[Info-vax] Disk image viewable in Windows/Linux

[Sum1]

On 2011-08-04 12:24:45 +0000, VAXman-  @SendSpamHere.ORG said:

> In article <4e3a0cfd$0$29970$c3e8da3$5496439d at news.astraweb.com>, Sum1 
> <not at here.com> writes:
>> On 2011-08-04 00:06:50 +0000, MG said:
>> 
>>> On 4-8-2011 1:39, Sum1 wrote:
>>>> I want to make a "copy" of a Files-11 disk that can be viewed in linux
>>>> or Windows. Not operated on in a files sense, but viewed in a disk
>>>> container. A virtual disk was created on PersonalAlpha and
>>>> formatted/filled on VMS8.3. If I look at the virutal disk on
>>>> linux/windows I have no problem seeing the conttents using winnhex etc.
>>>> But, am I seeing the disk "structure" as well, such as bitmap.sys,
>>>> index.sys etc?
>>>> 
>>>> Shopuld I be using ld or something similar?
>>> 
>>> What would you like to do exactly?
>>> 
>>> I don't really know what you mean by "operated on in a files sense."
>>> But, with NFS and/or CIFS, you can pretty much share it with Linux
>>> and/or Windows.  (To be able to see data in either Linux or Windows,
>>> the RMS data won't be able to be preserved and the data probably will
>>> not be of much use anyway.)
>>> 
>>> Even easier would be to simply Zip up an entire disk.  You can even
>>> preserve version-numbering, to name something.
>>> 
>>> - MG
>> 
>> Perhaps I was unclear when I sad "Not operated on in a files sense, but
>> viewed in a disk container." - the key part being "Not"….I want to make
>> an exact copy of a Files-11 disk, save it into a container file that
>> can be examined in hex on Windows and/or Linux.  vms2linux is a nice
>> idea, but not what I want.
>> 
>> I am after a single "container" file, not a native interpretation of
>> the contents….
> 
> Use LD on OpenVMS.
> 
> $ LD CREATE container.dsk /SIZE=<x-number-of-blocks>
> $ LD CONNECT container.dsk LDA1:
> $ INIT LDA1: label
> $ MOUNT LDA1: label
> 
> Put your files on the mounted LDA1: device.  Then...
> 
> $ DISMOUNT LDA1:
> $ LD DISCONNECT LDA1:
> 
> 
> You can now move the container.dsk file as a binary image to your
> linux machine.

Hi VAXman

I was hoping that your suggeston may be the way to go.

For the others providing responses or questions about why I am trying 
to do what I want…..

I want to take a whole ODS2 and/or 5 disk and encapsulate it into a 
container file; LD seems to do that, I am unsure if the container file 
used by PersonalAlpha does that *without* adding its own 
meta-structures.

Why do I want this?  As I have said several times, I *don't* want to 
mount the container on Linux or Windows to read the files and their 
contents in a record-oriented sense;  I want to be able to examine the 
binary disk structure, the location and contents of the meta-data, the 
location and contents of the files/directories/other stuff.

It appears that LD will let me do this as I can FTP the container to 
wherever I want, I can then also compare an identically-built 
PersonalAlpha container file and see what (if any) differences exist.

Thanks all who provided help with this :)

Cheers