Usage
The idea behind Firestreamer is actually pretty smart.
It doesn't do the actual backing up of the data, it merely extends the backup program; wrapping itself around it.
So basically it doesn't re-invent the wheel, it just gives you a nicer rim. (bling-bling)
It facilitates the means for the backup program to store the backup on.
To see a small overview of the workings of Firestreamer, click here.
Since the main part of Firestreamer is the virtual tape device driver, the other part is the control panel, with which you control the tape drive and backup with.
The first screen you see is to enable Firestreamer, the tape drive and to show you which backup program it is going to use.
By default Firestreamer searches for any available removable media, such as DVD writers, empty hard disks or flash drives, as drives to put the backup on.
It can however also scan for IoMega drives, SCSI, iSCSI, USB and IEEE devices.
Basically everything that shows up in the removable storage services can be used as media right away.
Everything else needs to be scanned for with a special registry key.
That registry key is disabled as a safety precaution.
It's not something most users would ever need much less use, so it's not really worht mentioning.
Then comes the second important tab, the media tab.
Here you can manage the media on which you want to place the backup on.
It gives you useful tips as well as showing if the media that is inserted is usable or not. It is updated on the fly, when you insert blank media, whether it be a flash drive or a DVD.
Other tabs hold more settings, something I'll show on the next page.
One in particular I'd like to show here is the Activity tab.
This tab will show you the status of Firestreamer.
Everything is shown from initialization, to the detection of the filters and whether or not encryption is on or off.
Your first hint of warning when something should come up is shown here.
The actual process of the backup is very easy.
You just select what needs backing up, change the destination to the virtual tape drive and let the task run, either right away or scheduled.
The backup program doesn't give any problems and does all the normal operations it would do when using a real tape drive, Firestreamer does all the rest.
When you look at the media that you used to backup, you won't see much data.
That's because the data can only be read by the backup program.
You'll find a helpful file explaining this to you on the media as well.
In the activity tab in the Firestreamer control panel, you can keep tabs to see what happening inside Firestreamer during the backup.
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