bytebug@dhw68k.cts.com (Roger L. Long) (04/11/90)
I wonder how many people backup their hard disks... Of those, I wonder how many people rest comfortably at night knowing that given any natural disaster, they will be able to be back up and running in the time it takes to re-initialize and restore their hard disks. Of those, I wonder how many people have actually *had* the opportunity to restore the contents of their hard disk, and gotten a chance to look at the other half of the program they use so religiously. I did. And it wasn't pleasant. And I'm still suffering. Perhaps I'm just a bit naive and expecting too much... Perhaps I'm just looking for a shoulder to cry on... Or perhaps it's my boss's fault, since it was he who backed up my disk in the first place, before taking it off to a computer show. Not much gained in pointing fingers, though. Just a lesson learned: TRUST NO ONE - BACK IT UP YOURSELF and DON'T TRUST BACKUPS - DISASTER IS JUST A FLOPPY AWAY Which brings me to the bug. Partially a hardware glitch, I suppose. Partially an oversight on my part, if you'd prefer. But in my own humble opinion, A MAJOR GLITCH IN THE USER INTERFACE IN A PROGRAM THAT MANY PEOPLE TRUST THEIR LIVELYHOODS TO! Here's the situation: Boss needs disk drive to take to a computer show. I'm working on another project away from my Mac, so my drive is fair game, and he sends it on a bumpy airplane ride after backing it up. Disk drive returns from show, with many files deleted to make space for less useful things, so I decide that the easiest thing to do is just initialize the disk and restore the backup. Besides, that will eliminate any fragmentation of files, and perk up the performance a bit. First five floppies restore fine, but something happens with floppy number six, and all of a sudden DiskFit tells me that it's initializing the diskette! No, it didn't ask me, in the nice dialog sort of way that my Mac normally handles unreadable diskettes, whether or not I'd *like* to initialize this diskette. It just starts going click-click and I end up with an "Untitled" blank floppy. Wonderful. And I have no idea what files were on the floppy, just that when I finish restoring the disk, bunches of files are still missing. Like my System file, and the Finder, and most of the applications in my tool folder. I have no idea whether or not any of my source files are missing, since the C compiler is missing and I can't try rebuilding any applications. I hope your day went better than mine... -- Roger L. Long bytebug@dhw68k.cts.com
werner@cs.utexas.edu (Werner Uhrig) (04/12/90)
sad story. would have been more useful to the "rest of us" if it included the version number of the DiskFit you were using and if it was the df or unlimited type. if you care to go through the trouble of reporting the problem to either SuperMac or Dantz, they'd probably also appreciate a description of hardware and software used (though I'm not sure that it is of any significance in this case) - get in touch with me if you need email addresses. moral of Roger's horror story? flip the write-protect thingy on your backup floppies !! PS: Roger, what happened to YOUR backup (not the one your boss made, YOUR backup you kept handy for "bad days" ?!? Or did that boss of yours reuse your only backup floppies?!? gee , talk about a weak backup system ...
jjw7384@ultb.isc.rit.edu (Jeff Wasilko) (04/14/90)
In article <31497@dhw68k.cts.com> bytebug@dhw68k.cts.com (Roger L. Long) writes: >Which brings me to the bug. Partially a hardware glitch, I suppose. >Partially an oversight on my part, if you'd prefer. But in my own >humble opinion, A MAJOR GLITCH IN THE USER INTERFACE IN A PROGRAM THAT >MANY PEOPLE TRUST THEIR LIVELYHOODS TO! It's a software option. Read on. >six, and all of a sudden DiskFit tells me that it's initializing the >diskette! No, it didn't ask me, in the nice dialog sort of way that >my Mac normally handles unreadable diskettes, whether or not I'd >*like* to initialize this diskette. It just starts going click-click >and I end up with an "Untitled" blank floppy. Wonderful. And I have That's an option under the 'Options' menu. Its 'Auto Format' or something like that. While it's a handy feature (so that you can backup to new disks quickly and painlessly), I agree that it's a dangerous option. I'd like to see SuperMac make that option turn itself off ofter every session. With it on, its so easy to lose part of your backup due to a damaged directory. My sympathies Roger. Jeff -- | RIT VAX/VMS Systems: | Jeff Wasilko | RIT Ultrix Systems: | |BITNET: jjw7384@ritvax+----------------------+INET:jjw7384@ultb.isc.rit.edu| |UUCP: {psuvax1, mcvax}!ritvax.bitnet!JJW7384 +___UUCP:jjw7384@ultb.UUCP____+ |INTERNET: jjw7384@isc.rit.edu |'claimer: No one cares. |