the program or this file is tampered with, then you are using an illegal copy. Please notify Enterprise Software immediately.
Warranties & disclaimer
Because backup requires a strong disciplne and rigid schedule, Enterprise Software is not liable for any damages caused by using this program. No warranty is made as to the suitability, usability, or appropriateness of the product for your purpose. We only warrant that the product does what it is advertised to do. Furthermore, Enterprise Software or any person involved in the development of this product, accepts no liability for any loss of time, anticipated revenues, or any other file damage or loss.
