Backing up VMS

[Scott Quinn]

On Jan 13, 2008, at 1:05 AM, Dave Dunfield wrote:

>
>>> My immediate concern is that I'd like to make a full backup
>>> of the VMS 5.5 on the VLC, and also attempt restoring it to
>>> another drive.
>
>> The VLC is simply SCSI based, isn't it? I wouldn't bother with  
>> doing a
>> file-based backup, just because the SCSI drive will probably be  
>> "quite
>> small" compared to today's drives. Just attach it to some other box
>> and do a block-copy of the whole drive. That'll create a file of eg.
>> 4GB in size with everything in it, including partitioning and all the
>> file system(s).  Simple to create, simple to restore to this or an
>> identical drive.
>
> I've already done that - I put the drive from the VLC as an external
> drive on the 3100 running NETBSD and dd'd it into an image file - but
> my goal is to be able to survive a drive failure, and possibly also
> move it to a larger drive. The original drive in question is an RZ23,
> which is a 100M DEC labled Conner drive - I have three other similar
> drives, two labled RZ23 and one Conner that are "really close" but
> not exactly the same - apparently there were slightly different
> variations and versions.
>
>> You'd probably do a file-based backup additionally to be able to
>> restore to a different medium, though.
>
> Exactly. If I understand it correctly, an image backup should restore
> to any drive, and is the best way to insure that I can rebuild the
> system in the future.

Why not write out a BACKUP tape with standalone BACKUP at the front  
so you can do a restore install? Only read about it being done on  
TKxx/TZxx drives, but it would be worth looking into, as it is the  
"official" DEC way to build a restorable backup (and is how they  
shipped the VMS tape distros) (haven't read too much about it because  
I don't have any CompacTape media right now).