Introduction

The Vault has one purpose – to protect your valuable programs and data on a hard disk from loss. A hard disk must be backed up frequently because its files can be lost at any time without warning. The Vault automates and speeds up the backup process, reducing the chance for human error and making it easy for you to do on a regular basis.

The Vault is special because of its advanced user interface and integrated floppy disk caching scheme which speeds up the writing of backup disks. It is totally GEM-based and contains a comprehensive help system. It is easy to use and guides you through correct operation of the program. It creates ordinary TOS disks, complete with file directories, so that individual files can be examined or restored at will. It has an incremental mode that automatically backs up only those files that have changed since the last backup. If run regularly, incremental backups are generally very fast and offer the best possible protection for your data.

Some other special qualities of The Vault are:

• It doesn't require large amounts of memory and will run quite satisfactorily on a 512K machine, even with desk accessories and/or a moderate sized ramdisk in place.

• The Vault can back up files that are too large to fit on a single floppy. Such files are split into as many pieces as necessary and each piece written to a floppy. The pieces themselves are ordinary files and contain a header line that allows the restore program to insure that all pieces are reassembled in the proper order.

• The Vault uses a clever disk packing algorithm which minimizes the need to split files and can usually fill a disk to within a few thousand bytes. Often, it fills a disk completely without splitting a single file!

• The Vault does a significant amount of input error checking, keeping you from accidently inserting the wrong disk or from wiping out the data you are trying to protect.

• The Vault maintains a history file on the hard disk that lets you quickly locate which disk a file is backed up on and when it was written. It also uses the history file itself to make incremental backups virtually automatic.

• Best of all, The Vault is FAST. It writes files almost as quickly as the floppy drive can move its read/write head. This speed makes it feasible for you to use The Vault every day, not just when you have a few hours to kill during special occasions. Remember, The Vault will help you protect your valuable files, but only if you use it!