4 Aug
2003
4 Aug
'03
4 p.m.
On Mon, 4 Aug 2003, Jules Richardson wrote:
Hi all,
I'm just wondering how to back up the hard drive (a 20MB MFM) in my Research
Machines fileserver. The system runs CP/M, has a couple of floppy drives, and
the hard disk is hooked up to a Xebec controller with a SASI bus linking it to
the host controller in the fileserver.
There are actually two problems:
1) Getting the data off the hard drive somehow (possibly via floppy) and
being able to read it on another system (ideally a PC I suppose)
2) Being able to rebuild the system if/when the hard drive fails.
Thoughts on both are welcome! I don't have any kind of OS source media for the
system, and it wouldn't surprise me if it isn't the only survivor :-( Maybe
there are utilities on the system itself to recreate bootable OS media, but my
knowledge of CP/M is a little lacking!
Presumably, this is the RML 380Z, and if so I can provide a
TeleDisk image of the boot disk. However, as it is SSSD and most
PC FDCs are incapable of reading/writing SD the image may not be
too helpful.
However, with a suitable FDC - one based on a NS 8473 or a 37C65
chip - creating your own boot media would be possible. With such
an FDC capability, it would also be possible to read/write/format
diskettes with 22Disk using the RML1 disk definition. This would
also permit HD backup via floppy, but it would be a tad painful at
about 90k per disk.
- don
For my old SCSI systems I tend to hold a raw
block-by-block backup image of the
drive by putting the hard disk in a PC with Linux and dragging data off that
way. If the drive fails and I can't get an identical replacement, a slightly
larger drive still works with a little bit of wastage. Due to the relationship
between the controller and drive using ST506 I gather things are probably a
little more complex though...
cheers
Jules
=====
Backward conditioning: putting saliva in a dog's mouth in an attempt to make a bell
ring.
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