I've been using XP backup utility in Accessories to back up Docs & Settings for two years now (to an external HD) and have even successfully restored programs by manually searching for the file I want. But...I now have 19 appended incremental back up folders and searching for a file from say, 1 year ago, takes a lot of time. Is there a free or inexpensive SEARCH utility to search in the BKF folder for a paticular file by name? Commercially, SysTools claims to have such a utility for $89 but that is more than this poor retired 70 yr. old pensioner can afford. Being retired, I can do a lot o manual searches for that price. Does M$ have such a utility? Thanks, David R
"David R Thiessen" <DavidRThiessen@discussions.microsoft.com> said this in news item news:EC434F60-EC2F-472D-A000-5C5993D7E6EC@microsoft.com... > I've been using XP backup utility in Accessories to back up Docs & > Settings > for two years now (to an external HD) and have even successfully restored > programs by manually searching for the file I want. But...I now have 19 > appended incremental back up folders and searching for a file from say, 1 > year ago, takes a lot of time. Is there a free or inexpensive SEARCH > utility > to search in the BKF folder for a paticular file by name? Commercially, > SysTools claims to have such a utility for $89 but that is more than this > poor retired 70 yr. old pensioner can afford. Being retired, I can do a > lot o > manual searches for that price. Does M$ have such a utility? > > Thanks, David R Hello poor retired 70 year old pensioner, After reading your post it took me a while to wipe the tears from my eyes before I could see my keyboard again. I do not know if Microsoft have such a utility but you can perform the search with a Command Line tool like the one I wrote a little while ago. It does not come with a pretty GUI but it works. By the way, I think you're doing yourself a disservice by using ntbackup.exe to back up your files. There are several reasons for this: - It's hard to locate backed up files. - It's tedious to restore them. - The program is no longer included in Windows 7. I suggest you use an ordinary batch file based on robocopy.exe. It gets around each of these problems. The tool I wrote works if your .bkf file is not compressed. Here is how you use it from the Console: cscript //nologo cTextSearch.vbs /s "biography.doc" I would include TextSearch.vbs here if it wasn't for its length (320 lines of solid code). However, if you send your valid EMail address to pegasus_fnlATyahooDOTcom then I will send it to you by EMail. Another poor retired pensioner (66 years old)
On Mon, 11 Jan 2010 08:55:01 -0800, David R Thiessen <DavidRThiessen@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote: > >I've been using XP backup utility in Accessories to back up Docs & Settings >for two years now (to an external HD) and have even successfully restored >programs by manually searching for the file I want. But...I now have 19 >appended incremental back up folders and searching for a file from say, 1 >year ago, takes a lot of time. Is there a free or inexpensive SEARCH utility >to search in the BKF folder for a paticular file by name? Commercially, >SysTools claims to have such a utility for $89 but that is more than this >poor retired 70 yr. old pensioner can afford. Being retired, I can do a lot o >manual searches for that price. Does M$ have such a utility? > >Thanks, David R AgentRansack ? ( free)
Thanks Pegasus for taking the time to respond. I really appreciate it. I will take your advice to not continue to use ntbackup.exe for backup (which I put on a Western Digital Passport external HD). It was one of two backups that I use. The other backup is that I use PowerDesk Pro 7 to do a one way synchronization of newer and modified files from my computer HD to a 2nd WD Passport. This one is very easy to use XP search and restore by dragging. I've a friend who uses Click-Free backup and is very happy with it and your response has convinced this poor retired pensioner to go in this direction rather rather than buy a utility to search the BKF files. Unlike you, I am not sure that I am computer literate enough to use your software. Thanks again for your response. David -- Thanks, David T "Pegasus [MVP]" wrote: > > > "David R Thiessen" <DavidRThiessen@discussions.microsoft.com> said this in > news item news:EC434F60-EC2F-472D-A000-5C5993D7E6EC@microsoft.com... > > I've been using XP backup utility in Accessories to back up Docs & > > Settings > > for two years now (to an external HD) and have even successfully restored > > programs by manually searching for the file I want. But...I now have 19 > > appended incremental back up folders and searching for a file from say, 1 > > year ago, takes a lot of time. Is there a free or inexpensive SEARCH > > utility > > to search in the BKF folder for a paticular file by name? Commercially, > > SysTools claims to have such a utility for $89 but that is more than this > > poor retired 70 yr. old pensioner can afford. Being retired, I can do a > > lot o > > manual searches for that price. Does M$ have such a utility? > > > > Thanks, David R > > Hello poor retired 70 year old pensioner, > > After reading your post it took me a while to wipe the tears from my eyes > before I could see my keyboard again. > > I do not know if Microsoft have such a utility but you can perform the > search with a Command Line tool like the one I wrote a little while ago. It > does not come with a pretty GUI but it works. By the way, I think you're > doing yourself a disservice by using ntbackup.exe to back up your files. > There are several reasons for this: > - It's hard to locate backed up files. > - It's tedious to restore them. > - The program is no longer included in Windows 7. > I suggest you use an ordinary batch file based on robocopy.exe. It gets > around each of these problems. > > The tool I wrote works if your .bkf file is not compressed. Here is how you > use it from the Console: > > cscript //nologo cTextSearch.vbs /s "biography.doc" > > I would include TextSearch.vbs here if it wasn't for its length (320 lines > of solid code). However, if you send your valid EMail address to > pegasus_fnlATyahooDOTcom then I will send it to you by EMail. > > Another poor retired pensioner (66 years old) > > . >
Thanks Jim for taking the time to respond. I really appreciate it. I Googled AgentRansack and it looks interesting but I have not had time to investigate whether or not it works with BKF files. -- Thanks, David T "Jim" wrote: > On Mon, 11 Jan 2010 08:55:01 -0800, David R Thiessen > <DavidRThiessen@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote: > > > > >I've been using XP backup utility in Accessories to back up Docs & Settings > >for two years now (to an external HD) and have even successfully restored > >programs by manually searching for the file I want. But...I now have 19 > >appended incremental back up folders and searching for a file from say, 1 > >year ago, takes a lot of time. Is there a free or inexpensive SEARCH utility > >to search in the BKF folder for a paticular file by name? Commercially, > >SysTools claims to have such a utility for $89 but that is more than this > >poor retired 70 yr. old pensioner can afford. Being retired, I can do a lot o > >manual searches for that price. Does M$ have such a utility? > > > >Thanks, David R > > AgentRansack ? ( free) > . >
On Thu, 14 Jan 2010 07:55:01 -0800, David R Thiessen <DavidRThiessen@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote: >Thanks Jim for taking the time to respond. I really appreciate it. I >Googled AgentRansack and it looks interesting but I have not had time to >investigate whether or not it works with BKF files. Also Super Finder XT .