Path: utzoo!attcan!ncrcan!ziebmef!stephen
From: stephen@ziebmef.mef.org (Stephen M. Dunn)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: backup programs
Summary: PCTools - PCBackup
Message-ID: <1989Aug28.094152.12349@ziebmef.mef.org>
Date: 28 Aug 89 13:41:49 GMT
References: <44566@bbn.COM>
Reply-To: stephen@ziebmef.mef.org (Stephen M. Dunn)
Organization: Ziebmef Public Access Unix, Toronto, Ontario
Lines: 34

In article <44566@bbn.COM> akhanna@BBN.COM () writes:
>Any recommendations for hard-disk backup programs, especially those
>that support incremental backup?

   One program to think about is PCTools PCBackup.  I've been using this
program recently and have been quite satisfied by it.  (I don't use it for
incremental backups, but it does do them ... I just can't comment
on how it works.

   The versino I'm using doesn't do data compression, but the more recent
versions do.  Be careful, though, the original release of version 5.0 (I
think it was 5.0) was kinda buggy ... they've fixed that now.

   It will format disks as it goes if necessary, formatting only the tracks
it needs rather than the whole disk.  The next time, if it needs two
more tracks, it formats just those two.  Its format isn't compatible with
DOS, so you have to use PCRestor to restore.

   PCBackup achieves its speed by running the hard disk and the floppy
disk at the same time (i.e. concurrent DMA).  If you have two of the same
kind of floppy disk, it will allow you to backup to both so that you can
swap disks in one drive while it's still writing to the other; this way,
you don't lose any time to swapping disks.

   On my 12 MHz AT with a fast (25 ms) hard drive and a fairly standard
1.2 M floppy, it takes about 30 seconds to back up about 1M of data.

STANDARD DISCLAIMER:  I have no affiliation with Central Point Software,
   the producers of the PCTools utilities.  I just like their programs.
-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
! Stephen M. Dunn              stephen@ziebmef.UUCP ! DISCLAIMER:  Who'd ever !
!---------------------------------------------------! claim such dumb ideas?  !
! I have become comfortably numb ...                ! I sure as heck wouldn't !