Backing up ST506 disks

From: Dwight K. Elvey <dwightk.elvey_at_amd.com>
Date: Mon Aug 4 13:22:01 2003

>From: "Jules Richardson" <julesrichardsonuk_at_yahoo.co.uk>
>
>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)

 Write a serial dump program and move it to the PC.
 
>
> 2) Being able to rebuild the system if/when the hard drive fails.

 Learn enough about the system to extract the code needed to do
a bootstrap. It will be worth your investment in time. The amount
you'll learn will be more valuable than the boot strap code.
The simples bootstrap is with some serial input to drive. You
should get a second drive to fiddle with, that can later be used
as a backup.
Dwight


>
>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!
>
>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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Received on Mon Aug 04 2003 - 13:22:01 BST

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