Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!utgpu!utcsri!utegc!utai!garfield!dalcs!mnetor!uunet!seismo!rutgers!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!fluke!moriarty From: moriarty@fluke.UUCP Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac Subject: Re: Hard Disk Backup Software -- Archiving vs. Backup Message-ID: <1306@sputnik.COM> Date: Tue, 21-Jul-87 13:35:45 EDT Article-I.D.: sputnik.1306 Posted: Tue Jul 21 13:35:45 1987 Date-Received: Thu, 23-Jul-87 01:46:08 EDT References: <23795@sun.uucp> Sender: news@tc.fluke.COM Reply-To: moriarty@tc.fluke.COM (Jeff Meyer) Organization: John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc., Everett, WA Lines: 86 Keywords: review DiskFit HFS Backup archive Summary: reviews and commentary Glad you asked, Chuq -- I've been meaning to write an article on this, and now here's the impetuous... What I've found, out in the "hard disk backup" market, is that the ultimate software does not yet exist (surprise, surprise). What I need is software to do two basic tasks: a) Backup my hard disk, i.e. make a copy of the contents onto floppies so that if Anything Awful occurs, I can quickly restore everything; and b) archive certain files onto floppies so that they can be deleted from the hard disk, yet retrieved in a fairly organized manner. For each of these tasks, I've been using a specific application, and that seems to be doing the trick fairly well -- the two programs together almost make my ideal backup software a reality. For "backup", I am using SuperMac's DiskFit program; and I must tell you that this is quite possibly THE ultimate backup program for floppy backup. This program makes it almost completely painless (after the initial backup) to backup your hard disk; it is the first program in months to come along that I have been able to get extremely enthusiastic about. It allows me to backup my hard disk, every week, in about 5 MINUTES! That's faster than most tape drive archiving programs; and I find that the speed of backup, and the ease of use, promotes the habit of backing up my disk to a much greater degree. DiskFit basically really is more of an "arranger" than a backup program; it copies the various files on your hard disk onto floppies in as compact a manner as possible. Thus, each floppy has the files in standard, Finder-accessible format; you can copy the file right off the floppy if you need to. The initial backup takes the usual half-hour, as DiskFit arranges the hard disk's files onto your floppies, and saves a copy of the way it has arranged everything on the floppies. Then, for each subsequent backup, DiskFit compares the contents of the hard disk to the files it backed up during the previous session. Any files that have been updated since the previous backup are re-copied to the floppy disks, if possible over their previous backed-up versions; any new files are fit wherever possible on the floppies. Often new floppies are needed -- but not always, because DiskFit also DELETES files off the floppies which have disappeared off the hard disk since the last DiskFit backup. This conserves floppies wonderfully, and makes DiskFit a very fast, "incremental" backup. It has provisions for a full restore (keeping track of folders and everything); and while it does not do single-file restores (you accidently delete a file you needed), it can generate a report during backup which tells which floppy disk each file has been backed up to. At this point, you can just use the Finder to copy the file from the floppy disk, without any help from DiskFit. However, the features which make DiskFit such a perfect disk backup program make it fairly inappropriate as a disk archive program. Since it deletes files from floppy disks which are no longer on the hard disk, archiving disks to floppies which will subsequently be deleted from the hard disk is futile with this program. Also, it's only good for backing up the entire hard disk, not selected portions of it. For archiving purposes, I am using HFS Backup 2.01, which I am fairly pleased with, though I have one major complaint. It's fine for selecting specific files and archiving them to floppy (they are transformed into a format that only HFS Backup can restore from); however, for each backup it creates a new index of files, instead of altering the previous one; and for restoring selected files (which I often do with an archive program), I have to remember which set of floppies I archived a file with HFS Backup. What I'd like is a cumulative index which grows with each new set of floppies added. So some improvement is looked for in archiving software. At this time, the hope of a combined backup/archive software seems remote. HFS Backup 2.01 is better than 1.2 in some ways, but it retains most of the functional faults of its predecessor; the improvements are more flashy than substantive. I might hope that SuperMac would decided to improve DiskFit so that it does archiving, also; but that would mean a drastic departure from how they're doing things now, and I'm reluctant to ask for major alterations to something which performs its current task so efficiently -- better to have a program that performs one task superbly, instead of two in a mediocre fashion. I should point out that DiskFit comes free to those of us who have DataFrame drives -- SuperMac is nothing if not generous in its support to its user base. However, after experiencing how easy it has made backing up my 20 Meg drive, I would have gladly paid the $80 to get it in the first place. Hope this helps... "You know, there are times when it's a source of personal pride to not be human." -- Hobbes Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer INTERNET: moriarty@tc.fluke.COM Manual UUCP: {uw-beaver, sun, allegra, hplsla, lbl-csam}!fluke!moriarty CREDO: You gotta be Cruel to be Kind... <*> DISCLAIMER: Do what you want with me, but leave my employers alone! <*>