Subject: REVIEW: MRBackup Professional, Version 1.13a
From: [email-masked] (Jeffrey Grimmett)
Date: 2 Feb 1993 18:33:38 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews

[MODERATOR'S NOTE:  This review was modified slightly
		on February 5, 1993, to incorporate some comments from
		the program's author.  - Dan]

PRODUCT NAME

	MRBackup Professional, Version 1.13a

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

	MRBackup Professional (MRB Pro) is an archiving program, usually
used to back up valuable data from hard drives to floppies or other mass
storage media, although it could also be used for backing up standard
floppies, too.  Programs of this type typically store the data in a format
that makes maximum use of your backup media and can recover the data easily
in the event of disaster.

COMPANY INFORMATION

	Name:		MRsoftware
	Address:	348 Indian Avenue
			Portsmouth, RI  02871
			USA

	Phone:		(401) 846-7639

LIST PRICE

	MRB Pro is available directly from the author for $25.00 (US).  Those
who purchased earlier versions of this program may upgrade for $10.00 (US)
plus the original serialized diskette (offer good until 30 March 1993).
Owners of the registered shareware version may also upgrade for this price,
but need not send in the original diskette.

SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

	HARDWARE

		Requires 1 MB RAM.
		At least one floppy or SCSI streaming tape drive required.

	SOFTWARE

		Requires Workbench 1.3 or higher.
		Requires ARP.library (supplied with disk).
		Voice feature will not work with AmigaDOS 3.0 (no narrator!).
		 (Note: it will work if you use the 2.04 speech software.)
		ARexx is not required unless one wishes to use the ARexx
		macro features.

COPY PROTECTION

	None implemented.  Hard drive installable.

MACHINES USED FOR TESTING

	1) A2500/020, 3 mb memory, A2091 controller, 150 mb hard drive
	   storage, Wangtek 5050 streaming tape, 2 floppies, 2.04 OS.

	2) A2000, 5 mb memory, GVP Series II controller, 150 mb hard drive
	   storage, Insite 21 mb floptical drive, 2.05 OS.

	3) A3000/16, 6 mb memory, 105 mb hard drive storage, Wangtek 5050
	   SCSI streaming tape, 2.04 OS.

	4) A500, 2 mb memory, GVP Series II controller, 52 mb hard drive, 2
	   floppies, 1.3.3 OS.

	Systems 1 and 2 operate 24-hour Fidonet BBS's using DLG Professional
BBS/OS.  System 1 is a hub while system 2 is an end node.

OVERVIEW

	In the beginning was QuarterBack, and I was quite happy with it
until I got a hard drive bigger than my faithful old Rodime.  At that point,
I got my Wangtek with GVP's TapeStore software.  I was still missing
something:  a good backup program with a documented ARexx interface that I
could use to make automatic timed backups of important control files on my
BBS.  I literally stumbled across MRB Pro when I sent the author, Mark R.
Rinfret, an e-mail regarding his former distributor.  His answers to my
questions (i.e., support of tape and full ARexx) prompted me to give the
software a try.  At the time, QuarterBack 5 was undergoing a few problems so
I wanted to avoid Quarterback. :-)

INSTALLATION

	I received my package and set straight to work.

	The version I received, 1.12, was installed by an AmigaDOS script.
I was somewhat annoyed by its insistence that I have the logical assignment
MRBackup: already existent; but other than that, installation went smoothly.
There is one library (ARP.library), one handler (mrtape-handler) and one
Mountlist file (Mountlist.mrtape), plus all of MRB's particulars to be
copied.
 
	Update:  The current version (1.13a) now uses Commodore's Installer
		 utility.  I wiped my 3000's copy and tried it out, and as
		 usual it did an excellent job.  Kudos to both Commodore and
		 MRSoftware!

	Next thing to be done was the actual setting up of the program.
There are numerous options from the main screen:  Preference file, Home
(source) path, Backup (destination) path, Voice on/off, Media Type
(AmigaDOS, SCSI Tape, or special "fast" floppy), List file path, Log file
path, Buffer Size, Floppy drives to use (up to 4 possible).

	* Note:  all path-related operations may be typed in, or the ARP
	requester may be called by selecting a gadget.  (ASL requester is
	used in AmigaDOS 2.04 and up.)

	In addition, you can select your screen mode and colors from a menu
option.

	Besides the main screen, there are two other screens that can be
invoked from buttons or menu options:  Options and Filters.

	OPTIONS

		Test Date, Prefix (for volume names), Compression (none,
		12-16 bit), Decompression, Formatting (normal, quick, none),
		FileSystem, Force Copy (overwrite during restore), Split Big
		Files, Test Archive Bit, Set Archive Bit, Preserve Empty
		Directories, Error Handling (automatic or interactive),
		Sorting, Verify Writes.

		Each backup may be tagged with a comment as it is made.
		This is definable in a text gadget.

	FILTERS

		Here you can define text filters to omit or include files
		from your backup or restore operation, as well as omit and
		include files for compression and decompression.  Rather
		than specify a file pattern directly, you must create a text
		file containing your pattern(s).  This is actually quite
		flexible but may be viewed as a pain by some.

		Using ARexx macros, this can be worked around, but that's
		beyond many potential owners, as well.  To me, the optimal
		solution would be to have an interactive requester of some
		kind that would create the filter files.

		The average owner isn't left out in the cold, though.  During
		backups and restores, items may be selected and deselected
		via interactive filtering, as my old Quarterback 2.x did. 

	Once you have set up MRB as you like it, MRB can save your
preferences as defaults.  In fact, you can define separate preference files
for different partitions -- I have, as each of my partitions has a different
"flavor" to it.  The ability to change the default screen colors is helpful
in reminding me of where I'm at -- the purple one is FILES, the gray one is
my SYS:..., and so on.

BACKUPS

	Making a backup is pretty simple once all the work of defining your
preferences is out of the way.  To start a backup, simply click the BACKUP
gadget on the main screen.  You will see the OPTIONS screen again, but if
everything is set up to your satisfaction, simply click OK.

	The hard drive will thrash a bit as everything is gathered,
filtered, and sorted, and then you are presented with a screen showing a
list of files that matched the path/pattern/archive bit criteria you have
set.  At this point you can delve into the directory structure and further
refine your backup, apply further patterns for inclusion and exclusion, or
trim entire branches from the directory trees.  When all is to your
satisfaction, click OK.

THE NEED FOR SPEED...

	Differing backup philosophies yield different speeds.  Depending on
the backup media chosen, compression mode, and sorting style you can either
get a fast backup or a slower backup that takes up less space.  Some
comparisons:

	Input   Output  Time  Compression Throughput
	~~~~~   ~~~~~~  ~~~~  ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~
	2.1 M   2.1 M   0:38  0 %         62 KBPS    SCSI tape direct
	2.1 M   2.1 M   0:35  0 %         66 KBPS    SCSI tape direct
	                                             (unsorted)
	2.1 M   1.5 M   3:27  27 %         7 KBPS    SCSI tape 12-bit
	                                             compression
	2.1 M   1.4 M   3:32  32 %         6 KBPS    SCSI tape 16-bit
	                                             compression
	2.1 M   2.1 M   7:45  0 %          4 KBPS    AmigaDOS floppy (3)
	2.1 M   2.1 M   7:05  0 %          5 KBPS    FFS floppy (3)
	2.1 M   2.1 M   5:14  0 %          7 KBPS    Fast Disk (3)
	2.1 M   1.4 M  13:49  32 %         1 KBPS    AmigaDOS floppy (2)
	                                             (16 bit compression)
	2.1 M   1.4 M  13:45  32 %         1 KBPS    FFS floppy (2)
	                                             (16 bit compression)
	2.1 M   1.4 M   6:21  32 %         3 KBPS    Fast Disk (2)
	                                             (16 bit compression)
	2.1 M   2.1 M   1:45  0 %          30 KBPS   AmigaDOS HD

	A few observations:  First, it's apparent that unless you have a
truly large hard drive partition to back up, compression is something you
want to avoid when using tape.  However, for floppies at least 12-bit
compression (larger archives but faster than 16-bit) will help reduce the
number of times you have to swap floppies.  The proprietary Fast Disk format
gives great speeds, although you MUST use MRB to recover your data.  The
MOST secure method is using standard AmigaDOS floppies, with no large file
splitting.  It takes time but you can recover your data no matter what
happens.

		[MODERATOR'S NOTE:  Mark Rinfret, author of MRBackup
		Professional, reports that the Fast Disk format is
		not "proprietary."  He is happy to provide documentation
		on the disk format to anyone interested.  It would be
		more accurate to refer to the disk format as "custom."
		- Dan]

	* Update:  Version 1.13, which I received after this time trial,
	comes with a 68020-code version of the compressor.  When I used it
	for a few test runs, I achieved MUCH better results with compression
	-- almost the same as plain floppy backups.

	I threw in a straight AmigaDOS hard drive value at the end just to
give an idea of the speed of AmigaDOS in general.  It in no way implies the
tape is actually faster than a hard drive for most normal applications,
rather that AmigaDOS slows things down a bit.  It's a hard call to make when
deciding, unless you already plan on using streaming tape, in which case
your choices are more or less made for you.

	* Hint from the author:  First of all, match your buffer to the size
	of the one in the tape drive, if using tape.  This will yield the
	best results as neither the hard drive or the tape drive will spend
	much time waiting for each other.

	Each file is written with a preamble that makes recovery of corrupt
archives more reliable.  This is a nice touch for data security, a concern
of mine.

RECOVERY

	It goes against my very nature to wipe out a working hard drive
partition to check the recovery options, but that's exactly what I did,
cringing at every step until things were restored <grin>.

	Restoration is simple, actually.  You read in the catalog and then
select and deselect files to restore.  The decompression mode must meet or
exceed the compression mode that the files were compressed with, or else the
file will be restored in its compressed mode.

	The same types of filters applicable to backups also apply to
restoration.

	An added touch is the ability to read in a catalog of what is on a
tape or set of disks and select which archive to restore.  This is
especially handy on a tape system with several volumes stored on one tape.

	I'm happy to report that my hard drive survived being formatted
multiple times being restored from different backup formats. :-)

	One observation I'd like to make:  the first time I began a restore
operation, the throughput was utterly dismal.  When I asked the author about
this, he pointed out that restoring to a clean partition should be done with
the FORCE COPY parameter set to ALWAYS.  If set otherwise, MRB will check
for EACH file before writing, which wastes a lot of time.  Throughput
increased VERY significantly after I did that :-)

AREXX

	Everything I've done so far as been via the standard GUI interface.
However, one reason I was looking for another backup program was to find
something I could manipulate via ARexx for timed backups from a Cron
[scheduling] program.  Without going into great detail, the ARexx interface
to MRB Pro is without a doubt one of the best I've seen in any type of
program.  EVERY function available from the GUI is available to the ARexx
port.  This makes it easy to invoke MRB, quickly switch a few parameters,
and make a backup without having to play nursemaid to the system.  Two
thumbs up!  Also, each ARexx command is well documented, and example
ARexx scripts are included to get you started.

	I've already made a script that is launched via a Cron program to
make incremental backups of certain key directories.  I'm currently working
on one that will allow me to log into my BBS, select an appropriate
partition, and start a backup remotely.  Another project on the back burner
is a script that will allow my callers to retrieve files from the tape and
download them -- This will allow me to keep less-used files offline but still
available.

DOCUMENTATION

	MRB Pro is currently in transition as the distribution switches from
TTR to the author.  As such, the author has had to "roll his own" packaging
for this software.  The manual is laser printed, and the content is clear
and concise with illustrations.  Aside from the cover, it looks very
professional.  All functions are covered except for a few more esoteric ones
that are described in the on-disk documentation.

		[MODERATOR'S NOTE:  According to Mark Rinfret, the author of
		MRBackup Professional, the product is now distributed and
		maintained solely by MRsoftware, not TTR.  - Dan]

	With version 1.13, I received AmigaGuide documentation -- it matches
the printed manual precisely _except_ where there were typos or changes due
to upgrades.  Here's another place where MRSoftware and Commodore both
deserve a cookie.

LIKES AND DISLIKES

	MRB has a lot going for it.  During backups and restorations, much
information is presented in a clear manner:  throughput, compression ratio,
and progress indicator.  Backups are not corrupted, and the data appears to
be quite secure.

	I do have a few things I'd like to see enhanced on the program;
 
	 * I'd love to be able to iconify the program when it is running --
	the AmigaDOS 2.0-style gadgets are present but they don't have the
	desired effect.

	 * Also, many tape-capable backup utilities sport a "disk image" mode
	where the disk is copied verbatim, ignoring all references to
	AmigaDOS.  This has the advantage of speed if the drive is full or
	near-full.  However, as long as I used TapeStore I never used that
	option, so I don't feel it's a really deciding factor.

	 * Some terminology is confusing.  The backup source is referred to
	as the "home" path and the backup destination is referred to as the
	"backup" path.  I definitely had to read the manual for that one.
	This is picking nits, however -- which goes to show that there's not
	really much wrong with this program!

BUGS

	The first version I received, 1.12, had a minor bug that only showed
during repeated (like 9 or 10) invocations, where memory was not being
released when the program was shut down.  Additionally, the ARexx port was
not behaving as expected in certain situations.  Both of these bugs were
fixed for version 1.13.
 
	1.13 has a slight bug as well, which I didn't notice until the
author pointed it out to me.  It shows up only during certain situations.
However, a freely distributable patch file called "Patch_MRBackup113a.lha"
has already been released.

VENDOR SUPPORT

	My experience with MRsoftware has been very positive.  The author
has been very responsive the few questions I had.  Bug reports have been
followed up quickly, and feature requests have all been considered (although
not always acted on -- I can dream, can't I?).  He is available by US Mail,
telephone, and e-mail.

SUMMARY

	Hard drive backup software is fairly hard to get excited about.
It's not a glamorous niche like a Video Toaster or OpalVision.  Still, in
this particular genre of software, MRBackup Professional can hold its
electronic head up high.  It may not have the flash of its competitors, nor
the press, but it does the job and does it well and securely.  And that's all
that counts, in my book.  Add the low cost of buying it, and it's a clear
winner in my book.

	MRSoftware has released a demo called MRBKDemo112.LHA.  I suggest
you locate it and give it a try, then decide for yourself.  I think you'll
like what you see.

####################@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@#####******************
Jeff Grimmett [SuperBitMap BBS]          @ fido!1:202/739.0 [619-460-7290]
[email-masked]  @ [email-masked]
      WAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGG!!!!!  (tension breaker, had to be done)
*******************************************************************************
---

   Daniel Barrett, Moderator, comp.sys.amiga.reviews
   Send reviews to:	[email-masked]
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