[Info-vax] Copying VMS SaveSet Under Windows

[glen herrmannsfeldt]

smithfarm <presnypreklad at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 11/20/2010 05:01 PM, Jeff wrote:

>> Hello All, I have a tape with an OpenVMS SaveSet (probby written under
>> V8.3) that I need to copy to an external USB drive. However, I have no
>> OpenVMS system to read it on, just Windows Server 2003. Does anyone
>> know of a software product that I can use to COPY the SaveSet (and
>> keep its original format) from an LTO tape to a USB drive? I have
>> tried HP Data Protector - it can see the tape label, but cannot copy
>> the contents.
 
> First off, as far as I know, there are no plug-ins for Windows (or even 
> Linux, for that matter) that would allow one to read disks or tapes 
> created under VMS (FILES11).

Well, what you really need is the ability to read tape blocks and
write them to the USB drive in a virtual tape format.  The virtual
tape preserves the block boundaries, as that is needed by some 
backup programs.  

If blocking information isn't needed, then just a raw byte stream
should do it.   Working with tapes under Windows isn't so easy, though.
There are programs for unix/linux that can easily read tapes and
write virtual tape files.  For raw bytes, you just need dd.

If you boot a Linux-live CD, then you don't even need to install it!

-- glen