After you customize the OpenVMS operating system to your satisfaction and perform the other steps recommended thus far in this chapter that are relevant to your system, protect your work by making a standalone backup copy of the system disk to tape. To do so, follow the instructions in “Backing Up Your System Disk”. If you are going to be saving to disk, specify a disk that will not be (or is not) part of a shadow set.

For complete information about backup operations, including a description of an alternative method that does not require booting from the operating system media, see Appendix E “Backing Up and Restoring the System Disk”.

HP also recommends creating a systematic routine for backing up the application, data, and user disks. For more information, see the HP OpenVMS System Manager's Manual, Volume 1: Essentials.