README
NOTES ON 5.2.5-TD RELEASE
=========================
1 Introduction
2 New features
a) Extended NetWare Support
b) VMM support
c) IDE (FileSafe 8500) drive support
d) On-demand tape formatting
e) DOS 5.0 support
f) Chktape extensions - lost data recovery
g) IDE SETDISK installation utility
3 Performance tuning
INTRODUCTION
============
FileSafe V5.2.5-TD now supports all Mountain Network Solutions
mini-cartridge tape drives, including the IDE-interface FileSafe 8500.
Data compression and ECC error correction is offered in all formats.
The numerous enhancements provided by this software are detailed
in the following section.
NEW FEATURES
============
Extended NetWare Support
------------------------
This version of the software includes major new support for Novell's
NetWare 386, versions 3.10 and 3.11.
NetWare 386 features supported:
NetWare 386 Bindery Files
Netware 286 compatible Directory Rights
NetWare 286 compatible Directory and File Attributes
Preserves Last Access Date
Updates Last Archived Date
Netware 386 Directory Rights supported:
Create Directory/File
Erase Directory/File
File Scan
Modify Directory/File
Read from File
Write to File
Netware 386 Directory and Files attributes supported:
Directory File
========= ====
Options: System RO Read Only
Hidden RW Read Write
S Shareable
H Hidden
Sy System
T Transactional
A Archive Needed
RA Read Audit
WA Write Audit
NetWare 386 features NOT supported:
File level Trustees and Rights
Macintosh files (AFP)
Netware 386 Extended Directory and File attributes
Novell OS/2 HPFS, FTAM, NFS or Macintosh Name Space
Netware 386 Directory and File attributes NOT supported:
Directory File
========= ====
Purge P Purge
Deleteinhibit CI Copy Inhibit
Renameinhibit DI Delete Inhibit
RI Rename Inhibit
Files restored to a Netware 386 server will inherit the target
directory's rights and ownership.
Special note to Netware network administrators - This software is not
intended for use of upgrading Netware 286 to Netware 386. Files that
were backed up from Netware 286 and restored to Netware 386 will not
retain their original owners and trustees.
Special note to network Mach2 users - In some installations, it may be
necessary to insure that your Mach2 controller is using a higher priority
interrupt than your network adapter card. The lower the interrupt number,
the higher its priority. If you experience errors or very low data rates,
particularly when using the high-capacity TD101 format, make sure that
the Mach2 is assigned to a lower interrupt number than your network card.
VMM Support
-----------
A virtual memory subsystem is included to facilitate handling large
directory structures via either expanded or extended memory. In addition,
the speed with which these structures are built has been significantly
improved relative to earlier versions of TD software.
FileSafe 8500 IDE Drive Support
-------------------------------
Support for Mountain's FileSafe 8500 has been integrated into 5.2.5-TD.
Previously, a separate software version (5.2.4-IDE) was used for this
product.
On-Demand Formatting
--------------------
Regardless which tape format you use, 5.2.5-TD will automatically format
additional tape without user intervention whenever necessary to complete
an ongoing backup. You no longer need to be concerned with completely
pre-formatting tape cartridges.
DOS 5.0 Support
---------------
The AUTORUN utility has been redesigned to work correctly under DOS 5.0,
and the entire package has been extensively tested in the 5.0 environment.
CHKTAPE Extensions
------------------
Powerful new media analysis and data recovery capabilities have been added
to the CHKTAPE utility. These features allow recovery of selectively
backed up files which are otherwise inaccessible due to accidental over-
writing of the volume table, hard errors on the media, or failures during
the original backup process.
The CHKTAPE extensions may be invoked in two ways:
command line:
CHKTAPE /T
This invokes the CHKTAPE media analysis function, which displays
basic information about the current tape's format, voume table,
and data compression map. It is useful for obtaining a quick look
at an unknown data cartridge.
command line:
CHKTAPE /F[pathfilename][;pathfilename] /M# /V# /DDrive:path /S
This invokes the CHKTAPE file scanning (and recovery) functions.
The /M (mode) switch has the following meaning:
/M0 - This is the default, and will prompt the user whether or
not to recover each file found.
/M1 - This will cause encountered filenames to be displayed only;
it is used to generate a "directory" of recoverable files
for future reference.
/M2 - This will cause all files found to be recovered without any
further operator prompting.
Specifying scan range:
If the /V switch is supplied, then the decimal number following
this switch specifies the volume number to scan. If the /V is
not supplied, the user will be prompted to supply either a volume
number or an "override" segment range. Whether the scanned data
is treated as compressed or not will depend upon the volume table
entry if a volume is chosen; if the override is used, then the user
must specify whether or not to treat the scanned data as compressed.
Specifying source path/file selection(s):
If the optional pathfilename argument(s) follow the /F, then only
files whose full pathnames match these arguments (up to the last
character of the argument) will be processed. If no /F arguments
are supplied, all files encountered will be processed. Note that
wildcards (* and ?) are NOT supported in pathfilenames.
Specifying target drive and path:
The destination drive and path may be supplied on the command line
following the /D switch, or else the user will be prompted before
file scanning begins. If a destination path other than root ('\')
is supplied, then all recovered files will be placed in their
original paths below the supplied destination.
Special option:
The /S (slow scan) option may be used to attempt to recover files
which erroneously begin within the data area of a previous file.
This option results in significantly slower operation, and should
rarely be required.
Examples:
To recover all files under \DOS and its subdirectories from the second
volume on a tape, and to place these files on the D: drive's \DOS
directory, with user prompting before each file is recovered:
CHKTAPE /F\DOS /DD:\ /V2
To generate a directory of all files in the first volume on tape,
and to place this directory in the file V1DIR on the logged disk:
CHKTAPE /F /V1 /M1 > V1DIR
NOTE: File recovery only works on tapes which were originally written
using the SELECTIVE backup method. Damaged IMAGE volumes
CANNOT BE RECOVERED with this utility.
At least one space is required between each command line option
switch for proper parsing. Spaces should NOT be used between
the switch itself and its related argument(s).
SETDISK IDE Drive Configuration Utility
---------------------------------------
The SETDISK.EXE program was designed to help you configure your IDE hard
disk drive so that it can support the IDE tape drive unit. SETDISK should
only be run from this floppy disk on a system with an IDE hard drive
currently installed. The system must be running properly and currently
not booted from a floppy disk.
To support the IDE tape drive, your hard drive must have its board jumpers
set to the "Master of 2 drives" configuration. This program will attempt
to determine the IDE disk drive currently installed on your system and
display a drive board image indicating which jumpers on your drive board
must be changed.
WARNING: If your disk drive jumpers are not configured correctly, damage
to your tape drive and/or disk drive may result.
After the board image is displayed, you will have the option to print the
image or write it to a file. In order to correctly print the graphics
characters used in these drawings, the printer must support and currently
be configured for the IBM GRAPHICS CHARACTER SET. If you are not sure how
to configure your printer properly or you do not have one, take careful
notes on the jumper changes to be made before continuing with drive
configuration.
WARNING: Do not attempt to remove your IDE hard disk drive without first
turning off the power to the computer and removing the plug
from the wall. Consult the Internal Installation & Operations
manual for further instructions.
After making the necessary changes to the hard disk jumper settings,
continue with your tape drive installation as noted in the Internal
Installation & Operations manual.
If you experience problems consult your IDE hard disk drive reference
manual on how to configure your drive to the "Master of two drives"
configuration. For information on contacting customer support refer to
Appendix A of the Internal Installation & Operations manual.
Special note for Diskless Workstation TD8500 installations:
If you install your TD8500 on a diskless workstation using that computer's
existing IDE interface, you will need to change a jumper on the TD8500
drive. This jumper is located on the "P9 header" located on the component
side of the drive circuit board (the top) immediately behind the tape
drive frame. When shipped, the jumper spans pins 1 and 2; it should be
moved to pins 2 and 3 (toward the outside of the board). You may then run
CHKTAPE to register the new hardware configuration.
PERFORMANCE TUNING
==================
Next to reliability, one of the most important requirements of a tape
backup product is that it be FAST. Under ideal conditions on average
data sets, you should expect the following performance during non-
compressed selective backup operations on local drives:
TD4340 (XT-class) 1 megabyte/minute
TD4440 (AT-class) 2 megabytes/minute
TD8000 (no Mach2) 2 megabytes/minute
TD8000 (Mach2, QIC80) 4 megabytes/minute
TD8000 (Mach2, TD101) 5 megabytes/minute
When you use the data compression option, backup speed is heavily dependent
on your system's CPU speed.
If you are not using a Mach2, you will usually find that backup speed is
slightly faster with compression than without. This is because the tape
drive's data rate is often the limiting factor in the absence of a Mach2
- when this is the case, using compression allows the system's CPU to keep
busy (compressing data) during time when it would have been waiting for
the tape drive to take the data anyway.
If you are using a Mach2, compression performance is more critically
related to processor speed. This is because the tape drive itself is
placing a higher demand upon the system to feed it data, and there is
less "slack" time remaining for the CPU to read data from disk and compress
it. As a general rule of thumb, we've found that systems with less than
a 20 Mhz 386 will often have slightly lower backup speeds with compression
than without. Faster systems, such as 33 Mhz 386s, will usually show
slightly better performance WITH compression, on the other hand.
Buffer size
-----------
When FileSafe is transferring data to or from tape, the Progress window
displays "Buffer: xxxK". This tells you how much memory has been allocated
for data transfer DMA buffers. FileSafe will work with as little a 64K,
but performance will be better with at least 128K. In most situations,
increases beyond 128K will not provide much further performance improvement,
though it never hurts.
FileSafe uses as much conventional memory as possible for these DMA buffers.
To make as much of this memory as possible available to FileSafe during
backup sessions, we recommend that you:
1) Use a modern version of DOS, or a memory manager which allows
DOS resources, including device drivers and TSRs, to be loaded
in upper memory. If at all possible, try to have 600K available
for FileSafe to run in when started; 512K is the practical, though
not absolute, minimum. You can find out how much memory is
available by running MEM or CHKDSK.
2) If you have any extended or expanded memory, make sure your system
is configured to use it, and also make sure FileSafe is configured
to use it (inspect the XMM/EMM options in the Utilities/Install
screen).
