Drive Snapshot naming options

I'm sure I'm probably the last Drive Snapshot user to discover this but, thanks to kennyboy I stumbled into the knowledge that the name replacement options available in DS actually work if used in the filename when using the gui. So, if you specify a filename to back up to in the gui such as:

D:\server\backups\$computername\$DISK-$DATE.sna

then the resulting filename will be something like:

D:\server\backups\MyPC\C-080214.sna

The available options are:

$date - Date 6-digit YYMMDD
$computername - Computer name
$type - for differential Images --> 'dif'
$disk - the drive letter (C,D,...)
$weekday - weekday, 2 letters
$year - year (4 digits)
$month - month (1..12)
$day - day in month (1..31)

As DS remembers the last filename used then it would be quite handy for those that want to do daily differentials to do:

D:\server\backups\$computername\$disk-$type-$weekday.sna

which will keep the last seven days' differentials.

I know that this is just as easy to do from a batch file as well but some people may find that just a bit too scary .

This came up as DS insists that you specify $disk in the filename when backing up multiple partitions/drives so that it can save each as a seperate backup and give them unique names.

Graham

 

Thanks very much Graham (and of course, kennyboy) - that's (good) news to me!

While DS has been working perfectly for me, there is still quite a bit I need to learn about it's capabilities (Tom's on-line information leaves much to be desired).

 

good find and ***** stars

 

No Kudos to me at all. I stumbled across it and didn't know what to do with it. Thanks to Graham, I am developing a slightly better understanding of this amazing little proggie. The website tutorials are pretty basic, and there is so much more to learn and Graham has been a great help in that.

 

Amen to that ...I've learned a lot about using DS from the likes of Graham, Brian and Mark.

 

I can't get it to work. Any ideas?

 

There's always one trouble-maker .

What are you trying? I haven't tested all the replacement options but the main ones all work ok here. Is it saving it with the variable name (eg $disk) rather than what's assigned to the variable or is it bombing out altogether?

Graham

 

That's me.

It must be a simple mistake. If I browse to the F: drive and insert $disk-$type-$weekday.sna
as the file name. The resulting file is called C-ful-$weekday.sna

$weekday.sna becomes $weekday.sna

 

Hmmm...that's odd. I've just cut and pasted yours into mine and $weekday.sna becomes Fr.sna . Does it work from a batch file?

Graham

 

From a batch file, no problem.

$disk-$type-$weekday.sna becomes

C-ful-Fr.sna



How did you enter

D:\server\backups\$computername\$DISK-$DATE.sna

into the browse field?

 

Boy oh boy, here again is yet another reliable famous app that IMO is in dire need of some in-depth help file to better assist newcomers because this backup app is well worth the effort period!

 

EASTER,

In SnapShot's case it is better not to read the manual. As you know, the app is so easy to use in its basic form. If beginners want to get confused, they should take a look at the SnapShot web site. There is good information there, in places, but it's not well presented. I defy any beginner to restore an image from DOS using Tom's instructions, comfortably. A restore from BartPE is a dream but can you discover that from the web site? I don't think so.

What some people here are doing with SnapShot is not supported. Apparently. Very innovative.

 

Being lazy, of course, I hadn't entered it at all . I'd just cut and pasted it as an example from the DS site. I have just copied it into the DS browse field and, apart from the fact that the path has to exist already, then it worked fine. I added the $weekday option and that worked as well. None of this is case-sensitive so that's not an issue.

When you try $weekday from the gui, in the DS progress window does it show the destination filename as it finally appears on yours ie the unconverted $weekday ?

Have you tried a different build of DS in case this was broken in the version you are using?

It might be interesting to know if $weekday is the only one that doesn't work.

Graham

 

Graham,

I went through the list. The only ones that work for me are $disk and $type.

I'm not concerned. I mainly use Snapshot from batch files.

As unconverted.

 

I just downloaded the latest version from the DS site in case it was me using an older version but it still works ok here.

Very odd. Must be a regional thing .

Graham

 

Very good thought. We use a different date format from you.

 

I wasn't being ultra-incisive I'm afraid, I was joking about the regional thing .

This wouldn't expalin why it works in batch mode though and I'm sure you still have the same days of the week there, even if they are upside down .

Seriously though, it could be part of the problem and it is showing up some obscure internal coding issue (that'll be a bug then).

Graham

 

Hello EASTER and so say all of us and is it right that there is no forseeable plans to update it? I be interested in buying the rights to DS so somebody could develop it further. Its a shame.

Yes. You left testing thoroughly it with all the possible options. Its a shame theres no built in NTFS support but this of course is no easy thing but if you technically can write a disk imaging program and manipulate mbr structures then why not. Yet another reason for an update.

Also the 1st hard drive by the majority of applications and even XP is called Drive 0 as that is what it is technically called but DS calls it Drive 1 which looks better but this can be confusing if you with another drive application.