GRBackPro Frequently Asked Questions

1) Where are my GRBackPro backup software options saved?

2) How can I include or exclude some files from my GRBackPro backup software settings?

3) Is it possible to store folders and path information in Zip files?

4) Why must the destination directory start with "Bak_sd"?

5) After I install a program update do I need to install the license again?

6) When I install a Site license do I have to install it on every PC of my company?

7) Should I have a main hard drive failure, what would need to be loaded on the new drive  to accomplish a complete Restore?

8) Why, with compression level set to zero, does GRBackPro continue to create ZIP archive files ? Is it still zipping the files?

9) Can GRBackPro back up a file that is opened by another application?

10) Does GRBackPro ask me another removable media if the first one becomes full?

11) Can I synchronize my source files with the stored backup archive with GRBackPro?

12) Why, while backing up big files, does GRBackPro takes so long to compress?

13) I have lost my Job list. How can I restore my backup archives with GRBackPro?

14) I want to start my GRBackPro server backup overnight. How can I disable any error dialog box that stops the backup procedure if errors occur?

15) I want my server backup run even if no user is logged on. How can I accomplish this with GRBackPro?

16) I experience read and write errors backing up to a USB hard drive connected to my computer through a USB hub. What can I do to solve this problem?

17) Will GRBackPro back up to my CD/DVD drive?

18) What if GRBackPro can't back up to my CD/DVD directly?

19) What kind of license I need to run GRBackPro server backup software on a Windows Server?

20) I keep getting the following error message from GRBackPro: missing end zip signature. What does this mean and how do I fix it?

21) On occasion, I get this error while setting user privileges -1 : -1=OpenProcessToken, -2=LookupPrivilegeValue, -3=AdjustTokenPrivileges - Windows XP: Check if the [Force network logons using local accounts to authenticate as Guest] policy is enabled. Can you enlighten me?

22) Why the program doesn't execute a real source file compare against the destination ones?

1) Where are my GRBackPro backup software options saved?

GRBackPro automatically stores the entire program options into a text file that, by default, is named GRBakPro.grb if nothing was specified in the command line.
This file is very similar to a Windows .ini file and is constantly updated by the program itself  without your intervention (i.e. you don't have to remember to save it).
Every time you want to start the program, all you have to do is double click over the file GRBakPro.grb. When the program opens, you can quickly run your backup by clicking the Backup button. There's no need to choose a session first in this case because the program remembers the last one you have used.

2) How can I include or exclude some files from my GRBackPro backup software settings?

When you add or edit a backup Job you can define in the Skip folders: edit box the names of the folders you want the program to skip. You cannot place here full path names but only folder names (as for example Windows or System). To specify the folder names you can employ the well-known MS-DOS wild characters ('*' and '?') to represent more matching files. In particular the * character means all letters or sequence of letters, while the '?' character means one letter.

3) Is it possible to store folders and path information in Zip files?

GRBackPro fully supports and effectively recreates directory structure outline many levels deep in Zip files if you enable the Single Zip feature. This feature, however, will make your backup run slower because there is a single big zip file to manage and, moreover, some Zip file viewers may not display folders inside the Zip files. Windows XP support folders in Zip files and shows them just fine.
From the Backup tab, you can optionally define to put or not the source folder name in the backup destination path layout. This option lets you have a single compressed file or a single destination folder where to copy all your source files. We suggest you to experiment with the destination layout option of the Backup tab to see how many possibilities you have.

4) Why must the destination directory start with "Bak_sd"?

This root folder (that you can create or not depending on the Destination path layout options of the Backup tab) is needed by the restore procedure in order to know from which source drive a backup archive is coming. The other purpose of this folder is to have a well-defined means to identify the root folder of any backup archive (if you do not use any additional path name in your destination path layout). For example, if you back up one drive into another and vice versa when the second backup starts it will backup also the directory created by the first backup run if there is no way to distinguish it. If you do the backup of the previous backup you will waste useful disk space. GRBackPro can automatically skip all the directories that start with the string "Bak". If you enable the option Skip standard folder names: Bak*;Tmp;Temp;Recycle*;System Vol* in the Options tab the program will skip these commonly used directory names that do not contain useful data. The folder skip match can be case insensitive if you disable the option: Make skip folders options case sensitive. By naming your backup root folder with a starting Bak string you will not back up any folder that contains backup archives.

5) After I install a program update do I need to install the license again?

If you install a new version over an existing one then your settings and license will be preserved. In any case, for safety, we suggest that you store in a floppy disk both the latest version installation package along with your license information so that in case you lose the program you can quickly install it again. If you want to save the program settings you can also put in the same floppy the file GRBakPro.grb. If you have definitely lost your license information you can email your user name and email or a copy of your order to our support team so that we can locate your record in our database and send you the license again.

6) When I install a Site license do I have to install it on every PC of my company?

Yes, the license needs to be installed on every PC where you have installed the program. If you order our mailed latest version floppy you do not more need any extra steps if you install the program using this floppy because both the latest version and your Site license will be installed in a single step.

7) Should I have a main hard drive failure, what would need to be loaded on the new drive to accomplish a complete Restore?

The safest way to restore your drive is to install Windows. After your Windows setup is complete you can install GRBakPro and then run your restore. If you have an NTFS file system this is the only option you have. If your new drive has a FAT32 file system it is easy, in theory, to restore your files by simply copying them (if you have not used the backup compression feature) from a plain MS-DOS boot disk. This is NOT true because the plain MS-DOS system does not support long file names and thus you will not be able to restore all your files with the right name. Even if all system files normally have a short file name, some system folders have long file names and thus you will get many files not in the right place and it is not guaranteed that you will be able to boot your system. We do not suggest this practice. Another solution is to employ the WinPE CD (Windows Pre-installation  Environment). This is a bootable system CD that lets you see your current NTFS and FAT hard disk drives content and run some system check utilities on them. This can be a solution if your system is only corrupted (i.e. you do not have an hardware failure) or if you simply want to restore all your files to your new hard disk drive.

8) Why, with compression level set to zero, does GRBackPro continue to create ZIP archive files ? Is it still zipping the files?

GRBackPro always creates a ZIP archive if compression is enabled. If the compression level is 0 it will store the files in the ZIP archive (i.e. no compression of the data will take place). In this way the source files are always packaged together. If you want a simple copy of your files, you must disable the compression.

9) Can GRBackPro back up a file that is opened by another application?

Yes, but ONLY if the file is opened for not-exclusive write. GRBackPro will back up your last saved version. A file opened for write in exclusive mode, instead, (as for example the Outlook and the database files) causes an error if you do not skip it. You must skip these files or schedule your backup when these files are closed (over night for example). The virtual memory or swap files are automatically skipped by GRBackPro. In order to backup locked files we suggest a product named Open File Manager that works at driver level and creates a not locked copy of the file in your hard disk so that you can instruct GRBackPro to backup that copy instead of the original file.
 

10) Does GRBackPro ask me for another removable media if the first one becomes full?

Yes. You will have the option to insert another disk media when the previous one becomes full. There are, however, a few notes about this process. First, the program (by design) is not able to put on the destination disk a file that is bigger that the destination disk itself (i.e. it cannot split that file). The program can create independent destination disks that together form your backup archive. This means that if you lose a single disk of your sequence you will not lose all your backup (as normally happens when you spilt your files over multiple disks) but you only lose that single disk and you will be able to restore all other files. The second note is about the backup mode. If your backup is on multiple disks you cannot safely run a backup update because it can be that your destination disk is already almost full and cannot store any updated file whose new size is bigger. In other words, if your backup requires many destination disks you need to run FULL backups only. You can then employ the Incremental backup mode for all subsequent backup runs on a single destination disk until it gets full. At this point you must run a FULL backup again.

11) Can I synchronize my source files with the stored backup archive with GRBackPro?

Yes. You have a special option both in the Backup and in the Restore tabs that lets you delete any source or destination file that no longer exists. In case of Restore, every time a source file not existing into the backup archive is found a delete confirmation dialog box will appear allowing you to decide if the deletion is correct or not. This is a safe procedure.

12) Why, while backing up big files, does GRBackPro takes so long to compress?

When you handle big files (normally over 100MB), the best strategy to use is to disable the compression. Normally big files are already compressed (say for example video files) and thus spending time to compress them further will give you no saving on space and loses time. You can disable the compression on a single Job by checking the Disable Compression (force copy only) option in your Job from the Add Job dialog box.

13) I have lost my Job list. How can I restore my backup archives with GRBackPro?

If you do not disable the Save the backup definition file option in the Options tab then your backup settings included the Job list will be copied to the destination disk. You can manually restore this file into the folder where you have installed the program and then run GRBackPro. If you no longer have the backup configuration file then, from the Restore tab, you can select from the Source group the Folder option and press the Browse button to specify the path name where your backup archives reside. In this case you must also specify the Destination of the Restore operation to a specified Folder because the program is no longer able to automatically rebuild the original source path.

14) I want to start my GRBackPro server backup overnight. How can I disable any error dialog box that stop the backup procedure in case of errors?

In order to avoid any dialog box message that stops the backup process you must uncheck the Attended backup (Stop & Prompt for errors and confirmations) option in the Options tab. In this way any error message will be only stored into the log file and the backup will not stop.

15) I want my server backup run even if no user is logged on. How can I accomplish this with GRBackPro?

In order to automatically run your backup when no user is logged on, then you need to install the program "as a service" and add an event in the Schedule tab in order to have your backup start automatically. If the program is already installed you need to install it again as a service. When the program is running as a service under Windows 2003 / XP / 2000 / NT you will get the Service Options enabled in the Backup tab. With these options you will be able to define the backup user credentials. This is a required step in order to allow the program to reach your network resources.

16) I experience read and write errors backing up to a USB hard drive connected to my computer through a USB hub. What can I do to solve this problem?

The symptoms will vary, and may often appear as numerous "read" and/or "write" errors. Windows may easily read and write a few files with no problem, so the problem doesn't normally appear. But in some cases, especially when the hub uses a small switching power supply, the reserve capacity of the supply is drained by the heavy load and the supply voltage is no longer regulated properly. This has been observed on one hub whose supply could not maintain regulated power under sustained disk access. The solution was to replace the hub with one powered by a much larger power supply with regard to power capacity. It was noticeably larger and heavier too, since it was a traditional transformer powered unit. Users who are considering using USB hard disks for backups should make sure their USB ports are adequately powered to support the disk drive. It may even be necessary to use a well-powered USB hub instead of the computer's internal USB ports if the computer's ports are not able to drive the disk directly.

17) Will GRBackPro back up to my CD / DVD drive?

Yes. Writing to CD and DVD discs is supported as long as you have some packet writing software installed on your computer. It usually comes bundled as a part of larger CD / DVD recording software packages and makes your CD or DVD drive act as a standard, transparently write-enabled drive. Packet writing software uses UDF-formatted CD and DVD discs, and allows GRBackPro to write to your CD / DVD drive by treating it like a hard disk or a floppy diskette, using the regular drive letter. Most CD / DVD writable devices come packaged with software of this type, so you may already have some packet writing software even if you're not aware of it. Here are some of the tested and approved products we know of, undoubtedly there are more:

• InCD. Part of Nero Burning ROM by Ahead Software.

• DirectCD / Drag To Disk / DLA. Part of Easy Media Creator by Roxio.

Sometime there is no need for packet-writing software at all. Many new CD and DVD writing devices are being made using Mount Rainier (Mt. Rainier) technology. Mount Rainier is a new standard being supported by Compaq, Microsoft, Philips and Sony that provides background formatting and defect management for storage on CD and DVD. EasyWrite is the marketing logo for Mount Rainier compliant drives. Mount Rainier and EasyWrite make rewritable discs far easier to use. With EasyWrite, CD and DVD drives work in the same transparent way as a hard disk or a floppy drive. The goal for Mount Rainier is to change the manner in which future CD and DVD recording is done. Mount Rainier native operating system software (like Windows Vista - Longhorn) is expected to format and manage CD and DVD media, just as operating systems currently manage other storage devices like hard disks

18) What if GRBackPro can't back up to my CD / DVD directly?

You can back up to your computer's hard drive or if your computer is part of the network, you can back up to a networked drive on another computer. But what if you want external backups and don't have a working packet writing driver installed, or you don't have a CD / DVD drive with integral EasyWrite support?

There are three possible workarounds for this case:

1. Simply cease to use CD / DVD as a direct target for your backup operations. Set up GRBackPro to run your scheduled events and let it create backups to your hard drive automatically. Every week or month you can copy the backup copies created with GRBackPro to your CD / DVD device manually, with your favorite CD / DVD recording software or Windows XP built-in CD / DVD recording feature.

2. If it's really necessary to run automatic CD / DVD backups, consider buying a good packet-writing tool. For example, Ahead company sells its Nero Burning ROM suite for only $50. This package includes many useful components, including the InCD packet writing software. We have tested Nero InCD thoroughly, and are happy to recommend it!

3. Apart from the conservative CD and DVD writing devices, there are a lot of alternative backup storage devices now available, which are often better, faster, more reliable and more affordable! If you need automatic external backups, consider good alternatives to CD / DVD devices. There are a lot of cheap USB flash memory sticks available on the market today. They are fast, easy, portable and compact and can readily handle up to 2 GB and more of data on chip. For larger quantities of data, consider external USB hard drives as they have much greater capacity than a single CD or DVD. After all, CD and DVD are great for maintaining a collection of discs, but not for regular backups. For regular backups of critical, important data, USB flash memory sticks (or keys) as above works the best.

19) What kind of license I need to run GRBackPro server backup software on a Windows Server?

The answer depend on what GRBackPro version you have installed. Version 5.x run on both Windows Workstation and Windows Server. Version 6.x has two different licenses: A Single User license for installation on Windows Workstation and a Server license for installation on a Windows Server. If you backup from a Windows Server edition then a Server license should be used for 4-5 users. If your server handle more users you need a Site license. This license has been created to handle companies.

20) I keep getting the following error message from GRBackPro: missing end zip signature. What does this mean and how do I fix it?

This message normally appears when there is an error in one of your zip archives. The error has corrupted your archive and the GRBackPro compressor is trying to fix it. If this error message repeat itself, then GRBackPro was not able to fix the problem. The remedy is to delete the zip file that shows the error and then run another backup to let GRBackPro recreate it. An alternative is to run a full backup so that all zip archives are recreated.
 

21) On occasion, I get this error while setting user privileges -1 : -1=OpenProcessToken, -2=LookupPrivilegeValue, -3=AdjustTokenPrivileges - Windows XP: Check if the [Force network logons using local accounts to authenticate as Guest] policy is enabled. Can you enlighten me?

This error happens when GRBackPro try to backup the windows registry. To do it, GRBackPro should acquire some privileges and the error you get states that it cannot Open the Process Token. This most often is due to a missing security policy as the error message itself suggest. If you have installed the program as a Service then you can try to employ an Administrative account (or an empty account) in the Adv. Backup tab or review your security policies. If you are running the program as a normal application then the problem is about your current login permission.

22) Why the program doesn't execute a real source file compare against the destination ones?

The function is named Verify because it doesn’t really compare files. Anyway, even if you do not zip GRBackPro will do a complete read back of the backed up files. This means that the file is verified as completely readable and consistent. This, of course, will not warrant you that a bit were changed since the write (due to a defective destination media) and in this optics you have less protection. You must know that when the media are broken, often (more than 90% of the times) they are no more able to read back the file and don't simply change a bit. This is due to the hardware and firmware of the devices that for any disk sectors add some redundancy bits in order to correct the whole sector in case of 1-2 bit failures. The firmware also is aware of the problem and normally signals this to the system (for hard disk using S.M.A.R.T.) that some sectors are degrading. Optionally the hard disk is able to mark a whole zone as BAD and relocate it on some free tracks on the disk reserved for this scope.

If you compress your files then a CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) is added and you will be warranted that no changes happened to the compressed files. This add more safety in case of bit changes.

Speaking shortly today hard disk is a very reliable device and a real compare function is less necessary then before. I'm not saying that the compare function it is useless! The problem is that you are accustomed with it and it seems to you that you cannot live without it.