Copyright (C) 1993 by:

Computer Software Services

P.O. Box 17660

Rochester, NY 14624

Voice: (585) 429-5639

Fax: (585) 247-7158

The HD Backup Pro! v1.4

The HD Backup Pro! is the most complete hard drive backup program available for the Atari 8 bit. Its features are:

+ Works with either MyDos 4.5 or SpartaDos 2.3 (or higher)

+ Backs up to floppies or other hard disks

+ Volume sector copy for identical sized partitions

(allows copying of used sectors only)

+ Uses up to eight output drives

+ Supports LZW compression (in file copy mode)

+ Copies onto floppy archive disks using fast streaming data format

+ Handles Archive bit (supported for SpartaDos, emulated for MyDos)

+ Allows backup of individual directories (Path selector feature)

+ Uses Load/Save backup parameters for common backup runs

+ Simulation mode calculates number of disks needed for backup

+ Supports all drive types from 5.25" single density to 1.44 meg

+ Supports High and UltraSpeed modified drives

Important: You must use good diskettes. The backup files are not stored as DOS files, and the backup/restore programs will not tolerate bad sectors on the floppy disks. This is just good sense, as the whole purpose of this program is to provide an archival storage of your data. Don't trust irreplaceable data to unknown quality material.

Load the program called BACKUP.COM from the disk. You'll be presented with the main menu, where you select the drives and options you wish to use for this backup run. These fields are listed below. The default settings are surrounded by [] brackets. You can move around the menu by use of the arrow keys, the tab key and the return key. Use the SPACE BAR to change the item.

SrcDrv (1-9) [1]

This is the drive for which the backup is to be made.

DstDrv: (1...9) [2]

These are your target drives. Each position corresponds to a drive number, with drive one occupying the left-most position. Using the arrow keys, move the cursor to the position of the drive you wish to select. Press the space bar to toggle the selection of that drive. Selected drives display their number, while un-selected drives simply show a period.

RunType (Real/Sim) [Real]

This determines the whether the backup will actually be performed. If you select Real, then a true backup will be done. Selecting Sim enables the simulation mode, wherein the program will display the files that would have been backed up, had Real been selected. This is useful for determining the number of floppy disks required for the backup, for example.

BackupType (All/Archive/Date/Volume) [All]

This option governs the type of backup. The first three settings will all cause the backup to be done on a file by file basis. Archive and Date allow the files to be selected by either the Archive bit or by their last written date. Since MyDos does not directly support the Archive bit feature, it has been emulated by using one of the unused bits in the directory entry. No such emulation is available for the Date selection, and if Date is chosen while backing up a MyDos hard disk, the Date setting will be treated as All.

PathSel (All/Selected) [All]

This option controls which directories will be backed up if a file type backup is being performed. [All] means that all files in all directories will be backed up. A setting of Selected will cause the program to first scan the source drive and present you with a list of all the directories on the drive. You may then select which directories you wish to backup.

ArcSet (Y/N) [N]

This controls the update of the archive bit. If a file backup is being performed, and this flag is set to Y, then after the file has been backed up, the Archive bit will be updated. If set to N, the Archive bit will not be updated. Note: The Archive bit is NEVER updated during a simulation run.

OutFmt (FastFmt/DosFmt) [FastFmt]

This option controls the format of the output device for the file backup types. If the destination drive(s) are floppy drives, then this must be set to FastFmt. If you are simply copying files from one hard disk to another, you must set this parameter to DosFmt. For a Simulation, this parameter is ignored and the default of FastFmt is assumed.

DatCmp (On/Off) [Off]

If the target drives are floppy, and a file type backup is being performed, AND you have a 130XE or upgraded 800XL, you can enable this option to turn on data compression. Your machine is tested to check for banked ram, and if not found, you will be unable to toggle this option. Use of data compression will result in a space savings of approximately 30%, but will add substantially to the program execution time.

DMA (On/Off) [Off]

This option controls ANTIC. If using data compression, turning ANTIC off will speed up the execution of the compression routines. The screen will stay blank, of course, only coming back to life if an error occurs which requires intervention, or in the event that the diskette format menu is activated. This flag is ignored if compression was not enabled.

VCR (Yes/No) [No]

This field is not currently used, but is present to allow for a future upgrade to allow the use of a VCR as the backup medium.

Catlg (None/Disk/Print/Both) [None]

This option selects where you wish the list of filenames that were backed up to be directed. This option is ignored for a volume backup.

CatPrt (1...9) [1]

This is the device ID of the printer that will be used for the catalog listing, if directed to the printer.

CatFil (1...9) [1]

This is the drive number that will be used for the catalog if directed to a disk file.

Once you have selected your options, press START to begin the backup task. The program will do some simple checks to ensure you have not selected conflicting parameters, such as the same drive number for both source and target. If an error is found, you will be notified and left at the main menu so that you can change the parameter which is in error.

Density (Single/Double/Enhanced) [Single]

The density in which the diskette should be formatted. Note that this must be set to Double in order to select 80 track drives.

Tracks (40/80) [40]

Number of tracks to format. Density must be Double to select 80 tracks.

Sides (1/2) [1]

Specify if drive is double sided. Density must be double to set this to two.

Use Skew (Y/N) [N]

If you are using a drive which is capable of formatting a disk using the high speed skew format, set this to Y. High speed SIO routines have been implemented, and will be used regardless of this parameter; this relates only to the format command. If you are using a Super Archiver or US Doubler modified 1050, or a XF551 with the CSS 3.5" upgrade, set this to Yes. (Non-CSS upgraded) XF-551 users should leave this option set to N, since the XF uses a different command for its high speed skew.

Action (ReUse/Format) [ReUse]

Mode (Manual/Automatic) [Manual]

This controls the display of the format menu. If set to Manual, then every time this drive is selected as an output drive, the format menu will be presented. If, however, you set the mode to Automatic, the program will simply Format or ReUse the disk, WITHOUT displaying the format menu. If you are using only a single floppy drive, do not set this to Automatic, or the output floppies will be corrupted. This feature is meant to be used when multiple output drives are being used. While Auto mode is in effect, you can interrupt it by HOLDING down the SELECT key when you see the Blks Left field getting close to zero. When the switch to the next drive is done, if you are holding down SELECT, the format menu will be presented.

One way to use this is to set the first drive to Manual, and set all others to Automatic. You then put a fresh disk into every output drive. Now you can walk away and the program will run, shifting from drive to drive as required. After the last drive has been used, the program will pause at the first drive. Then you can stick in another round of disks, and so on.

If you're going to hang around during the whole backup, you could set all drives to automatic, and simply insert new disks into each drive after the program has switched to the next drive. This way, the program is never waiting for a disk to be inserted.

Once you have selected your format parameters, press START to advance to the next drive.

Once you are done with the format menu, you will again be brought back to the main menu. This is done so that you may save the current options you have selected as well as your various format parameters. Simply press S at this point to save your parameters. You will be prompted for a filename; modify this as is needed. Then, when you wish to perform another backup using these settings, you can load them back in.

When you're ready, press START one last time to really begin the backup. The program will switch to the statistics screen, if a file backup is being performed, or to the volume copy screen if a volume backup is to be done.

The program will scan your hard disk, counting up the directories that it finds, as well as all eligible files. If you selected 'Selected' for the path processing, the program only scans for the directories. Once the tree is built, you'll be presented with the path selector menu. Using the arrow keys and the space bar, you can highlight those paths you wish to be backed up. Please note that only the paths selected will be backed up. If you mark a path, none of the directories that are nested within it will be backed up, unless you also mark those individual paths. When finished selecting paths, press START to return to the scan process.

Once the source drive has been scanned, the program will start backing up the files. If floppy targets are being used, you will be presented with the format menu as required. If running a simulation, the program will run through the files very quickly, counting up the disks required in the CDisk field. Note that this is the number of disks required for a backup where compression was NOT used. There is no simulation available for a compression backup.

When the backup is completed, you will be prompted to insert the first output disk back into the first target floppy which was used. The program will write some internal information regarding the backup just run, and then print a 'Backup Complete' prompt. This information is CRUCIAL to the backup, so keep your disk #1 handy. Simply press any key to return to DOS.

First, you will be presented with a prompt asking if you wish to backup all of the volumes sectors (Image) or only those sectors which are actually being used (Bit). The Volume Table Of Contents (VTOC) is used to determine the allocation status of a given sector, so if you gave used sectors that are not marked in the VTOC (which is a rather serious error) they will not be backed up if Bit copy is selected.

Next, the program will check the sizes of the source and destination drives. If the target is another hard disk, an error message will be issued if it is not the same size in sectors as the source drive.

If the source is larger than the target drive, only the sector which will fit on the target will be copied. If the target is larger, then all of the source drove sectors will be copied, but the VTOC of target will not match the drive, thus wasting space. You may be able to correct this problem by running the appropriate VTOC fix program, but the problem may still exist if there are not enough bitmap sectors to map out the drive.

The backup program will run under either MyDos or SpartaDos, but if you wish to backup the source drive by file, the DOS which is running must be the same as the format of the source drive. Thus, you can't backup a SpartaDos format drive, by file, if you are running under MyDos. If you wish to convert a drive up to floppy, change DOS types, reformat the drive with the new DOS, then restore the files.

Note: The simulation made will work in a mismatched DOS environment, since the source files are not actually opened.

To load the backup using SpartaDOS, boot up with Sparta. Insert the HD Backup Pro disk into a floppy drive, and type BACKUP <RETURN> for the backup program, or RESTORE <RETURN> for the restore. Do not boot the HD Backup Pro disk, as MYDOS is the DOS on the disk.

RESTORE.COM is the program used to restore files from the backup diskettes, You can not restore am individual file, but you can restore just one directory out of all those backed up. If the backup disks contain compressed files, then you must run the restore program on a machine that has XE-type RAM. If not, the restore will terminate at the first compressed file, with an error message.

Below are listed the options of the restore program:

SRC 1...9 The source drive to be used.

TRG 1-9 The drive to contain the restored files.

RType All/Selected All means restore all of the directories. Selected

means only restore selected directories.

You also have the option of loading the parameters that were used in making the backup. This saves a bit of time if you are using multiple floppy drives.

Once you have selected the restore options, press the START key to begin the restore process. You will be prompted to insert disk one of the backup disks into the first selected drive. If you chose Selected as the restore type, then you will now be presented with a list of the subdirectories which are on the backup diskettes. Using the space bar and the arrow keys, you can scroll around selecting the directories that you wish to restore. Press the START key to end the directory selection.

The program will then start restoring the files. Any directories which do not exist will be created as required. The restore display shows the current working directory as well as the current file being restored. If you are not running multiple drives, the program will prompt you for each new disk. If you are running multiple drives, then the program will only stop and prompt you when it gets back to the lowest drive number selected.

The program will print a final message to indicate that it has finishes restoring files, and pressing any key will then cause control to return back to DOS.