BackMaster Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

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The following is a attempt to answer many frequent questions we recieve about BackMaster, hopefully you will find the answer to your questions here. This document is updated as new info becomes available.

To obtain a updated copy of this document via e-mail, simply send e-mail e-mail to:

faq@msrdev.com.

Within 10 - 20 minutes our FAQ outo mailer will return a new copy to you. This is NOT a subscription service.

About BackMaster 2.0 - MSR Development Corporation

BackMaster 2.0 is the first true 32-bit OS/2 backup software program to offer both floppy-interface, parallel-interface, and SCSI support in a single package. Version 2.0 offers support for higher capacity tape drives including Travan, QICWide, QIC 40/80/3010/3020, DAT and extended length cartridges with storage capacities up to 8 GB. BackMaster allows you to perform backup and restore functions without interrupting other tasks. Included with the product is a utility program that enables PC users to create a floppy disk-based disaster recovery "boot floppys" for recover- ing a complete system from tape.

BackMaster 2.0 is available for $89.95 (MSRP). Upgrades are available for $44.95 (MSRP). (Registration Required)


Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Where can I get BackMaster ? A: Below is a list of BackMaster resellers

MSR Development Corporation 4407 Manchester Avenue suite 104 Encinitas, CA 92024

   - Voice (619) 633-3900
   - BBS: (619)633-3909
   - Fax (619) 633-3909
   - WWW: http://www.msrdev.com
   - FTP: ftp.msrdev.com
   - Compuserve: GO MSRDEV

Resellers:

   - CompUSA               1-800-266-7872
   - IBM Direct              1-800-342-6672
   - Indelible Blue          1-800-776-8284 or 1-919-878-7479
   - MicroCenter             1-800-211-6949
   - OS/2 Express           1-800-672-5954 or 1-612-823-6267
   - OS+ Resource          1-310-804-6153 or 1-310-804-6154
   - Post Software Int.    1-919-556-6721
   - Software City          1-708-949-9210
   - Software Spectrum   1-214-864-7885

Q: What device's does BackMaster currently support ? A: BackMaster 2.0 supported Internal and Parallel Drives:

   - Archive XL Series
   - BackMaster Internal  QIC-80, 420, 800T, 850
   - BackMaster Parallel QIC-80, 420 and 850
   - Colorado Jumbo 120, 250, 350, 700, 1400, T1000
   - ColoradoTrakker 120, 250, 350, 700
   - ComByte DoublePlay
   - Conner Tapestor 250, 420, 800, 850, 1700, 3200
   - Conner Tapestor (MQP) 250, 420, 800, 850, 1700, 3200 
   - Iomega Tape 250, Parallel Port Tape II, Ditto EZ 800 Parallel
   - Iomega Ditto Internal and Parallel 250, 420, 800, 850, 1700, 3200
   - Mountain Filesafe 4000, 8000
   - Microsolutions backpack 250, 800, 800TD, 900
   - Summit SE 120, 250
 BackMaster 2.0 Supported SCSI tape drives:
   - Archive Python 2838,2550
   - HP Powertape & SureStore 2000, 5000, 6000
   - WangDAT 1300, 2600, 3100, 3200, 3300DX, 3400DX
   - Tandberg TDC 3600, 3800, 4100, 4200
 SCSI DAT tape drives supported:
   - HP PowerDat PD60, PD90
 Supported adapters and high speed tape adapters:
   - Generic 2.88 Megabyte Floppy Controllers
   - Colorado FC-10, FC-20, TC-15
   - Conner CTC
   - IOmega Ditto Dash
   - IOmega Tape Accelerator 2
   - AB-10, AB-11

Q: How can I optimize BackMaster for the best backup performance ? A:There are several things that you can look at to optimize your software

  and your OS/2 system to get better more reliable backup performance.
   - If you are using a standard ISA, EISA, VESA, or PCI system, the driver
     IBM2FLPY.ADD is unnecessary on your system and should be remarked
     out or deleted from the config.sys entirely.  This driver should only be
     needed for Microchannel machines.
   - If you have installed WARP from CD, then the device driver
     XDFLOPPY.FLT may be remarked out of the config.sys.  This driver adds
     support for the 1.88 megabyte diskettes that IBM uses for the installation
     diskettes.  The first two diskettes (the only two used for CD installation)
     are standard 1.44 megabyte files.  Therefore, if you have installed from
     CD, the XDFLOPPY.FLT driver will not be of any benefit to you and may
     be remarked out or deleted.
   - OS/2 WARP has increased the standard sizes of the HPFS cache.  On an
     8 - 12 megabyte system, you may see some problems trying to use a 1024K
     cache with your HPFS.  The HPFS cache was set to 64K standard in OS/2
     version 2.1 and 2.11, and reducing the size, or even eliminating, the HPFS
     cache under WARP may free up the necessary memory. Optionally if you
     16 megabytes of memory or more use a 1024K to 2048K cache.
   - OS/2 WARP has also increased the DISKCACHE statement from 512K to
     1024K in some cases.  You may want to consider lowering this cache to the
      standard 256K that was used in OS/2 2.1 and 2.11 or even lowering this to
      64K if you have only 8 - 12 megabyte's.  Optionally if you 16 megabytes of
      memory or more use a 512K to 1024K cache.
   - In some cases, increasing the default size of your SWAP file can improve
      system performance.  By preallocating disk space for the swap file, you
      can improve virtual memory performance by assuring the virtual memory
      is available immediately when needed thus reducing the number of times
      the SWAP file must be extended and therefore reducing SWAP file fragm-
      entation. To change your default SWAP size, you will want to modify the
      SWAPPATH statement in your config.sys.  The SWAPPATH statement has
      two numbers directly after the statement.  These numbers are, respectively,
      the amount of room to leave free on the drive,  and the second number is
      the default swapper file size. Increasing the default size of the SWAP file to
      about 12-16 megabytes will make sure that the SWAP file is less fragmented.
      This will also insure that the system will have the resources it needs upon
      bootup and will not need to expand the SWAP file as often.


Q: What is the highest version of BackMaster ? A: Currently BackMaster is at version 2.0 (build level 2.02)

    (Version 2.01 is a free update to 2.0 that equals 2.02)

Q: Does BackMaster Support the Verbatim EXtra Cartridges A: The Verbatim cartridges were not available when version 2.0 was rel-

   eased. We are working on enhancements to BackMaster and hope to
   offer an updated by the end of the year that will allow support..

Q: Does BackMaster Support my new drive ? A: New hardware in terms of tape drives. computer CPU's and peripherals

   are always a challenge for backup software providers. We are contin-
   ualy investigating ways to improve BackMaster and increase compat-
   ibility with hardware that was not available when version 2.0 was
   released. At the bottom of this document is a listing of known and
   tested drives that BackMaster 2.0 currently supports.

Popular devices that we are working to add support for:

   - Iomega 2.gig tape device
   - Verbatim EXtra tape carteraiges
   - Conner 4000, 8000 ide and scsi tape devices
   - Colorado T100e tape device
   - Exabyte Eagle tape devices
   - We do not preannounce products before they are ready to ship.  We are 
     working on enhancements to BackMaster and do plan an update by the
     end of the year .

Q: Does BackMaster work on IBM OS/2 Warp 4.0 ? A: Yes, BackMaster has been tested on Warp 4.0 durring it's complete beta

   cycle and also on the general release.
   BackMaster has proven to be very stable and reliable under Warp 4.0.
   Some of the changes in Warp 4.0 may prompt you to make some addit-
   ional changes to your system settings and BackMaster to solve some
   problem issues:

1. Sharing Violations: Due to some new files in OS/2 Warp 4.0 that are in use

  or locked, BackMaster might error with a "Sharing Violation". To correct
  this you can use BackMasters Forced Read List option. The Forced Read
  List enables BackMaster to read files that are locked.  You may select,
  via complete filenames or wildcards, files which are to be read even if
  locked.  The filenames or wildcards may be added or deleted from the list
  with this control.  On the backup page in BackMasters configuration enter
  " *.* " by it's self into the entry field, then select the "Add" button to add
  this to the drop down list of file extentions and wild cards for files to be
  forced read.

2. Create Recovery Diskettes Utility: Warp 4.0 now requires 3 boot diskettes,

  this in effect makes the current Create Recovery Diskettes Utility program
  in the BackMaster folder to fail durring creating the diskettes. As a temp-
  orary way to provide you this support we have made a custom set of
  BackMaster Disastery Recovery Diskettes. These diskettes are currently
  available from MSR Development.
  World Wide Web : http://www.msrdev.com
  Internet FTP : ftp.msrdev.com/pub/backmaster/bmrest40.exe
  CompuServe : Go MSRDEV - filename: bmrest40.exe
  Bulletin Board: (619) 633-3908 - filename: bmrest40.exe

Q: How do I configure High Speed Adapters card under BackMaster and OS/2 ? A: High speed adapters are peripheral cards added to the machine to

  increase backup speed. Transfer speeds can be doubled or tripled depending
  on the type of tape drive being used. The standard floppy controller (1.44)
  runs at 500 Kilobits per second. High speed adapters, such as the Colorado
  FC-10 or the Iomega Accelorator can run a tape drive at 1 Megabits per
  second. This usually equates to backing up 6-8 Megabytes per minute. The
  FC-20 and the Iomega Ditto Card can push transfer speeds to 2 Megabits per
  second for 3020 drives. Some standard floppy controllers can support 2.88
  floppy drives at 1Megabit per sec. The tape drive can be attached to this
  type of card also.

Highspeedcard TransferSpeeds

  TC-15          500K,1M
  FC-10          500K,1M
  FC-20          500K,1M,2M
  Iomega Accel   500K,1M
  Iomega Ditto   500K,1M,2M
  Conner CTC     500K,1M,2M

TransferSpeeds DataThroughput

  500K           2-3 Megabytes/min		
  1M             6-8 
  2M             10-13

Standard 1.44 Floppy Controller 500Kb/sec, Make sure 'High Speed

  Adapter' box is UNCHECKED and the Tranfer speed is set to 500Kb.
  This forces backmaster to use the standard settings of dma 2, 
  irq 6, addr 3F0, when looking for the tape drive.

Standard 2.88 Floppy Controller 1Mb/sec, Make sure 'High Speed

  Adapter' box is UNCHECKED and the Tranfer speed is set to 1Mb.
  This forces backmaster to use the standard settings of dma 2,
  irq 6, addr 3F0, when looking for the tape drive.

High Speed Adapters. 1Mb/2Mb, High speed adapters must use settings

  other that the standard floppy settings of 2 6 3F0. Using the same
  address will cause the desktop to lock up and the user will be
  forced to reboot. This is true for any address that is committed to
  another device such as the network card. Sharing the dma channel
  can appear to work for a short time but can lead to excessive
  shoeshining. The only settings that can be shared would be the
  interrupt, but even this is not recommened for clean performance of 
  the tape drive. 
  It is highly recommended that the user become familiar with all the 
  settings the computer is using. Inexperienced users will claim that the
  software does not work properly and return the product promptly. Users
  familiar with OS/2 and PC Hardware keep notes on each card and device 
  driver installed on their system. Some utilities can help provide some of
  this information. Use RMVIEW to check the system settings.

RMVIEW /? displays optional switches for the rmview.exe utility RMVIEW /IRQ displays some interupts in use on the system. RMVIEW /IO displays some IO addressed in use on the system. RMVIEW /DMA displays some dma channels in use on the system. RMVIEW /HW displays general hardware in use on the system.

NOTE: NOT ALL SETTINGS ARE DISPLAYED BY RMVIEW. YOU WILL NOT FIND BACKMASTER SETTINGS BY USING THE RMVIEW COMMAND.

Q: BackMaster 2.0 to 2.01 update and what it fixes. A: We strongly urge all user's to update thier current version of BackMaster

   to version 2.01. This is a freely available update.
   - Fixes shoeshining on many systems
   - Contains 1.231 drivers to fix all sorts of problems with parallel tape
     drives, and with IOmega Ditto 800, 3200, Conner 800, 1700, 3200 drives.
   - Contains new DLL files to fix error #117 when the customer is running
      a system connected to a network.
   - Contains WangDAT drivers for supporting WangDAT tape drives.
   - Contains new updated online information and help files.

Q: Wheres the drive settings for the Microsolution 800 TD ? A: Select the Iomega Ditto 800 parallel device from the configurations

   notebook under BackMaster "Options".  Make sure the drive is selected at
   1Mb/sec transfer rate.  It will not operate at 500Kb/sec. This also occurs
   with the Microsolution 800 TD which is manufactured at the same location
   as the Iomega 800 Easy

Q: When I booted from floppy's, and ran BMREST.EXE I got a error message

   that said "Cannot load physical format DLL.". How do I fix this ?

A: Copy \backmast\*.dll to the third boot recovery diskette.

Q: Can I use my Promise controller as a floppy tape adapter ? A: Promise Caching Controllers can cause problems with shoeshining and other

   issues.  They can cause bad offsets and other problems.  To fix these
   problems, insure you are using the Promise drivers for OS/2. The /f switch
   must be on the driver statement. The Promise controller must run in fast
   mode ( /f parameter ) in order to work with floppy tape drives.
   Refere to Promise doc's for more info.

Q: BackMaster works but how can I stop the SHOESHINING !!! or General

   Trouble-Shooting Hints.

A: Timing or software problems are caused by a software or hardware

   component of your system interfering with the flow of data between the
   backup program and the floppy controller.
 Some of the symptoms are: 
   - Tape drive seems to start normally but fails to read data from any tape. 
   - Tape drive is very slow (normal data rate is 4MB per minute) and may
      exhibit continual back and forth tape motion. 
   - Your system or the program may halt or "lock up" during a tape operation. 
 
    SOFTWARE.  If you are not able to resolve an error after following the
    suggestions given in BackMaster's Manual, BackMaster Online Information
    Presentation Facility (book icon in the BackMaster folder) it is recom-
    mended to do the following:
   - Move drivers to bottom of config.sys
   - Shut down all other background applications.
   - Change the Cache option on the Motherboard to Write-Through
   - Make sure you have the current drivers from our BBS.
   - Try changing the memory aperture on your video card.
   - If you are using a High Speed Adapter, make sure it is not sharing 
     the dma channel with another device. This can appear to work but 
     can cause problems later on.
   - Try changing the DISKCACHE line in your config.sys
   - Clean you tape drive and retention it.
   - Add the /S option to your driver in the config.sys
   - Enable TIME CRITICAL in the configuration notebook.
   - Try another tape.  Make sure your tapes are on the Approved Tapes
      List in the BackMaster manual and or Manufacture's manual.
   - Check the hard drive for lost clusters, bad sectors, and fragmentation.
      If errors occur, correct by running a OS/2 disk utility or use `CHKDSK /F'
      See your OS/2 manual for more information.
    HARDWARE.  If the drive does not respond when you try to access it with
    the software, do the following:  
   - Remove the tape from the drive and examine it.  If the tape is damaged
     or unspooled, try another tape.
   - Close down all programs, exit OS/2 and turn the power off on the
     computer.  If your tape drive plugs directly into the wall outlet, discon-
     nect it from the wall outlet, wait a few seconds and then re-connect it.
     Turn the power back on, reboot, and try again.
   - Place a tape in the drive and look to see if the LED is functioning normally.
     The tape drive LED should not be on after the tape stops spinning.


Q: Some times I get Error 59 - Tape is not formatted, and Im using a new pre-

  formatted tape or tape known to be good tape ?

A:

   - Possible causes:
     1) Unformatted tape.
     2) Dirty Read/Write head.
     3) Insufficient memory or a software conflict with tape software.
     4) Hardware conflict with DMA, IRQ, or Base Address.
     5) Loose tape media or carteraige not seated in drive firmly.
     5) Motor Jam or Read/Write head failure.
     6) FDC (floppy disk controller) or System Timing.
   - Possible solutions:
     1) Make sure all your settings are correct in BackMaster, enable
         Time critical settings in BackMasters configuration.
     2) Clean the tape device (every 8-10 hours of usage)
     3) Add the /M switch to the device driver BackMaster use's
     4) Retention the tape, add /J2 to force a full rewind
     5) Reconfigure your system to not have any conflicts with DMA, IRQ 's
     6) Try anouther CMOS parallel port mode (Pentiums)
     7) Format or re-format the tape in the tape device it will be used in.
     8) If the tape has never been formatted, or if the tape is pre-formatted
         for a different type of drive, it will need to be formatted before use.