FlexTk Ultimate includes a built-in disk monitor capable of detecting file creations, modifications,
attribute changes and deletions in real-time. The real-time disk monitor provides the user with the
ability to monitor one or more disks, directories or network shares and detect all changes made
in the monitored file systems. In addition, the user is provided with the ability to specify conditional
real-time actions capable of executing FlexTk's user-defined commands, custom commands, scripts or batch files.
The integration of the real-time disk monitor with user-defined commands opens an unlimited number of new
capabilities such as real-time file synchronization, real-time backup operations, conditional real-time
change notifications, etc. For example, the FlexTk's disk monitoring features used in conjunctions with
the file synchronization or file copy capabilities provide flexible and effective Continuous Data
Protection (CDP) and real-time backup solutions.
Finally, FlexTk's built-in disk monitor allows one to export reports, containing lists of all added,
modified and deleted files, into a number of standard formats such as HTML, ASCII text and Excel CSV.
Reports may be generated manually by the user or automatically according to user-specified conditions
in disk monitor actions.
In order to start a disk monitoring operation, select one or more disks or directories, press the right
mouse button and select the 'Disk Monitor' menu item. The disk monitor dialog allows one to select change
types that should be monitored, file types that should be monitored and specify actions that should
be performed each time the monitor reaches a user-specified number of changes.
By default, the disk monitor detects all change types in all types of files and the user is not required
to edit any advanced configuration options - just press the 'Start' button and wait for the disk monitor
to display detected changes. Changes are displayed in real-time as they occur in all monitored disks,
directories or network shares. Take into account that the disk monitor detects file system changes
performed by applications, hidden processes and operating system services running on the computer
where the FlexTk disk monitor is active. Changes made in remotely-hosted network shares by applications
or processes running on remote computers will not be detected.
During the monitoring process, FlexTk displays the number of detected file system changes, the list of
all changed files, the process time and the change rate. To temporary suspend the monitoring process press
the 'Pause' button. Press the 'Continue' button to continue a previously paused monitoring operation.
Press the 'Reset' button to clear the change list and restart the monitoring operation from the beginning.
To stop a running disk monitoring operation, press the 'Stop' button.
FlexTk's built-in disk monitor provides the user with the ability to export reports containing all
detected changes into a number of standard formats such as HTML, ASCII text and Excel CSV. Press the 'Export'
button and select an appropriate file format to export the currently displayed changes into a file.
In addition, the user is provided with the ability to export change reports automatically. See the disk
monitoring actions section for more details about how to export change reports automatically.
In order to simplify management and execution of advanced disk monitoring commands, FlexTk provides the user
with the ability to add user-defined disk monitoring commands and to execute them in the main GUI application,
as standalone GUI tools or using FlexTk's command line tools. Refer to the user-defined commands section for
more details about how to add, edit and execute FlexTk's user-defined commands.
Advanced Options
FlexTk's built-in disk monitor is capable of monitoring changes in specific file types matching one or more
user-defined criteria. The 'Rules' tab located on the disk monitor dialog allows one to define one or more file
matching rules specifying file types that should be monitored. For example, the user may monitor changes in all
executables and DLL libraries located in the Windows system directory. For more information about how to use the
file matching rules refer to the advanced file search tutorial.
One of the most powerful capabilities of FlexTk's real-time disk monitor is the ability to perform user-defined
actions each time the disk monitor reaches a user-specified number of changes. The actions 'Tab', located on
the disk monitor dialog, allows one to define the number of changes to watch for and the actions that should be performed.
Each time the disk monitor will reach the specified number of changes, FlexTk will perform the following procedure:
- Pause the monitoring process
- If required, execute the specified user-defined command
- If required, execute the specified custom user command
- If required, export the specified change report
- Reset the monitoring operation
- Resume the monitoring process
Take into account that execution of a user-defined or custom command may take a significant amount of time. During that
period of time, the disk monitor will be paused and some changes, which were performed during that time,
will not be reported.
All types of FlexTk's user-defined commands (except other disk monitoring commands) may be used as actions in the disk
monitor. To select a user-defined command press the browse button located on the left side of the user-defined command
entry. FlexTk executes user-defined commands in two different modes: the GUI mode and the command line mode. If a disk
monitoring operation was executed using FlexTk's main GUI application, user-defined commands will be executed in the
GUI mode and FlexTk will automatically show all the required GUI dialogs according to the selected user-defined command.
If a disk monitoring operation was executed using FlexTk's command line tools, FlexTk will execute all the required
operations in the terminal console without showing any GUI windows or dialogs.
FlexTk's disk monitor allows one to use all kinds of executables, scripts or batch files as custom user commands.
FlexTk executes custom commands in two different modes: the GUI mode and the command line mode. If a disk monitoring
operation was executed using FlexTk's main GUI application, custom commands will be executed in the GUI mode and
FlexTk will automatically show all the required GUI windows according to the specified custom command. If a disk monitoring
operation was executed using FlexTk's command line tools, FlexTk will execute all the required operations in the
terminal console without showing any GUI windows or dialogs.
Automatic report generation is performed according to the following logic:
- If the user has left the report name entry empty, FlexTk will save a report with an automatically generated report file name to the user's home directory.
- If the user has specified an existing directory, FlexTk will save a report with an automatically generated report file name to the specified directory.
- If the user has specified a file name, FlexTk will save a report to the specified file.
