My view on technology

Once we have backup our files there will be the occasion we need to recover a file, but, what file to restore? Using this script we can list the contents of all available backup (RAR) files, looking for a given file name. Within the script, we first set local variables, after that, we find the fin the backup directory and every directory within; each inner directory represents a backup day. This is easy task because the backup directory has a fixed name and a DIR command gives us the internal directories FOR /F "usebackq delims==" %%i IN (`dir /oe-n/b/ad %backupDir%`) do ( For each directory, we find the containing RAR files, again a DIR command helps us with it. FOR /F "usebackq delims==" %%x IN (`dir "%backupDir%\%%i\*.rar" /oen/b`) do ( The format of RAR files, when they are split in several archives is: <main RAR name>[.part<consecutive number>].rar For example, for a single file: temp.rar First file of a sequence: temp.part1.rar In cas...

For the easiest use and development, the backup should take all directories of the disk and then try to backup their contents. Depending of the backup type, it will backup all information or only those files updated since last backup. In Windows is easy to know which files were updated, it just take us to review the file’s attributes and find if it has the Archive file attribute active. For example, the attributes for the file autoexec.bat C:\>attrib autoexec.bat A C:\autoexec.bat Once we have backed up a file we will need to reset the Archive attribute, but, a s I mention earlier, the WinRAR tool help us in the process. If we set the proper attributes to WinRAR , it will compress only files ready to archive and at the end it will also reset that attribute. At the end, the backup script needs to set the proper parameters and then call WinRAR to do the job. Part of the required setting is to store each backup set in a separate directory to avoid overwriting the previ...

This script prepares the required variables for the backup operation, this file is optional for the process, if it does not exist, the process will use default values. But if it does exist, it needs to be correctly configured. The configuration file is only called by other scripts; it has no use to be called directly There are few variables to set: Path where RAR.exe is stored set rarPath=C:\Program Files\WinRAR Drive to backup set backupDrive=D:\ Drive to sotre restored files set restoreDrive=D:\ Path where source LST files will be taken in a restore process set sourceFilesDir= Max size for rar files, specify KB set maxRARSize=1000000 Comma separated list of directories to skip, up to 100 exceptions set exceptions=,Temp,Oracle,app,

Not long ago I was reviewing [and cleaning] my files from my PC, in the process I review the files and move them to another location supposedly easiest to remember and access. About a month after the process and after updating all my backups I realize I lost about 1GB of information form an old project. It might not been a big issue because it was more than 2 years old information but it was a lost after all. A couple of months later I was working in a presentation for a project that has daily changes. One day I tried to go back a couple of versions but I was unable to get the one I want. At that time, and still now, my versioning was a number at the end of the file’s name, but it is not a reliable process. I came to the conclusion that I needed a sort of daily incremental backup process, to keep track of my files. I started reviewing backup software but besides the cost, most of them requires an external device, installation and are like black boxes for end users. As I like challe...

I’ve just saw an interesting interview that HBR Video Idea Cast made to Marshall Goldsmith , in case you haven’t heard about him, he is the author of the book What Got You Here Won't Get You There ( here the link to Amazon ) and a blogger within HBR site During the interview, Mr. Goldsmith speaks about leaders’ characteristics which have remain during time and other which have change and might disappear in the future. Also, he talks about some strategies to influence our bosses and peers. Despite the fact the interview is kind old, from June 2008, the spoken topics are important and currently relevant. I think this is a great interview which need to be reviewed by those who currently are or want to be better leaders. Here you can have the video , the file is an MP4 of 92MB length. There are other interesting interviews made by HBR, you can find the RSS feed for the Video Idea Cast here . You can also subscribe to the feed using an iTunes University link

I’m subscribe to a Discovery Channel Podcast named “FRIDAY NEWS FEEDBAG”, in a recent program they talked about multitasking in humans , the talk included an interview to a scientist explaining the topic. Basically we cannot multitask activities that use the same part of the brain, mainly we are switching activities. As far as I can explain, we can only multitask things that we do almost automatically, let’s say walk and breathe at the same time. You can find the post of the podcast here . If you are interested in he audio, here is it . Here the RSS feed .

Recently, I started listening to the HBR IdeaCast’s Podcast. It is really a good source of references and ideas. On its format, they choose a topic and then developed using interviews and author insights. As far as all the episodes I have already listen I’m too satisfied with the content. In case you want to review the audios, this is the link: http://blogs.hbr.org/ideacast/