Program Upgraded From Handy to Essential
About a year ago, I reviewed Keep Track, a handy DOS file utility from Finot Group in Palo Alto.
The program allows you to avoid using some of the IBM disk operating system’s (DOS) more cryptic commands and serves as a navigational tool, allowing you to view the contents of various directories on your hard disk. It is one of a number of handy disk utility programs that can best be described as useful but not essential. Useful is now an understatement. The newest version, Keep Track Plus, has graduated to the ranks of the virtually indispensable.
The program does all of the things that the old version did, but with one essential new feature. The program can now be used to back up files from a hard disk to floppy disks.
Backing up files from your hard disk is one of those tasks, like cleaning your house, that’s best done routinely but is too often postponed. Failing to back up a hard disk is like playing Russian roulette with your data.
Backup Program Included
While most hard disk systems are reliable, they all are subject to mechanical, electronic or human error. I speak from experience. I’ve had three hard disks “crash” on me, destroying all of my files. And I’ve had several occasions when a file, for one reason or another, became scrambled or otherwise unreadable.
A backup program is included with DOS, but it’s slow, cumbersome and fairly inflexible. A program that makes it easy to back up your files is a welcome addition to any software library. While Keep Track Plus can’t force you to back up frequently, it makes the job relatively easy and, therefore, more likely to get done.
As soon as you run Keep Track, it spends a few seconds reading the information from your hard disk. It then presents you with a chart, showing all of the directories and subdirectories on the disk as well as a list of files in the root directory. Using your arrow keys, it is easy to navigate to various sections of the disk.
The program’s 25 commands, issued via the function keys, include the ability to sort the directory by date, time, size, file name, extension and whether the files have been backed up. You can view the contents of standard data files and search for files by name.
You can also get detailed status information about your disk, including the percentage of space being used, the number of files per directory and the number of files that have been changed in the last week and month. The status report also tells you how many files need to be backed up and how many floppy disks will be required for the task.
Other handy commands allow you to copy, move, delete and print files and to create, remove and rename directories. You can also change the attributes of a file to make it “read only.” Such files cannot be erased or modified until you reclassify them.
The real heart of the program is its ability to back up and restore some or all of the files from your hard disk. The program allows you to choose between a full or partial backup. The full option backs up all files, while partial backs up only those files that have been modified since your last backup. This can be a timesaver since there is no reason to back up a file that hasn’t been modified.
There is also a “choose file” option that allows you to back up selected files by subdirectory, name, extension, date and other factors. You can also specify a list of “exception” files to be skipped during a backup.
All of the options can be selected from Keep Track’s various menus, or you can operate the program in “batch mode” directly from DOS. The batch-mode option allows you to automate the entire procedure by placing your commands in a DOS batch file that can be executed from DOS by typing a single word. This can greatly simplify the process, encouraging you to do more frequent backups.
At $79, Keep Track is an excellent buy, and the program is not copy protected. Finot Group is located at 2390 El Camino Real, Suite 3, Palo Alto, Calif. 94306; (800) 628-2828, extension 700.
A few weeks ago I installed an AST SixPak Premium board in my PC. The board gives me an extra 2 megabytes of RAM to roam around in. AST has created an “enhanced” version of the Expanded Memory Specification (EMS) standard developed by Intel, Lotus and Microsoft. The EMS standard allows you to use the on-board RAM to handle larger data files in Lotus 1-2-3, Symphony, dBase III Plus and many other memory-hungry programs.
AST’s enhanced standard is much more ambitious. The memory on AST’s board can also be used to run several programs at once. As if to prove that point, the board comes with a copy of Desqview, a software utility that allows you to run several programs simultaneously in different portions of the AST board’s extended memory.
As with most memory boards, AST’s extra memory can also be used to create a giant RAM disk. A RAM disk uses software to fool the computer into thinking that the extra RAM is actually a disk drive. You can copy programs and data into that “drive” and, because it is an electronic rather than a physical drive, the access time is much faster than with either a hard or floppy disk. Of course, everything in a RAM disk disappears as soon as the power is turned off, so its only use is for temporary, rather than permanent, storage. Still, a 2-megabyte RAM disk can be a wonderful luxury. You can copy all of your non-copy-protected software into the RAM disk and switch between programs at lightning speed. The board comes with its own RAM disk software, and it also works with the RAM disk program (VDISK.SYS) that comes with DOS.
The SixPak Premium comes with a serial port, an optional second serial port, a clock/calendar, a parallel port and an optional game port.
Costly Options
All of this memory is not cheap. The suggested retail price for a 2-megabyte board is $1,395 (add $50 for the second serial port). The 512K version retails for $595. If you don’t need the clock and ports, you can save $100 by getting the AST Rampage, which is otherwise identical.
Like most computer products, you can find deep discounts by shopping around. To save even more money, buy a stripped-down board and add your own memory chips. For example, Fry’s Electronics in Sunnyvale, Calif., sells the 256K Rampage board for $269. The 63 extra RAM chips required to upgrade it to 2 megabytes cost $157, bringing the total price to $426, a fraction of the price of the fully loaded board.
The Computer File welcomes readers’ comments but regrets that the authors cannot respond individually to letters. Write to Lawrence J. Magid, 950 Market Street, Suite 250, San Francisco, Calif. 94103.
