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Backup/Restore process

Started by LookingForHelp, 2009.08.28, 23:26:54

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LookingForHelp

Hi all,

I'm new to OS/2, but not to hardware and PC's.  I have an interesting problem, and I'm sure I'm not the first one to live through this...  I'm hoping someone on this board can suggest some solutions.

The company I work for develops, fabricates, sells, and supports industrial machinery.  About 6 months ago, we acquired, as part of a contract with a new customer, a used machine which uses an OS/2-based PC as the user interface.  This machine (and the PC) presently works perfectly fine, and as such, we do not have any issues with it.  HOWEVER, we have just sold it to a new customer looking for a used machine, and therein lies the problem...  We need to support this customer in the event that something fails within the next few months or so.  How do we backup this system?  How do we replace the PC with a modern PC in the event we need to (or any part of it, such as video, or network cards?)  We do NOT have any CD's, disks, or any other media to re-install software.  Are we SOL?

I'm thinking we should be able to "ghost" (image) the drive somehow w/o removing it from the PC (i.e. we need to avoid moving parts around until we ALREADY have a working backup and a plan to restore.)  Also, if we ever need to replace the PC, can the application (customer software for the machine) be migrated, even though we do not have installation CD's?

Thanks for your input.  I don't expect this to be easy or doable, but I'm asking all the same!!

JL

Radek

(1) You can make an image by something that understands HPFS. One nice utility that can do it is PING, a Linux partition backup/restore. You can download PING here

http://freshmeat.net/projects/ping_partimage_is_not_ghost/

the documentation to PING can be found here

http://ping.windowsdream.com/ping/howto-2.01.html

PING is a bootable ISO that can backup/restore HPFS partitions. It is an "intelligent" backup that stores only used disc sectors and bzip's them. Therefore, the image is much smaller than the partition and much better manageable. PING is freeware.

(2) Restoring the partition elsewhere is possible but you will need DFSee:

http://www.dfsee.com/

DFSee is a multi-platform HD editor, fdisk, etc.  ;D  which you will need for accomodationg the partition on another disc. You will need to update HD geometry and similar HW characteristics according to the new disc. You can do it after copying the ima.ge (but before trying to launch the image, of course). DFSee is a bootable ISO or an application. There exist a OS/2 version of DFSee, which you will use for it. DFSee is paid.

ivan

Hi JL,

It is doable but we need a little more information first before we can give specific details.

1.   What version of OS/2?  (type ver at an os/2 command prompt).
2.   What hardware is used?  Processor, size of HD, CD rom etc.
3.   Is it possible to add a second HD?  If so you have the option of zipping up the present HD.

If it is new enough to be bootable from CD then there are several options open to you.  DFSee is available on a bootable CD and can make images of OS/2 partitions.  There are also several other programs that will allow you to make copies of everything on the HD and store it on one or more CDs.


Radek

DFSee (run from the bootable CD) isn't able to backup on a USB device. At least, DFSee 8.xx  wasn't. That was my problem before RC6: I wasn't able to install because of USB CD drive. I needed to install elsewhere and then port the partition on my comp. But how? I have only USB's, SD, PCMCIA - nothing of this is known to DFSee from the CD.

If JL can find a device known to DFSee (booted from the CD) where he can backup then he don't need PING.

PING is able to backup on USB. It can also backup using network or burn a CD directly (if you have 2 drives, PING CD locks itself in its drive).

ivan

Radek, you may be correct about the actual DFSee bootable CD.  My version of DFSee - as well as several other utilities - is on a custom built bootable CD that I use when problems crop up.

At the moment we can only speculate because we don't know that equipment JL is using - or for that matter, what version of OS/2.  For all we know it could be OS/2 v2.1 chugging along on a 386 with a 5.5 inch floppy as transfer medium.  I'm hoping it's not but we can't be sure - I have a client with just such a setup that is used with an A3 tablet, the drivers won't work with later versions of OS/2, though communications is via the network.

LookingForHelp

Thanks guys (or maybe gals?  :D) for the input.

I agree, getting basic information about the setup (hardware/software) is required to plan/execute this correctly.  I THINK this is a Warp 3 install, but I will confirm all of this back the shop Monday morning.  I'll get back with a list of hardware installed.  I'll dig around OS/2, but I'm assuming there's the equivalent of Window's Device Manager utility?

JL

Radek

Search "Hardware Manager" in the "System" folder. If it is Warp 3 or later version, it should be there. Hardware Manager lists all HW recognized by the system so that it need not be all HW in the machine. Much better info is given by Sysinfo - download from hobbes.nmsu.edu . Sysinfo will list all HW detected no matter whether it is managed by the system or not.

LookingForHelp

Someone will come back to me with a list of the hardware, but it looks like it's relatively recent...

The boot screen shows "14.062 W4", so it seems to be Warp 4 after all.

I'll get back soon enough with a list of installed hardware and peripherals.

JL