[Info-vax] VAXStation 3100

[Dave Froble]

On 1/16/2019 1:27 PM, Phillip Helbig (undress to reply) wrote:
> In article <ga9a1pFj4muU1 at mid.individual.net>, Bill Gunshannon
> <bill.gunshannon at gmail.com> writes:
>
>> What is the smallest size disk one would recommend for
>> VAX/VMS 7.3 and all the layered products the Hobbyist
>> Program provides Keys for?
>
> 4 GB is luxury.  2 should be enough.  I ran 2-GB system disks on VAXen
> for about 15 years.  Maybe 1 GB if you are careful, but go with 2.
>
> If you have no disks other than the system disk, go with 4.
>
>> And, I guess I need to go get a current set of Hobbyist
>> PAKs as I am sure when I fire up the boxes in a few
>> minutes here I will find them all expired.  :-)
>
> Indeed.
>
> I really, really, really, really recommend HBVS.  The only real
> disadvantage on VAX is that MINICOPY doesn't work.  (Well, technically
> it works between disks which have direct connections only to VAX systems
> as long as the corresponding (DIS)MOUNT commands are issued from a
> non-VAX in the same cluster.)
>
> Just set the system up on a single disk, change MODPARAMS to turn on
> HBVS, shut down, enter both disks as the boot device, and reboot.
>
> At least I think the above will work.  What definitely works is the
> above without adding a second disk as the boot device at the console,
> then MOUNT/SHADOW to add a new disk then, after the copy is complete,
> shut down, add the second disk (and the first, of course, if not there
> already) as boot device, and reboot.  The shadow set will automatically
> reconstruct itself after a reboot (i.e. don't have any MOUNT commands
> for the system disk in the startup---but you do need them for other
> shadow sets).
>

Maybe for production.  Not worth the bother for hobbyist.

I make an image copy of disks in use every night.  In the event I lose a 
disk, I restore onto another, and ready to go.  This actually happened 
once, in the last 20+ years.

And yes, before Steve gets in his obligatory comments about

BACKUP /IMAGE /IGNORE-INTERLOCK

My systems are not doing anything during the backup.  Absolutely nothing.

Note, for the above to work, you need a edcent system with at least one 
large (to me) disk.  I backup to a dedicated 18 GB disk on an 
AlphaServer 800.  DECnet will be your friend.
-- 
David Froble                       Tel: 724-529-0450
Dave Froble Enterprises, Inc.      E-Mail: davef at tsoft-inc.com
DFE Ultralights, Inc.
170 Grimplin Road
Vanderbilt, PA  15486