OS2World OLD-STATIC-BACKUP Forum

OS/2 - Technical => Setup & Installation => Topic started by: steve b on 2010.06.23, 06:47:24

Title: Does the Archive folder in X:\OS2 serve a purpose anymore?
Post by: steve b on 2010.06.23, 06:47:24
I know in the W3 days you could activate it to save info for a rescue of some functionality. Is there any harm in deleting all the contents except the desktop itself?
Title: Re: Does the Archive folder in X:\OS2 serve a purpose anymore?
Post by: RobertM on 2010.06.23, 07:32:21
Quote from: steve b on 2010.06.23, 06:47:24
I know in the W3 days you could activate it to save info for a rescue of some functionality. Is there any harm in deleting all the contents except the desktop itself?

Mine is still in use for the recovery options... I have 10 desktops/INI file sets (and other files that get archived) on each of my machine (the default is 3).
Title: Re: Does the Archive folder in X:\OS2 serve a purpose anymore?
Post by: Joachim on 2010.06.23, 15:09:41
Quote from: steve b on 2010.06.23, 06:47:24
I know in the W3 days you could activate it to save info for a rescue of some functionality. Is there any harm in deleting all the contents except the desktop itself?

In eComStation 2.0 the archiving feature has been vastly improved over previous versions. In cooperation with the community a list of critical files has been selected that are stored there. So, while previous releases did not have much useful content, it is actually usable now.

Regards,

Joachim Benjamins / Mensys BV
Title: Re: Does the Archive folder in X:\OS2 serve a purpose anymore?
Post by: klipp on 2010.06.23, 19:26:27
Hi steve b! My advice from personal expierence is "Don't screw with it" and use it every time you make changes to you're desktop --- it can be a lifesaver.

klipp
Title: Re: Does the Archive folder in X:\OS2 serve a purpose anymore?
Post by: ivan on 2010.06.23, 22:15:46
To answer your question, yes it does have function.

If you have Xworkplace installed you can add the ability to archive more than the standard 3 as Robert has said. 

If you edit the os2.key file you can add more key files to be saved as Joachim has indicated. I don't knoe what files eCS adds but here is my os2.key:
KEYFILE:OS2.INI
KEYFILE:OS2SYS.INI
KEYFILE:C:\CONFIG.SYS
KEYFILE:C:\STARTUP.CMD
KEYFILE:C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT
KEYFILE:C:\OS2\DLL\SCENTER.CFG
KEYFILE:C:\OS2\DLL\DOCK0.CFG
KEYFILE:C:\OS2\DLL\DOCK1.CFG
KEYFILE:C:\OS2\DLL\DOCK2.CFG
KEYFILE:C:\OS2\SYSTEM\USER.DAT
KEYFILE:C:\OS2\SYSTEM\SYSTEM.DAT
KEYFILE:C:\IBMCOM\PROTOCOL.INI
KEYFILE:C:\IBMLAN\IBMLAN.INI
KEYFILE:C:\MPTN\ETC\TCPOS2.INI
KEYFILE:C:\TCPIP\BIN\TCPSTART.CMD

There are more that you could add but the above is what I've found are most applicable to the systems here.

ivan
Title: Re: Does the Archive folder in X:\OS2 serve a purpose anymore?
Post by: steve b on 2010.06.23, 22:52:12
So, how do you access the archive, and under what circumstances? I so rarely loose a desktop that I just restore from a backup.
Title: Re: Does the Archive folder in X:\OS2 serve a purpose anymore?
Post by: ivan on 2010.06.24, 00:26:20
Access to the archives is just the same as Warp3 via the start up blob (alt-F1), though I've been known to replace files from a maintenance partition.

There are also a couple of rexx scripts that will backup the desktop - I use Robosave.

ivan
Title: Re: Does the Archive folder in X:\OS2 serve a purpose anymore?
Post by: RobertM on 2010.06.24, 17:47:36
Quote from: steve b on 2010.06.23, 22:52:12
So, how do you access the archive, and under what circumstances? I so rarely loose a desktop that I just restore from a backup.

As Ivan stated, access is via ALT-F1 when (during the early part of the boot stage) you see the OS/2 or eCS boot blob on the top left of the screen.

Generally, you will see "Boot to Maintenance Desktop" as a function key choice in the top list (sorry, I forget which one), followed by (below the function key choices) a list of (three by default *IF* desktop archiving is enabled) archived "desktops" (desktops, INI files and related files will be loaded if you choose one).

The purpose is, in the event the WPS (ini files) gets hosed, you can select a previous desktop that has a non-broken set of INI files. There are various WPS addons that can extend the list from 3 to either 9 or 10. I believe I am using either xWorkplace or Styler/2 to do so (but dont recall which).

It has come in handy for me the few times I have needed it.

On a related note, saving things to the desktop isnt a good idea...
(1) recovering a previous desktop will lose any files you had on your current desktop
(2) archiving the desktop will take longer, as it needs to archive all files you stored in or under the desktop directory
(3) It will use more space on your boot drive, as you may have anywhere from 3 to 10 archived desktops (plus the active one), meaning 3-10 times the storage space that the in-use desktop is using because of the files stored directly on the desktop.

The proper method is to store shadows of the objects on the desktop, which alleviates all those problems.

Best,
Robert