Virus Scan for AJC Active Backup

Van Swofford This is a great piece of software! I don't write code without it as my first line of defense. I also use the other AJC products, and can't recommend anything more highly.

Feb 25 2008 at 9:51am Copy Link

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adrian williams I'll second that. I installed it at an accountants and it saved them a lot of emarassment when one of their hard drives failed - 6 months worth of work recovered - thanks to ajc backup !
This is a must-have piece of software, plus great support.

Mar 1 2008 at 8:36pm Copy Link

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Kevin P This is a great product. I've been using it for a couple of years now and it has saved me more than once. It sits unobtrusively in the task tray, quietly backing up all my important files as they change. Note that only changes (deltas) are backed up, so it is very low bandwidth. The author is very responsive to support questions and feature suggestions. Highly recommended.

Mar 2 2008 at 4:22am Copy Link

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Michalush ~007~ I've installed the software a couple days ago to try before I buy. I like it a lot so far (being a backup freak, LOL). Don't expect a sexy interface, but do expect a great program that backs up in REAL-TIME the file types you defined in the folders you selected and archives their various versions. The versioning feature is great. I wish I could backup to multiple locations though (online + on my hard drive), maybe in future releases? If you want to compare to similar software check out this article: http://www.pcworld.com/ar...ticle.html

Mar 2 2008 at 10:08am Copy Link

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Jim Prior Thanks AJC, I've been using Active Backup for several years, on several generations of computers, both at work and at home. Whenever I setup a new PC or laptop, Active Backup is without fail one of the first items to be installed.

Mar 2 2008 at 7:05pm Copy Link

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Dennis Meurer This is not a Unicode friendly program and will not archive files with Unicode characters in the names such as Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Hebrew and other languages that don't use the Roman Alphabet.

Mar 3 2008 at 2:50am Copy Link

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No Name I've been using Keepsafe for a while (thank God I've never needed it), but at this price, I'll give this one a try...

Mar 3 2008 at 10:04am Copy Link

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Bradley MacDonald I purchased this product over a year ago. Had great support from the author. Very satisfied with it. So much that I offer it at a discount to my own customers (I am a shareware author myself).
For the price - just one use and it pays for itself. I have used it a number of times to go back and get a previous version of a file. It is so easy to use - powerful and provides such a great sevice - that I recommend it to all my friends and co workers.

Bradley MacDonald

Aug 14 2009 at 3:27am Copy Link

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Dan B 1992 called, it wants it's icons back :) This is a great piece of software, but those 2 color dithered icons make my eyes hurt.

Aug 14 2009 at 8:18am Copy Link

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Peter pereh For which file types does the 'show file differences' work? I made some annotations in a pdf-file and got a hex-listing in return. For doc it works fine.

Aug 14 2009 at 8:43am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth The built in Diff tool to show the differences between files can work with any file that contains plain text and also Microsoft Word files. It also has a binary comparison mode.

AJC Software - Aug 16 2009 at 4:59am Copy Link

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Nick Katz Is this every updated? I bought this in May 2007 and this looks like it's the same version.

Aug 18 2009 at 4:59pm Copy Link

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Peter pereh Seems to be a very good application, but not developed any further. The last version is from June 2007.

Aug 18 2009 at 11:35pm Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth We are working to update our software to give it a more modern look as can be seen from the new AJC Diff v2 on our web site. Our priorities of course must be with reliability and integrity first before looks.

AJC Software - Aug 18 2009 at 11:46pm Copy Link

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Adrian Williams In fairness to Andrew, I contacted him about AJC Directory synchroniser (the FTP side of it) and my comments were taken on board & a software update was made available quite quickly. I've used AJC backup for years now and I can't think of any any significant functional changes so I'm not concerned that updates haven't been made. I'd rather use proven software than buggy revsions.
I've recommended AJC backup to several clients and they've bought the software. It does exactly what it's supposed to do, nothing more, nothing less.

Aug 19 2009 at 11:14am Copy Link

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Bob S I currently use SugarSync online backup, which I believe uses Diff and keeps previous versions as well. SugarSync seems to offer the same backup capability as ActiveBackup, only the backup is stored online.

Even though there appears to be some overlap, I'm still considering Active Backup as I think it might be good to have a parallel version on my laptop.

I'd welcome any thoughts from the developer or others on these two backup strategies and solutions. Are they redundant? or complementary? overkill? etc.

Thank you.

Aug 19 2009 at 7:07pm Copy Link

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Van Swofford I agree with Adrian. This is a great product, does what it's supposed to do and does it reliably. The fact that there haven't been any updates recently is a testament to the fact that it doesn't need any updates. I set it up years ago, and never have to fool with it unless I need to bring back a file. Good stuff!

Aug 20 2009 at 3:14am Copy Link

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Adrian Williams Bob, AJC Backup with the free 2GB storage from Dropbox gives you the best of both worlds, excellent backup in real time plus offline storage. Sugarsync is pretty much the same as dropbox i believe. I suggest you give AJC a try before tomorrow to see how useful they are together. As I've said elsewhere, AJC backup saved an accountants a great deal of work when one of their hard drives failed. 6 months worth of work recovered. That was before dropbox was available to provide secure offline storage as further peace of mind.
AJC backup stores files in a compressed format and the recovery features are very flexible, allowing you to recover an earlier version to a different folder etc.
My setup allows ajc backup to backup to a NAS drive and this folder is backed up using dropbox. This gives me local and offline backup. Ive experienced occasional problems with dropbox and this is verified on their forums. It depends on certain type of files and whether they're open etc. Look back on the posts for Roboform and this confirms it. The files that ajc backup generates have never been a problem since they're generated then shut, allowing dropbox to upload them. If you rely just on dropbox or Sugarsync you may find that the file you need may not be there when it comes to the crunch. For such a low price it's worth including AJC backup in your arsenal of PC tools.
One final thought - AJC backup backs up only the file that's changed in real time rather than other backup programs that create a zipped file of the whole folder, whether its full, differential or otherwise. The demand on the PC system is very small.

Aug 20 2009 at 4:32am Copy Link

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Dan B @Bob: I use SugarSync, but I would never rely on it for a backup. Because it does a sync and not a backup, it is routinely writing over the local copies of your files. All it would take is one little bug in the SugarSync server to lose your data on the server and then push garbage files down to your local copy(s). So I use SugarSync to sync, and have everything backed up with IDrive.com as well (where I have to initiate a restore). I'm still considering getting AJC because it grabs every revision of my code and makes it very easy to quickly see the differences between versions. Both SugarSync and IDrive keep a very limited number of revisions.

Aug 20 2009 at 4:46am Copy Link

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Michelle . I've been using AJC Active Backup for over a year and it's excellent. I always have some work-in-progress going in Word, and I feel much safer knowing I have AJC working in the background. The versioning feature saved my butt more than once.
For heavy duty backup I use ShadowProtect (from StorageCraft), it's a great imaging software.
For online backup/sync I use Synplicity at www.syncplicity.com/ . It's similiar to Dropbox, only you don't have to drag the files you want uploaded into one folder. You simply check the folders you want synced/backed up. Synplicity is a very easy program to use and you can choose between 2 plans, 2 GB storage free plan or 50 GB storage for about 9-plus $ per month. I already upgraded to the 50 GB one.

Aug 20 2009 at 2:49pm Copy Link

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Bob S Adrian/Bob - thank you both for your comments. I'm definitely interested in AJC Active Backup, as it seems to complement the online solutions.

Dan, would you mind elaborating on your comment that "SugarSync does a sync and not a backup." I thought I had done due dligence, and selected the online backup solution that best met my requirements. Now I'm concerned that I've overlooked or misunderstood something. I'm unclear on the value of having iDrive in addition to SugarSync.

(I realize this is a little off-topic, but I think anyone considering AJC is probably looking at online solutions as well).

Thank you.

Aug 20 2009 at 3:26pm Copy Link

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Mike B I've tried it out on my current system, which is still running WinXP, and it looks to be a nice backup system. However, I'm thinking I'll likely be moving to Win7 in the not too distant future, and was wondering if you've had an opportunity to determine if AJC Backup is compatible with Win7 (also I'm wondering about x64 compatibility)?

Aug 20 2009 at 6:48pm Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth I have done some initial testing on a early version of Windows 7 and it worked fine. Regarding the future of this product, I have already ported the key parts to .Net (some of which will be in the AJC Sync v3 to be released soon in beta) so expect a nicer looking UI at some point it the future.

AJC Software - Aug 20 2009 at 10:47pm Copy Link

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Mike B Any comments on x64 compatibility (personally, I think the application looks just fine)?

Aug 21 2009 at 2:54am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth I beleive some people are running it on 64bit Windows and I see no reason that it would not work.

AJC Software - Aug 21 2009 at 5:08am Copy Link

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Mark Hill I have installed the trial version on Vista 64-Bit Enterprise. Works well but I needed to turn on Data Execution Prevention (DEP) for AJC Revision Archive as well as AJC Active Backup. I am now off to purchase the full product!

Aug 21 2009 at 7:34am Copy Link

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Mike B Andrew & Mark - thanks for the info. I've received my license file.

Aug 21 2009 at 7:56am Copy Link

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marek jedlinski Two quick questions to existing users (can't find these in feature specs):

1. Can I define an external app as the diff viewer? I.e., if I want to use Beyond Compare to view differences, can I? (I'm guessing maybe not, since the files being compared are not separate physical files?)

2. What are the retention options for archived versions? Do you specify how many revisions you want kept, or are there more sophisticated settings for that?

Aug 21 2009 at 11:15am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth Yes you can specify an alternative diff viewer. The files are extracted for comparison so they are separate at that point.

Yes you can specify how many revisions to keep. Also you can tell it to thin the archive down after a few days. e.g. you might have 10 revisions for a file today because you have saved it 10 times but after a few days you might not want all these revisions so it can consolidate these into one revision per day.

AJC Software - Aug 21 2009 at 11:22am Copy Link

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marek jedlinski Thanks a lot, Andrew. I've just registered and received my license!

Aug 21 2009 at 12:33pm Copy Link

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Frank Stephens AJC Active Backup and FileHamster perform similar functions in different ways. AJC compresses files and stores deltas, FileHamster stores the entire file. FileHamster is far more sophisticated, but can be expensive, depending upon version. The FileHamster developer has lost sight of the overall design, so some of its many features don't work or don't work as expected. Failure is designed into both AJC and FileHamster. AJC doesn't work with Unicode filenames. FileHamster appends a timestamp to filenames, which means it fails on long filenames. FileHamster handles failure better because it logs errors and continues, AJC hangs until a user responds to a prompt. Both hang while building a list of files in the archive. I thought FileHamster was stunningly slow at that, but AJC is even worse. I may just go with an essentially continuous-backup solution.

Feb 25 2010 at 6:11pm Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth To be fair Active Backup may take a while to create the initial archive but you only have to do this once. Then on a day to day basis it is just detecting what files you are working on and backing them up, using very few system resources. If there is an error it does carry on and just logs it on the process list be to resolved.

AJC Software - Feb 25 2010 at 10:08pm Copy Link

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Peter Wilson Didn't try this yet but am extremely happy with History Explorer. Does this one have anything more to offer?

Feb 25 2010 at 11:40pm Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth I hadn't heard of History Explorer but I just went and watched the demo and it doesn't look like it has any kind of file diff. AJC Active Backup has built in Diff so you can see a comparison of what you have changed in each file.

AJC Software - Feb 25 2010 at 11:57pm Copy Link

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Gerard Booth I have just seen the new ribbon interface for the Diff application, do you intend to integrate this into Active Backup.

Feb 26 2010 at 4:03am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth Yes a new version of AJC Active Backup is planned to match the new AJC Diff v2 and AJC Sync v3. You can get a look at AJC Sync v3 by joining the forum at:
www.ajcsoft.com/Forum

AJC Software - Feb 26 2010 at 4:15am Copy Link

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Gerard Booth If I purchase Active Backuo now will I be able to upgrade to the new version when it's released

Feb 26 2010 at 4:24am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth Yes you will be able to upgrade to the new version. The archives will be upgradeable to a newer format and Unicode will also be supported.

AJC Software - Feb 26 2010 at 5:10am Copy Link

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David McCartney Apparently you can't specify a file extension to be backed-up, regardless of its folder location?

BTW, a Forum which requires registration to read is like walling off potential customers.

Feb 26 2010 at 9:11am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth Yes you can specify file patterns that apply to any location. Please contact support if you need some help.

AJC Software - Feb 26 2010 at 9:45am Copy Link

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Adrian Williams Any news on the new version ? (see comments feb 26 2010). I'm using 1.6.1 -Good luck on the sales Andrew - still a great piece of software. I've bought approx 15 licences for various clients.

Oct 24 2010 at 8:17am Copy Link

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Gerard Booth I really liked the look of this software but I am unable to install and try it as my installed antivirus software (Kaspersky) claims it is infected with Worm.P2P.generic. This is more than likely a false warning by Kaspersky, but I would like to be sure.

Oct 25 2010 at 8:05am Copy Link

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Adrian Williams I too use Kaspersy and got the warning. I've checked the software with Eset, Bitdefender with no alarms. I've used AJC active backup for years with no problems. Maybe Andrew can comment. hope this reassures you Gerard.

Oct 25 2010 at 8:14am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth Hi Gerard, Just to reassure you, there are no viruses in our software. Sometimes the licensing components we use may cause a false positive.

AJC Software - Oct 25 2010 at 8:27am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth Hi Adrian, The new version is coming along well and we will be finishing the UI soon to match the UI in AJC Sync v3 (that users are very happy with).

AJC Software - Oct 25 2010 at 8:32am Copy Link

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Stephane M Hi,
Is the license per user or per computer?
Also, is it a lifetime license or there are discounts to upgrade to new versions?
Thank you in advance!

Oct 25 2010 at 3:14pm Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth The license is per user / per computer. With one license you can run the software on a max of two computers as long as you are the only person using it and you only run one copy at a time. It is a lifetime license for any v1.x. There may be an upgrade charge if we produce v2.x

AJC Software - Oct 25 2010 at 9:12pm Copy Link

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Michael K hi Folks, I have just bought GoodSync Pro on the Bits Du Jour promotion and now have come across this conversation.

I would very much appreciate knowing what benefit and difference there is between AJC Active Backup and GoodSync Pro.

Having now bought GoodSync, should I also get AJC Active Backup or would that be nuts?

Thanks

Michael

Sep 25 2011 at 12:47am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth GoodSync is synchronization software rather like AJC Sync. AJC Active Backup is a continuous backup solution aimed at your working files e.g. dcouments, spreadsheets, project files, programming files etc. It has a built in revision control system meaning it backs up every version of a file every time you save it but it only needs to save the changes to the file each time so it does not use much space on disk. The idea is that it protects you while you work allowing you to go back to any version of a file and also to use the built in diff tool to see what you have changed in a file. So no it is not nuts to have more than one type of sync/backup solition in use at the same time. For myself I use AJC Active Backup to protect me while I am working so if I make a mistake or get a file corrupted I can go back to an earlier version in the day but I also use AJC Sync to sync the files to another drive for backup.

AJC Software - Sep 25 2011 at 3:40am Copy Link

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Michael K Andrew - many thanks for your detailed explanation - I've downloaded the trial and will see how I get on with it.

Unless I am mistaken, the last revision was around 2 years ago. Is that because you feel the program is complete and no updates or major change are necessary?

Thanks

Michael

Sep 25 2011 at 10:50am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth The software fullfills its task well but we do have plans to overhaul the user interface inline with AJC Sync and update the built in diff tool to match the AJC Diff v2.

AJC Software - Sep 26 2011 at 4:10pm Copy Link

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Chester Connely Does AJC Active Backup save everything, like e-mail, videos, system and program settings, games, and other downloads ect; ?
I need something that will only change what is diffrent to a previous save. I'm new at this PC business and I've blown lots of good $$$ on stuff I can't use.

Can anybody Clue this Wannabe Sorrowful puss about how to find what what I need? Sob! Hey, annybody got a Hankey?

You shure are appreciated! Thanks!

Sep 27 2011 at 11:09am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth It can save anything that you put into a file but is best suited to the smaller files because it backs up almost instantly each time you change a file and so large files like the Outlook .pst file would be better backed up on a regular schedule with a product like AJC Sync.

AJC Software - Sep 27 2011 at 12:02pm Copy Link

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Michael K Hi Andrew,
Thanks for your response concerning your plans to update the program. Will the purchasers of the current version be updated free of charge when you release it?

Thanks

Michael

Sep 27 2011 at 1:40pm Copy Link

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Michael K Andrew,
Sorry for not including this in my prior post but approximately when do you expect the program update to be released?

Thanks

Michael

Sep 27 2011 at 1:42pm Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth Yes people who have recently purchased this version will be able to get the new version free of charge. We don't have a time scale for the new version release as yet.

AJC Software - Sep 27 2011 at 2:45pm Copy Link

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Glen Hilton RE Michael K
I use both and each can be tailored to suit different programs and personal priorities. Each has its own pros and cons though both are worthwhile and are certainly cheap insurance..

Andrew, it would be nice to see some updates-improvements in AJC Backup. I'm sure some of the registered user feedback and suggestions go back several years now so there's probably a few of us that keep hoping that V2 may also contain some other tweaks and features rather than just bringing the interface in line with AJC Sync and updating the internal diff tool. Other than a windows 7 update it looks like closer to 4 and a half years that anything noteworthy has been added. "No time scale for the new release". That's a concern for potential customers and existing customers alike. Otherwise, AJC Backup is a straightforward and useful App that also integrates nicely with other comparison programs.

Sep 27 2011 at 6:10pm Copy Link

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VLM Will this product work well with less well known products, such as Adobe FrameMaker? Like most products, FM has its own internal file format ... how could AJC Active Backup work in a scenario such as this?

Sep 28 2011 at 7:35am Copy Link

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Michael K I beginning to be somewhat concerned how well this software is being supported and developed given that even on it's promotion day, the developer has not responded to Glen's post.from yesterday.

These conversations form an important part of the decision making process for me and i am heavily influenced by developer's' responses and by the lack of them as well.

Thanks

Michael

Sep 28 2011 at 8:12am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth All file formats can be handled by the backup because the backup process just sees the file as a binary file and backs up the bits that have changed. Where file formats are more important is if you use the diff tool to compare what has changed. There is a binary diff mode that will work for small files but the most useful view is the text compare which will work on any files that contain text and MS Word documents.

AJC Software - Sep 28 2011 at 8:37am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth The reason for the lack of release timescale on this product is that most customers are happy with most of the functionality. If you have further ideas of features you would like then please contact support so that we can prioritise these.

AJC Software - Sep 28 2011 at 8:42am Copy Link

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Bradley MacDonald As a note - I have been a VERY happy customer for a few years now. This is a very stable application that does exactly what it says it does.
I develop my own software - and use this in addition to source tools like SVN. It has saved my bacon on more than a few occassions. Being able to go back one save is a huge time saver for me when I make a simple mistake. Being able to compare and see what changes I have made over the last few days or months is great.
For the price if you are changing your documents (or source code) on a regular basis - this is a steal of a deal.

G. Bradley MacDonald

Sep 28 2011 at 8:58am Copy Link

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Merle One Hi,

I am a long time user of AJC Active Backup and I really recommend it. I just hope it doesn't get ".NET'd" as some other products because it's just perfect as it is now (and I don't like .NET, for many reasons I will not detail here)

It has saved me quite often when editing big excel files or other office documents. Before doing a risky edit, I just click on save and I now I can revert easily to this version, whatever happens next. File renaming is well handled, just to mention this important detail.

I also use it to monitor config files of various software so that when I change the configuration, I can easily revert to a previous one without restoring the whole system.

Sep 28 2011 at 9:06am Copy Link

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VLM Thanks for the great and informative reviews, Bradley and Merle.

Just to be clear, the website says "AJC Active Backup sits silently in the status bar on your PC and archives files as you work with them. Each time you change a file and close it a copy is archived."

But if I understand you correctly, the program actually creates an incremental binary backup on every save, not just on close ... is this correct? Or perhaps something in between/configurable/selectable?

Thanks!

Sep 28 2011 at 9:36am Copy Link

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VLM Also, I notice that this app interacts with Win Explorer. Does it support any alternate file explorers, like Directory Opus, Total Commander, etc?

Sep 28 2011 at 9:43am Copy Link

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VLM FOR THE DEVELOPER: On the page

http://www.ajcsoft.com/ac...atures.htm

the link called "here" (Read about the ... revision control system) is broken. So is the link for "Versions", in the list on the left side of the window.

Sep 28 2011 at 9:43am Copy Link

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Michael K @ Merle, Your description of some of the ways you use AJC Backup is most helpful.

Thanks

Michael

Sep 28 2011 at 9:51am Copy Link

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Bradley MacDonald OK- just to clarify how I use the application. I have it installed and tell it to monitor multiple directories - where I store my programming source files, word documents, excell, web site HTML files, etc.
Then - whenever I change those files (it does not matter what program I use to change them) - it automatically creates a 'version' in the archive. For the source files (ie text) - it creates a diff file and only stores that. If it is something like an image file - then it stores the whole file. For the source files - I have one that has over 300 versions - and it is only about 10% larger than the source file itself. This would not be the same for image files (unless the author has somehow found a way to do this).

When I am programming - I do a Subversion check in (source code control) each day. This is a great way of backing up my work each day - and it also allows me to work on a project with others. However, during the day if something goes wrong with my source code or document - I am screwed because I could lose a days work right there. But because I have AJC Active Backup running on the machine - EVERY time I save a file - it is versioned!! This means that if I have been working all day on a program file - and at 4pm I screw something up badly - I don't have to go back to the check out from Subversion I did first thing in the morning - I can go back 5 minutes to my last save of the file. This SAVES me HUGE amounts of TIME!!!
I cannot say this enough... If you are programming - or working on documents, text files,etc - where you are making a large number of changes - Then you should have this tool!!!! $18 for peace of mind is a no brainer...

Bradley MacDonald

Sep 28 2011 at 10:16am Copy Link

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Michael K @ Bradley, many thanks too for a most helpful run through of how you also use the software.

These contributions are much appreciated.

thanks

Michael

Sep 28 2011 at 10:39am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth Thanks Bradley for your nice comments. Actually for binary files e.g. images it does also just store the changes to the file. If you have edited an image though it may change a lot of the binary content and so it may seem that the whole thing has been backed up again.

AJC Software - Sep 28 2011 at 10:40am Copy Link

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Merle One @The Presiding...

Yes, it's selectable : for some files you may chose to archive just after the save or after the close, but it depends on the application. With office, save is ok, with some others, you must wait for the file to close. For some other apps like UltraRecall, you can use "save" but since the file is updated even when nothing changes, you add load to your system, so it's better in that case to wait for the file to be closed.
This option is accessible through the "Backup open files" option, and you select which file types are to be backup'd

Sep 28 2011 at 11:12am Copy Link

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VLM Thanks Merle! Just a reminder about this question:

Also, I notice that this app interacts with Win Explorer. Does it support any alternate file explorers, like Directory Opus, Total Commander, etc?

Sep 28 2011 at 11:29am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth It does not interact with Win Explorer directly but writes file attributes into the registry that Win Explorer picks up. If these other apps use these settings then maybe. I suggest you download the free trial and have a go.

AJC Software - Sep 28 2011 at 11:33am Copy Link

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VLM Thanks very much, Andrew. I'm still feeling a bit confused on this point. Web site says:

"In the normal windows file explorer etc you will now have a new option if you right click on a file. This lets you access the associated archive for the file so that you can see what changes have been made and undo changes etc."

Is it not correct to say that some direct support is needed to make the same right-click functionality appear in another application such as DOpus, TotalCommander, or the like? I'm not a programmer, so I realize that I could be way off here. :)

Sep 28 2011 at 11:58am Copy Link

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Bradley MacDonald Emissary :)
I use Directory Opus - and it all works fine. Basically the program embeds itself into the Windows Context menu - so it should show up whether you are using DOpus, Total Commander, Windows Explorer, etc...

Bradley MacDonald

Sep 28 2011 at 12:01pm Copy Link

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VLM Thanks so much Bradley. That's clear as can be!

Sep 28 2011 at 1:31pm Copy Link

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Michael K @ Roger Bits Du Jour and @ Andrew, Developer

I have tried to place an order and even though I've changed the address to our USA address, the order form does not update to remove the VAT which it says it will do once the Country location is changed.

Could someone please get this fixed so I can place the order.

Thanks

Michael K

Sep 28 2011 at 1:37pm Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth Hi Michael,
I have not heard of this problem before, can you please email me at:
support

ajcsoft.com

AJC Software - Sep 28 2011 at 1:42pm Copy Link

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Roger Thomasson @ Michael

Unfortunately we don't have any control over the VAT -- it's something that the payment processor (in this case ShareIt) implements based on a specific country's tax requirements.

BitsDuJour Admin - Sep 28 2011 at 1:43pm Copy Link

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Michael K @ Roger
I understand that and normally when I change the Country code the VAT is removed and in fact it says that on the page.
Under the County label on the order page it says VAT ID and on the right of that it has a link that says "info". When you click on it a pop up box explains that the VAT is updated when the Country is changed.
Normally this works fine and as soon as I put in our USA address and change the County to USA the VAT is removed.

I appreciate this is down to Share it but would if you could tell them this is not currently updating properly on this order page so they can rectify it.

many thanks

Michael

Sep 28 2011 at 2:27pm Copy Link

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Roger Thomasson @ Michael

Could you send me a screenshot of the error? I'll send it over to ShareIt and ask for a fix. Word of warning though -- they aren't always prompt over there :-)

roger@bitsdujour.com

Thanks Michael!

-r

BitsDuJour Admin - Sep 28 2011 at 2:34pm Copy Link

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Michael K @ Roger,

Screenshot sent as requested

Thanks

Michael

Sep 28 2011 at 3:12pm Copy Link

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Glen Hilton RE suggestions,
Hello Andrew , a couple of small suggestions were sent to you last year,

Nov 2010
"Sorry for the late reply on this. This is useful feedback and it will be
taken into account when producing AJC Active Backup v2. The application is
to be overhauled and written for .Net. The new application will have a
similar look and feel to the new AJC Sync v3 shown here:"

Andrew. I'm sure there would be others that have made a comment or sent you a suggestion in the last 4 and a half years.
It's amazing how user feedback can improve what is already commendable software. BDJ Line Reader was a recent example.

The version link on your site was showing a 404 yesterday. Don't know if you have rectified that issue.
Glen

Sep 28 2011 at 3:17pm Copy Link

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Roger Thomasson @ Michael

Thanks!

-r

BitsDuJour Admin - Sep 28 2011 at 4:14pm Copy Link

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VLM I so appreciate this conversation! I'm drawing several conclusions:

1. This is a very good product.

2. There is likely to be no substantive, further development of this product, except perhaps as absolutely necessary. By "absolutely necessary", I mean, for example, that some change might be required to make the product run under Windows 8. I believe this developer would likely get that done. But short of such a need, my impression is that if one buys this product today, then one should assume that whatever is there today, is there for good.

I do not mean this as a condemnation of the developer. We all become interested in things at various times in our lives, then become interested in other things later on. I simply believe, based on what has been shared here today, that this may be the case with respect to this developer and this product.

That said, the product still seems, at least to me, quite worth buying.

Make sense to others?

Sep 28 2011 at 4:16pm Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth Well we do actually have a back end already written for v2 and a bare bones UI but as I said earlier the number of users who want new features is limited compared to the number of people asking for extra things in AJC Sync and so AJC Sync has had the overhaul first.

AJC Software - Sep 28 2011 at 4:36pm Copy Link

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Joel Koltner Presiding Emissary -- I think your conclusions are correct, although there are additional reasons development slows or mostly stops on products: They get to the point where they're good enough for the vast majority of potential users, and there's no longer much point in continuing to make changes just for the sake of making changes.

Look at something like Microsoft Office: For the vast majority of users, are there really that many new features that people actually use? Or are the vast majority of users utilizing few features that weren't already present in, say, the 2003 (or even 1997!) eversion, but just with a flashier ("ribbon") interface? I'd argue it's mostly the later.

Unfortunately it's human nature to equate "newer" with "better," and hence a lot of effort in this world goes wastsed, IMO, in just changing the look of a product without any real changes in functionality.

Heck, a lot of people still swear by LaTeX for document preparation, and -- other than bug fixes -- its core functinality hasn't changed in a couple of decades now!

Sep 28 2011 at 5:03pm Copy Link

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Glen Hilton Sometimes changes are detrimental and nowadays, quite a few developers offer older versions. I use a few older version apps for this very reason though unless suggestions are discussed or considered by real users, for or against, the development will never reflect the full potential for the end user. In many cases Its the end user that takes the time to let developers know how its going, iron out the bugs and how it may compare to the latest alternatives. I thought this information would all be helpful to a developer. Its certainly made a difference with other developers, their software and ultimately the end user.. Glen

Sep 28 2011 at 6:01pm Copy Link

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VLM Thank you Andrew, Joel, and Glen. Again, I did not intend my comments as a condemnation, but rather as an acknowledgement that the product we see today is the product we will likely see for some fairly long and indefinite period of time. Several have commented on the value and effectiveness of the product, it is obviously excellent and valuable just as it is.

I do question the wisdom of writing for .Net Framework. Some developers are actually moving away from that technology. Some here may recall such a discussion during the recent MailWasher promotion on BDJ.

Regardless of all these things, Bradley's comment wins the day for me:

"This means that if I have been working all day on a program file - and at 4pm I screw something up badly - I don't have to go back to the check out from Subversion I did first thing in the morning - I can go back 5 minutes to my last save of the file. This SAVES me HUGE amounts of TIME!!! ... I cannot say this enough... If you are programming - or working on documents, text files,etc - where you are making a large number of changes - Then you should have this tool!!!! $18 for peace of mind is a no brainer... "

I develop long documents, and sometimes I face exactly the sort of challenge Bradley descirbes here. So I see the value in the product, and I have purchased a license today and look forward to having it save my derriere in the future. :)

Cheers!

Sep 28 2011 at 7:12pm Copy Link

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K X Would this work well if someone were drawing in AutoCAD or other graphics software?

Sep 28 2011 at 7:30pm Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth Yes it still works for graphics software although the space used for the archiving of each file is likely to be a little more. It saved me once when I opened a graphic file, changed it and meant to do a saveas but instead saved it over the original. With a few clicks I was able to get the original image back.

AJC Software - Sep 29 2011 at 12:06am Copy Link

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Harald Vogel This is one of the best! I can't say how often it saved me from loosing precious data. Is there any news of a new version? Thanks

Jun 13 2012 at 6:15am Copy Link

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big-red I guess that the discussions will be re-booted here now that the product is being offered again. I've been reviewing the older comments, which are very illuminating.
I tried Beyond Sync, which seemed good on paper, but conflicted on my system with, probably, Rollback Rx.
Someone suggested the free app, AutoVer. I tried it, and found it to be good, if somewhat limited on options.
I assumed that AJC does a similar job, but with more options. Now I realise the power of AJC.
Autover saves the whole file, with some versioning options. AJC saves the original, then only the changes to the binary file, with the changes being reviewable.
As I want to sync large files, as well as live-sync smaller working documents, I can see an opportunity to use both programmes.
I bought TreeProjects from BDJ last time offered. It's great, but saves your many smaller docs into a larger single file. This suits AutoVer ok, but not ideal for AJC.
AJC Active Backup does have a dated ui. However, I'd like to see more functional options worked on, like password protection / encryption.
Thanks Andrew for a great app.

Jun 15 2012 at 5:35pm Copy Link

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Javier Gil "This product is constantly being developed", you say on your site. Yet, the last version dates back to September 2009. I'm a little concerned about your definition of "constantly". :)

Are you planning any new versions of this soon?

(also, your forum seems to have a section for your "Sync" product but not for the back up program?

Jun 16 2012 at 2:18am Copy Link

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Frank Sielna ...unfortunately is unable to backup open files. So I don't know how reliable it will backup files.
At least *.pst is a NoGo.

Frank

@Devel: At least do not throw a messagebox (that stops the whole program from working! and /requires/ user interaction) for each and every locked file :(
One cannot run this software on the file server (yes, nowadays one has a file server at home, most probably Windos Home Server which was perfect to run an automated vcs software such as yours)

Jun 16 2012 at 2:48am Copy Link

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Glenn Crouch I've been using the product for years for local backup of my development work and documents - a very valuable part of our backup plan :)

Jun 16 2012 at 3:41am Copy Link

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Rich Ackerson Same as Glenn above. I've been using this product for years for backing up my development work. It's paid for itself many times over in my opinion, having save me from myself on numerous occasions. I highly recommend it!

Jun 16 2012 at 8:25am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth Yes there is a new version coming with a UI similar to AJC Sync.

To backup open files you need to tell it which file patterns are ok to backup when open. e.g. to backup newer Word documents when they are open you need to do the following:
Go to menu Tools, Options, Backup open files and add to the File patterns with *.docx e.g.
*.doc;*.dot;*.xls;*.dotx,*.docx;*.xlsx

AJC Software - Jun 16 2012 at 9:04am Copy Link

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Emil Kucera Hello, can someone confirm that/if it is possible to set a file pattern for files with no extension? will "*." do it? I am setting up for the trial, but an answer here will be very valuable. Thanks

Jun 16 2012 at 9:37am Copy Link

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a a - Yes there is a new version coming with a UI similar to AJC Sync.

Unfortunately, it will be a .NET app - Yuck!

Jun 16 2012 at 2:47pm Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth Hi Emil,
*. will match any file including a file with no extension so I suggest you add exclude patterns if you don't want to backup other files.

AJC Software - Jun 16 2012 at 2:58pm Copy Link

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Emil Kucera @Andrew: that is rather awkward. I would like to have, say, *.txt and *.'noextension' backed up from everywhere, not just the designated folders. Could perhaps " *.' ' " work (with or without a space between the single quotes) ?
One more questions: got an error msg "internal zip file is invalid"
about not being able to backup a .docx file. What causes it and what can or should be done about it?
I would like to buy today, but need some of these things clarified firs...
Regards

Jun 16 2012 at 4:30pm Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth You should not have that error, can you please contact support

ajcsoft.com so we can check it.

AJC Software - Jun 17 2012 at 1:06pm Copy Link

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Amit 1) What is meant here by - "AS YOU CHANGE THEM" -
it automatically backs up files as you change them, and shows you a comprehensive log of what's changed.

For eg. I have a .txt file named file01.txt - and I rename it to file90.txt then is there a way to log the change and also revert the original filename as well - from within AJC backup ?
And even if it was renamed 7 days ago ?

2) And if there is a .ini file of a software that is updated after I use the software for some time - is there any way to monitor it and get a log of it + also GET BACK the original .ini -
And if the .ini changes every day - can I get back all past 3 day's .ini file ?

Thanks.

Nov 3 2012 at 10:30am Copy Link

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Danny This has a multilanguage interface capabilities as Dutch language?

Nov 3 2012 at 2:41pm Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth Files are backed up after you save them when Windows detects a file has changed. Each file is backed up into its own archive that can store multiple versions of the file. You can view this archive to see a history of what has happened to the file and use the diff view to see what has changed. Also you can see a recent log of files that have been archived.

If you rename a file it will rename the associated backup archive file also. It does not log the fact that a rename was done as such but if you look in the archive you can see that earlier backups had a different name and if you manually restored from an archive you could use the earlier name.

It does not matter how long ago it was. You configure how long your old archived versions will be kept for.

AJC Software - Nov 3 2012 at 5:43pm Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth Sorry the software language is only in English.

AJC Software - Nov 3 2012 at 5:43pm Copy Link

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Van Swofford Great product! I've used it for years and wouldn't want to be without it. Highly recommended!

Nov 4 2012 at 7:38am Copy Link

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Harald Vogel Are there plans for a new version coming out soon? I would especially welcome it when AJC AB could backup openend files. Also: Will it work with Windows 8? Thanks.

I'm a registered user and this software saved me from loosing important information a lot of time. I highly recommend it.

Nov 5 2012 at 6:13am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth Yes you can already backup open files (that are not exclusively locked). e.g. Word documents etc will backup as soon as you save them while you are still working on them. You need to make sure that file types that you want backed up while in use are listed in Tools, Options, Backup open files.

Yes it will work with Windows 8.

Yes a new version is being worked on.

AJC Software - Nov 5 2012 at 8:07am Copy Link

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Nelson Carvalho I'm using this software for years.

I also have from this company AJC Sync and AJC Grep. All works perfect.

I recommend all.

The only thing I could ask is the translation to other languages.

Nov 6 2012 at 1:27am Copy Link

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Harald Vogel Thank you for your help and the good news about Windows 8 and a new version coming. I didn't know the open files feature. It work with some of my files but other AB is still not able to process. So are there plans for the new version to backup exclusively locked files or add at least an option to automaticalley skip these files without user intervention as AB stopps the backup and bring up messages when a file is exclusively locked?

Nov 6 2012 at 5:59am Copy Link

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guest guest where does the software store ist backup-data? i use a ssd in my pc and would like to use my usb-drive for backup. is this possible?

Nov 6 2012 at 8:02am Copy Link

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MIKE KAHN Andrew, It's good that it will work with Windows 8; and a new version is coming. Will that version be free of charge if I purchase the current version today?
How this Software is different from Gene Timeline?

Nov 6 2012 at 8:06am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth The backup archives are stored wherever you want to put them. You specify the base folder below which the archives are created. The default folder is C:\AJCBackupArchive.

AJC Software - Nov 6 2012 at 8:20am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth When the new version is released, users who have purchased recently will get free upgrades and others will get discounted upgrades.

I had not heard of Genie Timeline but looking at their website it looks like it backs up on a timed basis instead of backing up as soon as a file is changed. Also it probably does not have built in diff so you can see how a file has changed.

AJC Software - Nov 6 2012 at 8:23am Copy Link

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nebwbie newbie right now i use history explorer, a bdj offer from some time ago (http://www.bitsdujour.com...-explorer/). it looks like he is no longer in development.
.
this software looks like it does exactly the same.
should i get this one to replace history explorer?

sorry for my english, but i_m from germany.
btw. will there be a german version or a german language file?

thx

Nov 6 2012 at 9:51am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth I don't know about History Explorer but I just read a quick review of it on the net.

It looks like it does not recognise and backup new files, only those that are added to its database at the start. AJC Active Backup does detect and backup new files.

It probably stores the whole file again each time it backs it up. AJC only stores the changes to the file each time making your archives more compact.

It probably does not have a built in diff. AJC can show you a diff so you can compare different versions of a file to see what has changed over time.

I suggest you download and try the trial version.

AJC Software - Nov 6 2012 at 11:21am Copy Link

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Amit Can I install AJC on my own personal computers - and 3 of them ? If I am the only user ?

Also can a portable version be released anytime in near future ?

Nov 6 2012 at 11:40am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth A single user license allows you to install the software on 2 computers as long as you are the only person using it and you only run one copy at a time.

There is not a portable edition because it does not make so much sense because you have it running on the PC most of the time monitoring for files to change.

There is a portable edition of AJC Sync though.

AJC Software - Nov 6 2012 at 11:56am Copy Link

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newbie newbie thx for your answer.

i wanted to buy the software but all i get is an error saying that the certificate does not match the hostname. i can accept and reject.

i do not feel good to buy when there are securityproblems. any ideas?

Nov 6 2012 at 4:14pm Copy Link

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john doe what do you mean with "purchased recently will get free upgrades"?

looking in the version history on your page no one will get an upgrade for free if you release a new version every two years.

therefore you either should offer a free upgrade for bdj-buyers or make it 70% off and not only 40%.

just my 2 cent

Nov 6 2012 at 4:14pm Copy Link

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Tortuga Just placed the order, after the glowing reviews, specially from longtime users
Hoping this will give us peace of mind w (those darn important!) files at work
Peace!

Nov 6 2012 at 11:56pm Copy Link

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Danny Only in English?

Apr 7 2013 at 3:59am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth Yes, sorry the software is only in English.

AJC Software - Apr 7 2013 at 4:29am Copy Link

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George Cohen Will this function with Win 8?

Apr 8 2013 at 2:09am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth Yes it works on Windows 8. I suggest you try the fully functional 30 day trial.

AJC Software - Apr 8 2013 at 8:41am Copy Link

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Raymond Andrew, great software!!!! I highly recommend!!! (and check out their other software as well - AJC Sync has saved me numerous times!)

Apr 9 2013 at 8:21am Copy Link

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Danny @Raymond,

What saved?

Apr 9 2013 at 8:39am Copy Link

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Danny Bit confused about updates/upgrades!Updates are free, upgrades to the next version upgrade costs. Right?

Apr 9 2013 at 8:46am Copy Link

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Raymond @Danny,

I use AJC Sync as my main backup tool... so it has saved me with corrupt files and from my own "stupid moments" when my delete finger goes wild!

I have just recently started to use AJC Active Backup as well and it runs in the background, quietly, and does not bog-down my system. Now I feel much more "safe"!! :)

I am not related to AJC Software in any way ... other than being a very happy customer!!!!! (great support too BTW)

Apr 9 2013 at 10:10am Copy Link

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Danny What distinguishes this AJC Active Backup to other backup programs?

Apr 10 2013 at 12:19am Copy Link

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xCurt I have always only heard good, about AJC Backup. However, I feel nervous when I see how seldom it has been updated; Is it perfect or abandoned?

Apr 10 2013 at 12:21am Copy Link

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Pavi Johnson Hi, wondering if it has:

1) encryption
2) compression
3) backup to Skydrive

Thanks, /Pavi

Apr 10 2013 at 1:32am Copy Link

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Pavi Johnson So sorry, thought this was AJC Sync!

I already have AJC active backup and it works well and is highly recommended!

Apr 10 2013 at 1:47am Copy Link

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Bruno Verschraegen Hello. Two questions.

1) Any challenges to be expected when working in conjunction with other automatic backup software? We use one that makes incremental backups of everything we have on our pc every hour - and I want to keep using it. But yes, it does occasionally happen that one wrongly overwrites a file version and cannot undo that because it happens within the same one-hour time spam, and for this using AJC Active Backup as an additional backup would be great.

2) With the programme we're using, we keep the backup data sets of two weeks and the backup data set of the week preceding that two-week period gets deleted to save space. How about AJC Active Backup; any similar settings?

Bruno

Apr 10 2013 at 2:28am Copy Link

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Tomasz Lisowski Questions:
1. Does the tool handle the rename/move operations on the file being watched for changes, so that I can recover the original file name/location?
2. Does the tool handle the delete operations on the file being watched for changes, so that I can recover the deleted file? What to point at then to see the changes? The folder?

Apr 10 2013 at 3:39am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth Active Backup has compression because it only stores the changes to a file each time and it compresses the whole copy of the file that it has. It does not have encryption.

It cannot backup to SkyDrive but AJC Sync can (and the Dropbox is coming).

AJC Software - Apr 10 2013 at 3:58am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth Hi Bruno,

1. It should not interfere with other backup systems. If a file is locked it waits and tries later.

2. Yes Active Backup has purge options so you can decide to keep a certain number of revisions in each archive or remove old ones etc.

AJC Software - Apr 10 2013 at 4:00am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth Hi Tomasz,

1. If a file is renamed the corresponding archive will be renamed but if it is moved to a new folder it will not. A new archive will be started in the new folder.

2. A file backup is taken each time after the file as been modified. When a delete happens it does not need to do anything and the archive is still available to restore from.

AJC Software - Apr 10 2013 at 4:03am Copy Link

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Van Swofford Hi guys,
I've used AJC Active Backup for years. It works great and has brought back files that I edited and needed to roll back a lot of times. It's really good stuff! BTW, I also use an incremental backup program for the entire drive, and they do play well together. It just works.

Apr 10 2013 at 5:48am Copy Link

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Danny Why not AJC Active Backup and AJC Sync into one software?

Apr 10 2013 at 6:31am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth Hi Danny,
It is an idea to combine them into one product but they are designed for different slightly purposes. AJC Sync is for regular sync/backup and AJC Active Backup is more geared to protecting you while you work, telling you what has changed and providing very quick access to the file diff from the tray icon.

AJC Software - Apr 10 2013 at 9:27am Copy Link

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Danny Thanks andrew! Now I have clear view about these two mutually complementary application!

Apr 10 2013 at 10:57am Copy Link

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Raymond This is an awesome program!!! I highly recommend! When I started to work off-line from our office server which housed our version control repository, I needed to keep versions of our software files on my laptop. I started using Active Backup and it has been wonderful, as is the support too!!!

Apr 3 2014 at 10:37am Copy Link

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Harald Vogel Is the for the new V2 (beta) or is this still for V1 and a free upgrade to V2 included? Do you also have a promotion for upgraders? I'm a registered user of V1 for quite long and higly recommend it. It never failed me and saved me a lot of time and frustration over the years. Thanks.

Apr 4 2014 at 1:35am Copy Link

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Pim Joosten Yes, I would like to know too whether the upgrade to version 2 is included. According to the fine print it is not (only minor updates are free), but that is a bit silly, because version 2 is just around the corner.

Apr 4 2014 at 2:24am Copy Link

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Gerard Booth Harald, Pim.

Version 2 is no longer beta, I purchased version 2 at the end of February. If you look at the link to the screenshots you will see the new ribbon interface for this version.

I have been using AJC Active Backup since I first saw it here in 2011. Its always been rock solid and never once let me down. I just set it up and forget about it. Version 1 did not have the prettiest interface, but was 100% dependable. This version brings the interface right up to date with loads of new features.

I would recommend this software to anyone, in my instance I have no support issues at, it just works. It has bailed me out many, many times since I installed it.

Apr 4 2014 at 2:49am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth To clarify this sale is for AJC Active Backup V2 and this is the best price (upgrading or first time user).

AJC Software - Apr 4 2014 at 2:54am Copy Link

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Pim Joosten Thanks Gerard and Andrew for your quick replies.

Andrew, I have one more question. Can I install it on a desktop and a laptop with the same license? This is not clear enough from the fine print. I am the only user on both computers.

Apr 4 2014 at 3:41am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth With a single user license you can install on a max of 2 computers provided you are the only person using both copies and you only run one copy at a time.

AJC Software - Apr 4 2014 at 4:21am Copy Link

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Gary Mugford Andrew, Happy user of v1 (bought two licenses for my one-man operation!!). I haven't upgraded since I AM so happy. V2 questions to get my money ... Can I sort the Directories to Backup list of folders in v2? And even better, is it possible in v2 to point AJCAB to a drive and tell it to back up any Proj folders it finds however deep in the tree? I sometimes forget to add the folder to AJCAB when creating new Proj folders. I've become mentally lazy due to having a cloud backup to fall back upon. But AJCAB does really great versioning and I'd like to set it and forget it ... til I need it. (For some reason, I have failed, trying Proj\ in the Include File & Directory patterns in v1)

Apr 4 2014 at 8:13am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth You can't sort the list of folders to backup but I'll see if this can be added.

Pattern matching has been improved in v2 so you should be able to match any Proj folders anywhere on the drive. When setting up patterns use the Help and pattern tester button. If you need more help please contact support.

AJC Software - Apr 4 2014 at 8:40am Copy Link

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Danny What do you mean Lifetime return policy?

Apr 4 2014 at 11:38am Copy Link

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Tortuga Went to the company's site to see the changelog. Before the new 2014 version, there was v1.6.2 from July.2012, which surprised me, thought maybe it was an oversight. So went to Softpedia to confirm, and indeed, there was no new version till the current one. Is this right?
So, let me get this straight, everybody who bought this app since July.2012 got NO new update for the entire 18months ???!!
And as I can see, since this new version is considered a "major" upgrade, we don't have the right for this version either ... ?? It's understood that we only get minor upgrades, but this means we got NO upgrades at ALL !!!
Hummm ... :(

Apr 4 2014 at 2:33pm Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth The return policy protects you in case you find the program is not suitable for you, or does not work as described. We always respond quickly to problems and fix bugs ASAP so this is very rarely needed.

AJC Software - Apr 4 2014 at 2:33pm Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth Minor bug fixes are released as soon as they are fixed and small point releases may not always be shown on the changes list. If you purchase the software you will be entitled to all minor releases for that version if we produce them. e.g if you have v2 you will always get any v2.x for free. If we produce a major new version 3 then you would still get if free if you have purchased a short time before (less than 6 months) otherwise you would get a good discount on an upgrade. The reason v1 did not have many upgrades is that it has been very stable. v2 is a complete rewrite with many improvements. We pride ourselves on bug free software so If we find bugs we will fix them ASAP. If we have suggestions from users and it is possible we will endeavour to produce enhancements for v2.

AJC Software - Apr 4 2014 at 2:43pm Copy Link

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Gde Swart I purchased AJC Sync Pro the last time it was offered and have been very pleased with it so I decided to give Active Backup a try. It looks good so far. Nice and small, light on system resources (my biggest concern). The Visual Studio add-in is slick! That alone is worth the price of admission for me. Thanks for the deal AJC and BDJ.

Apr 4 2014 at 3:19pm Copy Link

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Tortuga @Andrew Cuthforth, Thank you for your answer.
I did buy on November.2012. Can you please tell me if there was any version/bug fix/improvement issued after November.2012 that was not announced.
If so, can I have a link to download that version?
Thank you

Apr 4 2014 at 7:35pm Copy Link

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David Does this work on Server 2003?
Will it back up to network drives?

Aug 18 2014 at 6:19am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth It will work on Server 2003 but it is not running as a service so you need to be logged in to run it. It should be able to monitor network drives depending on what they are hosted on so I suggest you test the fully functional trial version.

AJC Software - Aug 18 2014 at 8:17am Copy Link

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Mark Johnson What does this mean under "The fine print"?
"Lifetime return policy."

Product questions:

If there are 20 files modified in a single folder, does that mean there are 20 individual files in the backup destination or just one compressed file containing the 20 revised files?

Extending the above example, if those 20 files are modified 10 times per day for a month... Do you end up with 12,000 separate and complete files (changed parts and unchanged parts) in the archive or a smaller number of files with incremental changes?

What type of compression is used?

I'm interested in using this for backing up changes between source control check-ins in Visual Studio, as described on your webpage about the VS plug-in. My concern is what is described above - every time I start the debugger in VS all changes are saved, so I would assume AJC would do a backup each time. If those are all saved as individual complete files, that can be a ton of individual text source code archive files with tiny individual changes each day, so I'd be concerned the archive would take up considerably more space than the original files themselves.

Aug 18 2014 at 1:14pm Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth Each file will have a corresponding backup archive file associated with it that will hold multiple revisions of that file. So if 20 files in a folder are modified it will update 20 archive files. If those 20 files are modified 10 times a day for a month there will still only be 20 archive files but they will have multiple revisions in them. 10 * 30 = 300 revisions in each archive. Only the changes are stored in the archive each time so they will not actually be that big.

Also if you save a file 100 times in a day it will create 100 revisions which is OK for today because you may want to go back to any version but after 5 days you may not want this many. This is why the user defined auto purge is provided to purge these down to say, one revision per day.

All of this happens very quickly and you will not even notice any system overhead.

You need not be concerned, AJC Active Backup works very well with Visual Studio and was designed for developers etc. The backups are lightening fast and the archives are small. e.g. An archive for a text file with 100 revisions may not be much bigger than the original file and may even be smaller.

It is great for protecting you while you are coding and it has saved me many times when I wanted to get back some code from this morning that was done after the last check out from source control or some automatic thing in Visual Studio updated some code and I wanted to know what had been changed etc

AJC Software - Aug 18 2014 at 2:08pm Copy Link

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Raymond Great tool !!!!

I would not be without it !

I have been running it for years and I have never noticed any lags ever.

User interface is clean and easy to use. The author is very responsive.

-Raymond

Aug 19 2014 at 7:50am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth Thank you for your kind comments Raymond!

AJC Software - Aug 19 2014 at 8:08am Copy Link

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User Account How does this compare with IdleBackup?

Aug 19 2014 at 11:03am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth Well I have never heard of IdleBackup so these comments are based on what I have just read about it on the net. As the name suggests it seems to only backup when the PC is idle whereas Active Backup works when you save the file as you are working when you need it the most. It is still very fast though and you will not notice a slow down on your system as long as you are sensible with your patterns. Active Backup keeps multiple revisions too but you have a built in Diff tool so you can see what has changed and you are able to use that to pull back partial changes if you need to which is crucial if you are a programmer or web developer etc. Also it has a auto purge tool to stop your backups getting too large.

AJC Software - Aug 19 2014 at 11:50am Copy Link

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Chaz Stipkovic Is this for text documents only or any file?
IE CAD files?

Aug 19 2014 at 1:29pm Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth Yes Active Backup works for any type of file.

AJC Software - Aug 19 2014 at 2:12pm Copy Link

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Raymond This just saved me (again) the other day!!!! Great tool and great support!!

-Raymond

May 30 2015 at 7:52am Copy Link

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PC USER I have AJC Revision Archives using an older version of Active Backup. Can I use this version to open them as I currently don't have AJC installed?

Jun 2 2015 at 3:22am Copy Link

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Mike Murphy Is this the Pro version?

Jun 2 2015 at 6:05am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth Yes v2 will open archives from v1 but if you update them by adding more revisions they will be updated to v2 format so you won't be able to open them again in v1.

AJC Software - Jun 2 2015 at 7:05am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth AJC Active Backup only has one edition. When you say "Pro" version maybe you are referring to AJC Sync.

AJC Software - Jun 2 2015 at 7:06am Copy Link

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Mike Murphy Yes, my mistake. I clicked a wrong button on your website to compare editions.

Jun 2 2015 at 7:41am Copy Link

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Louis User Which version is this for? It does not say "professional", though the original price listed $35 and discount of 40% are what your web site lists for the Professional version, not the standard edition which seems to be what is added to the cart when I try to buy this.

Nov 17 2015 at 8:23am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth This is for AJC Active Backup which only comes in one edition. AJC Sync has multiple editions.

AJC Software - Nov 17 2015 at 10:39am Copy Link

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Louis User Thanks for clearing that up, clearly I had by head up my rear end this morning :)

I have been reading through the web site and probably just missed it, though can you control where the backup archive is stored? Can it be on any local disk? Can it be on a network share?

Thanks

Nov 17 2015 at 12:30pm Copy Link

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Louis User I installed the demo, and found the info I needed. Thanks again.

Nov 17 2015 at 1:10pm Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth Yes the archive can be on any local disk or network share.

AJC Software - Nov 17 2015 at 1:25pm Copy Link

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Sean Purcell I just purchased a copy of AJC Active Backup with my credit card. How long does it take for processes to go through? thanks.

Nov 17 2015 at 4:57pm Copy Link

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Nico Westerdale Great News! AJC Software has agreed to extend this deal for another day - Enjoy!

BitsDuJour Admin - Nov 18 2015 at 12:11am Copy Link

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Michael R. Can it be embedded somehow into C++Builder (e.g. with a DLL and appropriate header-file)? Does it work under older versions (like XE) too?

I purchased v1 some years ago. Is there a discounted price today for an upgrade? What is the normal price for an upgrade (and where can it be purchased)?

Thank you

Nov 18 2015 at 12:48am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth Credit card purchases should normally go through very quickly. You then get access to your license on the web page and also the license will be emailed to you. If you have any trouble please contact AJC Software support.

AJC Software - Nov 18 2015 at 2:16am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth AJC Active Backup can backup any files you like but its even easier to use with integration into a development environment like Visual Studio. The integration works by calling a command line tool so yes it could be embedded into other environments. We are happy to look at embedding into other environments so please contact AJC Software support from our web site to talk about the technical details.

Please also contact support to talk about upgrade prices.

AJC Software - Nov 18 2015 at 2:21am Copy Link

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Tomasz Lisowski If the archive is on an external drive, can the application handle the situation, when initially this external drive is NOT attached, but we attach it later during the use of the PC? Will the application find out that the drive with the archive became available and will it start using the archive configured therein?

Nov 18 2015 at 5:37am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth Yes. If the archive is not attached the program will remember which files have changed in the meantime and keep them on the process list until the archive becomes available.

AJC Software - Nov 18 2015 at 6:08am Copy Link

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S G Hi Andrew-

Is there a way to disable the ability to turn the monitoring off?

Nov 18 2015 at 7:25am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth No there is not a way to stop them turning monitoring off currently. We could look at creating such a feature. There other considerations though so please contact support and we can discuss the technical details of this.

AJC Software - Nov 18 2015 at 8:12am Copy Link

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S G Andrew-

Thanks!

I am fearful that we would begin counting on this solution and inadvertently have less sophisticated users disable it.

Nov 18 2015 at 8:24am Copy Link

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S G Hi Andrew-

Can you answer a question about AJC Sync Pro (I know it not today's deal)?

If a primary and secondary location are already synchronized with AJC Sync. Then a folder is moved or renamed at the primary location (but all the files in the folder have not changed). When synchronizing again to the secondary location, will AJCsync delete the moved or renamed folder from its original position on the secondary drive and then get a new copy of the data from the source?

Or will it perform a move at the secondary location?

I am asking because if I have a folder with 500GB of data which has already been synchronized with my backup drive, and I rename or move it, I am trying to determine if I will be recopying 500GB of data to the backup drive. Clearly copying will take a long time, while moving will only take seconds.

Thanks!

Nov 18 2015 at 9:51pm Copy Link

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lisba f Can I backup online (OneDrive, Mediafire etc.) with AJC Backup or I need AJC Sync for that?

May 15 2016 at 12:09pm Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth AJC Active Backup is a local or network instant backup tool to protect you while you work. To backup online you need AJC Sync. Many people use both of these products together.

AJC Software - May 15 2016 at 12:31pm Copy Link

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Candice Robertson Does this work with sqlite3 databases?

also does this apply to our purchase "today"?
"Purchase AJC Sync or Active Backup today and get other AJC products for half price!"

May 15 2016 at 12:35pm Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth It will backup any types of file but it will probably only be able to backup your database when you close it. When you purchase AJC Active Backup today you will also be able to get other products at a discount.

AJC Software - May 15 2016 at 1:20pm Copy Link

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lisba f AJC Sync doesn't do the work of AJC Backup (local backup), you have to purchase both?

May 15 2016 at 3:14pm Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth AJC Sync can backup local too but the products work differently. AJC Active Backup is an instant backup into a multi version archive which lets you restore to any version and it makes it very easy to access these archives. AJC Sync is sync software which can do lots of things either manually or on a schedule.

AJC Software - May 15 2016 at 4:03pm Copy Link

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Adam P Hi, I bought this in April 2014, and I'm currently running 2.6.1.0. In the about screen I see no mention of an expiry date. Is that recent thing where licenses are only good for one year updates, or can I safely upgrade to 2.9.3 and there will still be no expiry?

Aug 16 2019 at 6:41am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth If you were an early adopter then you may be able to install newer versions with your license otherwise it will only allow you to have a year's worth of upgrades and support and then you can upgrade for another year for 60% discount.

AJC Software - Aug 16 2019 at 10:57am Copy Link

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Adam P I bought ver 1 in 2013, and then upgraded to ver 2 half a year after it came out. I installed the 2.9.3 version, and the license still says that it's registered to me, so I guess I have free updates for 2.x.

Aug 16 2019 at 11:00am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth If the About window says "Run software up to" then that is the latest software date you can install otherwise yes you should be able to run the latest version,

AJC Software - Aug 16 2019 at 11:08am Copy Link

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Rob Hi Andrew.
On the AJC Active Backup website it says if you buy Active Backup you get the other products on the site at half price (I was interested in AJC Sync).

Does this half price offer still stand if I buy Active Backup at the BDJ offer price?

Thanks.

Aug 18 2019 at 3:23am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth Yes you can still get our other products up to half price.

AJC Software - Aug 18 2019 at 7:53am Copy Link

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Wiggle How many PCs can I install this software on? Thanks.

Nov 4 2020 at 6:33am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth A single user license permits you to install the software on a max of 2 computers as long as you run one copy at a time. AJC Active Backup runs all of the time while the computer is on so effectively you would want one license per PC. If you buy multiple there are bulk discounts.

AJC Software - Nov 4 2020 at 7:25am Copy Link

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Gary Mugford Andrew,

I'm still using v1.6.2 on my STILL main Delphi 7 IDE machine. After the contretemps in 2015 where you offered to take a look at the AJA file, even though v2.0 had been released (YEP FOLKS, SUPPORTS HIS SOFTWARE), I reverted to an earlier backup, missed out on a couple of days of work and continued on using v1.6.2.

I DID buy v2 licence in 2014, May 4th to be exact. But I remember looking at it and not really liking the new interface. Old dogs, new tricks, never the twain shall meet and all. That said, I now have a new machine in the other Office where it will be the XE7 IDE machine. Since I was an early adopter, I THINK I could install 1.6.2 on the new machine, or at the very least, get a licence key (the url is long out of date) and go with v2.0.

BUT, I'd like to copy the backup data TO the new install, whichever version. IS THAT POSSIBLE?? I'm sort of asking for super-support here without promise of purchasing the latest AJC. I understand if the answer is YES, with the newest version. Wouldn't hold it against you. BUT if I can save a few bucks risking just a little public embarrassment, that's what I'll do.

The software is INDISPENSABLE. Saved my bacon on a failing old computer that required this new change and dance routine maybe as many as twenty times in the last eight years of using it. So, thanks, whatever the answer.

Nov 7 2020 at 4:11am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth Hi Gary,
Yes you can copy all of the archives to the new machine and you can use v1 or v2. If you use v2 the archives will be read by it fine but when they get written to they will be upgraded to a new format that cannot be read by v1. So if you try v2 backup your archives if you think you may want to go back to v1.

AJC Software - Nov 7 2020 at 11:00am Copy Link

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Gary Mugford Andrew,

Made the decision to buy a new licence 'cuz it's been a rough year for everybody and throwing a little support for value received over the years is not going to break me and it'll afford you a pizza for lunch.

Now, the new machine is ROUGHLY set up as in the original where I have my data on D, executables on E and some archived projects on F. The new machine will have the executables on the big fast C drive and the Data on D. BUT there isn't currently an F. Sooooo, some of the files previously on E will be on C and F's will be either melded BACK into D or only brought in on an as-needed basis. Can you be more specific as to my methodology for getting set up on the new machine with AJC Backup??? THIS is the reason I'm paying. I need the hand-holding. I know, I would probably get it without the pizza. But I though it wouldn't hurt and karma balance remains important.

Nov 10 2020 at 5:13am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth If you want your archives to keep being appended to then you need to put them where they will be associated with the new file location.
e.g.

If your old archive base was F:\AJCArchive and now it is D:\AJCArchive (and you don't have custom archive destinations).

If you were working on a file:
E:\Work\MyProject\doc.txt

It would have been archived to:
F:\AJCArchive\DRIVE_E\Work\MyProject\doc.txt.aja

If you have moved the file to:
C:\Work\MyProject\doc.txt

Now you need to move the archive under the new base to:
D:\AJCArchive\DRIVE_C\Work\MyProject\doc.txt.aja

If you come to restore a file make sure that it shows the correct destination to restore the file to.

AJC Software - Nov 10 2020 at 5:58am Copy Link

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Gary Mugford Not sure your instructions actually work with the new install. BUT, it's a start. All the Delphi data goes on D (again), BUT I also backed up third party library code that WAS on drive E, but will now be on drive C. The AJC program itself will migrate from E to C on the new machine and I'm not averse to having the data files go to C as well for AJC. The time I TRIED AJC 2 in the past involved different locations and failures to recover older revisions, which hastened my return to v1.6.2. I'm older, possibly even wiser and more experienced now. So, my adventure has a probable good ending. Be safe. Thanks.

Nov 10 2020 at 6:23am Copy Link

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Nico Westerdale Great News! AJC Software has agreed to extend this deal for another day - Enjoy!

BitsDuJour Admin - Nov 11 2020 at 12:11am Copy Link

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Colin McAllister Ok. I have a list of folders and files archived. I want to find a file (say) "XYZ.docx". I can SEE the file in the third folder down in the tree. But what if that file were 65 folders down?

I have a "start folder (leave blank for all)" field and a "File patterns (seperate multiples with a semi colon)" field. I also have 2 search possibilities; there is a "Search" button to the right of the "File patterns" field, and a "Start Search" button on the ribbon. Adding "XYZ.docx" into those fields produces a blank results page.

a) How do I find file "XYZ.docx" to actually open it, without scrolling through every folder?
b) How do the two search buttons differ?
c) Trying to contact support advises me to make Outlook my default email service. Why is that? There are many people like me who use other email services as their default and many other software companies allow me to set my default email program as part of the global options - is that not possible in Active Backup?

Thanks.

Mar 25 2021 at 1:50am Copy Link

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Adam P First of all, make sure docx files are being backed up.

I did a search in the search & list tab for a specific php file, and it found the file name in 4 different folders in the different sections that are being archived.

Mar 25 2021 at 9:08am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth If you enter "xyz.docx" to find a file then it will find each folder that has that file archived. Then you can double click on the file to open the archive.

Or you can just go to a file in normal Windows Explorer, right click on it and choose Undo from AJC archive ...

The two search buttons do the same thing.

Contacting support just uses the default email client in Windows that supports MAPI. If you don't have one registered then maybe it shows that message but that would be from Windows rather than our software. If it does not work you get a message that tells you how to contact support manually.

AJC Software - Mar 25 2021 at 9:30am Copy Link

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Colin McAllister Thanks for the reply Andrew. I've played around a bit more and I think I see the problem. If I have a file "My December gift list.docx", and I search for that exact title, then the search DOES indeed return all archives containing that file.

If I search for "December" or "gift list", I get nothing. I can wildcard search for "My December*" and that finds the correct file in archives, but I suspect that if I enter "My Dec*" I will get "My December gift list.docx", AND "My Decibel conversion widget.rtf" AND "My Declaration of Independence.epub" in their archives too.

Is that correct? Thanks.

Mar 25 2021 at 11:19am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth That's correct. If you want to use parts of file names to find files then you need to use wildcards.

AJC Software - Mar 25 2021 at 1:31pm Copy Link

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Techtoysavvy I bought active backup in 2016. It is time to start using it again.
Should I buy today? I bought v2 but I must be off maintenance.

Mar 25 2021 at 9:53pm Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth To upgrade you can contact support for your upgrade link.

AJC Software - Mar 26 2021 at 2:12am Copy Link

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Techtoysavvy @Andrew, Thanks. sent email to support.

Mar 26 2021 at 10:10am Copy Link

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Nailesh User can you provide .msi file

Sep 5 2021 at 4:39am Copy Link

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Andrew Cutforth You just download the trial version from our web site, install it and then when you purchase you will receive a license.

AJC Software - Sep 5 2021 at 10:19am Copy Link

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Bkav (v 1.3.0.9899)	Clean	2/5/2023
Lionic (v 7.5)	Clean	2/5/2023
Elastic (v 4.0.77)	Clean	2/3/2023
DrWeb (v 7.0.59.12300)	Clean	2/5/2023
MicroWorld-eScan (v 14.0.409.0)	Clean	2/5/2023
FireEye (v 35.24.1.0)	Clean	2/5/2023
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McAfee (v 6.0.6.653)	Clean	2/5/2023
Malwarebytes (v 4.4.4.52)	Clean	2/5/2023
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Trustlook (v 1.0)	Clean	2/5/2023
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