rescuing data from hard drive

[Gordon Bertrand]

Hi all,

I've come across a NeXT Station which had been stored for many years
because it was wasn't working. After swapping the hard drive into a
working unit, it eventually spun-up and came back to life (albeit
grudgingly). Upon checking the contents of the system, I discovered a
number of programs and files which I'd like to move off this drive
before it dies for good. However, most of the programs are too large to
copy to disk, and I'm concerned that trying to reconfigure the system to
connect to our network (to transfer the files to a server) would be a
difficult undertaking.

I don't know how long the 'ol hard drive will last, so I'm wondering if
I can temporarily attach the drive to a non-NeXT system and grab the
files without running the risk of destroying the data in the process?
The hard drive has NeXTStep 3.3 installed.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Gord.

[Brent P]

In article <9r9Xb.1357$Ks6.14902@nnrp1.uunet.ca>, Gordon Bertrand wrote:
I don't know how long the 'ol hard drive will last, so I'm wondering if I can temporarily attach the drive to a non-NeXT system and grab the files without running the risk of destroying the data in the process? The hard drive has NeXTStep 3.3 installed.

Why not just connect it as a second, external drive to the working
next box and copy the stuff to the other drive? If you are lacking
space on the drive you can copy some of it, ftp it over to one of
your other boxes then copy more.

[Gordon Bertrand]

Brent P wrote:
Why not just connect it as a second, external drive to the working next box and copy the stuff to the other drive? If you are lacking space on the drive you can copy some of it, ftp it over to one of your other boxes then copy more.

Hi Brent,

Thanks for the advice....but wouldn't I need an external drive housing
and the necessary SCSI cables to set the drive up as a second external
disk? Also, the working machine isn't connect to our network (and I'm
not sure how complicated connecting it would be) so FTPing isn't
currently possible. Admittedly I'm a bit short on options (and expertise).

Gord.

[David Evans]

In article <T9aXb.1372$Ks6.15196@nnrp1.uunet.ca>,
Gordon Bertrand <gbertran@stfx.ca> wrote:Thanks for the advice....but wouldn't I need an external drive housingand the necessary SCSI cables to set the drive up as a second externaldisk?

Essentially, yes. You might be able to cobble something together using
the internal connectors and the right cables, too.
Also, the working machine isn't connect to our network (and I'mnot sure how complicated connecting it would be) so FTPing isn'tcurrently possible. Admittedly I'm a bit short on options (and expertise).

It shouldn't be too problematic if you edit /etc/hostconfig or use
SimpleNetworkStarter.app.

As far as reading the disk on other platforms, I've used Linux to read
filesystems from 4.2 on x86. I think this should also work for Motorola-
created filesystems but have never personally tried it.

--
David Evans dfevans@bbcr.uwaterloo.ca
Ph.D. Candidate, Computer/Synth Junkie http://bbcr.uwaterloo.ca/~dfevans/
University of Waterloo "Default is the value selected by the composer
Ontario, Canada overridden by your command." - Roland TR-707 Manual

[Brent P]

In article <T9aXb.1372$Ks6.15196@nnrp1.uunet.ca>, Gordon Bertrand wrote: Brent P wrote: Why not just connect it as a second, external drive to the working next box and copy the stuff to the other drive? If you are lacking space on the drive you can copy some of it, ftp it over to one of your other boxes then copy more. Hi Brent, Thanks for the advice....but wouldn't I need an external drive housing and the necessary SCSI cables to set the drive up as a second external disk? Also, the working machine isn't connect to our network (and I'm not sure how complicated connecting it would be) so FTPing isn't currently possible. Admittedly I'm a bit short on options (and expertise).

Yes you would need an extrenal case. There is a hack to run two drives
inside a nextstation, I suppose you could run it open case without making
the mods to get both drives together.

If you PC has nextstep/openstep or linux installed (not to mention a scsi
card) that may work. I know it works with nextstep on a PC has I've moved
drives between an old PC I put either nextstep or openstep on and my
nextstations and cube.

[Gordon Bertrand]

Thanks for the advice Brent and David,

You've convinced me. I'll try configuring the system to connect to my
network and FTP the files off...I'll post again in a few days with a report.

Cheers,
Gord.

David Evans wrote: In article <T9aXb.1372$Ks6.15196@nnrp1.uunet.ca>, Gordon Bertrand <gbertran@stfx.ca> wrote:Thanks for the advice....but wouldn't I need an external drive housingand the necessary SCSI cables to set the drive up as a second externaldisk? Essentially, yes. You might be able to cobble something together using the internal connectors and the right cables, too.Also, the working machine isn't connect to our network (and I'mnot sure how complicated connecting it would be) so FTPing isn'tcurrently possible. Admittedly I'm a bit short on options (and expertise). It shouldn't be too problematic if you edit /etc/hostconfig or use SimpleNetworkStarter.app. As far as reading the disk on other platforms, I've used Linux to read filesystems from 4.2 on x86. I think this should also work for Motorola- created filesystems but have never personally tried it.