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From: revc@gwsd.UUCP (Bob Van Cleef)
Newsgroups: net.unix,net.micro.att
Subject: 'cpio' utility neede
Message-ID: <139@gwsd.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 29-Jul-85 11:55:01 EDT
Article-I.D.: gwsd.139
Posted: Mon Jul 29 11:55:01 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 1-Aug-85 07:56:21 EDT
Organization: Gateway Computer Systems, San Diego
Lines: 33
Keywords: cpio backup 7300 3b2
Xref: linus net.unix:4605 net.micro.att:373
Summary: 'cpio' is not "robust" enough for the tasks it is being given.


	If there is anything wrong on the input, you get a
	"phase error" and the thing dies.  If, for any 
	reason, you have to skip one of a multi-media set,
	you get a "phase error" and the thing dies.

What we need is a utility (or a cpio option) that will continue
after a phase error, and will attempt to identify the next good
file.  The bad file could be saved as a /tmp file to allow
human determination as to its value.  Most of the time, a partial
recover (noted as such) is preferred to NO recovery.

'cpio' has apparently become AT&T's choice for all archiving
to floppy on the PC7300 and the 3b2's.  This has caused some
major problems.

For example; one of our clients did a full backup of /usr prior
to getting his system upgraded to Rel. 2.0.  It amounted to
seventeen floppy diskettes.  Upon the return of his system, he
found that diskette two had a bad spot... "phase error".  All 
the other diskettes were OK.

To recover, he used 'dd' to copy each floppy to the hard disk,
'split' to break the resulting file into small pieces (to isolate
the binary files), and 'vi' to manually search for the file
names and put everything back together.

Bob
-- 
Bob Van Cleef			...sdcsvax!gwsd!revc
Gateway Computer Systems	 (619) 457-2701
4980 Carroll Canyon Road
San Diego, CA 92121