Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!mtxinu!unisoft!hoptoad!peora!ucf-cs!wordproc From: wordproc@ucf-cs.UCF.EDU (wordproc) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Transferring Very Large File Message-ID: <1381@ucf-cs.UCF.EDU> Date: 27 Nov 89 21:07:27 GMT Distribution: na Organization: Univ. of Central Florida, Orlando Lines: 118 I got lots of great responses from you guys regarding my following message: >> I have a very large file on my MSDOS 4.01 machine that I need to copy onto >> 360K diskettes and transfer onto an MSDOS 3.3 machine. >> >> The file is a .EXE file of about a megabyte in length and is a >> self-extracting archive created with PAK. >> >> Naturally, I cannot use 4.01's BACKUP/RESTORE to copy the file over several >> disks because 4.01's RESTORE will give an "incorrect DOS version" error when >> I try to restore the file to the MSDOS 3.3 machine's hard disk. I presume >> that using MSDOS 3.3's BACKUP/RESTORE will fail for the same or similar >> reason. >> >> Upgrading the 3.3 machine to 4.01 is not an option, unfortunately. >> >> What other utility could I use that won't take the DOS version into account? The following are some of the responses: > Why not try downgrading the 4.01 machine to 3.3 for purposes of the > backup in copying your large file? That might work, but it would be nice if there was a utility that would do the same thing that BACKUP/RESTORE does and simply *not* check the dos version. Seems to me (whatever that's worth) that there should be a simple way around it than re-installing DOS. > Get a copy of a version of uuencode/uudecode that also splits/joins the > coded file. One was distributed not too long ago on comp/binaries/ibm/pc. > uuencode the file under 4.01, copy several sections of it to one floppy, > and repeat until it all fits, then under 3.3, copy them back to your hard > disk and uudecode the file. > > John Baird, Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego, CA USA > Kang Li, UCLA Computer Science Department > Roberto Gomez, Physics Department, University of Pittsburgh I'll look into this if I don't find a BACKUP-like utility that won't check the DOS version. > > Fastback + This may be the ticket, since I have a tape drive on the way and probably w be using Fastback + for that purpose. > Some people around, still have low density floppies, so I think your > best bet, is to extract the archive on your system, and then create > four separate archives to give to him. > Sean Coughlan I could kill the self-extracting archive and re-archive into smaller chunks, but that would be time-consuming and I still couldn't understand why a simple BACKUP-like program doesn't exist that would do the job without checking the DOS version. > PC-Magazine has the utility that you seek, but I am afraid that > I do not have nor remember the name. It should be available through > PC-MagNet. Sorry I could not be of more help than this. > Bryan Perhaps they do have one. I have their Utility disks volumes 1 and 2, and the only backup-type utilities they had could not handle a file larger than the target disk. The utility simply kept asking for another disk and would start over with that file on the new target, never finishing the copy. > Is it physically possible to connect the machines via > their serial ports with a null modem cable and use something > like Procomm to transfer the file? If they're not close > enough, perhaps the one computer could dialup the other > and still transfer the file over the phone line... > > Bruce W. Mohler > Ron Kline This sounds like a route I may end up taking. > Not having 4.01 I'll make the assumption that, like other versions, you can > still boot up from a floppy without having to go through a process of > configuration and instalation. What I've done in the past between 3.1 and > 3.3 is simply boot the target machine with a floppy disk that has the > original machine's DOS and a copy of the original's RESTORE program. I > then initiate the RESTORE from the floppy. Sounds like a very good possibility. As long as the BACKUP/RESTORE isn't reading the DOS version off the hard disk.... That's what I'll probably try first, since I don't yet have Fastback +. A final suggestion was to use a better file compression utility. Great idea, but the PAK utility created this self-extracting archive of about one megabyte from nearly four megabytes of program source, data and executable. I don't think much better compression than that would be obtained with another utility. In a few unscientific comparisons, it actually seemed to provide equal and even better compression than ARC or the PKARC/PKZIP utilities. THANKS, EVERYBODY, for the help! ___________________________________________________________________ _________ / Marcus Clenney ___ ___ /___ ___/ ________ / U. of Central Florida / | / | / / / ______/ / Dept. of Computer Science / /| | / /| | / / / / / Orlando, FL 32816 / / | |/ / | | / / / /_____ / wordproc@bithlo.ucf.edu /_/ |___/ |_| /_/ /_______/ / ____________________________________________________________/