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From: rick@beowulf.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Comments on FASTBACK disk backup utility?
Message-ID: <2787@sdcsvax.UCSD.EDU>
Date: Mon, 2-Mar-87 00:01:30 EST
Article-I.D.: sdcsvax.2787
Posted: Mon Mar  2 00:01:30 1987
Date-Received: Mon, 2-Mar-87 21:32:47 EST
References: <4394@curly.ucla-cs.UCLA.EDU> <117@nikhefk.UUCP> <1777@vax135.UUCP>
Sender: nobody@sdcsvax.UCSD.EDU
Reply-To: rick@beowulf.UUCP (Rick Randall)
Organization: EE/CS Dept. U.C. San Diego
Lines: 52

In article <1777@vax135.UUCP> bruce@vax135.UUCP (Bruce Hillyer) writes:

  [Bruce indicated that he has had numerous reliability problems
  with Fastback...]

  Some observations that might be of some help:

     1. I had lots of reliability problems with an earlier
	version of Fastback;  now have 5.13 ($10 upgrade), and
	it is rock solid.  One of the biggest headaches before
	was that I would get nearly through with a 20+ diskette
	backup and then have Fastback tell me "...fatal error
	formatting..." (or some such), at which point it would
	erase the catalog and exit!

	Since upgrading, however, no such problems.

     2. The problem you mention about trying to recover from
	very old backup disks can easily have been due to
	drifting drive characteristics.  I had this problem
	over and over until I finally trashed my Qumes (*never
	again*) and am now using *good* drives.

 Also, while on the line, I would like to offer readership my personal 
 approach to backups using Fastback (this stuff is personal preference,
 of course, but if you're new to Fastback, it might be worth 
 considering):

	I normally backup the entire hard disk -- minimizes record
	keeping, simple rule to follow, etc.  Do backups every
	week or so, depending on activity.

	I alternate backup sets;  I always have latest backup
	and one previous.  Have had occasion to thank the stars
	for this, too, when I had to recover a prior version of
	a certain file.  Lots of diskettes required, but I
	bought 100 for $.29 apiece just for this purpose (see 
	back of PC Magazine, etc.).

	I do not number my disks, but simply keep each batch in
	order, with rubber band around (not too tight, though!).
	I place a small post-it note on front of batch,
	indicating date.


	Finally, immediately following a backup, I rename the
	catalog file to something like 870301.cat, so that later
	Fastback runs do not delete the previous catalog.  This
	also permits doing interim backups of highly active
	subdirectory, without sacrificing primary catalog.
	Recovering stuff when you have a good .CAT file on your
	hard disk is a joy -- well engineered.