Disc Archive 95
version 2.12

Copyright 1995-1996, by Pinnacle Micro Inc.
All rights reserved.

Info File
September 19, 1996

FEATURES:
Disc Archive 95 is a Windows 95 and NT 4.0 program designed to archive 
to and restore from the Pinnacle Micro RCD 4x4, RCD5040, RCD5020, 
RCD-1000 (firmware 1.34S or later is required for the RCD-1000),
or compatible JVC WCD and TEAC CD-R drives. It can also restore files 
copied to CD with RCD Archive for Windows 3.1. Archives can also be 
made to any read/write drive, including hard disks, mounted optical 
disks, removable magnetic disks, network drives, or to a single 
floppy (virtually anything that has a drive letter and a compatible 
file system).

Archived files are available for restore to the hard disk very quickly,
since they are stored on a random access device (unlike tape systems). 
The format of our archives are designed to eliminate wasted space 
between files so archives from large hard disks (that have large 
clusters) can be much smaller on the archive disk (even smaller than 
if the files were copied there).

Archive scripts can be made with folder options that allow you to 
archive just the files you desire to save from all your drives and 
partitions, in a single backup operation. Any archive or combination 
of archives from an backup disc can be mounted or merged, for restore 
access. Archives cannot span multiple discs, so each backup disc can 
be independently mounted and accessed for restore.

PROGRAM DESIGN:
The program is a fully 32 bit program, written using the Win32 API
and fully exploits the power and capability of Windows 95. Writes to
disc are done using multiple preemptively scheduled threads that
allows reads from the hard disk and writes to the backup disc at the 
same time. This speeds up the process and greatly reduces CDR buffer 
underruns. If a buffer underrun does occur, the program automatically 
recovers and continues archiving where it left off. Because of this 
capability, the program always starts writing at double speed and only 
switches to single speed if a buffer underrun occurs. If a disc has a
bad track on it (a track that was started but never finished), Disc 
Archive 95 is able to scan past the bad track and write new tracks to 
the disc.

If you are wondering about buffer underrun, ISO-9660 requirements, 
and other typical CD-ROM creation worries, don't. This product is 
designed to eliminate these problems and concerns. It allows mounting 
the published Disc Archive 95 discs on systems with only a SCSI CD-ROM
drive, but only with our software. Disc Archive 95 is designed to
supplement but not replace software for mastering CDs for distribution.
Standard IS0-9660 mastering software is the best way to make discs for
software distribution. Disc Archive 95 is designed to use the same drive
for backup and archiving functions that previously required a separate
drive and slow or unreliable tape media. Due to operating system 
overhead that is minimized by the Disc Archive 95 caches and disc 
format, access speeds to the files on Disc Archive 95 discs are 
comparable to hard disks.

VERSION HISTORY:
2.0: First Windows 95 version
2.1: First version for Windows NT, for TEAC CD-R, and Pinnacle RCD 4X4
2.11: Fixes problem initializing some media on TEAC and RCD 4X4 drives
2.12: CDR writes changed to prevent verification errors

Thank you for using Disc Archive 95!

