www.aiscl.co.uk

I am evaluating this software for a particular client and if it works out I will be using it for future customers. That said, I MUST have a way to keep the backup job from stalling if there is something amiss with the loaded dvd-rw.

I don't care if the dvd loaded has the location of Amelia Earhart, Osama Bin Laden, and the cure for cancer. I want it to be automatically erased without a prompt.

I understand that you guys have misgivings about this; but at least let us take responsibility.

I am using the intergrated writer and and want to continue using the integrated writer. I am using the newest version.

In summary; I want a scheduled backup to run without ANY sort of halt no matter WHAT media is in.

Can AISBackup do that or do I need to continue investigating?

Thanks for your time.

AISBackup can erase pre-used media as long as it used to be part of the same backup job, i.e. the disc volume name starts with the volume name prefix.

We can add an ‘erase any found RW media’ facility as a command line option.

I guess from you request that you do not want to re-use the same backup disc for additional backup sessions, but rather do a full backup each time?

Barry

Barry wrote:AISBackup can erase pre-used media as long as it used to be part of the same backup job, i.e. the disc volume name starts with the volume name prefix.

We can add an ‘erase any found RW media’ facility as a command line option.

I guess from you request that you do not want to re-use the same backup disc for additional backup sessions, but rather do a full backup each time?

Barry

That is exactly what I need; no I do not in any way want incremental backups.

Look at it this way; you have a inexpensive product that backs up to cd-rw and dvd-rw. People who have less than 4.4gb to backup and just want a daily full backup without being hassled are the people who are going to be looking at this product.

We are talking about people with no IT staff to be in charge of figuring out backup sets and crap like that.

This is how I want people set up:

Say the office is open mon-sat; so six days. They have 12 DVDs; six labeled mon1, tue1, wed1, etc and the other six labeled mon2, tue2, wed2, etc.

Each morning they walk in and eject last night's backup and stick it in their purse and they stick tonight's dvd in the drive.

That is all I want them to ever do. If a dvd gets taken out of the rotation for whatever reason, I want them to be able to pull out a brand new dvd-rw disk out of the shrink wrap and write tues2 or whatever on it and just stick it in the drive and walk away.

Addionally, if someone forgets to change the dvd that day I DON"T want tonight's backup not to run. I am more concerned with the recent data than some old crap from the day before. The customer will be made fully aware of the consequences of not changing the dvd on schedule.

And I want an e-mail with a log of the backup sent to me or someone in that office (or both).

That is it; certainly more simple to program than all the other stuff you have already done.

Showstoppers:

Anything that will stop the scheduled backup from occuring with the exception of a defective disk or drive.

Having to "format" or in any way having to prep the disks before use. I charge an hourly on-site rate; I don't want my customers paying that while I format one disk after another (up to twenty with spares).

I like that your program, it has a lot of options; being able to run jobs both pre-backup and post-back is nice, and I like how you interface with the DVD drive.

If you are going to code something together quickly - that would be great. I do have a customer on my ass about this; so let me know if you are not able to get on it immediately.

Thanks.

AISBackup will already work using your scenario of starting with brand new discs (or at least a set of pre-erased discs). AISBackup may be set to automatically use new, erased or pre-used discs belonging to the same backup job, all without user intervention. The current version will not automatically erase any other disc. Your backup scenario of MON1, MON2, using replacement blank discs where an error has occurred will work without any change to AISBackup.

For repeated erase / re-use I would recommend DVD-RAM, and all discs should be considered extremely fragile (I guess you know this). The LG GSA-4120B is multi format drive, including DVD-RAM, but without the protective cartridge.

The auto-run (scheduled or shortcut) must be set-up via Tools / Auto Running AISBackup, Select the job then choose:

Clear Backup Contents File – Backup Everything
Use Loaded Media – No prompt to change media
Destination Database Deletion Options – set to Delete Everything
“no completion message”

Set the e-mail log option via Manage Backup / Edit Backup Job Parameters / E-Mail log options, separate e-mail adresses with ; Plenty of options including DHTML log attachment.

Click MS Task Scheduler or Create Shortcut as appropriate.

As AISBackup remembers the last backup's details when you come to restore use the Tools / Open Job From Backup Media option if you are restoring from an earlier disc.

Barry

I followed your instructions. Right now there is a disk in that I manually ran a backup with yesterday. When I "run job" manually from within AISbackup it asks me to load a dvd. I have the option of "use loaded cd".

Is this going to behave differently when run from task scheduler?

Yes, while you are testing set-up a shortcut instead so that you can see what will happen via MS Task scheduler. Interactively AISBackup always asks for a DVD.

Barry