CompuServe Thread

#Sob..Sob.. BACKUP!

17 messages in this thread
#174865From: Tyler ColwellJun 12, 1995 12:46 AM
Never mind…I should have looked further before panicking. Forgot about the prj.bak file. Now I'm going to bed…:) -Tyler
#174893From: Greg WoznicaJun 12, 1995 7:20 AM
Ermm.. It is a wise man wgo invests in D.A.T. or floptical backup LOL Matt.
#174960From: Tyler ColwellJun 12, 1995 12:31 PM
>>It is a wise man wgo invests in D.A.T. or floptical backup LOL Yeah, I've been delaying this but I think the time has come. Thanks for the push. It's also a wise man who spells "who" correctly <BG>! Just a joke, no insult intended. Which do you prefer, floptical or DAT? In my experience, DAT is more portable. Is this true? -Tyler
#175106From: Greg WoznicaJun 13, 1995 8:26 AM
Dear Tyler, I have only just got a D.A.T. machine (14 Days ago!) but I'm very pleased with it, not only can it back up 40+meg a minute through my SCSI card but it is very portable because by installing the software on any PC you can link it up with either a Parrell port or SCSI port, which means I can use it on nearlt any PC. Plus it only costs L15 a tape to backup 8Meg with compression!!!!, D.A.T. cost from L500-L1500 but they all do the same job the difference being the anount they backup, which ports they can use and how fast they do it, If they are out of your Budget go for a Tape Streamer for Cheap Backup (Slower But just as good!) Matt 🙂
#175144From: Tyler ColwellJun 13, 1995 11:14 AM
Greg and other backup proponents, Yeah, backing up is a good idea. Of course. But I see this as a task to be done when you are finished working for the day, not as an added incremental excercise during project development. When I am in the middle of a 3DS project I am not going to do a tape backup every 10 minutes. What does everyone do incrementally during 3DS sessions? Save to two seperate prj files? I thought that was what the prj.bak file was for! Then I guess there is the issue of saving to seperate media in case one disk takes a dive, etc. I'd like to hear the various practices that everyone uses… -Tyler Colwell Sierra Analysis Group
#175181From: Robert C. RitgerJun 13, 1995 2:24 PM
Tyler: I come from the same backup school of thought that GregP and Dave Marks hail from, the '+' school. Every time I am about to make any kind of major change to a project or any change which would be painful to redo I do an incremental project save. I was on version 23 of the last project I just finished. After a few saves you get a feel for whether you can simply delete previously saved versions or whether you might want to keep them around for a little while. (If you can figure that someone might want to revisit that particular shade of green which you had last week for the glass or that scheme with the thin mullions then you may keep that .prj around for a while.) At the end of the day I try to save at least the most recent project file onto a floppy or some other drive or device which would keep me out of harm's way if an absolute disaster struck. Saving project files in just one location is too dangerous for me. I often take a floppy home in case the office burns down, I really hate missing deadlines! Bob
#175340From: Greg WoznicaJun 14, 1995 10:27 AM
With Flopptical you can treat it as a Hard Disk so you can save to both and only lose a minutes work time (Perfect excuse to nip to the loo or have a ciggerette LOL). D.A.T. can be slower but it still in the same league. Robert you delete you work!!!!!!, I save everything just in case, e.g. a Boolean creates a dodgy face etc, this has saved my butt many times 🙂 If you don't use either or want them Zipp your project files at the end of the night to Floppy using the Archive command built into the menu 🙂 Matt
#175188From: Jonas Ruikis [ADESK]Jun 13, 1995 2:52 PM
Hi Tyler, << What does everyone do incrementally during 3DS sessions? >> I use the "+" very often and at the end of the day/week, I delete a bunch of files.
#175859From: Chris JohnstonJun 16, 1995 11:40 PM
Greg: Just a word from painful experience: Try restoring from your backup drive before you delete the original files! I just did (and verified) a complete system backup before a major hard disk upgrade. I ended up losing almost all of the files on the hard disk and then finding out that I couldn't read my DAT cartridge any more. I called Conner tech support and the best that they would tell me (in a very bored sounding voice) was that my 3M 90M 4mm data tapes "weren't qualified with that drive". What I needed was any procedure that could have retrieved even part of my data. Chris – Chris Johnston, Written 17-Jun-1995 @ 00:30:17 Using: Windows NavCIS PRO 1.62
#175888From: Greg WoznicaJun 17, 1995 8:08 AM
If you try some of the Computer tech support foums here on Cserve they should be ablt to recommend some where that can either read the stuff of the Harddrive or D.A.T. or put a message on this forum and quote what type of Cartridge and D.A.T. software you use and some one may be able to retreive it. Good Luck and P.S. I use D.A.T. and a Tape Streamer. Greg
#176120From: Chris JohnstonJun 19, 1995 8:18 PM
Thanks! It turns out that I have backups using two different backup programs. (All on my evil not party-approved 3M DAT tape!) I can't read any of the tapes recorded with Conner Backup Exec but I can read the ones done on the Corel backup software! I was able to retrieve everything I needed prior to sept 94. It is just the more recent stuff that I'm still looking for. Chris – Chris Johnston, Written 19-Jun-1995 @ 20:53:27 Using: Windows NavCIS PRO 1.62
#176236From: Greg WoznicaJun 20, 1995 10:43 AM
Any luck with other users or Lab's? Greg 🙂
#176334From: Chris JohnstonJun 20, 1995 8:09 PM
Greg: No, not yet. I managed to get backed up to September of 84 but I haven't found anything readable since then. I'm going to call OnTrack and see what they say, but I've recovered enough to be hesitant to spend a lot to restore the rest – if there is anything on the tape to restore. Chris – Chris Johnston, Written 20-Jun-1995 @ 20:57:57 Using: Windows NavCIS PRO 1.62
#175991From: Bob WeiblerJun 18, 1995 8:13 PM
Chris, I've had that same problem (not being able to read old DAT tapes) however, in my case this happened without changing anything. I thought it was the tapes also. The actual problem ended up having something to do with the software or with a file called ASCSI.SYS or something like that (not ANSI.SYS). The file was either slightly changed, or was in a different location than the program thought or something. I would get the message "Data not recognized" from my software. Bob W.
#176121From: Chris JohnstonJun 19, 1995 8:18 PM
I can read backups from one backup package and not another so I don't really think that it is the tape. I think that it was just the Conner Tech support person's easy excuse. I'm now looking for some (NON-CONNER!) software. Chris – Chris Johnston, Written 19-Jun-1995 @ 20:55:25 Using: Windows NavCIS PRO 1.62
#176237From: Greg WoznicaJun 20, 1995 10:44 AM
Try the PC-File finder forum (some one just suggested to me!) greg :0
#176335From: Chris JohnstonJun 20, 1995 8:09 PM
Greg: Thanks, good idea! Chris – Chris Johnston, Written 20-Jun-1995 @ 20:58:27 Using: Windows NavCIS PRO 1.62