TapeFile (c) copyright 1993 by Zak Smith, all rights reserved and all that
             other crud

 Alright..  First some history..  Back when I has too many files for my
puny like 150 meg drive, I decided to put my CMS Jumbo 250 to good use!
I wrote this door so that users could download files that were offline.
Well, I used it for a few months and it worked quite nicely.  I then
got some new 300 meg drives and, well, I didn't really need this program
any more!   Well, it's been sitting here on my development computer since
then.

First of all, do NOT do anything until you have read this WHOLE document
and understand it fully. (it's not that long, don't worry)

This was written for the CMS drives that use the TAPE.EXE program.  

 To set this system up, follow these 10 easy steps!

  1.  start with a clean tape

  2.  from withing Searchlight, use the Move command to move all the files
      you want to be offline into their own directory.  This directory should
      have a unique pathname, for example:

                     File Subboard Name: OFFLINE
                          Path to Files: D:\FILES\OFFLINE\
                       Path to Dir File: D:\SLBBS\DIRS\

  3.  Use the Tape Backup utility to back up all these files to tape

  Now we will set up what TapeFile needs

  4.  move TapeFile.EXE, this text file, and the TapeFile.CFG files to
      their own directory, I recommend something like C:\BBS\TAPEFILE\

  5.  Make a "child" directory under the one in step 4 for the files that
      have been recently restored.  Something like C:\BBS\TAPEFILE\TEMP\

      A little discussion is needed here:  TapeFile does not delete the files
      after they have been restored.   If you want to delete these files, you
      may.  I designed it this way so that the files that are requested the
      most will stay on the HD.  (These are kept in the "TempBufPath" dir.)


  6.  Run the TAPE SEARCH command like this:

         C> Tape Search D:\FILES\OFFLINE\*.* /S/V=1 > C:\BBS\TAPEFILE\VOLUME.1

         ("D:\files\offline" is an example, substitute the "Path to Files")

 7.   Using a Text Editor, REMOVE the header and footers from VOLUME.1.  The
      end result should look somethinglike this:

[ begining of file -- this is not included in actual file, of course ]
FRED-UF.EXE         27,049  08-24-1992  02:01 PM \FRED\
FRED-FU.EXE         29,228  08-24-1992  02:04 PM \FRED\
SCAN-FU.EXE         16,507  08-24-1992  02:09 PM \FRED\
MAIL-UF.EXE         25,753  08-24-1992  02:08 PM \FRED\
FREDTOSS.EXE        20,974  08-24-1992  02:05 PM \FRED\
FREDSCAN.EXE        19,626  08-24-1992  02:06 PM \FRED\
FRED.DOC            48,317  07-10-1991  06:44 PM \FRED\
LZIDENT.EXE         10,824  08-11-1991  11:15 PM \FRED\
UUCICO.EXE          48,146  01-06-1991  01:20 AM \FRED\
[ end of file, this also is not actually included ]

 8.   Using a text editor, edit TapeFile.CFG to reflect your system
      configuration.

 9.  Install as a command or door from the Searchlight Menu Editor.
     This program requires the "Standard" or "Force-Color" setting, 
     depending on what video system you have.    This program requires
     one command line parameter to run, that being the Path to TAPEFILE.CFG.
     example:
           C> TAPEFILE D:\SLBBS\TAPEFILE\TAPEFILE.CFG

 10. You may delete the files in the "Path to Files" Directory ONLY after
     you have tested this system!

     ** WARNING ** A system like this is VERY hard on tapes.  I recommend
     ** WARNING ** making AT LEAST 3 IDENTICAL tapes.  Also, if you have to
     ** WARNING ** "hard" reboot, REMOVE THE TAPE FIRST.  Once one of mine
     ** WARNING ** was snapped when I didn't remove it first!

 How to make identical tapes:
   I recomment just starting out with 3, and then just running the backup
   commands identically for each of the 3 tapes.  works great and really safe.
   Yes, I realize dc2120 tapes are about $20, but you wouldn't want to loose
   120 megs of files, would you?


 Note:  Whenever you update the SL directory or add volumes or if TapeFile
        is acting funny, DELETE TAPEFILE.IDX .. it is only a quick index
        and is rebuilt.

That's it!

If you are confused, send me netmail or call me and we can get it working.

If you want to add more files to the offline directory later, do this:

 1.  Within Searchlight, move the files to the "offline" directory.

 2.  Run the TAPE BACKUP program again, but MAKE SURE YOU DO _NOT_ OVERWRITE
     THE FIRST VOLUME!  (ie: use the /A switch, NOT /-A)

 3.  Do the Tape Search command again, but use VOLUME.2 for the redirected
     filename (or .3 for the 3rd, etc..)

 4.  Remember to update tapefile.cfg

 5.  Remember to make a few copies of this backup. 


  done.

version history

 1.01 -- bug fix :-)  I didn't expect a user with 0 uploads, sorry
 1.0  -- initial release

If you need to contact the me (Zak Smith), here is some info..  I am always
("usually") happy to answer questions.

 Zak Smith   250:200/736       -> sl_net
             1:154/736         -> fidonet
 zak.smith@xanadu.mil.wi.us    -> internet
 sysop Sirius Cybernetics 414-966-3552

have fun!
