Backing up and recovering Mark V

K

Thread Starter

Karrar

GT frame 6 running with Mark V for more than 8 years. with a power supply problem the hard disk failed (iDOS 6). Now; can we back up an other GT's hard disk and put it in a new hard disk? how many floppies do we need?
 
You will need as many floppy disks as required for the operation, and that will depend on how you perform the operation .

I would suggest a slightly different method, installing the new hard drive in the working <I> as the second hard drive and copying the contents of the existing hard drive to the new hard drive making sure to make the new disk bootable.

If you must use floppies, then it is suggested that someone familiar with PKZip be tasked with compressing the F: & G: drive contents on to the floppies. You should have the MS-DOS floppies which can be used to make the new hard drive bootable.

In the G:/DATA directory you will find the AUTOEXEC.BAT & CONFIG.SYS files which will need to be placed in the root directory of the new C:. They will create the psuedo drives when the PC is rebooted.

Then you can decompress the files from the floppies onto the new drive and you should be ready.

Please have a look at the manuals to be sure you understand the <I> directory structure.

It should be possible to use PKZip 2.04 to "span" the G: drive on to approximately three floppies. The F: drive may take several floppies depending on how many (and how large) "data" files are on the F: drive. You don't need to copy anything from the F:/USER directory or the F:/SPOOL directory. You also shouldn't need any .BAK files from any directory.

It's been a very long time since I've used PKZip, but if I recall correctly you need to use the -p and -r "switches" to store the path and files in the zipfile and then to decompress them back into the proper directories. Again. it is suggested that you employ the services of someone familiar with PKZip if you are going to use floppies. Otherwise. you are probably going to need a couple dozen floppies and a lot of time.

Seriously consider the first method suggested. And then, while you're at it make a back-up hard disk as well!

Hope this helps!
 
One other way of doing CSAs method of a backup hard disk. On one site I managed to install plug-in hard disk caddies on the <I> computers and had one more PC in the workshop with the same caddy. It is then pretty easy to make hard disk copies and transfer them back and forward as you want.
 
While at GE I wrote several programs that will backup only those files needed for the unit directory, basically removing all unnecessary files. The advantage is that you will be able to have your information fit on one disk. If you would like I can send this to you.
 
> While at GE I wrote several programs that will backup only those files needed
> for the unit directory, basically removing all unnecessary files. The
> advantage is that you will be able to have your information fit on one disk.

> If you would like I can send this to you.

I would be grateful i u can help me ! I need this for backup routines,
Thanks in advance
 
Forgive me if this isn't correct, most of my administration experience is on the MarkVe and MarkVIe.

From what I remember, if you clone a drive from one system and put it into a busted system, make sure you are off the ARCNET. You may end up with a conflict on the bus, which can cause issues. You're supposed to restore offline, and adjust the ARCNET settings so they match the old system before putting it back on the bus.

Feel free to mod me down if I missed the ball.

Mike
 
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