MRBackup Professional V1.08 User Manual Addendum This document describes changes made to MRBackup Professional from version 1.02d through the current version, 1.08. Please read this documentation carefully since new requirements have been introduced with this release. Installation Instructions As always, prior to installing any new software, make a working copy of the original diskette. Use the working copy, not the original diskette, for the installation process. The new installation procedure for MRBackup Professional will copy all files to a disk partition or a directory within a partition (recommended). MRBackup's support files have been grouped according to category into several subdirectories which will be created within the partition or directory which you specify for installation. You may wish to make backup copies of any ".init" or filter files which you created for use with previous versions of MRBackup Professional. They are still upward compatible with this release of the software. Insert the MRBackup Professional working copy disk into an available floppy drive and double-click on its disk icon. Find the icon labeled "Install-MRBackup" and double-click it. This will start a special installation script which will install this update. IMPORTANT NOTE: this version of the software requires the definition of an AmigaDOS logical name, MRBackup: . This name is equated to the name of the partition or directory where MRBackup Professional is installed and must be created/assigned prior to installation. Example: MAKEDIR DH0:MRBackup ASSIGN MRBackup: DH0:MRBackup It is recommended that you also place the ASSIGN statement in your startup-sequence (s:StartupII, s:user-startup, etc.) to assure that the MRBackup: logical name will always be available whenver you reboot your system. The MRBackup: Directory This section briefly describes the contents of the MRBackup directory. None of the subdirectories in this directory are an absolute requirement but it is strongly suggested that you adopt this configuration. Files in the MRBackup: Directory Compressor This program file contains MRBackup Professional's data compression "engine". It is normally started by MRBackup Professional when data compression or decompression is requested. FormatDisk This is a shell script file, invoked by MRBackup Professional when a backup disk is to be formatted (AmigaDOS backup mode). DO NOT use this script for general-purpose formatting of disks as it is not intended for that purpose. MRBackup This is the MRBackup Professional program file. Subdirectories in the MRBackup: Directory ARexx_Scripts This directory contains a number of example ARexx scripts for use with MRBackup Professional. Use these as a guide for writing your own ARexx scripts. Catalogs Use this directory as a repository for catalog files created by the backup process. Docs This directory contains several small document files providing additional information and details not available in the user manual. The file named Changes in this directory describes last-minute changes that could not be included in the user manual or update addendum. Lists_and_Logs Use this directory as a repository for listing and log files created by MRBackup Professional. Prefs This directory contains various MRBackup Professional "preferences" files including the MRBackup.init file and the template filter files. You may also use this directory to save your custom preferences files created to support various backup/restore configurations. Work MRBackup Professional defaults to using this directory to store certain "semi-permanent" working files, etc. New Features User Interface Changes The most obvious change to MRBackup Professional is in its user interface. This was done in direct response to feedback from our users. While most of you enjoy the flexibility afforded by MRBackup Pro's many features, there were complaints that the opening window was somewhat overwhelming and that it had a "cluttered" look. We hope you like MRBackup's new look. While rearranging the overall organization, we also took steps to bring MRBackup into closer conformance with the Amiga's recently published user interface style guidelines. We aren't 100% there yet, but we're lots closer. The Main Window The Main window, titled MRBackup General Parameters , is the root of all of MRBackup's other activities. This window contains parameter setting gadgets and command buttons. The parameters which remain in this window are common and elementary to both backup and restore operations and represent the minimal set of parameters which must be set in order to perform a backup or restore. Other parameters have been moved to the Options Window and the Filters Window . Each of these can be activated either via menu selection or by the appropriately labeled command button near the bottom of the main window. You'll also notice that the Backup, Restore and Utilities functions can be activated via command buttons. These are provided as a convenience for those who dislike menus. The Options Window This window contains additional parameters related to both backup and restore operations. You should recognize most of the parameters in this window, but there are a few new ones: Filesystem This gadget cycles between Default and FFS (fast filesystem) each time it is clicked. The setting of this gadget is only meaningful when AmigaDOS backup mode is selected and Formatting has been set to either Normal or Quick. Sort Prior to this release, MRBackup always sorted each directory's file list prior to copying your files/directories to the backup media. While this is still considered to be the preferred method, you are now given the ability to turn off the sort. This may result in slightly faster throughput when doing a backup, but it will also result in an unsorted backup listing. Saveset Comment This is a string gadget which you may fill with descriptive text (up to 79 characters) prior to doing a backup. This text will be saved in the root block of the saveset and will be revealed during a Scan Tape or Rebuild Catalog operation. The Filters Window The filter paramters now have their own window. In addition, you will notice that there is a new Restore Filter. This filter was added primarily to facilitate automated individual file restoration under AREXX control. A Restore Filter file has the same format as a Backup Filter file, having separate :INCLUDE: and :EXCLUDE: declarations. The Status Window This window has undergone minor changes. Notice the Elapsed Time and Transfer Time gadgets. The Elapsed Time gadget displays the total time elapsed since the beginning of a process (backup, restore, verify, etc.). The Transfer Time gadget displays the amount of time that MRBackup has spent actually transferring data. The Transfer Time is also used in the Throughput (KBPS) measurement (KBPS = kilobytes per second). While the Throughput measurement is only approximate, you can use it as a relative indicator of performance. For instance, you may want to experiment with your Buffer Size parameter and see how it affects the Throughput measurement. The Utilities Window This window has been totally reorganized and has reverted to the original wide file display which shows all file attributes. You scream, we jump! The Menus MRBackup now has two menus: the Project menu and the Preferences menu. New commands have been added to the Project menu and certain commands related to parameter loading/saving/setting have been moved to the Preferences menu. Additions to the Project Menu Scan Tape This command scans a backup tape and creates a summary report describing its contents. Verify Backup This command compares a backup saveset (FastDisk or SCSI Tape only) to files on your system and generates a summary report of all discrepancies. The Preferences Menu Colors... This command was moved from the Project menu. Filters... This command opens the Filters window, allowing you to view/alter your filter settings. Options... This command opens the Options window, allowing you to view/alter certain backup/restore option settings. Screen Type MRBackup now lets you choose the type of screen to be used. Your choices include Custom MRBackup will use its own (private) four color screen. Interlace This is similar to Custom, above, except that Interlace mode will be set. The author finds this mode particularly ugly, since he didn't have time to add the changes necessary to adjust gadget and text sizes, placement, etc. Anyway, it's there if you want it. WorkBench This setting instructs MRBackup to use the WorkBench screen (and colors). This will free up about 35K of RAM, should you be in a "pinch". Note that when in WorkBench mode, the Colors... menu item is disabled. Use the AmigaDOS Preferences tool to change workbench colors. Load... The Load... command now sports a file requester. Though the file name in the Preferences gadget will be supplied as a default, you may override this when loading new preferences. Save... The Save... command also invokes the file requester. New Menu - Macros The new Macros menu provides you with with the ability to launch ARexx macros directly from MRBackup Professional. Up to 10 macros can be "defined" and launched simply by selecting their respective entries from the Macros menu. Define... The Define entry in the Macros menu presents you with a special requester containing 10 string gadgets. You may type your MRBackup ARexx macro names (remember: MRBackup macro filenames must end in ".mrbk") directly into the string gadgets or, by clicking the buttons adjacent to each string gadget (labeled with "?"), you can select the names of the macros with the file requester. If you click the OK button, your macro definitions will be stored in the Macros menu. To make these selections permanent, use the Save... command from the Preferences menu. Other... The Other command allows you to immediately invoke an ARexx macro other than those currently known by the Macros menu. This macro name will not be "remembered" after its use. New ARexx Commands Several new ARexx commands have been added to this release of MRBackup Professional. Some of these are in direct response to user's requests. We thank you for your feedback! Also, look in the ARexx_Scripts drawer in your MRBackup Professional installation drawer. There, you'll find an ARexx script named template.mrbk . This file is a template ARexx script containing examples of all MRBackup Professional ARexx commands, presented in the order in which they might actually be used. Using your favorite text editor and this script as a starting point, it should be much easier to create your own custom ARexx scripts for MRBackup Professional. Simply uncomment (remove the "/*" and "*/" character pairs) the commands you wish to use and alter any command parameters to suit your particular needs. getrfilterpath This command retrieves the current setting of the Restore Filter and stores it in the AREXX result variable. ignorecatalog The ignorecatalog command instructs MRBackup to perform the next restore without reference to a backup catalog. This implies that the full saveset will be restored. The ignore catalog setting is non-sticky. That is, as soon as a restore is started and this value is used, the setting reverts back to the default state of "do not ignore". loadprefs The loadprefs command enables an ARexx script to set all (or some) of MRBackup's parameters from a previously prepared text file. This text file must follow the format of the MRBackup.init file delivered with MRBackup Professional. It may be created with MRBackup's Preferences/Save... command or by any other tool (editor, program, including an ARexx script!) which can create and/or manipulate a text file. setbackupmode The setbackupmode command establishes the type of backup or restore to be performed. Valid values are "AmigaDOS", "FastDisk" or "SCSITape". setcomment The setcomment command allows you to specify a descriptive comment to be saved in the root block of the saveset. The result is always "OK". setprefix The setprefix command sets the backup volume prefix string. This prefix is used in the construction of the saveset volume names. The result will be the actual prefix string accepted. This may differ slightly from the one specified if illegal characters are specified or if the string is too long. setrfilterpath This command allows an ARexx script to specify a new restore filter. The possibilities for this feature are many (ARexx-driven restores into a dynamic file area, for one). setcatalogname This command allows an AREXX script to specify the filename for the catalog created by a backup. Thus, a full backup can be done under AREXX control without need for user interaction. takecontrol This command instructs MRBackup to give up complete control to AREXX, effectively disabling all requests for user interaction. releasecontrol This command gives control back to MRBackup after a takecontrol command has been issued. The Compressor MRBackup's data compression method has been greatly improved. The data compression code has been removed from the MRBackup program and now resides in a separate program, named Compressor . Whenever you start a backup with compression enabled or a restore with decompression enabled or if you compress/decompress individual files using the Utilities, MRBackup will check to see if the Compressor is running. If not, you will be asked for permission to start it. MRBackup will then enter into a "conversation" with the Compressor, requesting data to be processed and retrieving the results. There are several advantages to this approach. Most of them are too technical to be discussed here. Of most importance to the user is that as a result, the MRBackup program is smaller. If data compression is not being used, less memory is being used by MRBackup. The Compressor program is designed to employ "overlays". When it is idle, it uses almost no Amiga resources since it releases the data compression code and buffer memory and waits for the next request to do something. Starting and Stopping the Compressor You may elect to start and stop the Compressor "manually" if you so desire. To start the Compressor, simply enter RUN MRBackup:Compressor nil: from the Shell command prompt or double-click the Compressor icon. To stop the Compressor, enter MRBackup:Compressor quit from the Shell command prompt. WorkBench Enhancements MRBackup now saves an icon with the preferences file when the Preferences/Save... command is used. The default icon image will be taken from the file named MRBackup:MRBackupDefaults.info. Feel free to customize this icon to suit your own tastes! Tape Handling Enhancements Several improvements have been made in support of SCSI Tape backups. Some of these changes are "internal" and should be noticed as gains in performance. For instance, the MRTape-Handler can communicate certain information to MRBackup which will provide for dynamic tuning of the buffers used to transfer data between the two processes. Another important enhancement is the ability to "stack" multiple savesets on a single tape cartridge. This is achieved by a slight modification to the device naming conventions used by the MRTape-Handler. Normally, when you specify the tape device name as "MRTape:", the tape is rewound prior to the start of the backup and any information previously written to the tape is overwritten. To append a new saveset to the end of a tape cartridge which already contains one or more savesets, simply append an "A" to the tape device name (e.g. "MRTape:A"). Prior to writing the new saveset, the tape is positioned past the end of the last saveset on the tape. So, how do you restore from a saveset which is not the first saveset on the tape? Good question. To do this, you must append the saveset number to the tape device name. Saveset numbers begin with zero. Therefore, to retrieve the third saveset, you must append a "2" to the tape device name. Example: "MRTape:2". The only "trick" to all of this is to remember the order of your savesets. MRBackup currently doesn't provide any means to do this. Thus, you should keep this information in a notebook or in a text file on your system. Should you forget, however, this information is very easily retrieved with MRBackup's Scan Tape command. Improvements on this capability are planned for a future release of MRBackup Professional. You should also be aware that this capability only exists for "sequential access" tape drives such as the Tandberg, WangTek, Sony, etc. This is because MRBackup depends upon tape marks to separate its savesets. Drives which employ "direct access", such as the 3M drive, will not support this feature. Using MRBackup with Other Handlers The decision to use a tape handler, rather than embedding tape-specific code in MRBackup was an important one. Though there may be a minor penalty in performance, the net result is that MRBackup is adaptable to other third-party handlers (public domain, shareware or commercial) which may be developed for specific devices suitable for backups. If the tape handler supplied with MRBackup Professional doesn't appear to be performing optimally with your particular device, don't hesitate to try another handler which you suspect might work better. Of course, we would be very grateful for any information you pass back to us with regard to any problems you might encounter. We are constantly striving to improve the quality of MRBackup Professional.