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GetBack User's Manual Revision A May 22, 1992 Copyright (C) 1992 MICROTOOLS 1 GetBack Introduction Welcome to GetBack. GetBack is a powerful, safe yet simple means of backing up your vital data. For most of us, backing up our data is a nuisance that we all too often avoid. GetBack makes backing up fun. You can set up your backups once with our intuitive users interface and then run them from a regular batch file. But, before we get into how to perform a backup, we need to talk strategy. Without a well thought out strategy, you may find yourself either wasting time by backing up too much or (heaven forbid), not be backing up enough data. It doesn't do any good to begin backing up the wrong data or backing up more data than it is worth to backup. That's why we must begin with a good backup strategy. Once that is established we'll work on how to implement that strategy with GetBack. 1.1 Fundamentals of a Backup Strategy First and foremost to all backup strategies is taken from the famous shoe ad: Just Do It! Many of us get lazy and neglect some important tasks every day. Many of us have neglected to perform the backups necessary to protect our valuable data on a timely basis. Let's decide today that we will follow the first and primary fundamental of backup strategy and that is to DO IT! Once we got that down (or at least decided), the next important piece of our strategic plan is to determine: What Data is important to backup? and How often should that be backed up. Perhaps the simplest answer to both of these is: all the data every day. But that often is not a reasonable answer to either question. Generally speaking, all data is important to be backed up, but not every day. Much data on your hard drive is already backed up. Sometimes, every day is not frequent enough for some data. Sometimes it is overkill. 1.2 What Data is important to backup Again, it is dangerous to deal in generalities, but most data falls under three categories: 1. Data files that I have bought and thus have the original files on their installation disks. These are the disks that came when you purchased the software. If this data is lost, it could be reconstructed by reloading the software. Not too painful. 2. Data files that my programs have created that can be re-created from other files. Lotus ".PIC" are such files as are dBase ".NDX" files. Lotus ".PIC" files are graph files that are created from your spreadsheet files. These files usually can be easily recreated if you have the source files (Lotus ".WK1" files and dBase ".DBF" files). This data never needs to be backed up. 3. Data files that I have created through the keyboard or mouse. These files are like the outputs of word processing programs (like .DOC files from Word), spreadsheets (like .WK1 files from Lotus 1-2-3), databases (like .DBF files from dBase), or accounting programs (like MoneyCounts .DAT files). These files represent your hard earned work and are very important to you. They also might include configuration files (like Window's configuration files or your DOS CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT). 1.3 How often to Backup Data Ideally, data should be backed up as soon as practical after it has been created. If you are entering significant data that is creative of nature you may want to back it up right after you create it. (Some of us forget our brainstorms as quickly as we get them). Generally, you want to regularly backup only the files that you create and/or change. These are files like letters, reports, databases, documents and spreadsheets. Generally you don't want to backup files that you don't change. Every user has different needs. Not everyone's data is of equal value. How often you backup depends on both your needs, your habits, and your comfort level with the thought of losing some data. A good rule of thumb that works for most people is to back up at the end of every day. This means that in a very worst case scenario (you have lost every thing), on the average, you will only lose about 4 hours of work. 1.4 Setting a Backup Strategy So, how do you go about setting a backup strategy? Here are a few simple guidelines. (Note: Running ALLFILES will create a text file, ALLFILES.TXT, of all files on your current hard drive. Print this file out and use three highlighters to identify each file) Step 1 Identify those category one files that are part of programs for which you already have a backup. You are probably wise to back up all of these up in one backup set (a set of floppy disks containing a backup) once. We will label this backup set PROGRAMS. Although this is not essential (remember, you already have these backed up on your original floppies) it will make it much easier to recreate your system. If you are willing to take the time of reconstructing these from all the programs that you own or if you don't own that many complex programs, this step may be skipped. We will explain how to do this later. File these away in a very safe place. Write protect the disks. You need not make another copy of this backup until you add another set of program data files (say you add a new Backup program like GetBack). At that point, you are probably wise to make a fresh backup of all your programs (because you may have forgotten to backup your last update to your spreadsheet program). Step 2 Identify those category two files that are automatically generated. Many users do not have any of these files. If you are not sure about a file, consider it a category 3 file. Step 3 Identify those category three files that are your hard earned data files. If there are files from long dead projects or correspondence that you are fairly sure you will never touch again, back them up in a backup set and call it ARCHIVE01. Then delete them from your disk. Now, are there any files that don't fall under these three categories. If you can't find out what they are, it is best to put them under category three. All files that are category 3 files need not be updated every day. Some files are from projects long since completed. Some files were created once and have no business being on your hard drive. After we have backed them up, it may be wise to delete them from your hard drive. Many of us only work on a few files a day. If our backup is taking 20 minutes each day to backup 30 meg of data, we are probably backing up a lot more than we need to. Ideally we should only backup those files that we need to backup. How you have organized your hard disk also affects your backup strategy. In order to facilitate backups, it is very useful and safe to put all of your files of the same category in multiple directories under one directory tree. This way, to backup all category three data files you could just specify to include all the files in that directory and all its subdirectory. You never have to remember to update your backup configuration files when you add new projects and new directories. For example, all category three data files could be put under the C:\DATA directory. It is very important that macros generated with spreadsheet programs and word processing programs be put under these directories. Your MoneyCounts data files should also be put in a subdirectory under this directory. It also is useful to place all category one data files under a directory tree like C:\PROGRAM. Thus you would have a set of directories that might look like: C:\PROGRAM C:\PROGRAM\MC C:\PROGRAM\123 etc Although GetBack will allow you to specify data directories all over your hard disk, it becomes another thing to remember whenever you add new directories. For example, let's imagine that you keep your word processing files in C:\LETTERS and your spreadsheets in C:\WORKSHTS. When you add WordPerfect to your system, you add a directory C:\WP51\LETTERS. This is category three data that must be added to your backup specification. If instead you had a directory structure that looked like this: C:\DATA C:\DATA\LETTERS C:\DATA\WORKSHTS you could tell the backup program to backup up everything in C:\DATA and all the files in DATA's subdirectories and never have to worry about it. 1.5 Some Typical Backup Strategies Let's list a few backup strategies and then analyze them for the applicability. We will show you how to perform these strategies later. Data Backup Strategy #1 - (Weekly Full data/Daily Incremental data) Step 1 On Friday afternoon of every week, perform a FULL backup of your category three data files. Let's call this backup set FULL DATA WEEK 1. Mark all floppies in numerical order with this label and with their number. Step 2 On Monday afternoon, perform a backup of all category three files that have changed since Friday. This is called an INCREMENTAL backup. Mark all the floppies with the label INCREMENTAL DATA WEEK 1 DAY 1. Use either a new disk or append the backup set to your last disk. (Appending does not delete the existing files). Step 3 On Tuesday afternoon, repeat step 2 naming the backup set INCREMENTAL DATA WEEK 1 DAY 2. Step 4 On Wednesday afternoon, repeat step 2 naming the backup set INCREMENTAL DATA WEEK 1 DAY 3. Step 5 On Thursday afternoon, repeat step 2 naming the backup set INCREMENTAL DATA WEEK 1 DAY 4. Step 6 On Friday afternoon, repeat step one, naming the backup set FULL DATA WEEK 2. Start with a new disk. Repeat this for four weeks. At this point, start re- using your disks. Analysis of Strategy #1 Advantages - This strategy is pretty thorough. In general, the incremental backups performed on Monday - Thursday will be fairly quick. Friday's backup may take too long however depending on how much data you keep on your hard drive. Depending on how many disks you are using, you may desire to wait 8-16 weeks before recycling your disks. It is also useful to save a backup set every 3-4 months and file it away in a safe place. Never recycle these disks. You never know when you may find that you accidentally deleted a file two months ago which has fallen off the backup list. Disadvantages - INCREMENTAL backups are quick but make restoration a little more difficult. If you need to restore one file, you may need to go through several backup sets before you find it. In general this is not to bad a limitation because we don't lose data that often. There is a disadvantage to this strategy if you have not carefully identified all of your critical category three data. For example, if you just recently started creating .WP files and had not identified these as category three files, you will never back them up unless you have structured your directories properly (as we talked about earlier). This strategy also tends to use a fair number of disks. Data Backup Strategy #2 (Full Disk/Differentials until unwieldy) Step 1 Perform a FULL backup of your entire hard disk (all categories) Step 2 Every day (or after a significant period of data entry), perform a DIFFERENTIAL backup of your entire hard disk. This will back up only those files that have changed since the last full backup. Recycle disks every other time. Step 3 Perform Step 2 until this procedure becomes unwieldy (takes too long or uses too many disks). Step 4 Repeat from step 1, using a new set of disks. Analysis of Strategy #2 Advantages - This strategy works well if you do not create a lot of files. It is easy to restore a file, since all files that have changed since the full backup can easily be restored. It doesn't use a lot of floppy disks. It is extremely thorough and is not very prone to error. Disadvantages - If you create a lot of category three data, this strategy becomes unwieldy very soon. Data Backup Strategy #3 (Full Disk/Incrementals) Step 1 Perform a FULL backup of your entire hard disk (all categories) Step 2 Every day (or after a significant period of data entry), perform an INCREMENTAL backup of your entire hard disk. This will back up only those files that have changed since the last backup. Either append the files to your existing backup set or carefully label each floppy. Step 3 Perform Step 2 for a month or so (approximately 20 incremental backups). Step 4 Repeat from step 1, using a new set of disks for the full backup and recycle the Incrementals. Analysis of Strategy #3 Advantages - This strategy works well if you do not need to restore files very often. It minimizes the number of disks needed. It is not very prone to error. Disadvantages - Restoring of a file could mean going through 10-20 backup sets. However, if this doesn't occur very often, it is a very fast, thorough and efficient backup strategy. 1.6 General Backup Guidelines Finally, once you have a backup strategy that works. Stick to it. Deviations can spell disaster. It is always good policy to: 1. Have a well thought-out backup strategy and keep it. 2. Keep backups in a safe, fireproof, preferably off-site location. 3. Archive a full backup every 1-3 months that never gets re-cycled 4. Backup your data at the end of a day rather than the beginning. (Computers have a higher probability of failing when they are turned on rather than failing while they are running). 5. Test you backup strategy with a mini-fire drill to make sure you know how to restore your files. 6. Maintain at least two backups if you are going to replace or re-format your hard disk. 7. Have a well thought-out backup strategy and keep it. (This bears repeating) 8. Turn on Verification ALWAYS! 9. Have plenty of disks available. They are cheaper than your lost time. 2 Invoking GetBack GetBack consists of three programs. GETBACK is the user friendly interface that lets you define your backup and restore options. It invokes MAKEBAK to actually make a backup and GETBAK to actually perform a restore. The backup "engines" may be run separately from the command line (or Batch file). GETBACK can be started at the DOS command line as follows: C:> GETBACK [switches] [configuration file] where the optional switches are: /T for Text Mode /G for Graphics Mode GetBack automatically determines an optimal setting based on your hardware and graphics capability. These switches allow you to override the default settings. and the optional configuration file is used to set up your backup configuration upon startup. If no file is specified, GetBack uses the file "LAST.GBK" stored in GetBack's program directory. All GetBack configuration files have the .GBK extension. GetBack first looks in the current directory and then (for DOS 3.0 or greater) in the same directory that GetBack.EXE is store in. If you desire to perform backups with no user interaction (like from a batch file), you may run the GetBack backup engine with the command: C:> MAKEBAK configuration_file Here the configuration file and the extension are not optional. If you desire to perform a restore with no user interaction, you may run the GetBack restore engine: C:> GETBAK configuration_file 3 Navigating in GetBack GetBack is designed with an intuitive interface that needs no introduction. Many programs have paved the way and set the standard for navigating on a screen like GetBack's that should make learning to use it a snap. For those not familiar with these navigation standards, we'll give you a summary. 3.1 Some Definitions of Terms we will be using throughout this manual Menu - This is a list options for you to choose. There are many such menus in GetBack. An example is the Main Menu where you are give the option to: Start Backup Preview Backup Start Restore Preview Restore Display Backup Set Setup Backup Options Edit Include/Excludes Load Configuration Save Configuration Each of these items in the list are a Menu Item. Button Item - A button is a rectangularly shaped box on the screen used to select an option. The Exit button on the Main Screen is such an object. Highlighted Item - This is when a menu item (or button) is highlighted with either a different color or a different intensity. This item is available for Selection. Select Item - This is when a highlighted item is selected to perform the function it describes. For example, when the Preview Backup Menu Item is Highlighted and then Selected, GetBack begins to preview the currently defined backup. When the Exit Button Item is selected, GetBack exits. Toggle Item - Certain discrete items can be toggled to select alternate options. For example, the Verification Status item can be toggled from On to Off and vice versa. Edit Item - Certain items are fields that can be edited. For example, when loading new configuration, you can enter the file specification for the configuration file that you wish to load. Window Item - On most screens there are multiple window items. For example on the Main Screen there are seven separate window items: The Main Menu The Status Window The Hardware Status Window The Advanced Status Window The Current Configuration file The Exit Button The Include/Exclude Matrix Context Sensitive Help - GetBack provides context sensitive help to help you find your way around its screen. Whatever item is highlighted has a unique help message to help you remember what it does. For example, if the View Backup Set item is highlighted in the Main Menu, selecting Help will provide a detailed description of what selecting this item will do. Status Window - GetBack has three status windows; one for the normal setup options, one for the hardware options, and one for advanced options that need not be changed under normal circumstances. Each status window is actual a menu consisting of two more menu items itself. There are no hot keys associated with these menu items. Hot Keys - GetBack provides a way to select a menu item or a button item with a hot key. A hot key is indicated by an underline in Graphics mode and a bold character in Text mode. Hot keys may be activated from anywhere on the screen with an <ALT>-<Hotkey>. 3.2 How to Navigate Navigating through GetBack menu's is performed using any combination of the following techniques: Keyboard Navigating Cursor Control Keys - use the <UP_ARROW> or <DOWN_ARROW> to position the cursor or Highlighted item. Once you have Highlighted the item you desire, hit the <ENTER> key to Select it. Use the <LEFT_ARROW> or <RIGHT_ARROW> keys to move horizontally across items. Exit Window - The <Esc> key can be used to exit any window Hot Key Character - in every menu, items may be selected by hitting the key corresponding to the item. This key is identified in bold for Text mode applications and with an underline for Graphics mode applications. <Tab> Key - This key may be used to move from window item to window item on the screen. <Shift-Tab> moves from window item to window item in the reverse direction. <Space Bar> - This key is used to toggle items <Enter> - This key is used to select an item, toggle an item, or complete the editing of an item. <PgUp> and <PgDn> - These keys are used in menus to go to the top or the bottom of the menu. When viewing help screens or Include/Exclude lists, these keys move the highlight bar one page up or down. Mouse Navigating The mouse may be used to select or toggle an item by the simple Point and Click method. Point the mouse cursor at the item and click the left mouse button. If the item is to be selected, it will be selected (for example, GetBack will Start a Backup). If the item is an item to be toggled, the item will be toggled. Scroll Bar When viewing large amounts of data (in a Help Screen or in the Include/Exclude list), a scroll bar is provided for navigation. You may either click on the scroll button and drag the button down to position the text or you may click on the UP and DOWN arrows to move one line at a time. 4 Setting Up GetBack GetBack allows you to set up several options in order to configure your backup. Although GetBack provides a set of defaults, you need to carefully chose your options to fit your hardware and your backup strategy. GetBack provides two ways for you to set up its options - the fast method and the verbose method. We recommend that you utilize the verbose method at first since it will walk you through each of the options. At any time you may click on the Help Button or hit <F3> to call up the context sensitive help. The Main Screen provides a complete status of all of the options selected for GetBack. This allows you to see all the options you have selected all at once. We will describe how to select an option using each of the two methods using the Drive type as an example. All other options are set the same. The following options are available: Hardware Configuration Type of Backup Media (360k, 720k, 1.2m, 1.44m floppy, or DOS drive) Drive (and for DOS drives the directory) Colors on your Display Text or Graphics mode Setup options for Backup/Restore Type (full, differential, incremental) Files (only defined files, all except defined files) Archive Bit (set or cleared after backup) Compression option (Compression On or Compression Off) Verify (Check that the backup worked as you go) Restore Overwrite Warnings (Tell you that you are overwriting) Advanced options Formatting of Target Drive Keeping of Log Files on Hard Disk Deleting of Files on Target Drive Backing up System/Hidden Files 4.1 Hardware Configuration GetBack requires that you define where the backup files are to go and where the restored files are coming from. GetBack needs to know what drive they are on and what type of drive it is. In addition, GetBack allows you to specify the colors for your screen (if you have a color monitor) and whether or not you are in text mode or graphics mode. All four of these options may be set through the pop up menus by selecting first the SETUP BACKUP/RESTORE and then SETUP HARDWARE OPTIONS. Where the files are coming from and going to and the backup media type may also be set directly from the Main Menu by using either the <Tab>, <Arrow>, and <Enter> keys or the Mouse to toggle these options. 4.1.1 Drive Type You must select the type of media you are going to back up to. The options for this are: 360k 5¼ Floppy 720k 3½ Floppy 1.2m 5¼ Floppy 1.44m 3½ Floppy DOS media - This can be network, a tape drive, or an unsupported floppy. You can also do cumulative backups to DOS media. This allows you to have multiple backups on one media. This is also called append. In general this mode is considerably slower than defining the media type. If you do not know what type of drive you have, select the DOS media. 4.1.1.1 Selecting the Drive Type (Fast Method) From the main screen, the Drive type is listed in the Hardware Status window. By depressing the <TAB> key, you will move the highlight bar to the Drive Type. Hitting the <Enter> key will toggle this through each of the options. For mouse users, place the mouse cursor on the Drive Type and depress the Left Mouse button once to toggle the option. 4.1.1.2 Selecting the Drive Type (Verbose Method) Alternately, for beginners, the drive type may be set via the menu selections. First, select the SET BACKUP/RESTORE from the main menu (using the <Down Arrow> key and the <Enter> key or the Mouse). This will take you to the Setup Menu. Select the first item, (SET HARDWARE OPTIONS) by hitting the <ENTER> key or clicking it with the Left mouse button. Then select the SET MEDIA TYPE. This will bring you to a menu of media type options. Select the option desired by either hitting <ENTER> or clicking on it with the mouse. You may return to the main menu by selecting the RETURN option in each of the menus. 4.1.2 Target/Source Drive for Backup/Restore You must specify the target drive for backups and the source drive for restore. Generally only a letter is required. However, for DOS drives, you may also specify a directory. If you specify a directory, you will not be able to toggle this from the status window. 4.1.3 Color Options GetBack allows you to specify the Color of various items on your screen. Colors may only be set with the verbose method. It is possible to set the foreground and background colors of the following: Borders around windows Windows Window objects Titles Menu items (both selected and non selected) Hot Key items (character color only) Buttons (like the HELP, GENERAL HELP) Foreground color is defined as the color of the characters or lines. Background color is defined as the color of the paper the characters are written on. It is also possible to reset the color to their original settings. These settings are stored in a file called BBCOLOR.DAT and is located in the same directory that the GetBack.EXE is kept. If you desire to save different color configuration, this file can be renamed to reflect any number of color configurations. 4.1.4 Text and Graphics Mode GetBack runs in two modes: Graphics Mode Text Mode On startup, if no mode is specified, GetBack determines the mode based on the hardware available, and the speed of your machine. For 808X machines (like PC's and XT's), GetBack defaults to text mode. You may override this by specifying a "/T" or a "/G" switch at startup. Also, you can switch screen modes from a Hardware Menu option. 4.2 Setup Options GetBack allows you to configure your Backups and Restores with the following options: Type: GetBack allows you to specify three types of backups: Full - This option backs up all files that are specified. Incremental - This option backs up only files that have changed or have been created since the last FULL or INCREMENTAL backup. Differential - This option backs up only those files that have changed or are new since the last FULL backup. Files: GetBack allows you to specify which files to backup: Include This option will allow you to specify a list of directories and files to include in Backup/Restore. The inclusion of these files may be superseded by an Exclude specification. All Include This option will allow you to specify a list of directories and files to include in the Backup/Restore that can not be superseded by an Exclude specification Exclude This option will allow you to specify a list of directories and files to be excluded in the Backup/Restore. In the restore mode, you may also specify a different target directory. Archive Bit: GetBack allows you to select what happens to the Archive Bit of files that are backed up. Under most circumstances you will not want to change this option. Setting this will override the effect of the backup type. For example, generally, a full backup always clears the archive bit. Setting this to UNCHANGED, will cause the archive bit to not get cleared. Setting the bit to UNCHANGED means that the archive bit will not be changed at all. Compression: GetBack allows you to disable its normal compression techniques. This option will cause the backup to use more disk space and generally will cause the backup to take longer. Under certain circumstances (a very fast backup media and/or a very slow PC), disabling compression might speed up the backup process. Verify: GetBack normally verifies all data it writes to the backup media. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO THE INTEGRITY OF YOUR BACKUP! In some circumstances, it may be desirable to turn this feature off. PLEASE BE AWARE WHEN YOU DO THIS. Backup/Restore Overwrite Warnings : This option is used during restore to warn you that a file already exists on your hard disk which you are about to overwrite with the backup version. During Backup, this option will enable you to be warned if files on a disk are being overwritten. All of these options may be set via the menu system by selecting the SETUP BACKUP/RESTORE option and then the SET BACKUP/RESTORE. These also may be set directly from the Main Menu by using either the <Tab>, <Arrow> and <Enter> keys or the Mouse to toggle these options. 4.2.1 Type There are three types of Backups that can be performed with GetBack: Full Incremental Differential Full Backup is used when you want to backup all files specified in your INCLUDE/EXCLUDE specification independent of the status of the archive bit. Full backups generally clear the archive bit (unless overridden by the ARCHIVE BIT UNCHANGED option) of all files that it backs up. Selecting a Full Backup automatically sets the Archive bit option to CLEARED. Incremental Backup is used when you want to backup any files that have changed or are new since the last backup. Incremental backups are made based on the status of the archive bit. The incremental backup clears the archive bit of each file it backs up (unless overridden by the ARCHIVE BIT UNCHANGED option). This means that the next incremental backup will not back that file up again unless it has been changed. Selecting an Incremental backup, automatically sets the Archive bit option to CLEARED. Differential Backup is used when you want to backup all files that have changed since the last full backup. Differential backups are made based on the status of the archive bit. The differential backup does not clear the archive bit as it backs up. This allows you to run consecutive backups after a full backup. Selecting a Differential backup, automatically sets the Archive bit option to UNCHANGED. 4.2.2 Include/Exclude Specifications You may specify the files that you want to INCLUDE or EXCLUDE in a definition file. You have five options to create/define this file: ■ You mayfile that already exists from a previous backup or you created offline with your word processor or editor ■ You may create a new file with all of your directories listed to allow you to edit from this baseline ■ You may create a new empty file and build the definition from scratch ■ You may edit your current configuration ■ You may select the files from a directory tree In some cases you do not want to back up all of your files and all of your directories. With GetBack you can select only certain files, certain extensions and / or certain directories to back up. This is done with the INCLUDE/EXCLUDE/INC ALL option. Only those directories and files that you specify will be backed up. This selection is performed by defining the directories and files in a backup configuration file. The file consists of a list of directories and files. Filenames may be specified using DOS wildcard characters (* and ?). Backup will only backup files that you specify in this file. INCLUDE means to backup these files unless overridden by EXCLUDE. EXCLUDE means to not backup these files unless overridden by INC ALL. INC ALL means to always backup these files. Be careful not to have overlapping INCLUDE and/or INC ALL specification or GetBack will backup the files twice. EXAMPLE: To Backup only ".DOC" files in all directories, you would create a list with the following contents: INCLUDE/ File Specification With EXCLUDE Subdirs INCLUDE c:\*.DOC SUBDIRS In some cases, you want to back up all of your files except certain exceptions. This may be done with the EXCLUDE option. As with the INCLUDE option, you create a file with a list of files that you want to be excluded from backup. GetBack will backup all files except for those you specified. EXAMPLE: To Backup all files except those files in the "user\tmp" directory, you would create a file with the following contents: INCLUDE/ File Specification With EXCLUDE Subdirs INCLUDE c:\*.* SUBDIRS EXCLUDE c:\user\tmp\*.* NO SUBD When specifying INCLUDE, INC ALL and EXCLUDE three rules that GetBack follows are very important. RULE #1: EXCLUDE takes precedence over INCLUDE. This means that in the above example the INCLUDE specification (C:\*.*) defines all files except as exempted by the EXCLUDE. This rule always applies unless overridden by rule #2. RULE #2: INCLUDE specifications that do not include DOS wildcard specifications can never be excluded. RULE #3: INC ALL specification can never be excluded. For example: INCLUDE/ File Specification With EXCLUDE Subdirs INCLUDE c:\*.* SUBDIRS EXCLUDE c:\*.TMP SUBDIRS INCLUDE c:\IMPORTNT.TMP NO SUBD INC ALL c:\SPECIAL\*.TMP NO SUBD In this example, all files will be backed up unless they have a TMP extension. No .TMP files will be backed up except IMPORTNT.TMP and those in the special directory. 4.2.2.1 Editing Include/Exclude Lists It is possible to Edit the Include/Exclude list from several places in GetBack. From the Main Screen, you can completely edit the list but you cannot add additional items to the list once it is filled. From the other screens, you are allowed to add and delete lines to the list as well as seed it with you directory structure. When backing up, enter all of the file specifications you desire and indicate whether or not you desire to INCLUDE or EXCLUDE these files from the backup. If you desire the file specification to be inclusive of all subsequent subdirectories, select SUBDIR in the subdirectory button. When restoring files, each line of the file specification can actually contain two file specifications separated by a space. The second file specification is the destination of where you want the restored files to go. For example, to restore all *.DOC files in the C:\WORD\DOC directory to the C:\WORD\TMP directory, you would select INCLUDE and: C:\WORD\DOC\*.DOC C:\WORD\TMP To insert lines into this list, place the cursor where you want to insert and select the insert button (Placing the mouse cursor and clicking the left button or Hot Key <ALT-I>). To delete lines in this list, place the cursor on the line where you want to delete and select the delete button (Placing the mouse cursor and clicking the left button or Hot Key <ALT-D>). When you have made all your changes, select the OK button to exit. If you wish to cancel your changes, select the CANCEL button. Editing and cursor movements while in this list are as follows: Cursor Movement: <Down/Up/Right/Left> Move cursor one character down/up/right/left <PgDn> <PgUp> Move the cursor down/up one page <Home> <End> Move the cursor to the beginning/end of line <Ctrl Right/Left> Move cursor one word to the right/left <Ctrl Home> <Ctrl End> Move cursor to the beginning/end of the file {Left Mouse Click} Move cursor to the Mouse cursor Delete Text: <Del> Delete the character at the cursor <Ctrl Del> Delete the word at the cursor <BkSp> Delete the character before the cursor <Ctrl BkSp> Delete from the cursor to the end of line <F8> Delete from the cursor to the end of line Mark Text: <Ctrl F5> Marks text for copy or cut <ENTER> Following a mark, copies text to paste buffer <Del> Following a mark, deletes text to paste buffer <Ctrl F6> Cut marked Text <Ctrl F8> Copies from paste buffer to cursor 4.2.2.2 Seeding the Include/Exclude List with a Directory Tree GetBack allows you to start your list of Include/Exclude files with a directory tree. For example, if you wanted to start with all directories of the C: drive you would enter: C:\ GetBack will then display all of the directories on your C drive. If you want to start your list with the list of all directories under the \USER\ directory, you would enter: C:\USER\ This starting point will allow you to easily specify the files that you want to include/exclude. 4.2.3 Archive Bit Whenever a file is created or modified, a bit is set in the file to indicate that this file should be archived. This bit is called the archive bit. The archive bit is used by backup utilities (and XCOPY) to indicate that a file has been created or modified since the last backup. Generally you want the archive bit cleared when the file has been backed up. Generally, all FULL and INCREMENTAL backups will clear the archive bit of each file that is backed up. For example, lets imagine that you just backed up your entire disk. All files will have their archive bit cleared indicating that they do not need to be backed up again. After one day of creating and modifying files, you run an INCREMENTAL backup. This backup will only backup those files that have the archive bit set. It will generally clear the archive bit of those files. But, if you wanted to run two identical INCREMENTAL backups you could not do it if the archive bit gets cleared. If you desire to run two identical INCREMENTAL backups, you must run the first with this option set to ARCHIVE BIT UNCHANGED. The second will be run with the ARCHIVE BIT CLEARED. You may also want to not clear the archive bit after any INCREMENTAL backup. In this case, each INCREMENTAL backup would include all files that have changed since the last full backup. This would (in effect) be a DIFFERENTIAL backup. The archive bit will always be UNCHANGED during differential backups. 4.2.4 Compression With the Compress option on, GetBack will compress your files on the backup media while backing up your files. This causes them to take less space on your backup media than they took on your hard disk. Normally, GetBack will also run faster with compression turned on. Compression takes processing time to compress your data. But since disk I/O is generally the slowest part of any computer program, compression generally saves more time than it takes. However, with a very slow PC and/or a very fast disk or tape, GetBack may run faster with compression turned off. You also may choose to turn compression off if you are only backing up files that are already compressed (.ZIP or .ARC) files. The compression option has no effect during Restore. 4.2.5 Verify There are two ways to verify your data as you write it. Verify every byte that it writes Use the DOS verify which merely checks the integrity of the data Many backup programs only perform the DOS verify. Because the DOS verify provides a false sense of security, GetBack does not even provide it as an option. GetBack defaults to checking every byte that it writes to your backup media. This adds a significant amount of time to your backup process. However, floppy disks are notorious in dropping data. If VERIFY is turned off, the backup program cannot attest to the integrity of the backup. We would strongly recommend that you leave VERIFY on. Again, depending on the speed of your machine, this could add between 20% (for a slow machine) to 50% on a fast machine. 4.2.6 Backup/Restore Overwrite Warnings GetBack Restore allows you to choose whether or not you want to be warned during a restore if it is going to overwrite a file. Having this option on will cause an overwrite warning and a prompt to ask you to proceed. During backups, the overwrite option, when enabled, causes GETBACK to warn you whenever you are going to overwrite files on the target media. 4.3 Advanced Setup Options GetBack allows the user to set certain advanced options for backup. The default operation for these options will meet the needs of most users. For certain users, changing the defaults on these options will allow additional flexibility in backup. These options include: ■ Allow the user to not keep the log files on their hard drive. GetBack defaults to keeping the last five log files on the hard drive. ■ Allow the user to not automatically format the target drive if it is not formatted. GetBack defaults to automatically formatting the target drive if required. ■ Allow the user to not automatically delete the files on the target drive. GetBack defaults to automatically deleting all files on the target drive. ■ Allow the user to not backup Hidden and System files. GetBack defaults to backing up all files. There are two methods of setting these options; using either the menu system or the Status windows. 4.3.1 Log Backup Sets on Hard Drive Every time a backup is performed, a log file containing the list of files that were backed up and what disk they are on is stored on the last floppy in the backup set. In addition, the last five log files are automatically kept on the hard drive in GetBack's special hidden directory }H_DD_N{. (or optionally in the directory specified by the environment variable GBK_LOG). If you want these kept in a different directory, put the following in your autoexec.bat file: SET GBK_LOG=C:MY_DIRECTORY These log files are named as follows: YYMMDDL#.BK1 Where YY is the year, MM is the month, DD is the day, L is the first drive in this backup set, # is the letter (A-Z) representing the number of backups performed on that date. When you want to backup just a few files from a backup set, many backup programs force you to go through all of the floppies to find the file. GetBack uses the log file to tell you which floppy to insert to restore the files. Having these log files on your hard disk, allows you restore files without having to insert the last floppy in the drive. This option allows you to not keep any log files on your hard disk. This option has no effect during a restore. 4.3.2 Backup Media Format Option GetBack always checks to see if a floppy requires formatting before backing up to it. Sometimes, it may be important to stop the backup if the floppy isn't formatted (or is the wrong density). This options (if selected) causes GetBack to display a warning message if a wrong density or unformatted floppy is used during backup. GetBack uses a DOS compliant formatted floppy. Although this is not as fast as some proprietary formats, it allows you to mix and match your floppies between backups and normal usage. This option has no effect during a restore. 4.3.3 Delete Target Files Option GetBack always deletes all files on a floppy unless this options is selected. There are situations (networks in particular) where you would want to have multiple backup sets on one floppy. Select this option if you do not want to delete files on the target drive when a backup is performed. This option is only available for DOS media type. This option has no effect during a restore. 4.3.4 Hidden /System Files Option Certain files on your hard disk are not visible to you the user with normal DOS operation. These files are categorized as either System or Hidden files. By default, GetBack backs up both System and Hidden files. Under certain circumstances (older methods of copy protection for instance), you may not want these files backed up. Select this option if you do not want to backup up System files This option has no effect during a restore. 5 Configuration Files There are three types of files that are used with Getback: Configuration Files - These files specify the Backup/Restore specific information needed to perform a specific Backup or Restore. We would recommend that they be named to reflect their purpose (like ALLFULL and DATAFULL for a full backup of the entire disk and a backup of all data files). Color Configuration Files - This file sets the colors for all of GetBacks programs. Backup Set Files - These files contain a log of all of the files backed up during a particular Backup Set. They are kept on the backup media (floppy or network) and the last five are kept in GetBack's hidden directory. 5.1 Backup/Restore Configuration Files Configuration files are used to store the option information for GetBack. These files are ASCII files that can be created with any word processor or editor capable of producing pure ASCII files (in Word Perfect these are called DOS text files). These files consist of a first line containing the options and subsequent lines containing the include/exclude specification. These files are generally kept in GetBacks home directory but you can store them in your current directory. A configuration file is saved any time you exit GETBACK with the name LAST.GBK. This file is also loaded into memory on startup if no other configuration file is specified. The same file can be used for backup and for restore. Certain options are not applicable to each and are ignored. 5.1.1 Saving the Backup / Restore Configuration File You can specify a file where you want to save the configuration. This can be done from the Main menu by selecting Save Configuration. You may specify the full drive, path, and filename (without extension) of where you want the configuration file to be stored. This configuration file will contain all of the setup information required. This file always has the .GBK extension to allow you to easily find them on your hard disk. If no directory is specified, GetBack saves the file in the directory where GetBack is stored (\GETBAK by default). The configuration includes: Drive to be backed up to/restore data from Media type Backup Type Archive Bit Option Compression Option Verify Option Backup/Restore Warning Option Hard Drive Log File Option Hard Drive Format Option Delete Target Drive Overwrite warnings Include/Exclude File list Status of Hidden /System files The same file may be used for either backup or restore. Certain options, however may not be selected and/or appropriate for both. 5.1.2 Loading the Backup / Restore Configuration File Every time GetBack powers up it takes either the last configuration file you used or one that you specified from the command line. You may also load another configuration file using the Load Configuration selection from the Main Menu. Once selected, you are offered an option of selections to choose from or you may enter your own selection. Files are selected from the pick list with either the mouse or the <Tab>, <Cursor Ctrl> keys, and the <Enter>. Files offered from the pick list are either from your current directory (those marked with a # sign) or from the directory where the GETBACK.EXE file is stored. You may specify a load file from any directory. 5.2 Color Configuration File GetBack stores the color information in a file called BBCOLOR.DAT. This file is automatically retrieved from the directory that GetBack.exe is stored in and loaded into memory. This setup can be stored in your current directory to allow different color configurations for different users and or uses. 5.3 Backup Set Files Every time a backup is run, a backup set file is optionally stored on you hard disk as well as on the last media disk where the backup is performed. This backup set contains the complete history of the backup, including file names, date, time, size of the file, and which disk the file was stored on. These files are used to pinpoint where in the backup set each file is that the user wants to restore. This enables the program to tell the user which disk to insert during a restore. For DOS type media, multiple backup sets are allowed on each media. This allows the user to append a series of back ups to one media. GetBack also (optionally) stores the last 5 backup sets in its C:\}H_DD_N{ directory (or optionally in the directory specified by the environment variable GBK_LOG. If you want these kept in a different directory, put the following in your autoexec.bat file: SET GBK_LOG=C:\MY_DIRECTORY where MY_DIRECTORY is the full DOS directory specification. 6 Backing Up Before starting your backup, make sure that the following items are correct in GetBack's status windows: The Type of Backup - Full, Incremental, or Differential To Compress or not to compress (should be ON) To Verify or not to verify (should be ON) The Include / Exclude specification The archive status (should be CLEARED unless you are doing a special backup or a Differential backup) The Drive letter The Media type Once your program is completely configured, you may start backing up your valuable data by selecting the Start Backup option from the Main Menu. To verify everything is set up you may desire to preview the backup by selecting the Preview Backup option. At this point the backup engine takes control. Once started, GetBack provides an estimate of the number of disks used and the amount of data that will be backed up. It also provides you the ability to see how far the backup is along on the entire backup as well as on the individual disk. This gives the ability to know if you can leave your machine for a minute or two without dropping a second. GetBack will not embarrass you by telling you how much time it takes to load the floppies. Some of us fumble fingers would rather not know. Should there be any errors during the backup, GetBack will provide a comprehensive description of the error and a possible remedy for the problem. 7 Restoring Data In the unfortunate event that you need to restore some data from a backup set, step one is to set up GetBack with all the appropriate option. Before starting the restore (with the Start Restore selection, make sure that the following options are set correctly: The Include / Exclude specification The Drive letter The Restore Overwrite warning option Before starting you may also desire to do a preview of the restore to see that every option is correctly stated. This can be started from the Main Menu by selecting Preview Restore. Both Start Restore and Preview Restore may offer you an optional pick list of backup sets on a DOS media that allows multiple backup sets. Selecting this backup set is performed in the exact same way selecting a configuration file for loading is performed. Sometime it becomes necessary to view the files in a backup set to see if they are the correct files. A preview will tell you what files you are restoring but not any other details about the files. View Backup Set provides the ability to obtain the following about the files in a backup set: Name Extension Path Date Created Time Created Size of the File