ToolWatcher

I have used a few different types of programs to keep track of documents, but as you may have guessed my favorite is FileHamster. There are many ways to lose work and current versions of files. Files can be corrupted, hard drives crash and people overwrite their work all the time. As I mentioned before FileHamster will keep each version of your file for you as you work. When something goes awry (as it often does with me at the helm of my computer) FileHamster has a simple and quick way to get things back to normal.

If I need to check differences in versions of a file that I have messed up I can use their diff feature which comes with the Advanced version. After diffing them to see which one you want to return to. Just right-click on the revision you want to revert to and choose ‘Restore’ from the menu. This will, of course, put your selected document revision back in the place of where the original file was. If the original file is missing restoring one of the revisions will put that file into the place of the original.

I have used this on Word documents, Excel files, Photoshop files, PHP, HTML and all kinds of other files. FileHamster can restore all of these documents and files to a previous revision in a snap. I really can’t tell you how much I am enjoying this tool. It’s not for lack of trying though.

I just went back to the page for FileHamster and found that they have made some changes to the way they do things. Their product line has been condensed down to three products. After looking at things again I think I have figured out what they have done with their products:

• FileHamster Basic = FileHamster Plus
• FileHamster Advanced = FileHamster Developer Bundle (w/ more plugins)
• FileHamster Enterprise = Everything including Team plugin

They no longer have plugins but have just integrated them into the different versions of their product. I have not previously purchased all of the plugins to check them out so now I am going to have to try to find a way to get them without having to pay for the new full version. Maybe they will throw me a bone since I just started this blog up and have mentioned them a few times. Still waiting to hear about that. When and if they do hook me up I will post about the different new features that the new stuff has.

Update: I just heard back from Mogware and apparently anyone who wants to upgrade from the old version can. I should be posting more on them in the next couple of weeks.

I found this great utility a while ago and think it will be a fitting first tool to set my sights on. It is called FileHamster. This program allows me to use a lot of other utilities that I have found in conjunction with each other for managing my different projects. I use it for my audio and video projects, as well as my website projects. I have been saved quite a few times from my own foolish self (and not the good kind of foolish).

FileHamster was originally introduced to me as a backup program. When I think of backup programs I think of massive storage and keeping copies in a different locations like using a Maxtor program or an online backup like Mozy. I checked it out and found FileHamster to be much, much more. I like to refer to FileHamster as a performance enhancer. As I work it saves each revision and allows me to go back and restore to older versions when I have badly screwed up some of my old PHP,  HTML, CSS, .wav or any other kind of file that it is possible for me to destroy beyond all recognition. As if that is not enough FileHamster has additional utilities that let me do all kinds of things from the interface. I can zip your “revisions” so as to save space. I can assign a diff program to different files which will let you view differences in versions. I can upload my modified web pages to my FTP automatically with each change. I can even assign a batch file to run and convert my .psd files to png’s or jpg’s automatically so that I don’t have to save each format from within Photoshop. I just save the psd and my other formats are created.

There’s a wealth of information that I will spend quite a few posts on because there are a great many features in this program to go over. It is one of my favorites. So be on the lookout and try to keep up.