Backing Up Your System Disk

Unless your newly installed or upgraded system disk will be part of a shadow set, HP recommends that you back up the system disk before performing the tasks described in this chapter. If you encounter problems while performing any of these tasks, having a backup copy of the system disk ensures that you can restore it to a known condition without having to repeat the installation or upgrade.

If your system disk will be part of a multiple-member shadow set, then a backup is not necessary. Either form or re-form the shadow set, as described in Section ; this creates a backup copy of the newly installed or upgraded system disk through the shadow copy operation. Remember to dismount any added shadow set members after the shadow copy has completed, complete any steps described in this chapter that you need to perform and, when you are finished, re-form the shadow set.

If your newly installed or upgraded system disk will not be in a shadow set, back up the system disk by performing the following steps. (For a newly installed system disk, it might be just as easy to reinstall the operating system.)

Shut down the system (for OpenVMS Alpha systems, as described in Section ; for OpenVMS Integrity server systems, as described in Section ).
Boot the operating system media, as described in Section .
Use the OpenVMS operating system menu to enter the DCL environment (option 8).
Mount the system device and the target device on which you are making the backup copy. (If you are backing up to tape, skip to the next step.) For example, if your system disk is on DKA0: and the target device is on DKA100:, you might use the following commands (colons are required). The /OVERRIDE qualifier used in this example enables you to mount the system disk without entering its volume label. The /FOREIGN qualifier is required for the target disk when you use the BACKUP /IMAGE command.
```
$$$ MOUNT /OVERRIDE=IDENTIFICATION DKA0:
$$$ MOUNT /FOREIGN DKA100:
$$$ BACKUP /IMAGE /LOG DKA0: DKA100:
```
The /IMAGE qualifier causes the Backup utility to produce a functionally equivalent copy of the system disk, which is also bootable. The /LOG qualifier causes the procedure to display the specification of each save set file being processed. To compare the backed up files to the source files, use the /VERIFY qualifier. If any discrepancies are detected, the Backup utility displays an error message.
To back up the system disk to a magnetic tape, enter the following commands, where MTA0: is the magnetic tape drive and label is the volume label. Note that the BACKUP command automatically mounts the tape and begins the backup to it.
```
$$$ INITIALIZE MTA0: label
$$$ MOUNT /OVERRIDE=IDENTIFICATION DKA0:
$$$ BACKUP /IMAGE /LOG DKA0: MTA0:label.BCK
```
Log out from the DCL environment.
Shut down the system by selecting option 9 on the menu.
Boot from the disk on which you either upgraded or installed OpenVMS.

In addition to backing up the system disk now before you customize it, you should back up your system disk again after you successfully complete your customization tasks and install layered products.

For more complete information about backup operations, including a description of an alternative method that does not require booting from the operating system media and that enables you to back up a shadowed disk without disabling the shadow set, see Appendix 6. For more information about the Backup utility, see the HP OpenVMS System Management Utilities Reference Manual: A-L.