BackMaster

Update supplement for BackMaster version 2.0. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upgrade information: This upgrade supplement contains new drivers, help files, and a corrective service patch for use with BackMaster 2.0. Upgrading BackMaster to revision 2.01 and driver revision 1.231, It requires a registerd copy or demo copy of BackMaster ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Related Fixes: a. Stability added for Networking systems b. Correction for "Shoeshinning" with many drives c. Error 65 - unformatted tape error corrected d. Selective restore csd for multi-tape volumes e. Updated Floppy, Parrallel, and Scsi device drivers f. New updated help and information files, including topic's on Warp Timing Issues ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Installation: 1. Copy files to BackMaster dirrectory (ie: c:\backmast) 2. Type PATCH.EXE to apply the Selective restore CSD 3. Start BackMaster, Open The Configuration Notebook 4. Select the correct type Drive (On the SCSI tab select the correct SCSI ID) 5. Close the Settings Notebook. 6. You are now ready. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Files contained in this package: PATCH EXE 78129 1-19-93 12:36p FLPYDRV DLL 15872 9-27-95 6:40p FTDVR SYS 43109 12-13-95 4:04p PTDVR SYS 58950 12-13-95 4:04p QICCOMPR DLL 7168 9-27-95 5:54p README TXT 1788 4-18-96 3:03p SCSIDRV DLL 25088 1-09-96 1:09p TC15DVR SYS 43164 12-13-95 4:04p TTDVR SYS 56477 12-13-95 4:04p WD1300 DLL 14848 10-10-95 11:39a WD2600 DLL 15360 10-10-95 11:39a WD3100 DLL 14848 10-10-95 11:39a WD3200 DLL 15872 10-10-95 11:39a WD3300DX DLL 14848 10-10-95 11:39a WD3400DX DLL 15872 10-10-95 11:38a PATCH RTP 16136 1-31-96 1:41p PYTH2000 DLL 16384 1-09-96 1:18p PYTH8000 DLL 16384 1-09-96 1:17p BM20CSD TXT - Internet Description file FILE_ID DIZ - Bulletin Board Description file msrdev.txt - MSR Development Contact information backmast.hlp - BackMaster Program help file backmast.inf - BackMaster Information file readme.inf - BackMaster Additional Installation Guidlines readme.txt - BackMaster Readme.txt file techsupp.frm - MSR Development Technical Support Computer Information Form ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTICE: All materials contained in this package are property of MSR Development Corp, Encinitas California, and may not be modified for any reason without prior written approval of MSR Development Corp. The files contained within this package are for use with BackMaster(TM) version 2.0 and The BackMaster(TM) demo version 2.0. This package, which is an addition to BackMaster(TM), may be distributed freely providing that the entire contents of this package, nothing is added, removed, or modified. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADEMARK: BackMaster is a registerd trademark (tm) of MSR Development Corporation. First Edition (September 1993) These publications make references to products of other manufacturers. Any trademarks and/or copyrights are property of their respective companies and recognized by MSR Development Corporation. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BackMaster README File. This file contains information about specific problems you may encounter and specific system configurations. Topics covered in this readme file: - Adaptec controllers - Bus timing and BackMaster DMA overrun error - Colorado Trakker driver switches - CoreTape 250 tape drive support - Creating recovery diskettes - DCF2 - Device driver conflicts - File Selection Set creation utility MAKEFSS - Incompatibility with TAPE.EXE 4.03 or greater - Low memory systems (8MB or less) - New driver options for specific problems - Older tape drives (Hard Select) - Stacker - TC-15M high-speed adapter - Technical support - Time critical - Version of OS/2 - Warp Timing Issues - Write errors Adaptec controllers: If you have an Adaptec Busmaster controller, the following CONFIG.SYS setting is suggested: BASEDEV=AHA154X.ADD /V /A:0 /BON:4 /A:0 /BOFF:12 /V displays messages during bootup. /A:0 specifies the first of four possible adapters, and is necessary even if only one adapter is installed. /BON:4 sets the bus on time to 4 microseconds. /BOFF:12 sets the bus off time to 12 microseconds. Most of this information may be found in the Command Reference under BASEDEV. The above BASEDEV setting gives the floppy controller enough time on the bus to transfer enough data (by DMA) to keep the tape moving. Special thanks to Beta Tester Jay Vanderbilt for this information. Bus timing and BackMaster DMA overrun error: BackMaster may not work correctly if your system bus timing is set higher than 8 MHZ. Tape drives are very sensitive to hardware timing and an abnormal bus speed may result in operational problems or errors reported by BackMaster. If you are consistently getting a DMA overrun error message (error number 51) we suggest checking your hardware settings. Experiment with the bus speed, setting it as close to 8MHz as possible. If your system supports the 7.15MHz or 7.25MHz settings, these will usually work best. Note: The Auto-configuration option (if your setup has one) MUST be disabled in order for the new bus speed settings to take effect. Colorado Trakker driver switches: If you experience problems with your trakker tape drive, you may need to set the data or control delay, or both. Adjustments are not necessary unless the system is not working properly. Data and control delays may be set in the BackMaster configuration notebook under the Parallel page. See the BackMaster online help for more information on how to set the data and control delays. Problems may include the following: "Unable to initialize tape drive" error message, aborting due to restore or verify error, extremely slow tape drive operations, excessive back and forth tape motion. CoreTape 250 tape drive support: The BackMaster 1.1B release does not support the CoreTape 250. Creating recovery diskettes: Now is a good time to create a set of custom recovery diskettes for your computer. The recovery diskettes can be used with a complete system backup to restore your system or move your system to a new hard drive. BMRCVR (in the BackMaster folder) will create the recovery diskettes automatically. You may, if you wish, create the recovery diskettes manually. Instructions for doing so are given in the file BOOT.TXT, which is located in the directory to which BackMaster was installed. DCF2: Some conflicts have been reported when BackMaster accesses files in a DCF2 Virtual Disk Unit, resulting in a SYS3715 in DOSCALL1. If you encounter this problem, please report it to Proportional Software. Device driver conflicts: The BackMaster installation program, BMINST, will place the FTDVR.SYS, TC15DVR.SYS, PTDVR.SYS, and TTDVR.SYS in the default location in CONFIG.SYS, adding the drivers to the end of the file. In general for most machines (except in the case of the Diamond P9000 and ATI Graphics Ultra video drivers). This location is ideal. The driver conflicts below are mentioned here for the case of a manual installation or a driver conflict with specific systems. The BackMaster device drivers, FTDVR.SYS, TC15DVR.SYS, PTDVR.SYS, and TTDVR.SYS may on some systems have conflicts with the Multimedia Presentation Manager (MMPM) drivers, some cdrom device drivers, the Diamond P9000 video drivers, and ATI Graphics Ultra video drivers. The driver conflicts may cause an "Unable to open driver" error message or an OS/2 TRAP 000D. To avoid the driver conflicts, make sure that FTDVR.SYS, TC15DVR.SYS, PTDVR.SYS, and TTDVR.SYS are loaded in CONFIG.SYS after the CDROM drivers, Diamond P9000 video drivers, and ATI Graphics Ultra video drivers, but before the MMPM drivers. Note: We recommend locating the BackMaster tape device drivers at the bottom of the CONFIG.SYS. However, some drivers (such as CDROM drivers) may have to be loaded after our drivers. Some experimentation on your part may be required to find the optimal location for the BackMaster drivers. Concerning the Diamond P9000 video drivers: The driver conflict with the P9000 and BackMaster drivers has been known to cause OS/2 command windows to indefinitely scroll, as if the enter key was continually pressed. This symptom disappears when the video drivers are loaded ahead of the BackMaster drivers. Concerning the ATI Graphics Ultra video drivers: Confilicts with these drivers are infrequent. File Selection Set creation utility MAKEFSS: Included in the directory BackMaster was installed to is a program to create File Selection Sets from a list of complete pathnames. See the file MAKEFSS.TXT for more information on how to use the MAKEFSS utility. Incompatibility with TAPE.EXE 4.03 or greater: BackMaster will not read compressed tapes made with any version of TAPE.EXE 4.03 or greater, but BackMaster will read the uncompressed volumes made with this software. Low memory: BackMaster may not work correctly on machines with less than 8 MB of memory. Machines with 8 MB of memory that have network software loaded may also fall into this category. In the case of a low memory machine, BackMaster will report one of these errors: "Unable to load device driver", or "Unable to allocate memory in device driver". If your machine fits this description, use the BackMaster device driver memory enhancement ('/M' switch on the BackMaster device drivers). BMINST will do this automatically, or you may edit the CONFIG.SYS with any text editor and add the '/M' switch to the BackMaster device drivers manually as in the following example: REM *********** BackMaster tape drivers start here ********* DEVICE=C:\BACKMAST\FTDVR.SYS /M Note: It is recommended that this only be done for one BackMaster driver at any one time. Also, the need for the device driver memory enhancement may be resolved in future versions of OS/2. New driver options for specific problems: Options supported by the BackMaster device drivers: /J1 - Use this option if you have a Ditto Dash adapter card, Conner CTC adapter card, or a Iomega or Conner parallel port device for 1MB and 2MB operation. /J2 - Forces a rewind after tape operations finish. For use on older tape drives such as the Archive XL. /S - This option may overcome excessive "Shoe Shining" encountered on some systems. An example of adding all three switches to the BackMaster driver in the CONFIG.SYS file: REM *********** BackMaster tape drivers start here ********* DEVICE=C:\BACKMAST\FTDVR.SYS /J1 /J2 /S Older tape drives (Hard Select): The list of tape drives in the "Configuration Options" dialog refer to Soft Select tape drives (most of the newer tape drives are Soft Select), and will not correctly select the older Hard Select type of tape drive. If you have a Hard Select tape drive, select the "Generic QIC 40/80" tape drive from the "Configuration Options" list. Refer to the documentation that came with your tape drive to determine which type of tape drive (Hard Select or Soft Select) you have. In general, Hard Select drives may have jumpers to select the drive (A or B) and will only function as the A or B device, but not as a third floppy device. Stacker: If FTDVR.SYS, PPDVR.SYS, TC15DVR.SYS, TTDVR.SYS resides on a stacked volume, the DEVICE=FTDVR.SYS statement should be placed after the Stacker device drivers. TC-15M high-speed adapter: BackMaster supports the TC-15 high-speed adapter, but does not support the TC-15M high-speed adapter, which is the microchannel version of the TC-15. Technical support: Customer assistance and technical support are available during normal business hours. If possible, try to be seated near your computer when calling. Another way to get technical support is to fill out the TECHSUPP.FRM ascii text file (located in the BackMaster folder on the Desktop) and FAX it to us, upload it to our BBS, or send it via CompuServe, or Internet E-Mail. How to reach us: (619) 633-3900 Voice (8am-5pm PST) (619) 633-3908 BBS (No parity, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit)(28,800 bps) (619) 633-3909 FAX CompuServe users can send mail to 74431,1621 or GO MSRDEV Internet users can send mail to Support.msrdev.com Time critical: During normal tape drive operations, BackMaster must respond to the tape drive signals within a certain amount of time, or the tape drive may start to behave unpredictably, causing BackMaster to abort the current tape operation. Active DOS and Windows sessions may deny BackMaster the CPU time needed to respond quickly to tape drive signals. If BackMaster aborts in the middle of a tape operation, make sure that the "Time Critical" check box in the "Device" page of the configuration notebook is checked before retrying the tape operation. Time critical will ensure that BackMaster is given enough CPU time to respond quickly to the tape drive requests. Version of OS/2: BackMaster is designed for OS/2 versions 2.1 and above. It may be used with OS/2 2.0, but unexpected crashes may occur, especially during the file selection process. If you must use BackMaster with OS/2 2.0, we suggest that you avoid extensive opening and closing of directory folders during the file selection process. Warp Timing Issues: OS/2 Warp is designed to require fewer resources and run in less memory. Some of the default CONFIG.SYS statements in Warp's default installation are not tuned for faster systems or all left out to allow the system to poll these settings durring system usage. Because of this on some systems a timing issue may cause BackMaster to have eratic results and error's. The following CONFIG.SYS statements may improve over all system response as well as solving some of BackMaster's eratic results. PRIORITY_DISK_IO=YES - This is the default, it specifies that applications running in the foreground are to receive priority for disk access over applications running in the background. PRIORITY_DISK_IO=NO specifies that all applications (fore- ground and background) are to be treated equally with regard to disk access. The default of YES can cause BackMaster to have eratic results due to swapper.dat file growth, and other tasks that are running. To specify that all applications (foreground and background) are to be treated equally with regard to disk access, type the following in the CONFIG.SYS file: PRIORITY_DISK_IO=NO MAXWAIT=3 - Says that if you're running more than one task at a time, none of theose tasks can wait more than 3 seconds before its priority is boosted to make it more likely to get control of the system. On some faster systems this value is too long. Changing it to MAXWAIT=1 or 2, so no task has to wait so long may make your system and BackMaster run more smoothly. TIMESLICE=X,X - Sets the minimum and maximum amount of processor time allocated to processes and programs for both OS/2 and DOS sessions. The DEFAULT is dynamic time slicing based on the system load and paging activity. By default this statement is missing from the Warp CONFIG.SYS file. Theoretically this gives the best performance in all situations. By adding a TIMESLICE statement to your CONFIG.SYS file you may achieve better system response and solve some BackMaster problems. On many faster systems a statement of TIMESLICE=32.57 seems to speed up overall system performance and resolve some BackMaster issues. BASEDEV=PRINT01.SYS - Is the default parallel port driver for most systems, by default the parallel irq value is polled durring system calls to any parallel port devices. If you're parallel port device gives you eratic error's or performance try using the BASEDEV=PRINT01.SYS /IRQ switch for the parallel port driver statement. Write errors: Write errors during a backup (such as errors 50 or 52) will cause the backup to abort. If BackMaster detects a write error, it will report the error and abort the backup. The tape sector responsible for the error will be marked as bad in the bad sector map, and the tape will be ready for another backup. If write errors continue to be detected on a particular tape, reformatting the tape is recommended.