jaBuT - a flexible back-up and sync program

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siegfried
Posts: 24
Joined: Wed Sep 02, 2015 11:05 am

Re: jaBuT - a flexible back-up and sync program

#151 Post by siegfried »

Great work Mr. Linden! 8)

It seems work fine: I'll test more in the weekend with a 7z "exact compress" archive of 60GB data :mrgreen:


Thank you once again.

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jabuTBackup
Posts: 138
Joined: Tue Mar 29, 2016 6:56 am

Re: jaBuT - a flexible back-up and sync program

#152 Post by jabuTBackup »

Hello everyone,

due to some major changes I am thinking about to implement I wanted to ask here a simple question:
- which view type do you use in general?

1) big icons
2) small icons
3) list
4) "full" details

My thoughts are to remove big icons (1), small icons (2) and list (3).
Doing this changes I could exchange the component which displays the profile list with a new, kind of better one.

What do you think this?
You do not need to answer to this topic - You can use a STRAWPOLL here: http://www.strawpoll.me/13204174

I appreciate any feedback =)

P.S. just ignore the mess in my profile list :D
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Hoggy
Posts: 10
Joined: Sun Jun 25, 2017 2:53 am

Re: jaBuT - a flexible back-up and sync program

#153 Post by Hoggy »

Hi, I've been testing out this program..
I'm coming from Cobian Backup.. It runs fine, but is no longer being developed since ~2013, and it's compression codecs (only lzma(1), PPmd) are getting a little stale. And its lzma is slow, even at fastest setting.

I second the idea a few posts back about adding more compression options.. It's the sole reason I'd like to find a more sophisticated replacement.

And on that note I'm hoping you could add support for the new 7-zip-ZStandard codecs.. Especially Zstandard and Brotli.
More info on it and download can be found here: https://github.com/mcmilk/7-Zip-zstd/releases

A fully compatible (with mainline) 7z.dll can be found in the "Codecs.7z" download. Support for these codecs can also be added to the mainline 7-zip install by placing the "Codecs" folder into the main program directory. Note that the 7z.dll file in the main directory of 7-zip-ZS install isn't directly compatible - he had to change something (GUID?), otherwise his version didn't work when installed along side the mainline version.

Zstandard, especially, is an AMAZING codec I've recently discovered! It's lightning fast and almost near lzma2 compression levels for it's speed. It's considered stable for production environments, and is used in production at a little company called "Facebook". Perhaps you heard of it.. ;) It has a BSD license.

And Brotli can sometimes produce significantly smaller archives than lzma2, depending on the data set - although it can be super slow at the higher levels, so one will want to test beforehand if it's worth it or not. I think Brotli is in production at Google, if I'm not mistaken.
As far as the other codecs, after testing I don't understand what they would be ideal for, so they're not as interesting to me. Although it's very nice to have more options for people that might find a use for their specific qualties..


And let's face it - people who know about and use 7-zip generally will know a bit more about compression (&settings). :) And they would be added to the 'Advanced' section anyways.

So.. I vote for many more options here - and maybe even allow for entering custom switches manually. And if your program

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jabuTBackup
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Re: jaBuT - a flexible back-up and sync program

#154 Post by jabuTBackup »

Hello Hoggy and thank you very much for your feedback!

Unfortunately I am not using C or C++ and the compression library I am currently using does not support broti or zstd right now.
Implementing these would be possible, I'm sure. But sadly it would take a very very long time at the current state.
Sadly adding switches isn't possible, too.
All options you can currently use are options the library offers. I can just hope there will be more one day.

I'm sorry and thank you again.

Zimmy
Posts: 9
Joined: Sat Apr 22, 2017 6:44 am

Re: jaBuT - a flexible back-up and sync program

#155 Post by Zimmy »

Hi Michael,

I was wondering if you might consider either changing the current behavior in respect to volume labels or adding an additional option. Currently, the program simply prevents a profile from running if the specified volume label does not match the volume label of the source/destination. It would be useful if source/destination/versions directory could instead be identified based on volume label. This is a more common use of volume labels in other backup programs.

Hoggy
Posts: 10
Joined: Sun Jun 25, 2017 2:53 am

Re: jaBuT - a flexible back-up and sync program

#156 Post by Hoggy »

jabut-backup wrote: Unfortunately I am not using C or C++ and the compression library I am currently using does not support broti or zstd right now.
I thought I remember you saying you use 7z.dll.. The 7z.dll in the Codecs archive at that site is directly compatible - you wouldn't need to change anything else for it to still work as it currently does. And I'm not sure how you're calling it, but all the command line switches would remain the same as well. (The main one I would really be interested in is Zstandard for lightning-quick, yet very efficiently compressed backups.)

So if you were to call it from a command line, the ONLY 2 switches that would ever need to be changed in order to support ZStandard, at maximum compression for instance, would be:
From: -m0=lzma2 -mx=9
To: -m0=Zstd -mx=22

Everything else is 1-to-1 compatible. Of course, I'm coming from a non-programmer point of view here, and it doesn't look like you're calling it from a command line - so I have no idea if the regular switches still pertain to 7z.dll 'library calls' or whatever that would be called.


... If it's still not possible at this time, no need to respond.. I've been pestering some other programs to support [7-zip] Zstandard as well - without much luck, I admit. :lol: At least jaBuT supports lzma2 though - that's a big step up from the lzma(1) of Cobian Backup.. And something I haven't yet seen in many of the other backup programs I've been checking out - which is why I'm gravitating towards jaBuT as a replacement. (Pointed out to me on the 7zip forum.)

As and aside though, just for your own separate use - you might want to install 7-zip-Zstandard yourself (It can be installed right along side of the mainline version). When trying out the Zstd compression at the various levels, I can almost assure you that your jaw will drop. :shock: I otherwise wouldn't normally get excited about such things, but wow... :mrgreen:

Anyhow, thanks for listening!

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jabuTBackup
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Re: jaBuT - a flexible back-up and sync program

#157 Post by jabuTBackup »

So if you were to call it from a command line, the ONLY 2 switches that would ever need to be changed in order to support ZStandard, at maximum compression for instance, would be (...)
Would be very nice if it would work like this. Unfortunately it's not.
But I'll have a look anyways into the libraries to see if I can manipulate something to use the other 7z.dll file. Let's hope the library is not too complicated :P
(...) which is why I'm gravitating towards jaBuT as a replacement.
That pleases me very much to read this. I'm happy you like this software.
I try to release updates as fast as possible. I think I will continue until I'm retired :P (next one by the way will be released very soon).
As and aside though, just for your own separate use - you might want to install 7-zip-Zstandard yourself
I will give it a try. Since about 13 years I'm a fan of WinRar but I think it's time to change!
Anyhow, thanks for listening!
You are welcome.

...

I've done some tests and unfortunately the modified (unofficial) 7z dll from mcmilk is not compatible with my library which is calling the dll file.
All I can do now is waiting for an official implementation by Igor Pavlov.

Hoggy
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Re: jaBuT - a flexible back-up and sync program

#158 Post by Hoggy »

jabut-backup wrote:I've done some tests and unfortunately the modified (unofficial) 7z dll from mcmilk is not compatible with my library which is calling the dll file.
All I can do now is waiting for an official implementation by Igor Pavlov.
Make sure you're using the 7z.dll file from the "Codecs.7z" archive.. The one in the program directory isn't the compatible one.

I did test swapping that dll in jaBuT, and you're right - it didn't work that way. It did work that way with Directory Opus though, to navigate inside like normal directories -- in fact, he added that 'compatible' 7z.dll to the Codecs archive after I got a hold of him and told him the regular one from the program directory wasn't working with Directory Opus at all.
Sooo... It must all depend on how it's being called/used, I guess.. Dunno.. I'm not a programmer. :)

Well, it was worth a try, for those use cases that call for very frequent and quick backups. Unfortunately, from what I gather, it doesn't seem like Igor wants to add any more codecs to the mainline version at this time.

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webfork
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Re: jaBuT - a flexible back-up and sync program

#159 Post by webfork »

Hoggy wrote:And on that note I'm hoping you could add support for the new 7-zip-ZStandard codecs.. Especially Zstandard and Brotli. More info on it and download can be found here: https://github.com/mcmilk/7-Zip-zstd/releases
I get that you're excited about some of the new compression tools out there and that's cool. I'm also very interested in this topic.

Those tools do look really cool, but standards adoption is a slow and difficult process. It hasn't been out for more than a year, doesn't yet have wide adoption, doesn't have a variety of decompression tools, and it's status across platforms is unclear. I note this because, for a backup program like jaBuT, I think most users #1 concern is stability, reliability, and easy access to their data in the event of an emergency.

siegfried
Posts: 24
Joined: Wed Sep 02, 2015 11:05 am

Re: jaBuT - a flexible back-up and sync program

#160 Post by siegfried »

webfork wrote:I note this because, for a backup program like jaBuT, I think most users #1 concern is stability, reliability, and easy access to their data in the event of an emergency.
I totally agree! 8)

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lintalist
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Re: jaBuT - a flexible back-up and sync program

#161 Post by lintalist »

@jabut-backup just a wild idea - perhaps it wouldn't be too much work to add a new "backup" option by making jabut some sort of preprocessor:

- let jabut create a file list of all the files that need to be backed up and let the user save that into a text file to a predefined location, say c:\mybackupjobs\jb-file-list.txt
- the file list would simply have one full file path per line "c:\mydata\file1.doc"
- after jabut has saved the file it runs a predefined command, in most cases this will be a batch file or perhaps people will write a VB script, powershell, AutoHotkey etc.

This will allow the user to create their own preferred "tool" to do the backups. A file list as above could be used by many cmd line archive tools, so basically you let the user decide what to do with the files that need to be copied.

Might not be perfect but it does give people a way to meet very specific demands while most users will be happy with the current backup options.

Just a thought.

Edit: this post made me an R3 8)

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jabuTBackup
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Re: jaBuT - a flexible back-up and sync program

#162 Post by jabuTBackup »

Hey lintalist,

so, the kind of mode you are talking about would just create a list of files which should be processed and THEN after the file list has been created/saved a user defined command would be executed?

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lintalist
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Re: jaBuT - a flexible back-up and sync program

#163 Post by lintalist »

Yes, exactly. So after jabut saves the list it could start for example "zipit.cmd" which would look like this

Code: Select all

7z a -r -tzip lintalist-backup.zip @jabut-list-file.txt

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jabuTBackup
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Re: jaBuT - a flexible back-up and sync program

#164 Post by jabuTBackup »

Maybe an idea:
I could implement a new option that the file list gets created.
A new checkbox (or something else) would indicate the user that the profile will not process any data but it will create and save the file list to the destination directory.

For the user defined command the user could use
> Profile Settings > Advanced profile options > Execute programs > "Run the following application after the profile run".
I would add some kind of "link" so the user instantly knows where to add the script.

Would this be a solution?

Hoggy
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Joined: Sun Jun 25, 2017 2:53 am

Re: jaBuT - a flexible back-up and sync program

#165 Post by Hoggy »

jabuTBackup wrote: For the user defined command the user could use
> Profile Settings > Advanced profile options > Execute programs > "Run the following application after the profile run".
I would add some kind of "link" so the user instantly knows where to add the script.

Would this be a solution?
For this part, maybe take a cue similar to how Directory Opus operates - with using 'tokens'.
For instance, so one could put in that box (since I'm not good with MS-Dos scripting):

Code: Select all

"C:\Program Files\7-Zip-Zstandard\7z.exe" a -r -t7z -m0=Zstd -mx=5 -mqs=on "{destinationpath}\{backupjobname} {date|YYmmdd}-{time|HHmmss} ({backupjobtype}).7z" @{backupjobfileslist}
Where {backupjobtype} would equal something along the lines of: incremental, differential, or full. ... (I still need to understand how jabut names its backup types.)

(FYI - that's how Cobian Backup names the archives it creates. :) )

Maybe something like that is possible?

One question/concern I might have is making sure that the process priority respects what is set in the main program.

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