Good morning. First: I LOVE AIS Backup! I have been successfully using the program for full, bare-metal restores of my system drive for quite some time, now. It was an answer to my prayers! I'd found NO other backup program (and I tried everything I could find) that was able to completely restore my OS including all registry and system files, despite all their (false) claims that they could do just that.
I'm purposely leaving out the step-by-step, miniscule boring details from this question so as not to influence your answer into any particular direction:
I'm running Windows XP Pro SP2 (fully updated) on my desktop, connected by ethernet cable to my router. I've got a laptop running Windows 2000 Pro, SP4, fully updated, with a wireless 802.11g connection to the router. I've got the latest AIS Backup release as well. The desktop has both CD and DVD writers, the laptop a CD ROM only, so I can't backup the laptop on it's own; I need to provide the backup files to my desktop's optical drives to burn them to disc.
I have tried every combination of shared drives (both the magnetic and the optical drives) and shared folders that I can think of (i.e., desktop shared with laptop, laptop shared with desktop). I downloaded the File Access Manager add-on and I've installed and run it on both systems. AIS Backup recognizes that it is running ("FAM enabled" in the status bar).
I can not get the program to backup the laptop's opened exclusive files. I always get the message that "16 opened exclusive files could not be backed up" and the backup is not "safe" to use.
I have also tried to set the program to create CD-sized "packages" to burn using third party software, such as Nero. It continues to create the entire backup set without stopping to allow burning the backup files before continuing. This is quite perplexing, since I know that is specifically a feature of the program, but I can't figure out why I can't get it to work.
If I could get the third-party option to work, I'd be able to avoid the first problem by creating the entire backup on the laptop and sharing the backup files over the WLAN and burning them that way. (However, I'd still be interested in a solution to the first problem, just to know why I wasn't able to do it myself.)
So, there are two issues: backing up the exclusive files over a WLAN, and allowing a third party program to burn backup discs before the program continues.
Can you help me? I've tried solving these issues for days. Thanks loads.
Can't backup opened exclusive files over WLAN
Windows 2000 opened exclusive files
There should be no problem backing up a Windows 2000 PC using AISFAM, however as Windows 2000 usually cannot backup opened exclusive files the setting to do so may not be selected:
Manage Backup / Change Backup Job Settings / Backup Opened Exclusive Files
There is a laptop running here that backs up to a NAS on a daily schedule.
If you want the backup on DVD I would backup from the Laptop to the desktop computer and then use the Tools / Open Job From Backup Media / Re-instate and then use the Manage Backup / Copy Backup to CD or DVD. Doing it this way you only need one copy of AISFAM. With AISFAM on the desktop as well as the laptop it is possible to backup from the laptop directly to DVD from the desktop PC – preferably using the Administrative share //LAPTOP/C$
To be honest I prefer to backup to external disk drives as optical media is quite delicate and easily damaged, however AISBackup is still tested with an old backup to CD-RW made in 2001!
Barry
Manage Backup / Change Backup Job Settings / Backup Opened Exclusive Files
There is a laptop running here that backs up to a NAS on a daily schedule.
If you want the backup on DVD I would backup from the Laptop to the desktop computer and then use the Tools / Open Job From Backup Media / Re-instate and then use the Manage Backup / Copy Backup to CD or DVD. Doing it this way you only need one copy of AISFAM. With AISFAM on the desktop as well as the laptop it is possible to backup from the laptop directly to DVD from the desktop PC – preferably using the Administrative share //LAPTOP/C$
To be honest I prefer to backup to external disk drives as optical media is quite delicate and easily damaged, however AISBackup is still tested with an old backup to CD-RW made in 2001!
Barry
Finally got a chance to try out your suggestions, and Hallelujah! they worked. 
I don't know exactly what I did differently, because it had been a week or two since my last attempt, and perhaps simply accessing the Administrative Share [C$], rather than sharing the drive [C:], was the major hurdle to overcome.
Nevertheless, your advice opened my eyes to further possibilities and options in the program and I was able to back up the laptop completely, registry and all, using two different methodologies.
Method #1: I backed up the laptop with the copy of AIS Backup installed on the laptop. FAM was running in trial mode on both the laptop and desktop. I used one of my desktop's hard drives, with the Administrative Share shared with the laptop, as the destination for the .zip files. I used the "copy to CD or DVD" method (using the program running on the laptop) and burned the resulting file sets (on my desktop) to CD-R's using Nero running on my desktop and a CD writer installed in my desktop. AFter the CDs were burned, the file sets reverted back to a folder of the .zip files.
Method #2: Using AIS Backup installed on my desktop, I accessed the Administrative Share of the laptop's system drive, and backed up directly to CD-R's using the CD writer installed in my desktop.
Question about Method #1:
If I deleted the .zip files and backup index and database files from my desktop (leaving them on the CD's and on the laptop's harddrive) would AIS Backup still be able to read the database files from either the CDs or the laptop's hard drive and only backup differences as it usually does?
Further Question: Can I use Nero to burn a multisession disc and keep adding those further incremental backups to the last CD of the set until it fills up, then continue on with another CD, regardless of whether I keep or delete the .zip files on my shared desktop drive?
I'm thinking the answer to both questions is yes, which just makes your backup program all the more amazing to me. It can do things no other program I've tried has been able to do.
Thanks for the invaluable assistance and the wonderful program!
edit:
Method #2 turns out not to have worked. The registry did not get backed up.
Theres a problem with Method #1 as well: Whenever I do a further backup, AIS requests me to load the last CD into the CDROM on the laptop, determines that there is no free space left (even though the CD has only 20 to 40 MB of data from the last backup) and requests I use a new, blank CD.
At the moment, I can't test any further to find a way around this, because I am waiting for my purchase of FAM to go through. Haven't gotten a response from my purchase request yet. Will update when I'm able.
Anyone else got any info on this issue? I sure would love to hear it. If not, I'm happy to continue being the test lab rat.
I don't know exactly what I did differently, because it had been a week or two since my last attempt, and perhaps simply accessing the Administrative Share [C$], rather than sharing the drive [C:], was the major hurdle to overcome.
Nevertheless, your advice opened my eyes to further possibilities and options in the program and I was able to back up the laptop completely, registry and all, using two different methodologies.
Method #1: I backed up the laptop with the copy of AIS Backup installed on the laptop. FAM was running in trial mode on both the laptop and desktop. I used one of my desktop's hard drives, with the Administrative Share shared with the laptop, as the destination for the .zip files. I used the "copy to CD or DVD" method (using the program running on the laptop) and burned the resulting file sets (on my desktop) to CD-R's using Nero running on my desktop and a CD writer installed in my desktop. AFter the CDs were burned, the file sets reverted back to a folder of the .zip files.
Method #2: Using AIS Backup installed on my desktop, I accessed the Administrative Share of the laptop's system drive, and backed up directly to CD-R's using the CD writer installed in my desktop.
Question about Method #1:
If I deleted the .zip files and backup index and database files from my desktop (leaving them on the CD's and on the laptop's harddrive) would AIS Backup still be able to read the database files from either the CDs or the laptop's hard drive and only backup differences as it usually does?
Further Question: Can I use Nero to burn a multisession disc and keep adding those further incremental backups to the last CD of the set until it fills up, then continue on with another CD, regardless of whether I keep or delete the .zip files on my shared desktop drive?
I'm thinking the answer to both questions is yes, which just makes your backup program all the more amazing to me. It can do things no other program I've tried has been able to do.
Thanks for the invaluable assistance and the wonderful program!
edit:
Method #2 turns out not to have worked. The registry did not get backed up.
Theres a problem with Method #1 as well: Whenever I do a further backup, AIS requests me to load the last CD into the CDROM on the laptop, determines that there is no free space left (even though the CD has only 20 to 40 MB of data from the last backup) and requests I use a new, blank CD.
At the moment, I can't test any further to find a way around this, because I am waiting for my purchase of FAM to go through. Haven't gotten a response from my purchase request yet. Will update when I'm able.
Anyone else got any info on this issue? I sure would love to hear it. If not, I'm happy to continue being the test lab rat.