June 03, 2005

Compatibility: bacdafucup was tested on Windows XP Home Edition and an original Windows 98 update from 95. bacdafucup is predicted to be compatible with all versions of Windows; 95 and NT to current.

Integration: bacdafucup is not an add-on to certain applications. It is written as a standard .exe application, which runs in a separate process while the user is using other applications. Therefore, it is useful in conjunction with almost any application in which files are saved to a medium.

Introduction
This is an incomplete html help document for bacdafucup v.2.0-novol. The program's purpose will be explained, and current limitations regarding its features will be covered. If this program becomes useful to you and you feel you have a good command of all features, please consider writing a help file to appear on its sourceforge.net project page. bacdafucup v.1 and bacdafucup v.2 were written in Microsoft Visual Basic 6. Version 1 was built and tested on a Windows 98 operating system. Version 2 was written on an Windows XP system and tested on both Windows XP and Windows 98. Version 2 is not built on top of Version 1. The interface is intended to be improved, functionality and versatility should be better, and your processor fan should run as normal.

Purpose of bacdafucup
bacdafucup "watches" file system folders for a modification change. When the modification is detected, it finds the file that was last modified and then copies a duplicate file to another media device. Files may be backed up in this way to floppy, hard drive, USB mass storage, a network location, etc. A text document may be set for backup, for instance. Each time the document is saved by way of the file drop-down menu or diskette toolbar icon, the file is copied to one or more locations. Notification of backup may be turned on. Once the file is copied, a splash-like screen appears in the lower right of the windows desktop containing some details of the process.

Features and Limitations

• Drive Volume Names - Two or more copy destinations for each file or folder set for automatic backup may be the same. However, each must have a unique volume name that refers to a unique disk or drive. This is not a limitation. The limitation regarding drive volume names in this version of bacdafucup is the ability to set files and folders for automatic backup on more than one piece of removable media per floppy drive, ZIP drive, USB port, etc. The "Bac-up" association for the file or folder must be removed, and the new media must then be inserted and configured. Inclusion of drive volume names in the attributes of the "Bac-up" associations to source files and folders was overlooked but will be included in the next released version of bacdafucup.
• Backing up Recursively
  FindFirstChangeNotification and FindNextChangeNotification APIs, or Windows library calls, are used to detect changes. These functions do not return the specific file that has been modified, only that a folder has had a change made to it. FileSystemObject functions then search for the most recent Date Last Modified property in order to determine what file should be copied to the destination folder(s). If the folder contains a great number of files, there may be a pause before the file is copied and the notification is displayed. Files in my MyDocuments folder were detected after no more than about 30 seconds. It is recommended to back up individual project folders, which contain a reasonable number of files in order to speed the process of autobackup. I do not recommend setting your C: drive for recursive backup. Also, Windows changes files as Windows processes occur. Notifications about files in your Recent Documents folder could be popping up at seemingly random times if your entire C: drive is set for autobackup. As bacdafucup searches for files in all of a folder's subfolders, your CPU resources will not stay at 100% and thus slow the system. CPU resource percentage seems to behave much like it does when using Windows' "Search for Files or Folders" utility.
• Large Files
  bacdafucup was tested in conjunction with a sound editing program. In saving a .wav file to .mp3, the .mp3 was saved to the destination twice over the course of conversion. It is possible that in converting a larger .wav to .mp3 bacdafucup would detect three or more modifications. The glitch is not very noticeable in viewing the notification that results, but there is a feature of bacdafucup that this will make ineffective. bacdafucup can be set to save the previous version of the file that lies in the destination folder to a designated folder. When the source file is copied more than once, the previous version bacdafucup sees is an incomplete version of the current version. This version, instead of the previous version, is copied to the designated previous save folder. Testing with video and other large files has not been done, but you may find bacdafucup is best suited for text, word processor documents, still graphics, short sound waves, and other medium-to-small sized files.
• Removed Files, Folders and Drives
  In order to provide more information to the user, a yellow exclamation icon is assigned to each Bac-up when it no longer exists. Detection of the file, folder or drive's removal is not in real time like it is when browsing the Windows file system in any Windows dialog or explorer window. If the file or folder no longer exists, the icon will change only after the user views the Bac-up's properties window. The icon will remain indicative of a removed file or folder until the Bac-up's properties are again viewed, but at a time when the file or folder has since come back into existence. Autobackup will still occur for a Bac-up whose icon indicates non-existence if the file or folder has since come back into existence. In the case that the user saves the Bac-up properties while the file or folder does not exist, bacdafucup will create an invalid detection association. Until the Bac-up properties are saved again and at a time when the file or folder exists, bacdafucup will not detect changes to the source file(s) or the folder of the Bac-up.
• Failure Rate
  It is possible one or more bugs still exist in this version of bacdafucup. However, throughout final testing of all features, the program seemed to fail only because the Windows File System was not able to be read correctly. The error message of a missing source file seems illogical when the user has just updated the source file, but the provision of information from Windows' file system might be rickety enough to cause this error. Some related errors may occur as well. However, they were all extreme rarities in testing.
• Unpausing bacdafucup
  If the program is unpaused shortly after file(s) in any folder under detection were modified, a notification window may appear briefly.

  bacdafucup on sourceforge.net
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  contact

  george k. george