File Syncing/Backup in OS9

[Greystash]

Does anyone know if there's a good file syncing/backup utility for Mac OS 9? I have ~120GB of Mac OS 7-9 software, ISO's etc. that I want to keep in sync between my G4 and NAS drive (over ethernet) - E.g. if I add files to the directory on my G4, then run the sync utility again it notices that there has been only one file change and copies the now file to the NAS drive and vice versa.

I previously accomplished this with ChronoSync 3 on OSX, but OSX messes up my OS9 partitions every time it touches them. I've just gone full OS9 and removed OSX. ChronoSync did this perfectly and the only comparable Mac OS 9 application I've found is PowerMerge LE, but this often runs into errors (permissions?), and suffers memory crashes. Every other app I've used only offers one-way backups, which isn't what I want.

Is there anything similar out there?

[Europa]

I asked about backup software here recently and was recommended Personal Backup (http://macintoshgarden.org/apps/personal-backup).

I use it for backup and not synchronization, but I think it does file sync operations as well. It is really simple and painless to set up.

[Greystash]

Thanks RogerWilco that works great! Had a few issues with folder/file permissions which must have been left over from OSX, but solved this by creating a new folders and moving the items into them.

[Europa]

Awesome! I'm glad to hear that it worked out! It is probably the most painless too I've found or have been recommended and for good reason. I can just have it sit in my menu bar and every week, when I do backups, I can tell it to backup for me.

[OS923]

I make my complete backups in 3 steps:
- reduce the number of files by saving every program as a compressed ShrinkWrap image,
- reduce the number of files by converting every HTML page to a PDF,
- save every volume as a Toast image on an external disk.

I make my incremental backups with my own program. Then I convert them to StuffIt X.

[Europa]

I make my complete backups in 3 steps:
- reduce the number of files by saving every program as a compressed ShrinkWrap image,
- reduce the number of files by converting every HTML page to a PDF,
- save every volume as a Toast image on an external disk.

I make my incremental backups with my own program. Then I convert them to StuffIt X.

Nice! I might have to try that sometime.

[Greystash]

It definitely is the most painless option I've come across! Thanks for the tips OS923, I've compressed everything (file/folder) as a .sit archive and really should make another backup with toast images. HTML to PDF is a great suggestion which I haven't yet done.

Thanks!

[IIO]

i´ve never used anything else than toast images, because my main backup is on CD, later DVD (now bluray) anyway.

the only lilttle extra work is that you need to index them when you want to be able to search for a file.

[OS923]

Backup programs that I tested and that I found OK:

Personal backup 2.0.1
Retrospect 5.1.177
SmartSaver 3.4

Synchronization programs that I tested and that I found OK:

File Synchronization 1.2

This is a control panel application from Apple.
It was included, I think, in OS 9.1, but later removed.
It lets you make "pairs" that it remembers when you restart the program.
(There's something wrong with the about box.)
Would this be the last version?

The main problem with synchronization programs is that you need to be absolutely sure that your date and time are correct at all times, otherwise you risk that new files are overwritten with old versions. When my G4 starts up it shows in large characters the date and time and then I verify it with my radio control clock.

[Greystash]

File Synchronization was great! That's what I used until recently but often ran into memory issues when dealing with big directories. Thanks for the tip about date/time, I hadn't thought about that..

[Europa]

I used File Synchronization until it started locking up for no apparent reason.

[OS923]

I propose a programming contest:

• the shortest backup program in C++,
• the shortest backup program in REALbasic,
• the shortest synchronization program in C++,
• the shortest synchronization program in REALbasic.

[Greystash]

I've got a few books on CodeWarrior C++ and have begun learning for OS9, so maybe one day in the near future I could give it a go

[OS923]

See in the attachment the solution in REALbasic. If you agree with this solution, then I'll write the C++ version.

[OS923]

If File Synchronization crashes, then give it more memory. This increases the heap.

If it's a PPC program, then you can also increase the stack. Open 'cfrg' resource 0 and change App Stack to a larger value.

I synchronized a directory with 20 levels deep without problem.

Before you synchronize, you should look for potential problems, like locked icon files and locked invisible files, which make some programs crash.

Some file copy problems are caused by invisible files and folders, for example made by file sharing, OSX or Windows.

Icon files can cause trouble because they may not be added to the total file size and then it's miscalculated and may cause overflow in the progress.

[OS923]

When people scan a directory, they usually create a parameter block as a local variable on the stack in a recursive function.

This is the better way.
Suppose that you're scanning A:B:C: and you find D.
You don't need the parameter blocks for A, B, C and D at the same time.
You need only the parameter block of the last thing that you looked at: D.
Then you can make the parameter block static or declare it outside of the recursive function.
Same story if you make a spec in this function.
Then you save 384+70=454 bytes for every level in the recursion.

I've programmed it without recursion too.
I placed the dirID on a stack.
That's the fastest solution.

[OS923]

I synchronized with Synchronize! 3.9.5 (3 MB/s).
I synchronized with Tri-BACKUP 3 (10 MB/s).
I found this on a MacWelt DVD.
There seems to have been a Tri-BACKUP 4 for OS 9.
I found Synchronize Pro 4.3.1.

[Greystash]

Sorry for the slow reply... I've been so busy with work I haven't booted my Quicksilver in months. I still need to transfer over 600gb of music to the Quicksilver so will do some testing with your REALbasic app. Would you mind sharing the Tri-BACKUP and Synchronize Pro apps? I'm interested in trying these out too. Also, what tool do you use to measure transfer speeds?

[OS923]

Synchronize! 3.9.5
http://macintoshgarden.org/apps/macwelt-dvd-4

Tri-BACKUP 3
https://www.tri-edre.com/pub/files/TriBACKUP_3US.sit

Tri-BACKUP 4
https://www.tri-edre.com/pub/files/TriBACKUP_4USOS9.sit

I measure the speed usually with the menu bar clock and Calculator. My REALbasic program uses CopyFileTo, which copies around 20 MB/s. That's faster than all the other programs that I tried.

[OS923]

I seem to remember that some of these programs show the transfer speed.