Directory file dates and BACKUP

[Jeremy Begg]

I tried using /EXCLUDE instead of /SELECT (or /FILES_SELECTED) as per Wim's suggestion but it made no difference. I confirmed that the .DIR files were present in the saveset.

Note that the security details (owner, protection and ACLs) were preserved on all restored files and directories.

I'd have to agree with John Pinkley's findings in this case, i.e. there's no way to force BACKUP to maintain the creation date/time on .DIR files, unless you use BACKUP/IMAGE to restore the saveset.

To set the creation dates on these directories I'm going to use the SET FILE/ATTR=CREDATE=date command on each .DIR file.

Regards,
Jeremy Begg

[Jan van den Ende]

Re Jon:

Yes, the only ways to preserve top-level directory info are:
a. BACKUP/IMAGE restore of a BACKUP/IMAGE save
b. An explicit BACKUP/OWN=ORIG of the .DIR file(s) it/themselves.

Personally I have always thought the failure to do this in one pass of a non-image BACKUP operation a fault in VMS.

On recreating the chain of zero-DIRs:

The easiest way to get there is to SET DEFAULT to the [000000] od a concealed device, and restore [000000...]
That results in lower-level 000000.DIR(s), but I HAVE run into DISK;[000000.000000...] more than once! However, I never have conciously witnessed THEIR creation.

fwiw

Have one on me.

jpe

[Jon Pinkley]

RE: Jan "The easiest way to get there is to SET DEFAULT to the [000000] of a concealed device, and restore [000000...]"

Yes, that is problematic, but that problem will never occur in an image backup of a disk that doesn't already have the problem.

I believe it is RMS that creates the virtual MFD for concealed devices for compatibility reasons. But I agree, there are few cases where it should be used, and definitely not when creating backup savesets.

Jon