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From: acm@bu-cs.BU.EDU (ACM)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: DOS RESTORE command
Message-ID: <13298@bu-cs.BU.EDU>
Date: Tue, 22-Sep-87 15:52:55 EDT
Article-I.D.: bu-cs.13298
Posted: Tue Sep 22 15:52:55 1987
Date-Received: Thu, 24-Sep-87 05:55:55 EDT
References: <2306@mibte.UUCP> <3523@islenet.UUCP>
Reply-To: madd@bucsb.bu.edu
Organization: Boston University ACM
Lines: 50

In article <3523@islenet.UUCP> jons@islenet.UUCP (Jonathan Spangler) writes:
>In article <2306@mibte.UUCP> jnj@mibte.UUCP (Jim Jackson) writes:
>>
>>	I am trying to restore files on my IBM/AT that were extracted from
>>an IBM/XT using the BACKUP command.  The files were all residing in a
>>directory called /merge.  There are 16 disks in all.
>>					mibte!jnj
>
>Couple questions: are you using the same version of DOS?
>                  can you do the backup again from the XT?

These are good questions.  For some reason that I really don't
understand, different versions of MS-DOS refuse to admit that a backup
disk is really a backup disk.  For instance, I once tried to move a
backup disk from PC-DOS 2.11 to an AT using PC-DOS 3.10.  The result:
BACKUP steadfastly refused to admit there was anything on the backup
disk at all.  No error message indicating wrong version of DOS, just
one saying "this is not a backup disk" or something like that.

>Suggestions: Do yourself a favor and get Fastback..                 
>             Among other things, it's not DOS-specific, it's
>             MUCH faster than DOS, and a super all-around program.

This is a good suggestion:  I too like Fastback.  However, it will do
you little good in restoring what you have.  What I did was rewrite
RESTORE.  BACKUP prepends a 128 byte record to files that it writes
out (I really can't remember the exact method it uses for multiple
files but for only one file it does this).  You can restore a BACKUP
file by stripping that off for each disk in the series.  You'll have
to do more research than this if you want to create a utility, though.
When I had to do it, I was only trying to restore single files
that were backed up.  They spanned multiple disks.  Just writing a
fast program to strip off the header on each disk and concatenate the
files worked for me; somehow I doubt it's so simple if you have
multiple files.

Anyone else out there have a better way?  Besides walking in the doors
of Microsoft and trying to shoot the person who wrote the %^# utility
in the first place, that is.

>NOTE: Not related in any way to Fifth Generation Systems, Inc. Just
>      an admirer of good software.

Ditto.  Especially since they deprotected Fastback!

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