08/1997
Path: menudo.uh.edu!usenet From: dgriff@unixg.ubc.ca (David Griffiths) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: REVIEW: AmiBack Tools version 1.02 Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.applications Date: 16 Apr 1993 14:47:24 GMT Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett Lines: 254 Sender: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator) Distribution: world Message-ID: <1qmgts$bc6@menudo.uh.edu> Reply-To: dgriff@unixg.ubc.ca (David Griffiths) NNTP-Posting-Host: karazm.math.uh.edu Keywords: disk, recovery, repair, maintenance, commercial PRODUCT NAME AmiBack Tools (version 1.02) BRIEF DESCRIPTION AmiBack Tools is a "disk maintenance" program which can diagnose and repair many common disk problems, and offers a variety of utilities which help with maintenance and security. AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION Name: Moonlighter Software Development Inc. Address: 3208-C East Colonial Drive, Suite 204 Orlando, Florida 32803 Telephone: (407)384-9484 FAX: (407)384-9391 BBS: (407)292-6080 (12-9600) (407)295-6992 (12-14.4) (407)292-6952 (12-24) BIX: gwholland (Gary Holland) michaelmounier (Michael Mounier) CIS: 76420,606 (Gary Holland) GENie: f.aziz (Hap Aziz) LIST PRICE As this is a new product, I haven't seen a list price for it... I purchased it for $64 Canadian. [MODERATOR'S NOTE: I believe the list price in the USA is $79.95, with street prices approximately $45-55. Moonlighter offers a special price to owners of AmiBack, their backup program, and a "trade-in" price to owners of other disk tools programs. Contact Moonlighter for details. - Dan] SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS HARDWARE 512K RAM required. In order to perform many operations on a hard drive, a SCSI drive is required, although the IDE drives in the Amiga 4000/4000T, 600, and 1200 will also work. SOFTWARE Kickstart 1.2 or higher. COPY PROTECTION None. MACHINE USED FOR TESTING - Amiga 1200 (KS 39.106, WB 39.29) - 2MB Chip RAM, 4MB Fast RAM - Microbotics MBX 1200 (4MB Fast RAM & 68882 math coprocessor) - Maxtor 2.5" 120MB hard drive ABOUT AMIBACK TOOLS AmiBack Tools has a wide variety of utilities which can deal with most disk problems an Amiga owner will encounter. The product is packaged neatly in a white cardboard container with a full-colour cover. Inside the package is a neatly printed manual, and one disk containing the Commodore Installer application and a ReadMe file with updates to the manual. Installing the program is easily accomplished by clicking the "Installer" icon and following the prompts. Installation takes approximately 1 minute. PROGRAM OPTIONS The "REVIVER" option allows you to recover files quickly and easily which have been deleted from a drive, as long as they have not been overwritten nor wiped with the "ANTISEPTIC" option. The REVIVER is easy to use, and VERY fast, even on large drives. Files can be recovered by simply marking them, then clicking the "Revive Data" gadget. The program can identify duplicate files when reviving data, and notify the operator to rename or skip the file. "ANALYST" searches a drive for errors, and allows the operator easily to repair any errors found. Common errors such as "Drive Not Validated," "Key Already Set," and "CheckSum" are easily corrected here. This module operates quite quickly and can be set for "AUTO" or "Ask Repair" modes. The program can also check all information on the drive, or simply check the file headers. "911-RECOVERY" allows you to recover files from drives that, due to some problem, are no longer recognized as AmigaDOS devices. This option allows the user to recover files from the damaged device by storing them on floppies or any other accessible AmigaDOS device. This module has two modes of operation. In the "Recovery" mode, the program reads all data blocks from the damaged device, attempts to locate files on the drive, and presents you with a window with a list of the files. Then, you can indicate which files you want to recover. Files can be recovered onto another device, and may also be compressed if you are recovering to floppies. After you recover all of the files, the program is set to the "RESTORE" mode, the files are read back from the drive (only necessary with floppies), and the information can then be written to any valid AmigaDOS device. "GENERAL PRACTITIONER" is the optimizing module, which rearranges your drive data more efficiently. Fragmented files are combined into a single unit, free space is combined, and directory access speeds are improved. This operation takes quite a while to complete (20-30 minutes on a 45MB partition); however, it dramatically speeds up file loading times and directory accesses. It is possible to turn on/off any of the optimization options, so you can (for example) tell the program to optimize files/free space/directories only in order to speed up the optimization process. "LAB TEST" allows the operator to generate and store a "CRC" table for all files on any device. Your files may then be compared to the table entries at a later date to check for corruption due to natural or artificial means (viruses). It is easy to build database modules with this option, although it takes some time even on accelerated machines. After the database has been built, AmiBack Tools can reread the database and compare the files on the drive to the database file. "ANTISEPTIC" is a security operation which allows the user to overwrite all empty space on the drive or the entire device with random information, so files cannot be recovered by any means. This operation is very fast, and an option is available to provide multiple "passes" to ensure that data is totally erased. CONFIGURATION OPTIONS AmiBack Tools offers a wide variety of configuration options which allow the operator to set the look and feel of the program, as well as security and caching options. The security option allows the operator to restrict "write" access to the drive, so that a password must be given before any data is modified with the program. The Disk Cache improves optimization times in the "General Practitioner". MISCELLANEOUS FEATURES As of version 1.02, the ARexx port is not installed; however, a note in the README file on the disk promises that a patch will be available in the future to include ARexx commands. Included with the program is "AmiSched-II", a very slick scheduling program which can allow you to run both AmiBack Tools and AmiBack (the HD backup program) on a scheduled basis without operator intervention. The interface is nicely done, and the program works well. DOCUMENTATION Documentation is contained in a 66-page manual, bound on the spine with a plastic (CERLOX) edge. The documentation is nicely styled, with large arrows to mark important or dangerous operations. The manual also offers a section at the beginning called "In Case of Emergency." The documentation is written for all levels of users, from beginner to expert, although expert readers may find it slightly wordy. LIKES AND DISLIKES Likes: The program's functionality is excellent. The "REVIVER" (undeletes files) is amazingly fast, even on large drives. All of the other modules are easy to use and work well. Dislikes: The disk optimizer seems rather slow. I still find "ReOrg" [on a Fish Disk] to be a MUCH faster optimizer, although it doesn't work with the new Directory-Cached Filing Systems of AmigaDOS 3.0 (and AmiBack Tools does). My only other dislike is that the "Save Password" option saves the password in the config file in "S:". I would much prefer having it write directly into the file to reduce the possibility of tampering. This would also be handy if you install it on an accessible computer at work: if the employees don't know the password, they're less likely to walk away with a copy. COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS AmiBack Tools performs many of the same operations that "Quarterback Tools" does (i.e., Undeleting files, Optimizing Drives, repairing errors, etc.). AmiBack's slick user interface and compatibility with new filing systems give it much more functionality than Quarterback Tools has. Quarterback Tools has not been updated (to my knowledge) since 1991, and has fallen far behind the other disk maintenance tools. The new version of DiskSalv 2 from Dave Haynie is also quite similar to AmiBack Tools, and performs many of the same operations. [MODERATOR'S NOTE: As of this writing, DiskSalv 2 is not yet generally available. - Dan] BUGS None found. VENDOR SUPPORT Excellent! The author has released two freely-distributable patches already, and will likely continue to produce patches to correct bugs and add features as time progresses. WARRANTY None. CONCLUSIONS AmiBack Tools is on the cutting edge of disk maintenance utilities. A slick user interface combined with a functional program make this utility a "must" for all Amiga owners. I have no problems giving AmiBack Tools a 5-star rating (out of a total of 5), both for the program's functionality, and for Moonlighter Software's support for their products. COPYRIGHT NOTICE This review is freely distributable on all media as long as it is not modified in any way. All opinions expressed are those of the author, and not those of Moonlighter Software Development Ltd, or any other business. Copyright 1993 David Griffiths. All rights reserved. David Griffiths // Internet: dgriff@unixg.ubc.ca ____________ _ // Fidonet: David Griffiths @ 1:153/765.0 or 1:153/910.0 DLG "Pro" | \\/ Broadcast TV @ British Columbia Institute of Technology --- Daniel Barrett, Moderator, comp.sys.amiga.reviews Send reviews to: amiga-reviews-submissions@math.uh.edu Request information: amiga-reviews-requests@math.uh.edu Moderator mail: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu