_Em

Personally I think 128 bits is enough for anyone

Seriously, 128 bits seems like a good tradeoff for speed vs security to me. Seems like it might not be for everyone though. I didn't realize tejpwriter supported 246bit keys; I have to admit I haven't looked at the project in a while though.

One question I have: does SHALib have any of the security problems that have cropped up elsewhere (generating a limited actual set up hashes from the entered text)? I guess that really depends on the random seed used by SHALib, but I'd like to know. It could be that a 256bit SHA-based passphrase is less secure than Alex's 128-bit version.

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pruss

It's 32 characters if you use symbols, accented characters and other special things in your password. If it's alphanumeric, you're only generating about six bits per character.



I don't like forcing users to do things. If you want a single character password, that's your security problem. But it won't help you much to use that single character password with 256-bit encryption. Likewise, 256-bit encryption will only help significantly if you have a pretty long password.



Hashing won't do much for one: the length of the password is still the length you entered. Multiple runs of hashing will slow down brute-force attacks, though.

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Alex Pruss

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Pgr

This new feature of easy partial restores is very useful!

I have an idea that I am not sure if it helps, and probably it is coming a bit too late, because it is about a different way of achieving the same thing - why not simply use CleanStart profiles to specify selective restores?

Just going into NvBackup and saying "selectively restore according to a certain Cleanstart profile". The rationale would be re-using all that is already developed in CleanStart (defining and storing profiles), plus the actual information that users enter there - we can make partial profiles to determine which app is causing problems, then re-use them in NvBackup if we need to.

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nameuser

I would ask for something else,
Is it possible to have an option to store the files as they are, or in regular zip format, instead of that format stored by NVBackup?
Its really hard sometimes if I want to restore A few files or even one file, the palm needs to reset with every restore.

_Em

If you want that, use another free backup program like UniCMD, or Resco Backup for a payware solution. NVBackup's entire benefit is that it backs up the entire NVFS volume, not the individual files on the formatted partition. Adding the feature would not be trivial.

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wozofoz

Thanks for the update Alex

Since people are talking about Profiles, one thing I have long wanted and would love to see sometime in the future:

The greatest NVBackup benefit for me is that I do a backup (called B4_AppName) before installing any new app then test that app, if I find any problems I can simply Restore B4_AppName.
Many times I don't see the problem for a few days, maybe until I use another app.
In this case I must Restore B4_AppName then do a Selective Restore of Memos, Calendar, HandyFinance etc (any apps with important changes) from last night's backup.

So, if I could set a Profile that had these important apps/databases already selected in most cases I would only need to:

Restore B4_AppName
Choose last night's backup
Choose Selective Restore
Choose the Profile and Selective Restore that.

Maybe this could also be done by only Restoring apps/databases from last night's backup that were present before a certain date or some other method but I don't know and certainly don't want to ask for something too complicated.

Thanks again

All the best, woz of oz

nameuser

Ye, but i'm talking about restore, for restore there is an option for individual file restore, so it would be good if you can restore an individual file without reset, or with other file managers.

_Em

I think you misunderstood me -- the issue is that it is not regular files that are backed up; the NVFS volume is unmounted to read the drive-level data that is backed up and restore the linked "files". NVBackup doesn't do what the rest of the backup apps do -- it doesn't backup files per-se, it backs up the volume records that the "file" stubs point to in the NVRAM volume file. In effect, NVBackup is the only backup app that actually stores files "as they are" -- all other apps store files "as we see them".

That said, the files are already stored in gzip format -- but if you try uncompressing them you'll end up with data that doesn't always make much sense except to the NVRAM file manager on your Palm.

Now "restoring" files to individual zip files would be possible, but that kind of defeats the purpose of this program.

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nameuser

Oh, now i get it, thanks.

bluefishCFC

Confirmed on my Treo 650


Andy

cyberdude

I do the same thing and have the same problem. It is why I have a backups named pre appname (although b4 takes up 1 less space) and post appname. Then I keep backups for a couple of days until I see everything is working. This doesn't always work, and the profile approach sounds much better.

@bluefishcfc

Thanks Andy - it's nice to know it's not just the TX.

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PatrickS

The file manager in ZLauncher has this tap-and-hold pop-up menu with "Select Group" -- meaning, select all the files with the same creator ID as the one you tapped. Works really well. Just find the app you want to move/copy, tap-and-hold, click Select-Group, and off you go.

Many times I've wanted to do the same with NVBackup. Would be a neat feature for people trying to isolate a crash.

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FerdFerd

Yesterday I discovered a minor nuisance. I'm using version 1.22b3. I modified the comment on one of my backups by making a longer string of characters than the original comment was. I decided to return this backup to the regular cycle and put the original shorter name back. That proved to be impossible to do. The shorter name was returned to the beginning of the label, but the remaining letters beyond the original name could not be removed. They appeared to be removed in the details screen, but when the name changed on the backup in the main window, the concatenated string appeared. Returning to the details screen also showed this version. I was able to replace the old characters with spaces, but the entire sting, including the spaces, shows in the details screen highlighted in yellow.

If this doesn't make sense, I will be happy to provide some screen shots.

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pruss

What does the comment file in the backup itself say?

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Alex Pruss

For my shareware (FontSmoother, myKbd, mySkin, Accenter, FastLaunch and AtomClock) and freeware PalmOS software, go here: http://pruss.mobi