Panic backup requests and a question

[pimjoosten]

I have been using Hard Disk Sentinel on all my computers much to my satisfaction for more than 10 years now and it has helped me many times to discover possible hard disk failures (which in fact very often were only pending sectors that could be turned into good ones again using the reinitialization surface test) and even faulty new drives. As a Thank you I even bought a second family license a few years ago, that is how satisfied I am.
Only now did I look into the panic backup option. I started with some simple cases, e.g. the system drive for which I could simply use a batch file to start my imaging program. But when I started to define projects and a panic backup for my data drive I hit some stumbling blocks. I also have some other feedback. My post includes both feature requests as well as a question, but because most points are feature requests I posted this in the feature requests forum.

1. The built-in “Transfer files and folders” function is the easiest way to copy only the most recent files, which is what I only need because I already make daily back-ups. Backing up too many files will only slow down the backup process, which is what I do not want for a panic backup. However, I found that this function does not support file paths longer than 260 characters. I do have a couple of those files, usually made by programs that add additional paths themselves. In the old days I know this was a hard limit, but nowadays most programs seem to have overcome this limit, like Macrium Reflect, which I a.o. use for my daily File & Folder backups.
My request therefore is to implement longer file paths. I have read that Windows 10 has this option by changing a registry key (see e.g. https://www.howtogeek.com/266621/how-to-make-windows-10-accept-file-paths-over-260-characters/), but the program has to enable it too. I have not been able to test that because due to circumstances I still use Windows 7. Macrium Reflect handles long file paths well, even on Windows 7, therefore I assume that they use a different method than the one with the registry key on Windows 10. If it is already or will be implemented for HDS but only for Windows 10/11, I would be fine with that, because I will be upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10 hopefully sometime this year.

2. When defining the panic backups I had the following in mind. First make a local backup of the most recent files to another local drive and then a backup to a network share on another computer/file server. The primary reason is again speed, because it is a panic backup. Backups are made faster locally than via a network, even when it is a wired network. The second reason is that the network station may be unavailable for some reason and in that case at least a local backup will be made. I do not want to run both backups simultaneously, because that would slow down the source hard drive. Therefore I use the option “After x” to make a chain of projects in the panic backup. What I discovered today however is that a project is not started when the preceding project did not finish successfully, not just when it is cancelled like the help text says. This is a.o. the case if there is not enough space available on the target location or when the above mentioned long file path problem occurs.
I would like there to be an option that the next project will still run if the previous one encountered an issue. That way I can chain projects without overloading my hard drive by running backups simultaneously, and create the safest panic backup strategy.

3. Under “Folder settings” the help text mentions “It is possible to use more than one destination folder (even on different drives or different computers)”. The window shown is however from an older HDS version and presumably even from Windows XP. Is it still possible to use more than one destination folder? It seems that in the current lay-out I can only define one target folder.

4. I would really like to have a test button for a panic backup. I know that I can test individual projects, but not panic backups. I “fortunately” have a drive with lots of bad sectors that I use for this purpose. I test a panic backup by defining the same set of projects for that faulty drive and using the Re-enable alerts button every time I want to test a set. That is also how I found out about the project chain being broken because the previous project did not complete successfully.

5. Compared to my previous request this last request is a simple one. During the operation of “Transfer files and folders” there is a file called HDSentinel_status.txt which contains the text “File save operation started. If you see this message, the save operation was aborted.”. I think this should also include “is still running” and thus read “File save operation started. If you see this message, the save operation is still running or was aborted.”

Thank you in advance for your reply.

[hdsentinel]

Thanks for your message and selecting Hard Disk Sentinel Pro Family license (again

> 1. The built-in “Transfer files and folders” function

Yes, already noticed this limitation some time ago and improved the situation in the 6.10.3 version:

https://www.hdsentinel.com/beta6/hdsentinel_pro_setup_6103-arnc.zip

Please completely close existing Hard Disk Sentinel by File -> Exit and (without uninstallation) install this versionto the same folder where the previous installed. This way the new version will automatically use all statistics, settings, license etc.
Maybe you can backup the folder, just to be sure.



> 2. I would like there to be an option that the next project will still run if the previous one encountered an issue.
> That way I can chain projects without overloading my hard drive by running backups simultaneously, and create the safest panic backup strategy.

Generally the idea of the "chain" is exactly to launch 2nd and further projects ONLY if the previous projects completed without errors, exactly to prevent troubles or wrong assumptions, for example if the 2nd (and further) projects depend on the result of the first.

At the moment I'm afraid it is not planned to change (even by option) this behaviour. If the 2nd project can run independently from the outcome of the 1st one, then a good solution can be to schedule the 2nd later after the 1st completed. Maybe after some testing, you can examine how long the first project runs and it is possible to schedule a 2nd project later (with some additional time, just to be sure).


> 3 “It is possible to use more than one destination folder (even on different drives or different computers)”.

It is independent from the screenshot and the HDS version. On the layout, yes, you can only select one target folder, this is normal and expected behaviour to prevent troubles or confusion.
The Help (if you click in that window where to select the source/target folders) shows:

"It is possible to specify two or more destination folders, please separate them by ; (semicolon)."

So if you do not select target folder by the directory selector, but instead enter two target folders manually, eg.

D:\MyBackup;E:\MyBackup

then the project will transfer all files to BOTH of the specified folders.


> 4. I would really like to have a test button for a panic backup.

Thanks for the tip, will be considered in a future version.


> 5. HDSentinel_status.txt which contains the text “File save operation started. If you see this message, the save operation was aborted.”.

Thanks for the tip, yes, maybe that would be better. The idea was to have this flag file there in case of an unfinished backup, eg. aborted by power loss/reset etc. Yes, may be better to add this to prevent confusion if the file checked during the active backup.