Welcome to the Silent Partner Backup Screen Saver Version 2.00 for Windows 3.x, 95 and NT Shareware version, One month (or so) trial Registering: $20 What is Silent Partner Backup Screen Saver? ------------------------------------------- The Silent Partner Backup is a utility for mirroring files on your workstation. The main reason I wrote this application was a constant need for a utility which could make plain mirror copies of some of the files on my system. I wanted the copies to be easy to retreeve when needed. The utility should not disturb me when I am using my workstation. I have experienced that the main threat to my computer system is neither hardware fault nor software failure. The single cause of 99% of lost data is me deleting files in a hurry, editing system-files on an experimental basis, installing everything I get my hands on without taking propper precautions, doing majore cleanups in my projects, an so on. And very often I notice the damage only seconds after it is done. What I needed was a kind of safety net for my files. So I came up with the solution of making a Windows Screensaver which does the work. Screensavers are (as their name points out) meant to save the screens from beeing damaged by blancking the screen or at least doing som motion on it while the system is not in use. This scheduling scheme suits my need perfectly. The mirroring job is done when I dont use the workstation. Besides, it will take place not long after I have left the computer, keeping the mirrored files nice and fresh. As a last bonus, a screensaver does not bind up any system resources, like memory or timers, while not active. Quickstart guide ------------------- Se the section Quickstart guide in the help-file. Which files are mirrored? ------------------------------------ We often work whith a lot of files. The usual way to organize all these files is to use the hierarkical nature of the filesystem and create directories related to the different kind of projects in which we store our files. I did not want to uppdate a list of files to mirror every time I made a new file. The Silent Partner Backup mirrors files on a directory basis. Just specify which directories to mirror and sit down and wait. Often, not all files in a directory is worth mirroring. Therefore for each directory entry it is possible to specify which files to copy by entring the name of the file or simply use wildcards like '*' and '?'. You can also specify whether to include subdirectories or not. For instance if you specify C:\ and includes subdirectories, all files on drive C: will be mirrored. If you tell Silent Partner Backup to mirror only *.TXT files, only your text-files will be mirrored. For each directory entry you can specify several files or file-selections. Where do the mirrored files go? ------------------------------------ As I said earlyer I wanted the mirrored files to be easy to locate and retreave. Silent Partner Backup stores the mirrored files in a user specified destination directory. The files are stored using their original name. Silent Partner Backup builds the complete directory structure of the mirrored files as a subdirectory under the destination directory (puh..!). The name of the drive is inserted as a directory before the mirrored file's path. What this means is that if the default destination directory is D:\BACKUP and a file to mirror is in C:\PROJECT\TEST\SRC\TEST.CPP then the file is placed in D:\BACKUP\C\PROJECT\TEST\SRC. You can specify not to include the drive name as a directory. This will place the same file in C:\BACKUP\PROJECT\TEST\SRC. You can also specify not to include the mirrored files directory. This will place the file directly in the destination directory (D:\BACKUP). For each mirrored directory it is possible to override the default destination directory. The destination directory can be located on any drive for instance a network drive which is backed up on tape regulary. When are the files mirrored? ------------------------------------ In Windows Control Panel is a utility for scheduling the screensavers. You can select the delay in minutes between the last keyboard or mouse event before the selected screensaver is executed. You have to experiment a little before you find a delay which suit your needs. A value between 10 and 60 minutes will probably be a good place to start. When the Silent Partner Backup is scheduled to run, it searches through the list of directories to mirror looking for files. It will only mirror the file if it is not previously mirrored or if it has a newer time stamp than a previously mirrored file. What about the screensaver part? ------------------------------------ Silent Partner Backup does no fancy screensaving. When it is executed it simply blancs the screen. While the mirroring is going on it displays a simple "what is going on" window. For the ones of you who likes fancy savers you can specify a previously installed screensaver to run after the mirroring is complete. For instance you can have the standard Mystify saver which ships with Windows to run. Whats new since 1.50? -------------------- - You can interrupt the mirroring process. It will complete the file it is working on before terminating. - The fileattributes and timestamp are preserved on the mirrored file. - System and hidden files are also mirrored. - The UI has changed. - A help file is included. - Simple hints are added in the Setup propperty sheet (this is optional). - The utility can be produced for several languages. It is currently only available in English and Norwegian. - Loopdetect is added to avoid mirroring the destination directory. - The utility will work propperly on Windows95 and Windows NT (it is still a 16-bit application). Do I know of any bugs or features? ------------------------------------ Well... yes, I do. Here is a list: - You can not select 32-bits Screensavers to run after the mirroring is done (without patching directly into the INI-file). - A directory can only be selected once in the list. This means that if you want to mirror all the files in a directory and at the same time want to mirror only a subset of the files in the subdirectories, you will not be able to specify this without making an entry for each subdirectory. - When a second screensaver is set to start when the mirroring is finished, a keypress will only terminate the second saver, and leave the Silent Partner Backup still running until another keypress is done. The same happens for mousemoves, but it is hard to see because of the amount of mousemoves produced by the system for even the smalest move. This is not true for Windows NT. This bug will be corrected in a later version. - Long filenames is not preserved. The copy will have the short version of the original filename. This will be corrected in a future release (at least in the 32-bit version). Bugreport, comments and registering. ------------------------------------ This version of Silent Partner Backup is distributed as Shareware. It is not crippled in any way. You can freely use it for a month or so. If you find it usefull I suggest you fill out the registering form included and send it to the address below. Registering will cost you only $20 per installed copy and includes the right to use upgraded versions of the software. The registry form and the money can be sent to: Frank Mikalsen Utsikten 264 N-9018 Tromso Norway Bugreports, comments (flames) and suggestion can be sent to: frank@mikrosys.no And if any doubt ---------------- SILENT PARTNER BACKUP SCREENSAVER IS DISTRIBUTED "AS IS" WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. IN NO EVENT SHALL FRANK MIKALSEN BE LIABLE OR RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY LOSS, DAMAGE, OR OTHER PROBLEMS CAUSED BY USING THIS SOFTWARE. THE ENTIRE RISK OF USING SILENT PARTNER BACKUP SCREENSAVER IS YOURS.