BackMaster README File.
October 7, 1993.

This file contains information about specific problems you may
encounter or specific system configurations.


Adaptec controllers:
     If you have an Adaptec Busmaster controller, the following
     CONFIG.SYS setting is suggested:

     BASEDEV=AHA154X.ADD /V /A:0 /BON:4 /A:0 /BOFF:12

     /V displays messages during bootup.  /A:0 specifies the
     first of four possible adapters, and is necessary even if
     only one adapter is installed.  /BON:4 sets the bus on time
     to 4 microseconds. /BOFF:12 sets the bus off time to 12
     microseconds.  Most of this information may be found in the
     Command Reference under BASEDEV.  The above BASEDEV setting
     gives the floppy controller enough time on the bus to
     transfer enough data (by DMA) to keep the tape moving.

     Special thanks to Beta Tester Jay Vanderbilt for this
     information.


Bus timing:
     BackMaster may not work correctly if your system bus timing
     is set higher than 8 MHZ.  Tape drives are very sensitive to
     hardware timing and an abnormal bus speed may result in
     operational problems or errors reported by BackMaster.


FTDVR.SYS device driver conflicts:
     The BackMaster device driver, FTDVR.SYS, has conflicts with
     the Multimedia Presentation Manager (MMPM) drivers and some
     cdrom device drivers.  The driver conflicts may cause an
     "Unable to open driver" error message or an OS/2 TRAP 000D. 
     To avoid the driver conflicts, make sure that FTDVR.SYS is
     loaded in CONFIG.SYS after the cdrom drivers, but before the
     MMPM drivers.

          Note:  We recommend locating FTDVR.SYS immediately
          following the IFS= statement (if present) in
          CONFIG.SYS.  However, some drivers (such as cdrom
          drivers) may have to be loaded before our driver.  Some
          experimentation on your part may be required to find
          the optimal location for FTDVR.SYS.

     The BackMaster installation program, BMINST, will place the
     FTDVR.SYS in the correct location in CONFIG.SYS for most
     machines.  The driver conflicts are mentioned here for the
     case of a manual installation or a driver conflict with
     specific systems.


Low memory:
     BackMaster may not work correctly on machines with less than
     8 MB of memory.  Machines with 8 MB of memory that have
     network software loaded may also fall into this category. 
     In the case of a low memory machine, BackMaster will report
     the error:  "Unable to load device driver".  Note:  This
     problem may be resolved in future versions of BackMaster or
     OS/2.


Older tape drives (Hard Select):
     The list of tape drives in the "Configuration Options"
     dialog refer to Soft Select tape drives (most of the newer
     tape drives are Soft Select), and will not correctly select
     the older Hard Select type of tape drive.  If you have a
     Hard Select tape drive, select the "Generic QIC 40/80" tape
     drive from the "Configuration Options" list.  Refer to the
     documentation that came with your tape drive to determine
     which type of tape drive (Hard Select or Soft Select) you
     have.  In general, Hard Select drives may have jumpers to
     select the drive (A or B) and will only function as the A or
     B device, but not as a third floppy device.


PS/2 support:
     IBM PS/2 systems are not currently supported under version
     1.0 of BackMaster.  PS/2 support will be added in the next
     release of BackMaster.


Stacker:
     If FTDVR.SYS resides on a stacked volume, the
     DEVICE=FTDVR.SYS statement should be placed after the
     stacker device drivers.


Time critical:
     During normal tape drive operations, BackMaster must respond
     to the tape drive signals within a certain amount of time,
     or the tape drive may start to behave unpredictably, causing
     BackMaster to abort the current tape operation.  Active DOS
     and Windows sessions may deny BackMaster the CPU time needed
     to respond quickly to tape drive signals.  If BackMaster
     aborts in the middle of a tape operation, make sure that the
     "Time Critical" check box in the "Configuration Options"
     dialog is checked before retrying the tape operation.  Time
     critical will ensure that BackMaster is given enough CPU
     time to respond quickly to the tape drive requests.


Version of OS/2:
     BackMaster is designed for OS/2 versions 2.1 and above.  It
     may be used with OS/2 2.0, but unexpected crashes may occur,
     especially during the file selection process.  If you must
     use BackMaster with OS/2 2.0, we suggest that you avoid
     extensive opening and closing of directory folders during
     the file selection process.


Write errors:
     Write errors during a backup are fatal.  If BackMaster
     detects a write error, it will report the error and abort
     the backup.  It will be necessary to reformat the tape
     before making further backups, since version 1.0 of
     BackMaster will not update the bad sector map if bad sectors
     are found during a backup.  Future versions of BackMaster
     will update the bad sector map during backup.
