Announcing the Backup Nexus Preview Program

After many weeks of quietness, we are happy to announce that Backup Nexus has now graduated from the beta phase. The next phase that we have planned for Backup Nexus is a publicly available preview program.

The preview program will bring to it a revamped version of the Backup Nexus service, including faster and more stable backup client, more network services, and better definition on how unused disk space is shared between users of the network. At the same time, the rapidity and simplicity that you have came to expect from Backup Nexus will live on. We are adding features, but not at the expense of making Backup Nexus complicated or slow to use.

Stay tuned, as we roll out a new web site and post more details about the new additions!

Beta 29, 30, 31 - Diagnostic Releases

If you are sharp-eyed, you may have noticed quite a jump in version number in bun in the last few days. This is because we have released a series of diagnostic releases, designed to capture more information about a particular problem we discovered with how the nodes keep track of each other.

First of all, there is no change to the functionality of the program, and the problem does not affect the backup of your files. It is only an anomaly in how sometimes the time stamp will be dated years in the future, causing a node to think that other nodes are present, when they are not. This problem, however, is not in the core backup engine and therefore does not affect the backup of your files.

Beta 28 - Maintenance Release

We have released another maintenance release of bun. This version is primarily focused on stability and bug fixes.

It is available on the web site and by automatic update service.

Beta 27 - File Browser Enhancements

We have released another version of bun. The new release features a much improved file browser, which now have myriad options for filtering the view, so that you can browse for all the pictures, or see a list of files that have not been backed up, all by choosing a view filter.

In addition to the enhancements to the file browser, other improvements were made, including a display of restore status on the dashboard for each folder, and various tweaks for faster backup.

The new release has been made available by installers on the web site and on the automatic update service.

Beta 26 - Network Reliability Improvement

We have released beta 26 of Bun. As you may remember, our last release features a network transport layer that is more reliable than our previous one. This new beta release improves on that by fixing a problem that we have discovered, where the client software running on your computer would occasionally disconnect from the network.

In addition to the improved network transport, we have also made some small improvements on the file backup scanning process and some parts of the user interface.

You can enjoy the new release, courtesy of the automated update service.

Beta 25 - Network Enhancement and Performance Improvements

We have released beta 25 of Bun. This new release brings with it a whole host of improvements, most important of which is a new network transport that connects faster and more reliably - this means that your files will be backed up sooner and the backup status reflected earlier.

We also tweaked various internal settings to make the file scanning process faster and smoother. In addition, some small bugs have been fixed as well.

Beta 25 is available on automatic update, so you should be running it presently.

Beta 24 - Maintenance Release

We have released another maintenance release of bun. It is now available for automatic update.

Beta 23 - Headless Mode and Bug Fixes

We have just released beta 23. This is a release focused on improving the stability of Bun. No new features is in this release, but many bugs have been fixed, including an occasional problem with hung downloads.

More interestingly, we have also enabled Bun for non-GUI headless mode (most useful for Linux users). This means that you can now execute Bun in a non-GUI environment and it will run fine; however, you won't get the nice tray icon with the shortcut menu. If you run Bun in non-GUI mode, you can access the configuration page by pointing your web browser to the default local configuration page at http://localhost:7000/hi

As usual, the release has been pushed out for automatic update.

Beta 22 - Database Safety Patch

During our testing, we discovered that in some cases, the database could be damaged. We are not entirely sure of the cause yet, but we suspect that it is because of an internal switch that we enabled in one of the recent beta releases.

We have not received any report of this problem, besides from our own testing, but since the problem, if it happens, is serious enough to require a re-installation, we are releasing beta 22 with the internal switch turned off, which should help alleviate the problem.

The new version has been pushed out to automatic update service and should reach you presently.

Beta 21 - Maintenance Release

Coming right behind the coattail of the last beta is Bun beta 21, another release from our recent focus on stability and performance.

As with the last release, there has is no new features in this release, but it does have some significant improvements on performance and stability. In general, we have released memory by 30 MB - 100 MB, and also fixed a memory leak that previously would terminate Bun sporadically. Performance has been improved as well, and Bun now runs even more gracefully in the background.

Within the next few hours, by way of automatic update, you should find the new version running on your computer.

Beta 20 - Maintenance Release

We have just released beta 20 of bun. For the past few months, we have been placing more focus on the stability and performance of bun, and this is the first release that reflects our effort.

No new features are in this release, but bun is running a little faster and a little more stable. Since it was pushed out to automatic update yesterday, you should find it running on your desktop already.

Beta 19 - Stability Improvements and Restore Any File Version

You may have noticed in the past few days that Bun has updated itself and beta 19 is now the version running on your computer. We released Bun a week ago and it has been running well. Here are some highlights of what's new in this version:

• You can restore any older version of the file, for up to 14 days, even if it has been deleted or overwritten. This feature is available for any version that was fully backed up before it is overwritten or deleted.
  
• Fixed problem with occasional freeze due to memory exhaustion.
• Fixed problem with stability, where internal worker threads would quit randomly.
  
• Each computer is now set to contribute 4 GB of disk space to the network.

Password Change and Reset Self-Service

We have rolled out password recovery self-service for Bun. Previously, if you forgot your password, you had to email us, and we would then have to manually reset your password for you. With the release of the new password change feature, you can now request an automated password reset email and follow the 2 steps instruction to change your password.

You can access the password reset page here: https://password.backupnexus.com/password/.

Beta 18 - Skip List and Parallelized File Browser

Beta 18 has been released. This has been a minor release with mostly internal improvements. However, we have added a display of all the files that are skipped for backup, for one reason or another (e.g. file is still in use, or is a temporary file), so if you are wondering which file is not backed up and why, you can now find that out easily.

We also enhanced the file browser to take advantage of more than one CPU core. If your computer has more than one CPU core, you should now see a faster file browser display.

Beta 18 is available by automatic update.

Beta 17 - Firefox 3 Compatibility

We have released beta 17. This release is a minor release and the only major changes are added compatibility with Firefox 3 (and Safari 3) and internal runtime improvements that, in some cases, double the performance. We also fixed a bug with deletion detection that should make sure that your deleted files don't come back.

The update has been pushed out to auto-updater and your bun installation should have already been updated.

Beta 16 - Internal Improvements

We have released another version of Bun. This release is a stability-focused release. Despite the lack of new features, this is actually a very significant release; many internal operations have been tuned and tweaked to make the whole backup process much smoother.

We also fixed a bug with autoupdate on computers that have more than one partition. In some situations, the autoupdate will fail to complete successfully (thanks to LD for his bug report). This problem has now been fixed.

As usual, this update has been made available on the autoupdater and should reach you very soon.

Beta 15 - Dynamic Speed Adjustment

We have released beta 15, a minor update which features mostly internal improvements. There were a few bugs fixed. It is now available on automatic update.

We did, however, added a new feature called Dynamic Speed Adjustment. This automatic adjustment is available on Mac and Windows, and dynamically adjusts the processing speed of your backup, depending if you are using your computer. For example, if you are using your computer to play a game, Bun's CPU usage will be throttled down to minimum, so that your game can proceed at full speed. When you have stepped away from your computer or have gone to bed at night, Bun will automatically turns up the speed so that your backup can proceed as quickly as possible.

Beta 14 - File Scan Quick Fix

After pushing out beta 13, we discovered a problem with the file scanner that prevents files from being scanned into the internal database. The problem was very minor, but it occur in a pivotal point of the backup process, so we releasing beta 14 as a quick fix for the bug. This problem prevents the scanning process from completing, but otherwise has no effect on your files or data.

Beta 14 is now being pushed out on automatic self-update and should reach your computer presently.

Beta 13 - Battery and Use Throttling, Low Latency Download

Bun beta 13 has just been released. This version is packed with several improvements. First of all, if you have been concerned about a backup job starting right in the middle of your work on your computer, you will be pleased to know that Bun is now smart enough to recognize that you are using your computer, and will delay the backup job. On the same note, Bun is now also smart enough to stop backup when your laptop is running low on battery. These two features are currently available on Windows and Mac.

Besides being more intelligent about when to work and when to pause, this new version of Bun also has a revamped download system, which will intelligent begin downloads based on the presence of available sources on the network. This should significantly reduce the download latency (delay between when a download can be started and when it is actually started).

In addition to these major features, we also fixed several bugs and improved the layout of the user interface.

The new version is now available on automatic self-update. You can expect your installation to be updated within 24 hours.

Beta 12 - Minor Installer Fix and UI Tweaks

We have released beta 12 for bun. This is a very minor release, consisting of fixes to the installer for launch problem on Windows computer with non-English locale setting, a tweak to the Mac disk image, and some UI polishing.

This release has been made available by automatic update and your installation of bun should update itself within 24 hours.