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

[Wilm Boerhout]

Sum1 mentioned  on 5-8-2011 2:09:
> 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
>

Neither PersonalAlpha nor CHARON-AXP nor CHARON-VAX nor SIMH add 
metadada to disk containers. These containers are interchangeable with 
LD-created containers. It's just a load of bytes.

So you can create a container with LD, $INIT it and fill it with data, 
then dismount and disconnect the container, ftp /binary it to the 
outside world, where all mentioned products (and probably a few others) 
will happily see it as a disk container file.

/Wilm