Backup Advisor by Hillside Computing Copyright (C) 1992 Robert S. DeWick, Sr COPYRIGHT NOTICE: This software package (BACKAD.EXE) and document are: Copyright (C) 1992 Robert S. DeWick, Sr. Hillside Computing 118 Everett Road Knoxville, TN 37922-0901 All rights reserved You have my permission to use this program for 30 days. At the end of 30 days you must either register the program or delete from your system. You may make copies of the program and this document for distribution. You may give such copies to anyone; and distribute the software and documentation via electronic means. There is no charge for any of the above. See the order form at the end of this file for registration information. You are specifically prohibited from charging, or requesting donations, for any such copies, however made; and from distributing the software and/or documentation with commercial products without prior permission in writing from the copyright owner. No copy of the software may be distributed without this document; and the contents of the document must not be altered. DISCLAIMER Hillside Computing makes no warranties as to the contents of this manual and specifically disclaims any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose. Hillside Computing further reserves the right to make changes to the specifications of the program and contents of the manual without obligation to notify any person or organization of such changes. By using this free software, you agree to this. This program is dedicated to the memory of Joseph F. Dettorre ...he was my friend. Acknowledgments: Ted Douglas, Pat Bisese and Bill Eddy, who fearlessly and with fortitude tested this program on their own computers, thank you for the help and many suggestions for improvements, both to the software and this manual. Backup Advisor and Hillside Computing are trademarks of Hillside Computing. All other brand and trade names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. WHAT THIS PROGRAM IS Backup Advisor is designed to advise the user when the hard disk drive or drives on the computer should be backed up. The program does three things for the user. It counts and sums the file size of all of the files that have changed on the drive since it was last backed up. It estimates a probability of the drive failing, if so desired. If the threshold level is exceeded the program creates a file containing the list of the directories where the changed files can be found. WHAT THIS PROGRAM IS NOT It is not a backup program. There are many good backup programs in the marketplace. The user must, however, use a backup program that resets the DOS archive flag. HOW TO INSTALL THE PROGRAM This program does not come with an installation program or batch file. However, it is easy to install. Simply insert the distribution disk into a floppy drive, and copy the program to the hard disk drive. The program is quite small and can be copied to the root directory or to a subdirectory. The command to do this might be: copy a:ba.exe c:\ or copy a:ba.exe c:\back\ WHERE IT CAN AND SHOULD BE USED Backup Advisor is intended to be used on IBM and IBM compatible computers, running any version of MS-DOS or PC-DOS. The computer must have a hard disk drive, since the program is designed to examine those kinds of devices. The program is quite small so that memory requirements are not an issue. If the computer has more than sixty-four kilo bytes of memory it will execute quite nicely. The program can be invoked from the DOS command line or be included in a batch file. The best place to invoke this program would be the last line of the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. It has four input parameters; three of them are optional. The invocation and parameters are: HOW TO EXECUTE THE PROGRAM NOTE: The [] brackets indicate optional parameters and are not required nor are they desirable on the command line. BACKAD -d:d [-t:nn [-i:mm/dd/yy [ -m:nnnnnn]]] where: -d:d is a required parameter. This parameter tells the program which drive to examine. Thus, if there is more than one drive or the drive has been partitioned into two or more logical drives it can be examined by additional invocations of the program. The "-d:" is the parameter or switch identifier. The second "d" is the letter of the drive to be examined. An example is: BACKAD -d:c this will examine drive C: and display the results. There is no default value. This switch must be used. -t:nn is an optional parameter. It specifies the threshold level in percent. The allowed range is 1 to 30 percent. The default for this switch is 10 percent. If this range is exceeded, the program uses the default value. The threshold level is the point where the program displays a warning to the user that the drive should be backed up. The "-t:" is the switch identifier, and "nn" is the new threshold in percent. An example is: BACKAD -d:c -t:15 will examine drive C: with a new threshold of 15 percent. This calculation is based on the space used on the volume, not the total space on the volume. The formula used is: volume of files changed / volume used * 100. There is further discussion of thresholds later in this document. -i:mm/dd/yy is an optional parameter. This is the install date of the drive in the system, if the drive has failed and been replaced. If it has not, then use the purchase date of the system. This switch also invokes the calculation and display of an estimated probability of the drive failing. This calculation assumes that the computer is used for eight hours per day for five working days. The formula used is: (number of working days * 8) / mean time before failure. The "-i:" is the switch identifier, "mm/dd/yy" is the date of installation. An example is: BACKAD -d:c -i:06/09/92. There is no default value for this switch. -m:nnnnnn is an optional parameter. This is the "mean time before failure" of your drive. The "-m:" is the switch identifier, and the "nnnnnn" is the "mtbf specification" of the drive. Somewhere in the literature that came with the computer there should be a specification sheet for the drive. If it cannot be found, do not panic! Most drive manufacturers these days specify their drives at 40,000 hours. That is the default value chosen for this program. This doesn't sound like a lot, does it? Consider, if the system runs for 8 hours per day for 5 days per week this works out to be slighty more than 19 years of service. An example of the invocation is: BACKAD -d:c -i:06/09/92 -m:50000 this will examine drive C: with an install date of 06/09/92 and a mean time before failure of 50,000 hours. Note: The order of appearance of the switches on the command line is not important. It is important that the "-d:" switch be used! THE OUTPUT FILE If the theshold level is exceeded Backup Acvisor creates an output file. The name of the file is "BA_CHNGD.LOG". The file, when it is created, can be found in the "root" directory. This file is a list of the directories that contain the changed files. The file looks similar to the following: \DATA\MORE_DATA\AND_MORE\ \DATA\MORE_DATA\ \DATA\ \MYDIR\ANOTHER\ \MYDIR\ Each one of these directories will contain one or more changed files. This file may be viewed with any text editor. Also, the file may be printed using the DOS "PRINT" command or the "COPY" command. See the DOS manual for more information on how to use these commands. An example of each is: print \ba_chngd.log copy \ba_chngd.log prn: FURTHER DISCUSSIONS Threshold level The threshold level should be chosen so that, in case of drive failure, the amount of data lost will be minimized. For instance, assume a 200 mega byte drive that has 75 percent or 150 mega bytes of that volume used. The default threshold of 10 percent will yield a volume of 15 mega bytes of changed files on the drive before the program would warn the user to back up the data. If the files that have been changed or added to the drive are business or professional correspondence, this could be 100 or more files. It is recommended that Backup Advisor be used for a few weeks, while observing the values of the space used and the space that has changed, and how often Backup Advisor indicates that a backup should be done. Consideration of the type of data that is processed on the computer, and these values, should give a good "feel" for the threshold level that best satisfies the user's requirements. Mean time before failure The "mean time before failure" for any device is the manufacturer's estimate of how long the device will survive in an environment where it is ideal for that device to be operated. As I write these words I realize that I have peaked the ire of manufacturers and marketing types the world over. This specification is used for all types of products, not just computer hardware. It is generally useful for marketing types to flaunt their product in front of other marketing types. Cynical, absolutely; however the number does give an indication of products reasonable and useful life time. If the drive specification sheet for the drive cannot be found or the mean time before failure is not on it, there are a couple of alternatives. The first thing to do is call the vendor who supplied the computer. Vendors should be happy to support their customers! The second is to inquire of the drive manufacturer, and ask them. Their marketing department will be pleased to taut their products. Please note that on the registration form included with this product there is a place to insert the drive manufacturer, the model number and mtbf. If they are included when the product is registered, we will compile a listing of them and incorporate it in future releases of Backup Advisor. CUSTOMER SUPPORT If in the unlikely event Backup Advisor does not perform, we would appreciate knowing about it. If you have dutifully registered Backup Advisor, we will be happy to help, otherwise,...... For the near term phone support will have to be restricted to the time period of: 6:00 pm to 10:pm, Monday through Friday, in the Eastern time zone (615) 966-6157 or by mail: Hillside Computing 118 Everett Road Knoxville, TN 37922 ORDER FORM Please print or type this form, or fill it in on your computer and print it. Wouldn't that be interesting! Again, for the near term I can not accept credit card orders, because I am not set up for it, that's way. I will, however, accept personel checks, money orders or cashers check. COD orders will be accepted. If you just can't wait to get this software, phone orders will be accepted from 6:00 pm to 10:pm, Monday through Friday, in the Eastern time zone at: (615) 966-6157 Name: _____________________________________________ Address: _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ City: _______________ State: __ Zip: __________ Qty: __ X $40.00 = ________ Shipping and handling: 5.00 -------- Total: ________ Send to: Hillside Computing 118 Everett Road Knoxville, TN 37922