IRBACKUP Read Me File Version 1.0 11/14/1998 CONTENTS What's new in this version? What does IRBACKUP do? How do I get my files back to the PSION? How is the data protected? Are all files backed-up? Can I backup less than the entire disk? How long will it take? What if I interrupt a backup? How much space do I need? Does IRBACKUP write any data to my PSION drives? Is a log file kept? What IR hardware do I need? Where can I get the latest shareware version? IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER Requirements: Files in this package: Installation: Running IRBACKUP. Permanently setting the IR port. Selecting different IR Link speeds. Aborting the program: How can I tell if my IR port is working: What if my PSION sees the PC but the PC fails to find the PSION? Where did the ICON come from? Improvements: Registration: What's new in this version? 1. Interrupts are no longer used. This makes the program better suited to run under Windows 95/98. 2. New "/ALL" keyword that forces all files to be backed-up even if they are already in the PC directory and even if newer ones are overwritten by older ones. 3. A new feature provides the user with information necessary to keep the Psion's files and the PC backup directory's files exactly synchronized. Between backups deleting files from the Psion results in the accumulation of orphan files in the corresponding PC backup directory since they are no longer on the Psion. This becomes a problem when it is necessary to do a complete restore. The restore program attempts to restore all the files it finds in the backup directory even if they are not needed anymore. This can eat up Psion storage space with unneeded files or result in not being able to restore needed files because old ones have stolen their space. This feature warns of ophan files at the end of each backup cycle. Before a backup is started the PC's backup directories are scanned and all file names are recorded. As the backup procedes files found on the Psion are marked active if found in this list. At the end of the backup a warning is given if any file name remains unmarked idicating it is not on the Psion. A list of these unmarked files is saved at the end of the log file (bckuplog.txt). If a file were accidentally deleted since a previous backup it would also be in this list and could then be restored back to the Psion. Files that are no longer needed on the Psion should be moved to a separate archive directory to avoid getting the warning each time a backup is made. 4. A warning is given when newer files then are on the Psion are detected in the PC backup directory if the "/ALL" option has not be specified. The file name is written to the screen and to the bckuplog.txt file. 5. If a comport is not specified or is invalid then all eight possible comport register sets are dumped to the screen. The register dump can be used to help determine which comports are actually present on the system. What does IRBACKUP do? IRBACKUP backs up all your Siena/3c files to a Notebook or Desktop computer equipped with an IRDA compliant IR port (internal or external) preserving the date/time and directory structure of each file. The PC files are checked and only newer files are sent over the IR link and backed-up. How do I get my files back to the PSION? Use the companion program iRestore. There is a shareware package for iRestore and when you register for the irBackup package iRestore is included too. How is the data protected? Each data block transferred is protected by a 16 bit CRC check code (x^0+x^5+x^12+x^16) and a 16 bit sequence number. Bad and missing blocks are automatically resent until received correctly by the PC. The number of resent blocks is typically less than 1% of the total blocks sent. The resend function was tested by placing the PSION on a slowly revolving turntable. A backup was then run while the IR beam was continually interrupted as the PSION slowly turned in front of the target notebook computer. Are all files backed-up? No. Files that are being used by a still running application program cannot be backed-up. When the Psion server program first starts it makes a check for active programs that could have files open and provides a list of these to the user. The user may then use the direct application keys or Shift-System to switch to each application and terminate it. The user can then rerun the test to insure that nothing else is running. The warning can be ignored but this risks not backing-up important files and is not recommended. If the /ALL option has not been specified then only new or newer files are copied to the PC. If the PC file has the same date/time it is not overwritten nor is it overwritten if the PC file is newer than the PSION file. In the latter case a warning is given that a newer version exists on the PC. Can I backup less than the entire disk? Yes. As little as one subdirectory or one file can be backed-up. Instead of specifying a single drive letter (m:) just add a subdirectory or file name. You may also use wildcard characters like '?' or '*'. Example path names: m:\opl (all files in directory opl) m:\o* (all subdirectories that start with 'o') m:\app\irbackup.opa (a single file) m:\app\*.app (a group of files with the same extension) In this case the tests for newer PC files and orphan files are only made within the selected subdirectories. Note: IRBACKUP uses the OPL command DIR$ to scan for files. How long will it take? This depends on the link speed (9600 to 115200 baud), the speed of your PC or Notebook, and how many files need to be backed-up. The default link speed is 19,200 baud. Since the PSION server code must scan your entire disk there is a fixed time based on the number of files you have on your PSION even if no files are transferred. For example if you have 140 files it will take the PSION approximately 40 seconds to scan and send the directory, name, date, time, and size of each file to your PC. The actual transfer of the file depends on its size and the PC/operating system the client code is running on. At 19,200 baud typical DOS times are 1450 bytes/sec or 88KB per minute. Providing a path name instead of just a drive letter reduces the number of files that need to be scanned and therefore the time. The complete backup of a Siena which has 750KB of data in 174 files takes less than 4 minutes at 57600 baud. Below is a list of times for a number of baud rates backing up the same 750KB of files. Note that there is very little time decrease when going from 57,600 baud to 115,200 and is probably the result of reaching the maximum speed the Siena can process files. 19200 8 min 24 seconds PC System: 38400 4 min 58 seconds CTX Notebook 200MHz Pentium MMX 57600 3 min 53 seconds Windows 98 115200 3 min 47 seconds What if I interrupt a backup? A backup can be suspended at any time by breaking the IR link or aborting the program. If you pick up the PSION, switch to another application and at a later time switch back placing the PSION within IR range, the backup will startup where it left off. There are NO timeouts on retries in either the PSION or PC. If you abort either the PSION (Psion-ESC) or PC (left&right shift) you must abort the other as well. When you restart both backup programs they skip over all the previously backed-up files until they reach the files that were not backed-up and start backing up from there. How much space do I need? The OPA file is about 4.8KB and when running takes about 30KB. Does IRBACKUP write any data to my PSION drives? No. IRBACKUP only reads the directory information about a file and when sending the file to the PC it reads the data in the file. The file is opened in "Read Only/Share" mode. Is a log file kept? Yes, the results of each backup cycle are written to a log file in the starting directory for the backup. The file name is 'BCKUPLOG.TXT'. The size of this file grows with each backup taken so it may be necessary to prune (remove older lines from the top) the file from time to time. What IR hardware do I need? Any Notebook or Desktop with a built-in IR port should work. Support for the following external IR adapters has also been added: KEYWORD ACTisys: IR220L (9600,19200,57600,115200 Baud) AIRport: 1000 & 2000 (9600,19200,38400,57600,115200 Baud) may be discontinued JETeye: (9600,19200,115200 Baud) REDeye: (9600,19200,38400,57600,115200 Baud) TEKram: (9600,19200,38400,57600,115200 Baud) (Temic) (9600,19200,38400,57600,115200 Baud) chip used in some IR kits TM0 : Temic chip with no inverters in RTS or DTR lines TM1 : Temic chip with inverter in DTR line TM2 : Temic chip with inverter in RTS line TM3 : Temic chip with inverters in both the RTS and DTR lines Add "/KEYWORD" (where keyword is from the table above ie REDeye) to the end of the command line to enable support for the appropriate external adapter. To avoid having to add this to the end of each command line type "set IRTYPE=keyword" at the DOS prompt or add it to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file to permanently select the adapter of your choice. Where can I get the latest shareware version? A web site has been setup at: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lakes/3947 It has the latest version of IRBACKUP plus access to other Psion IR programs such as IRESTORE and information about current and future plans. IMPORTANT IMPORTANT IMPORTANT IMPORTANT IMPORTANT IMPORTANT IMPORTANT ============================================================================== It is highly recommended that you verify the accuracy of a few large files after doing your first backup. If you have text files, open an editor and view the file, checking the beginning and end for correctness. If you have a binary compare program try comparing the backed-up version of a program with a known good copy (one you previously loaded into your PSION from your PC). ============================================================================== DISCLAIMER Use this software at your own risk. I will not be held responsible for any damage to you, your machine and/or your information as a result of using IRBACKUP. ============================================================================== Requirements: PSION: Siena or 3c PC : x86 with IRDA compliant IR port or an external IR adapter Operating System: DOS, Windows 3.1, OS/2 2.1, OS/2 Warp 3, Windows 95/98 Files in this package: IRBACKUP.COM Backup Client software. Runs on your PC. README_B.TXT This file. Installation: irBackup includes support to use the PSION's native IR Receive function to transfer the IRBACKUP.OPA server code to your PSION. You must always delete the current version of IRBACKUP.OPA from your PSION's /APP directory before sending another copy. Press the IR Receive key or key sequence on your PSION then type the following on your PC: IRBACKUP 1 send (where 1 is your comport 1,2,3 or 4 or xxx ) IRBACKUP 1 send /act (or this line if you have the ACTisys IR unit) or if you have done a "SET IRPORT=1" on the DOS command line then just: IRBACKUP send If you have trouble transferring the file try restricting the IR Link speed to 9600 baud by typing "set IRSPEED=9600" at the DOS prompt. Once IRBACKUP.OPA is on your PSION use Psion-I to install it. If you had an older version of IRBACKUP installed be sure to Uninstall then Install to get the new ICON to show up on the system screen. Running IRBACKUP. Be sure to set the IR Link to run at HIGH power if the distance between the Psion and PC IR windows will be greater than 6". To select HIGH power go to the system screen and press Psion-L, select Infrared, then Power setting to HIGH. Once you have selected HIGH you can go back and select NONE since IRBACKUP.OPA will automatically turn on the IR link when needed. You cannot have the Serial cable selected: use only NONE or Infrared. If you get the error 'File or device in use' when starting IRBACKUP make sure you have not chosen the Serial cable option. If your batteries are very low you can still do a backup by selecting LOW power and keeping the distance between PC and PSION IR windows to less than 6". Syntax of IRBACKUP.COM: irbackup defaults none m: current 2048 (newer) builtin none range 1..8 a: b: m: c:\mine 128 - 4096 /ALL /ACTISYS /TRACE xxx m:\opl *=current /AIRPORT m:\app\*.opa /JETEYE Where xxx is the com port address /PSION /REDEYE /TEKRAM /TM0 thru TM3 Examples: irbackup 2 (IR on COM2, Backup M: drive using current path) irbackup 1 a: c:\jim (IR on COM1, Backup A: drive to path c:\jim) irbackup 3E8 b: e:\jean (Specify com port address instead of com number) irbackup 3 m: * /ACT (backup to current directory with Actisys IR unit) You can start either the PSION or PC program first. It does not matter which and they do not have to be in line of sight of the other IR detector when started. Once both IRBACKUP.OPA and IRBACKUP.COM are running align the two IR windows so they are facing each other and no farther than three feet apart (6" on LOW power). The PC will display a scrolling list of file sizes, paths, and names for each file backed-up. A series of dots is displayed for each file skipped either because it has the same date/time as the one on the PC or the PC file is newer (unless /ALL is specified). You may also see the 'In-Use' warning message if you did not shutdown all the applications that access files (Agenda, Database). A running program can lock its files preventing IRBACKUP from accessing them. During the actual file transfer a sequence of digits is displayed to the right of the file name after the open bracket '['. Each digit represents the low order three bits of the unique sequence number for the block currently being transferred. The digit wraps back to 0 after reaching 7. The sequence number is incremented for each block successfully transferred. If the block is resent due to an error the sequence number is repeated. If the /TRACE command line option has been specified then additional debug information is displayed for each block resent. The general format of this debug information is a single letter code followed by the sequence number of the block being resent. The code gives the reason for resending the block as define in the following table: k = Timed out looking for sync sequence at start of data block t = Timed out waiting for all bytes of data block where n = number of bytes not received c = CRC error on data block s = All data received, CRC good, but wrong sequence number. The default data block size for data is 2KB. Permanently setting the IR port. The IR port can be permanently set by setting the environment variable IRPORT. The syntax is "set IRPORT=x" or "set IRPORT=xxx" depending on whether you have a standard or non-standard IR port. This can be typed at the DOS prompt for testing and then added to your AUTOEXEC.BAT. Once set you no longer need to supply it on the command line when running IRBACKUP. To do a complete backup of the m: drive to the subdirectory myfiles just type: irbackup m: myfiles Selecting a different IR link speeds. The IR link speed can be changed from the default speed of 19,200 baud by setting the environment variable IRSPEED. The syntax is "set IRSPEED=x" where x can be 9600,19200,38400,57600, or 115200. Only the first two digits of the speed value are actually checked so IRSPEED=11 selects 115200 baud and IRSPEED=96 selects 9600 baud. Not all baud rates are available on some external IR adapters. The IRSPEED value does not affect the IR link speeds used by the SEND option unless the lowest link speed (9600) is selected. In this case the SEND option link speed is also limited to 9600 baud. The SEND option normally uses 9600 baud to locate the PSION and then steps up to 19,200 for the actual OPA file transfer. Be sure to select the same link speed when starting the Psion IRBACKUP server code as you specified with the IRSPEED variable. Selecting links speeds greater than 19,200 baud can reduce the overall backup time but can increase the number of blocks resent to about 20%. Aborting the program: To abort a backup on the PC just hold down both the left and right shift keys for a few seconds. Then after the statistics have been displayed press any key. To abort the PSION IRBACKUP program press Psion-Esc or go to the system screen and highlight IRBACKUP then press the 'Del' key. How can I tell if my IR port is working: If you have a camcorder get it out and go into record standby mode and look through the viewfinder. You should see a flashing light coming from the IR window on your PSION or Notebook when they are sending. When the IRBACKUP program is running it makes the PC the master and it starts sending looking for the PSION to respond. Look for a flashing light from your PC's IR window (you don't even need the PSION running at this point). You should see a flash about once a second as the PC looks for the PSION. Next startup your PSION and place it so you can watch its IR window for the return response. Where did the ICON come from? Thanks to Jon Ashley for providing the Icon for IRBACKUP. Improvements: If you have any suggestions for improvements please email me with them. Registration: If you find this program useful please register your copy. Registered users will receive an unrestricted version without the 2KB limit that backs-up any size file plus the companion iRestore to send files back to your Psion. Registration is now available online through RegNet ($35 = $26.50 + $8.50 RegNet handling fee). This gets you both irBackup and iRestore. To register online go to: http://www.reg.net/product.asp?ID=840 Jim Pollock ===========================End of Readme======================================