AISBackup: Version History 2.6 to Date.

Changes in version 2.7

AISBackup Build 360 Version 2.7 (7 October 2009)
Builds 349 to 359 were internal test versions.
3.19 MB (3,347,592 bytes).

Fixes:

Fixed first time run problem on Windows 7 if AISBackup was not run as an administrator; AISBackup must be run as an administrator the first time it is used on Windows 7.
AISBackup failed to start on a very small number of PC's owing to an unsupported disk configuration.
FTP download error recovery improved.
The Manage Backup / Validate (Test) Backup option may not have reported an error if there was an unexpected error causing a failure.
NTFS security and ADS was not backed up from split files (formerly known as huge files), this information is now stored in the .aii files.
AISBackup form size problem when running from the Windows 7 set-up DVD.
The Quick Job Select PC option did not select local hidden disk drives (drives without a drive letter). Default installations of Windows 7 place the boot files in a hidden partition, this partition must be backed up to enable complete disaster recovery with AISBackup and especially when restoring to a new disk.
AISBackup did not store the disk name and size for disks without a drive letter.

Changes

Disk based Quick jobs now default to Advanced Session Management.
Quick job network backups now default to networked external drive style backup as this style of backup gives more flexibility, e.g. adding additional destinations to the same backup job.
A new specialised job type of NTFS meta data and security information enables backup of meta data without the actual file data. To enable this option select the menu option Tools / Program Settings and Options / Advanced tab / Enable Meta Data Backup and Restore

AISBackup Build 348 Version 2.7 (9 July 2009)
3.18 MB (3,336,568 bytes).

Fixes:

Removed delay while calculating some restore processes. The delay was caused while preparing an internal table of file hard links.
Improved FTP failed file upload/download recovery.
Fixed program start loop if running on a Vista / Windows 7 PC with UAC disabled when attempting to run a backup job requiring administrator access from a limited (non-administrator) account. Limited accounts cannot backup file security information (The Backup NTFS security setting).

AISBackup Build 346 Version 2.7 (22 June 2009)
3.18 MB (3,336,568 bytes)

Changes:

Huge files have been designated split files.

Fixes:

Some backup jobs were reported as completed successfully when errors occurred.
Unattended FTP jobs no longer run if the FTP server is not available.
The Validate (Test) option incorrectly removed split files from the backup catalogue (bdb file).

AISBackup Build 345 Version 2.7 (15 June 2009)
3.17 MB (3,334,840 bytes)

Fixes:

FTP: With some FTP servers there is a problem obtaining a detailed directory listing of many thousands of files; AISBackup no longer obtains a detailed list and uses the much quicker NLST FTP command.

A consequence of this change is that it is no longer possible to use the Tools / Open Job From FTP Server option if any of the sub-directories contain more than 1000 files and / or directories.
Volume Copy Shadow Service (VSS): We have had a few support questions about VSS failing to backup opened exclusive files when using Microsoft's Volume Copy Shadow Service. Sometimes it is possible to repair VSS by re-registering the modules used by VSS by using the new Tools / Extra Tools / Register Volume Shadow Copy Service Modules menu option.

AISBackup Build 344 Version 2.7 (27 May 2009)
3.17 MB (3,333,016 bytes)
Build 342 was use for testing.

Fixes:

Windows 95, 98 & ME: Build 343 did not work on Windows 95, 98 or ME.

AISBackup Build 343 Version 2.7 (22 May 2009)
3.17 MB (3,334,536 bytes)
Build 342 was use for testing.

Fixes:

Backup Reports: New option to save the selected report in either text, html, dynamic html, rtf or csv format.
FTP Complete last upload option: This option now sends a completion e-mail if requested.

Fixes:

Fixed: Problem with Microsoft VSS on Windows XP 64 bit.
Fixed: Failed to detect AISFAM if it is installed on Windows XP 64 bit.
Copy option: Failed to copy opened exclusive files.
Problem testing zip files that are over 2GB with the Manage Backup / Validate (Test) Backup option.

AISBackup Build 341 Version 2.7 (28 April 2009)
3.17 MB (3,334,536 bytes)

Fixes:

Fixed: Disk copy and synchronisation options stopped working in build 340.

AISBackup Build 340 Version 2.7 (27 April 2009)
3.17 MB (3,334,808 bytes)

Changes:

Additional Last Run messages added to the jobs tab.
Updates made for the AISBackup Network Administration product.

Fixes:

Correct the synchronisation option when a folder is renamed, the 'other side' is no longer copied back, but instead removed. However, if any file on the 'other side' of the synchronisation is changed or added to the folder the file will be synchronised using the original folder name.

Pre-Release AISBackup Build 339 Version 2.7 (19 March 2009)
3.16 MB (3,324,480 bytes)

Changes:

Added boot menu boot parameters option in Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008.
AISBackup now keeps a copy of filenames synchronized when the both way synchronize option is chosen, this should fix the problem where files renamed on one side of the folders to be synchronized are selected for deletion. To synchronize renamed files in previous releases of AISBackup the files should have been renamed on 'both sides' or the Manage Backup / Change last synchronize date / Reset option used.
If backup of opened exclusive files is disabled AISBackup now displays the inability to backup these files as warnings and not errors. The error count is no longer incremented and the job will now complete successfully if opened exclusive files are not backed up.

Fixes:

Repaired VPN New Connection option in Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008.
Repaired local area network access in 64 bit Windows. When a network drive was selected for backup or backup destination AISBackup would incorrectly display that the network had not been started.

Pre-Release AISBackup Build 336 Version 2.7 (6 February 2009)
3.16 MB (3,314,000 bytes)

Changes:

Support for Windows 7 added. As Windows 7 is still in beta additional changes may be required when Windows 7 is released.
Two new backup file right click selection options added:
- Select Files / Right click file/ Always backup this file: These files have been right click / selected to always be backed up even if the date modified or size did not change. This option is useful for backing up files that explicitly do not change the modified date even when the file is modified, e.g. The default setting for truecrypt encrypted file containers.
- Select Files / Right click file / Only backup if size changes: These files have been right click / selected to only be backed up if the file size changes but not when the date modified changes. This option is useful in situations where the file is modified by the applications that access the files, but you know that the file is not actually modified or the modifications are not required to be backed up.
  
  An example where this situation may apply is with Microsoft Outlook data files used to archive e-mails, these files are always marked as modified when they are opened in Outlook regardless of whether the data is actually changed. There is a reasonable chance that if you do actually add or remove data from the outlook data file that the file size will change which will result in the file been backed up. Files selected with this option are backed up if they are not already on the backup.

Fixes:

Task schedules would not be set-up correctly under Windows Vista if AISBackup needed to be elevated to administrator. The task was scheduled correctly if AISBackup was already running as an administrator.
When running under Vista: If a job was created that did not require administrator privilege was scheduled using AISBackup, the job was incorrectly set to run as an administrator.
Files within folder path names that exceed Windows maximum length (255 characters) did not restore. The files and folders are restored as the NTFS file system allows long file path names > 255 characters. As Windows does not allow access to files when the path exceeds 255 characters AISBackup has been updated to allow the opening and deletion of these files from the Manage Backup / Modify Files and Folders form.
Some problems with FTP file checking repaired. The fault may have resulted in valid files been re-uploaded to the FTP server.
The e-mail log option was not executed from copy jobs if there were no files to copy.

Release AISBackup Build 333 Version 2.7 (17 December 2008)

Fixes:

Repair a problem with the Manage Backup / Validate (Test) Backup option if the backup had been manually moved to a different backup destination.

Release AISBackup Build 332 Version 2.7 (11 December 2008)

Updates:

Enable copy and synchronize jobs to copy the contents of a folder to the root of the selected destination folder rather than copying the complete path of the source folders. This is archived by the folder / right click Copy contents of folder to destination on the Select Files For Backup form.

folders. This is archived by the folder / right click Copy contents of folder to destination on the Select Files For Backup form.

The tabs graphics have been changed.

Fixes:

Updates to FTP to enable uploads to FTP Servers that do not support all FTP commands. An FTP option to disconnect between each upload and download has been added to prevent problems with some FTP servers prematurely ending the FTP session.

Release AISBackup Build 331 Version 2.7 (28 November 2008)

Fixes:

Do not compress file list did not remember changes.
Pre and post jobs did not run if parameters were specified.

Release AISBackup Build 330 Version 2.7 (24 November 2008)

Changes:

Updates made to AISBackup Restore CD and enable AISBackup to restore using the Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 set-up DVD. The Windows Vista set-up DVD may be used to restore Windows NT4, 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista and Windows Server 2003 provided there is at least 512MB RAM in the PC. A copy of AISBackup must be made to a USB Flash Drive or CD when using the Vista set-up DVD and a new menu option called Tools / Extra Tools -> / Copy AISBackup to CD (For use with Vista set-up DVD) has been made to burn AISBackup to CD.
The AISBackup Restore CD is now created with the same keyboard, date/time and time zone of the PC that creates the DVD.
A restore wizard has been created for the AISBackup Restore CD or when running from the Windows Vista / Server 2008 set-up DVD.
Help file updated for Windows Restore CD and using the Vista set-up DVD for restoring with AISBackup.
A new restore destination of Unallocated Disk Space has been introduced. AISBackup will create and format the disk partition prior to restore. AISBackup only creates basic disk partitions, for other types of partition, e.g. dynamic use Disk Manager or the command line option DiskPart. It is NOT recommended to restore Windows to new dynamic disk volumes but to restore to a basic disk partition and then convert the disk to a dynamic disk after booting into the restored Windows.
An auto-select option of Microsoft System Restore Information has been introduced. This option toggles the exclusion of the folder System Volume Information. The Microsoft System Restore Information can take up a lot of disk space that will make backup sessions much larger and is not really necessary for disaster recovery restores.
Updates have been made to the default file and folder exclusions; the changes will not filter though to existing jobs.
If multiple disk drives are chosen for restore it is now possible to select a different destination disk for each selected drive, including using the new unallocated disk partition option. This new option should simplify restoring several disks to a new disk during disaster recovery using the AISBackup Restore CD or Windows Vista set-up DVD. Up to 8 disks may be restored from a backup using this option, if there are more than 8 disk partitions on the backup then you should split the restore.
When restoring from a backup AISBackup now checks that the destination drive is the same physical drive that the backup was made from rather than relying on the drive letter which may change when booting from different operating systems' on a multi boot system. If there is no match to the physical drive you will be asked to specify a destination for the restore rather than been able to use the restore to original path option.

If a disk partition is moved or resized then AISBackup may determine that it is a different physical drive from that backed up, unless a new backup session has been run since the disk update was made.

Fixes:

When excluding files from a backup job the existing copies of the files in the backup did not filter through the prune process and always remained in the backup. Any file excluded from the backup will now be pruned out of the backup through the normal session pruning process. If you would like to remove the files from the backup immediately use the Manage Backup / Backup Maintenance option.
AISFAM: AISBackup now tests for AISFAM by checking if the service is installed rather than that the SysTray File Access Manager program is running as the SysTray program is optional.
Several 'Disk Not Available' problems when accessing USB multi card reader interfaces without media present.
If a drive is unavailable but present in the list of drives, for example a mapped network drive where the media is not present on the remote system: AISBackup would assume that there were no files on the media and mark the files as deleted. Now, provided AISBackup gets the 'Media not present' message from the device, it will mark the files in the backup as unchanged.
The NTFS security settings were not restored to the root of a drive.
Drag and drop restore: When restoring using drag and drop it may not have been obvious that AISBackup required user interaction because the Windows Explorer form may have been displayed on top of AISBackup after the drop operation. AISBackup now forces itself in front of all forms.

Pre-Release AISBackup Build 329 Version 2.7 (12 October 2008)
3.07 MB (3,226,727 bytes)

Changes:

It is now possible to make a bootable restore CD with AISBackup using the Tools / Create AISBackup Restore CD (Also works with DVD) . A download of Microsoft's free Automated Installation Kit for Windows Vista is required (AIK), however the CD can be made on Windows XP, Server 2003, Vista or Server 2008. The CD will restore Windows 2000, Server 2000, XP (all editions), Server 2003, Vista (All editions) and Server 2008. The restore CD does require at least 512MB RAM or AISBackup will not work.

The restore CD supports all AISBackup's backup media including Local Drives, Network Drives, External Drives, CD / DVD and FTP.

Not all PC's may be compatible with the AISBackup Restore CD, however the restore CD creation process does allow the addition of PC specific device drivers, e.g. SATA Disk Drives, Network Interface Card Drivers. Your PC manufacturer should be able to help you locate appropriate drivers for your PC.
A new function Tools / Windows Drive Assignments has been introduced to enable drive letters to be examine and updated for all versions of Windows installed on the PC. This option is useful when restoring multiple drives to a brand new disk as the version of Windows restored to the new disk will not have any knowledge of the new physical disk's partitions, except for the Windows drive itself (which is updated automatically by AISBackup).
A new function Tools / Disk Maintenance is available on the AISBackup Restore CD version of AISBackup. This option may be used for creating and formatting disk partitions on brand new disks. AISBackup cannot create or remove partitions on dynamic disks. For more complex disk operations use the command line tool DiskPart (There is some help with DiskPart on the help page on the AISBackup Restore CD).
If the restore CD is made from a registered version of Windows the Backup functions and an additional Tools / File Viewer option are available. Some basic maintenance functions may be made using the File Viewer.

The ability to run a backup from the restore CD may be useful if you need to restore from an old backup and the disk contains data you want to retain, or you want to make a backup of a 'dead' PC before you attempt to repair it.
Improved Tools / Edit Windows Boot Menu option: Allows editing of all installed Vista Boot Menus (multi-boot system). Option to repair / switch between Boot Manager and NTLDR style booting.

Fixes:

When backing up multiple drives AISBackup could incorrectly prefix the registry files with the wrong drive letter, this was a display error and did not affect the backup.
Opening an FTP backup for restore may not have correctly remembered the root folder, this problem was found when testing the Restore CD.

Changes in version 2.6.2

Release AISBackup Build 327 Version 2.6.2 (15 September 2008)
3.04 MB (3,198,376 bytes)

Changes:

Improved handling of user moving backups without using the built in options. The Manage Backup / Move Backup Destination option was not originally designed to correct backups that had been moved manually, but move the backup itself; using this option to complete a manual move caused a major problem with some backup jobs as the backup contents file was reset - this process has been updated to enable the Move Backup Destination option to complete manual moving of backup data.
Disk based backups manually transferred to an FTP site would not open via Tools / Open Job From FTP Server AISBackup has been changed to allow this. For this option to work the backup must be transferred to the FTP Directory that is specified in the FTP options. Please note that AISBackup was not designed to enable manually moving a backup to an FTP server and the job should have been created as an FTP job and if you want to delay the upload (or manually transfer the backup data) the Manage Backup / Change backup job settings / FTP Settings / Enable manual transfer option should have been used instead.

Fixes:

The backup log e-mail was not sent in 64-bit Windows.

Changes in version 2.6.1

Release AISBackup Build 323 Version 2.6.1 (19 August 2008)
2.90 MB (3,041,776 bytes)

Changes:

Username and password may be specified for the AISBackup Administration Path. The Administration path is used by an AISBackup addition that is currently under development.
The first non-diskette drive letter now defaults to the B: drive owing to reported problems where users of AISBackup map network drives to B:.

Fixes:

Backup Maintenance: Did not remove files which were backed up from network drives.
Backup Maintenance: Did not remove files which contain characters like: ÄÖÜäöüß.
Open backup from media: Did not work correctly when the following backup types were manually copied to another PC, i.e. not on their original backup media:
- External drive backups where Open Contents From Backup Media is set.
- Networked External Drive where Open Contents From Backup Media is set.
- FTP Backup copied manually to a new FTP Server and then opened from the new server: AISBackup would not use the new FTP server credentials, but incorrectly used the old FTP server credentials.
Local Network Update: This option did not work if the network administration path required a password.

Release AISBackup Build 321 Version 2.6.1 (6 August 2008)
3.21 MB (3,369,392 bytes)

Fixes:

FTP Backup: The validate would fail on split files where the FTP copy of the backup is chosen for backup. AISBackup did not download the file segments.
FTP Backup: Where the following conditions are true AISbackup no longer complains about possible lack of disk space to hold the backup: FTP Backup / On-the-fly upload / remove local backup. Other FTP backup types would require that 100% of the backup is held on the local PC so the warning message would still be valid.

Pre-Release AISBackup Build 320 Version 2.6.1 (30 June 2008)
3.21 MB (3,369,392 bytes)

Fixes:

Program freeze at start-up on some PC's using Lightscribe. An error with Lightscribe detection caused the freeze.

Pre-Release AISBackup Build 319 Version 2.6.1 (17 June 2008)
3.35 MB (3,521,296 bytes)

Changes:

E-mail subject line on copy jobs now shows number of files copied and number of files failed.
FTP Backup: Large files may now be split using the Manage Backup / Change Backup Job Settings / FTP Settings / Split files at (MB). Enter a numerical value in megabytes, e.g. 20 will split a 46MB file into 3 segments of 20, 20 and 6 MB. Enter 0 (zero) to disable this option.
FTP Backup: If the FTP server supports CRC integrity checking AISBackup, by default, only checks the first 50 MB of large files, this is because waiting for the FTP server to return the CRC may cause an FTP timeout. Indeed 50MB may be too large for some FTP servers so this value may be altered using the Manage Backup / Change Backup Job Settings / FTP Settings / Check Integrity (MB) option. A value of 0 (zero) disables integrity checking.
The speed of the check for new and changed files for backup may be decreased, but with an increased risk if new hard links not been found correctly within AISBackup. For data backups and pre Windows Vista / Server 2008 this is unlikely to be a problem. AISbackup will always check for all hard links the first time a backup job is run. This setting is made by un-checking: Manage Backup / Change Backup Job Settings / Check all files for hard link changes The default setting is checked.
The disk to disk copy option may be set to only copy files modified since a specified date.

Fixes:

Backup Maintenance: Did not recover disk space from removed backup files correctly.
Problem saving e-mail backup's fixed.
Problem with new registration key file handling fixed.

Pre-Release AISBackup Build 317 Version 2.6.1 (17 June 2008)
3.35 MB (3,516,256 bytes)

Changes:

An option to remove automatic column sizing of the job list, AISBackup will remember the column widths you set manually. To remove automatic column resizing option un-check: Tools / Program Settings and Options / Program tab / Auto-size job list column width.

Fixes:

Fixed bug in version 3.6.1 (version 3.6 and previous versions of AISBackup worked okay): The Tools / Disk to Disk Copy option of the Windows Vista operating system did not correctly set-up the new drive letter which caused the copy of the operating system to boot using its previous drive letter instead of the 'copy from operating system' drive letter. This may have resulted in a copy which could not be booted and the copy operating system would use the user documents and settings from the wrong disk partition.

Pre-Release AISBackup Build 316 Version 2.6.1 (11 June 2008)
3.35 MB (3,516,800 bytes)

Changes:

Added return codes so that %errorlevel% may be evaluated when AISBackup is run from a command line batch job, example:

"C:\Source\Delphi5\BACKUP\Live Backup\AISBACKUP.exe" "VISTAPRO (C) Drive to Network - LANDISK|M"
echo The error level code was: %errorlevel%

The return code is documented in the help file under Technical Information / Developer Information.
When checking files for backup if there are no new and changed files but files have been deleted AISBackup will optionally create a backup session when run interactively. If this condition is met when auto-running AISBackup will create a backup new session and execute the pruning routine etc.

Fixes:

Very rarely AISBackup failed to register correctly using the key file. This fix cannot repair key files that have been damaged by some e-mail systems'.
E-mail failure notification: If a backup could not start when auto-run, for example a required disk drive is not connected, then AISBackup would not always send a failure notification by e-mail.

Pre-Release AISBackup Build 315 Version 2.6.1 (May 2008)
3.35 MB (3,515,632 bytes)

Changes:

A new backup integrity test option which may be scheduled.
Updated disc writer. The original disc writer has been retained in AISBackup in case of problems, the original disc writer may be accessed via: Tools / Program Settings and Options / Troubleshoot CD DVD writer faults / uncheck Use updated disc burner.
Interface to LightScribe disc labelling to create labels for AISBackup discs. To use this option you must download and install LIGHTSCRIBE SYSTEM SOFTWARE (LSS).
An e-mail message is now sent (if requested) when there are no files to backup.
Windows 64-bit support details:
- Support for Windows XP x64, Server 2003 x64.
- Support for Windows Vista x64 and Server 2008 x64, however the Volume Copy Shadow service (VSS) does not work (support withdrawn by Microsoft for 32 bit applications on Windows Vista x64 and Windows Server 2008 x64). AISFAM may be used in place of VSS and a 15 day trial is available on this web page.

Fixes:

Estimated compressed size not reset if backup re-calculated.
Widows Vista boot menu was not created properly if all existing menu items were deleted prior to adding new operating system's.
Edit Boot menu may not have correctly identified partition number.
Repaired problem with Windows NT4 not able to save changed program settings (Tools / Program Settings and Options).

Changes in version 2.6

Release AISBackup Build 314 Version 2.6 (21 February 2008)
3.28 MB (3,448,040 bytes)

Changes:

Remove some trace information.

Fixes:

Pre-Release AISBackup Build 313 Version 2.6 (18 February 2008)
3.29 MB (3,450,064 bytes)

Changes:

Task Scheduler: Added option to run a schedule if it was missed because the PC was powered down. This option is only available with Windows Vista and Server 2008 and used to default to Yes (checked).

Fixes:

Task Scheduler : Did not set-up jobs under Vista where the account name included the alternative name in brackets.
Network administration option: Fix for XP PC's without a valid Account Name.

Pre-Release AISBackup Build 312 Version 2.6 (15 February 2008)
3.28 MB (3,449,440 bytes)

Changes:

Help file: Updated to document the new backup job option to clone a disk drive.

Fixes:

Network administration option: Possible fix for XP PC's running with only the default Administrator username present - HP and Compaq PC's?

Pre-Release AISBackup Build 311 Version 2.6 (11 February 2008)

Changes:

New Job option to copy the system disk, this option will also automatically set-up boot menu options for dual-booting and disaster recovery (Physically replacing the current hard drive with the backup drive).

This option also enables backup to unallocated disk space: AISBackup will allocate a disk partition, make the partition Active (to enable disaster recovery booting) and format the drive.
Open backup content from media enabled to 'direct to CD' media to accommodate this option on large emulation CD media, e.g. Iomega Rev™.
NTFS File Hard link support.
Redesigned 'rounded' buttons.
Redesigned Quick Job interface.

Fixes:

AISBackup did not correctly remember the password to password protected network shares, however if the drive was already mapped the backup job ran okay.
Various usability problems fixed.