I am in need of a Model 70, version 2.xx boot tape. I have created one in the past using UNIX commands but they doesn't work. Has anybody else made a boot-tape?

This is old... but it is what I used to use to create a copy/backup of an existing boot tape.

1) Get in the DEU terminal.
2) Log in as "root".
3) Insert boot tape into the drive. (Make sure tape is write protected).
4) Enter the command m350ctl -t /dev/rst0t to retention the tape without overwriting the data on the tape.
5) Enter the following commands:
for i in 1 2 3 4 5
do
dd if=/dev/rst1n of=bootfile${i} bs=32k
done
6) Enter the command
</dev/rst1t
to rewind the tape
7) Remove the boot tape and insert a blank tape into the drive.
8) Enter the command
>/dev/rst0t
to retention the tape.
9) Enter the following commands
for i in 1 2 3 4 5
do
dd if=bootfile${i} bs=32k>>/dev/rst1an
done

to create the boot files on the tape.
10) Enter the command
</dev/rst1t
to rewind the tape.
11) Remove the tape from the drive and label as a copy boot tape.

I hope that this helps.

That was a great answer, and thanks to Google(tm), I actually found it. (I guess the old User Connection for TIstar and for PCS is gone?)

My question is related to the previous one. The difference are:
-- we have a TIstar Model 20
-- we want to make a backup tape


I have an operator who has done the partial backups, but when he tries to do a full backup, it always fails. He eliminated the possibility of a bad tape drive and a bad tape by using 3 different tape drives, and many different tapes. All fail at the same point in the backup. So Siemens' tech support says he must have a bad sector on the hard disc, at a sector that's not needed during run-time.

Since the system is so old, he desperately wants to make a good backup of the system. Can he do so withsome unix commands? I presume that the dd command won't work, because that does the whole image.

The other way to approach it is to mark the bad sector as bad so the normal TIstar backup doesn't choke on it. How would that be done?

Other information:
The tape drive is an Archive model 2150L and uses a 150 Mbyte DC 6150 3M Data Cartridge tape.
Out of desparation, the operator even tried floppy discs. When he reached disc 85 out of 110, the system choked again, with an I/O error message.

TIA

Allen