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Mogware All Deals Security Software Backup Files Software

File Hamster

Restore to Any Document Version, Anytime!

$29

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Platforms: Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 7

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It's late, and you're tired. But it will all be worth it, because you're coming to the end of a marathon session of productive, brilliant writing! You type your last paragraph, click SAVE, only to discover that, while you were AFK, your extremely corpulent cat rolled onto your keyboard, highlighting and deleting a huge chunk of your document!

You should have used File Hamster!

What's File Hamster? So glad you asked! File Hamster isn't just backup, it's the ultimate backup because it's got revision history! With File Hamster, you'll be able to restore ANY document to ANY previous version -- a month ago, a week ago, yesterday, even five minutes ago. It's like your own personal document TARDIS.

Once you install File Hamster, you won't even know it's running. It runs silently in the background, automatically generating new revisions each time you save your document. If you'd like, you can make annotations and comments on each revision, plus produce reports enabling you to easily review past drafts.

Traditional file backup only gives you ONE version of your document. With File Hamster, you have your pick from ANY version of your document!

This promotion includes the following:

FileHamster Basic ($29)

FileHamster Advanced ($79)

FileHamster Enterprise ($99)

Review Written by Derek Lee

The Conversation

Features

The Fine Print

Your discount coupon code will be applied to your purchase when you click the 'Buy Now' button.
BitsDuJour downloads use a discount coupon code that comes direct from the software vendor, so you'll always get the latest version of the software app sold under the same terms as a regular sale, just at a great promotional price.
Prices do not necessarily include taxes, which will vary by country.

Expand All Email Updates

Stefan Hauber Does this 50% discount also apply to the Advanced and/or Enterprise version of your software?

Jun 23 2010 at 6:54pm Copy Link

Roger Thomasson @ Stefan Yes, it will :-) -r

BitsDuJour Admin - Jun 24 2010 at 1:45am Copy Link

H. H. Hallo,
does the 50% discount apply to the current price (49$) of the advanced edition or only to the normal list price?
with kind regards
H.H.

Jun 26 2010 at 8:54pm Copy Link

Peter N. Does it use the rsync-type file delta method, or is it backing up the whole changed file, producing huge backup zips if the changed files are large? Otherwise this is just another History Explorer (from www.exendo.se which is way cheaper).

Jun 26 2010 at 9:47pm Copy Link

Frank Stephens This is available in several versions. The basic version might be OK for some people. After trying the trial some time ago, I ordered the Advanced version at a discount, even though I thought it was overpriced. It has lots of options, unfortunately, some of them don't work, and it didn't function as well as the trial in some areas. It can be very slow when working with the entire set of files and the UI hangs (common and annoying coding problem) and doesn't integrate with Explorer. The biggest problem is that it will handle Unicode but not long filenames/paths. I think that I would have been happier with AJC Active Backup, which doesn't handle Unicode but does handle long filenames, integrates with Explorer, and does use deltas and compression, even though it lacks the features of FileHamster Advanced. Altaro Oops!Backup will handle NTFS extended paths, but even Windows itself hardly supports those. Genie Timeline impresses me the most in some ways and is improving rapidly, but like Oops!Backup, it backs up at intervals, which is very high-overhead and can miss brief changes.

Jun 27 2010 at 4:14am Copy Link

Stefan Hauber Does ist make sense, to buy the enterprise-version, which has a team-functionality, when the rest of the team only uses the free- or standard-version?

Jun 27 2010 at 5:10am Copy Link

John Renstrom FileHamster has been around for a long time and some users who tried the product out in the past may have experienced some past difficulties as new features were implemented; The good news is that FileHamster has a built in updater so as problems and issues are fixed new versions will be deployed automatically making it easy on the users to always have the latest versions...

The Team functionality would require all the team members to be using the Enterprise version...We have a lot of IT Managers that simply run the product from their file server or from a singe computer system on their network that watches a shared network drive enabling revision control; Under this implementation, the FileHamster GUI would only be available from the machine it is running from. However, that being said, it can be configured to place the revisions within the documents folder making management of past revisions more accessable for other team members without needing to run the FileHamster GUI. I'd strongly recomend the 'Advanced' version for this use because there are a lot more features available allowing you to extend the functionality as your needs increase.

Mogware - Jun 28 2010 at 9:47am Copy Link

Stefan Hauber Now I'm frustrated.

The advanced version just has an discount of 20% compared to the current regular price (39,99EUR instead of 49,99EUR)...

Jun 28 2010 at 5:08pm Copy Link

Glen Hilton Would have liked to have seen a reply to Peters question.
File Hamster's memory use of 60MB seems excessive. History Explorer has a better UI and uses less resources. Thanks Frank for the alternatives, the troublesome hanging also continues with the FH's trial version.

Jun 28 2010 at 5:34pm Copy Link

Stephane M Is the license per user or per computer?
Is it a lifetime license or there are fees to upgrade to future versions?

Thanks!

Jun 28 2010 at 5:50pm Copy Link

Mica D If installed on a single computer with (of course non-concurrently) multiple-user access, the enterprise-version can be used by all of the users, can't it?

And than with this single enterprise-version the history of the files would also show the user which edited the appropriate version at last. Correct?

What's the advantage of using file-hamster as a windows-service (in an upcoming version)?

Jun 28 2010 at 7:30pm Copy Link

John Renstrom Yes, you should be fine running FileHamster under multiple user accounts.

On a side note, FileHamster has an auto watch feature that should also work nicely so whatever user is logged in an automatic watch will be created to protect that user's files.

Running FileHamster as a service allows FileHamster to do its magic without requiring a user to be logged into the system; However, even without this 'Service' feature, we have some users who still run FileHamster as a service using a 3rd party tool that allows any application to be launched as a service.

Mogware - Jun 28 2010 at 7:55pm Copy Link

John Renstrom Future updates are free and automatic to paid customers!

Mogware - Jun 28 2010 at 7:59pm Copy Link

John Renstrom Licenses are per computer.

Mogware - Jun 28 2010 at 8:05pm Copy Link

John Renstrom With regards to the memory question... .Net applications only appear to use a lot of memory; The actual memory usage is much less than what is reported in the task manager. This is because of .Net's Garbage Collection schema in its memory manager...Until the system asks or needs memory the Garbage Collection hangs onto the previously used memory; We actually have a fix that tricks Windows into flushing the Garabage Collection so the task manager shows more accurate numbers. This fix is in testing now and could be deployed in the comming days/weeks; You can trigger the same event by simply minimizing the GUI window...You will see the memory usage in the task manager drop dramatically on the minimize event...

Mogware - Jun 28 2010 at 8:16pm Copy Link

Patrick J. Can you please say something to the mentioned delta method?

Jun 28 2010 at 8:25pm Copy Link

Peter N. Patrick, if they were using any file delta method, they would proudly write it all over this page (and their website).
Obviously, they aren't and that means huge amount of disk space is going to be waisted for the backups, even if compression is used...

Jun 28 2010 at 10:36pm Copy Link

Stephane M @John

Thanks.

You said updates are free but does that include "uprades" to major versions as well (versions 2.x, 3.x, ...)?
And if so for how long is it free?

Regarding the license per computer, I have a desktop + a laptop, so does that mean I would need to buy 2 licenses or you accept, in that case, a user having 2 computers sharing the same license?

Thank you in advance.

Jun 29 2010 at 1:02am Copy Link

Roger Thomasson @Stefan I'm not sure what you're seeing -- when I click the "Buy Now" link I see 50% discounts for all 3 versions. Please contact me privately at roger (at) iconico (dot) com.

BitsDuJour Admin - Jun 29 2010 at 1:20am Copy Link

An Alternative Some of you may like Active Backup; a lightweight alternative to File Hamster. http://www.ajcsoft.com/AJCActBk.php Very easy on resources. Good support. Stable. Saves revisions as deltas, so easy on space requirements.

Jun 29 2010 at 2:26am Copy Link

Patrick J. Which of all the named products can handle files currently open (in access)?

Jun 29 2010 at 2:52am Copy Link

John Renstrom FileHamster handles open files the best; there is actually patented technology behind how FileHamster gracefully recognized the various save schemas used by applications. Many other applications out there are not as smart so they can often create backups of partially saved files; I'd make sure to test your favorite applications on any alternatives you are condifering.

Mogware - Jun 29 2010 at 4:35am Copy Link

Stefan Hauber You said a license is only valid for a single computer. How easy/difficult is it to switch the license to another computer , when I decide to make the new one my main-computer, I wanted the data-history be handled?

Jun 29 2010 at 5:04am Copy Link

John Renstrom Yes, you can install a single license of FileHamster on both a desktop and a laptop; We only ask that you purchase a second license if you tend to use both machines simultaneously a lot.

Moving libraries around or copying them to a new computer is easy to do and simply require the new library be remounted after it has been moved...FileHamster will automatically pick up any contained revisions. The revisions can either be stored in '.Backup' folders located within each containing folder or located in the library's storage location. I prefer having the revisions located in the library location on an external USB drive so the revisisions are protected on a secondary drive; this also makes it a lot easier when moving libraries to new computers because you just have to plug in the drive and remount the library on the new machine.

Mogware - Jun 29 2010 at 5:18am Copy Link

John Renstrom Delta compressions comes with a lot of overhead that many users are not fully aware of...For starters, you absolutely have to keep the full lineage of a file in order to be able to revert or recover a delta revision. We have experience first hand the frustrations of having a delta revision that is completely useless because the base revision was inadvertantly removed from the backup system. Also, we wanted the flexibility of being able to directly browse to and open past revisions directly into their host application without the need for a complex and slow restoration process. Delta revisions require a lot of work and sometimes a lot of time to restore.

In short, it was a concious decision we made to keep the original file fully intact and accessable in the event there were ever a catostrofic failure of the system....Every FileHamster revision is a fully quantified and usable file that it not dependant in anyway on the state of the master repository.

Finally, the concepts behind FileHamster is more of a dynamic revision history; In other words, we like to keep the most relevant revisions and slowly remove the less relevant revisions over time. FileHamster is more about revisions control of your recent work rather than all of your past work; For those users who want giagantic histories then they should use a version control system.

Mogware - Jun 29 2010 at 5:43am Copy Link

Patrick J. The current version is more than 1 year old (May 2009)?!

Jun 29 2010 at 7:38am Copy Link

John Renstrom That is incorrect; we just released a new drop in Feb 2010 (1.7.0.3642) and have another one all ready to go...

Mogware - Jun 29 2010 at 7:53am Copy Link

Patrick J. Ok, it seems there was no annoucement about this new version in your board, or I've missed it. John, can you please answer the first two questions in the posting of Stephane M , 8:02am > You said updates are free but does that include "uprades" to major versions as well (versions 2.x, 3.x, ...)? > And if so for how long is it free? In short, lifetime licenses also valid for all upcoming major versions?

Jun 29 2010 at 8:25am Copy Link

John Renstrom Mogware currently does not distinguish between minor and major upgrades of FileHamster; The built-in updator simply checks for new versions and downloads them for the user. I doubt the company will ever change that so I think paying customers will continue to get upgrades for free.

Mogware - Jun 29 2010 at 10:05am Copy Link

Patrick J. Just ordered. Thanks!

Jun 29 2010 at 10:20am Copy Link

_*_ I am wondering about the size of the FH files and if you can delete FH saves; as well as other thoughts.

I have grown accustom to saving after nearly every sentence or two of documents I type that I can picture having hundreds of FH saves of the same document.

Can FH be set to save automatically every x amount of minutes and not every time the user saves the file?

Are the FH saves compressed to save space?

I am picturing having so many saves it would be nearly impossible to sort through them in any timely manner.

Thanks for any insight you can offer.

Jun 29 2010 at 11:16am Copy Link

lisba f I downloaded the trial version. But what about discount expiration? If I decide to buy after some days will I have the today's discount?

Jun 29 2010 at 12:07pm Copy Link

John Renstrom FileHamster has so many features...In answer to your questions...Yes...You can do a lot.

There is a 'TimeBetweenRevisions' settings specifically for the nervous savers so FileHamster will delay X amount of time before triggerring a subesquent revision. Furthermore, FileHamster uses a 'DynamicRevisionHistory' option where revisions are dynamically thinned over time as they become less relevant; All revisions are kept for the past 72 hours one revision for each of the previous 7 days then 1 revision for each of the most recent weeks, then months and finally years so you really don't need to worry about filling up the harddrive with revisions. Oh, and yes, there is a zipping option in the 'Advanced' version.

Mogware - Jun 29 2010 at 12:22pm Copy Link

Roger Thomasson @ Bl F Sorry, the discount is available for 24 hours only. That's what we do here :-)

BitsDuJour Admin - Jun 29 2010 at 12:51pm Copy Link

Roger Thomasson Folks, please keep your comments non-accusatory! That's not how we roll on Bits du Jour. -r

BitsDuJour Admin - Jun 29 2010 at 12:52pm Copy Link

John Renstrom FileHamster is a well designed application that offers so much more than just revision tracking; The 'Advanced' version is chuck full of 'Workflow' features that users can grow into as their needs increase over time. Many of the other alternative programs that you listed are just different in how they chose to build their solution and I know for a fact none of them have the 'Workflow' features found in FileHamster. WARNING to others - Programmer speak forthcoming: @Frank - The limitation you are referring to with long filenames are whenever the path and filename exceed 265 characters which by the way is a limitation in Windows...If you try creating a folder and filename that exceeds this limit you will see Windows actually struggles with this; Typical users do not run into the 265 character limitation that frequently. Now, some file format schemas have adequately addressed this problem but the Path class used in .Net has limitations built into it that specifically throw an exception when this happens not to mention the FileIO class that also struggles with similar issues; There are alternative solutions out there that could be implemented but we have learned over the years that there is a time to embrace the OS versus fighting against it; In the case of FileHamster, we chose to embrace the file system and make it as easy as possible for the end user to simply browse to the backup files rather than creating databases, large collective files or delta revisions; This was by design and intentional. Yes, you are right that we add on a timestamp marker on the revision filename that can eat up some of those precious characters but that is because we chose to be file system based solution where we live on top of the same limitations present in the Windows OS. Using alternative FileIO solutions outside of .Net is fighting the OS and potentially problematic.

Mogware - Jun 29 2010 at 1:07pm Copy Link

A. Goyal I bought the basic version today and liked it. Now I wish I would have bought the advanced version. How can I upgrade it at today's special price or you have an upgrade path?

Jun 29 2010 at 4:58pm Copy Link

John Renstrom Contact Mogware support and I'm sure they will be able to work something out for you...

Mogware - Jun 29 2010 at 8:09pm Copy Link