Question for UNIX guys:

I have a client with an old UNIX system that wants to get a data file off the old drive. I'm not up on UNIX in any way. Can anyone tell me what we'll need to do to pull the data off this drive? Thanks

-- Greg Sugg (gregsugg@bbnp.com), January 11, 1999

Answers

Greg,

FWIW: not that I don't sympathize with you and your client, but the request for that kind of info is so far off topic for this forum, that rather than try to suggest an answer, it would seem to be better to suggest that you post it in a forum in which it would be on topic. I have to imagine that there are several UNIX fora on the web.

Jerry

-- Jerry B (skeptic76@erols.com), January 11, 1999.

Jerry,

You're right about it being off topic; and I do apologize for that. Just to note though. It does have a relationship to Y2K. These guys are doctors (large office) with a non compliant system (hardware and software). If they don't pull this data off, there are going to be about 11,000 + patients that can't get their medical records. But regardless, point well taken about being off topic. Thanks

-- Greg Sugg (gregsugg@bbnp.com), January 11, 1999.

Greg, there are so many things to consider, here are some hints (especially since there are so many flavors of UNIX). Firstly, can you mount the drive as a formatted disk -- i.e., mount /dev/dsk/{device-file}. If you can't, can you at least mount it as a raw disk device: mount /dev/rdsk/{device-file}. Doing simple commands like "df", "bdf" will at least show what devices you have got and give hints on what to look for, and perhaps what the device file would look like. Just about ever UNIX system has a copy of the manual on line, accessible via the "man" (for manual) command. So, for instance "man mount" should give you all the info on the mount command, and at the bottom of ever manual page usually are listed related commands. If you are able to mount the thing, it will be something of the form "mount /dev/dsk/{device-file} /name" where /name is now how you will access it (e.g., "cd /name").

Sorry, this is about the best I can do with so little to work with, on a Monday morning, with only a single cup of coffee...

-- Jack (jsprat@eld.net), January 11, 1999.

Greg - Though I hesitate to suggest this, but if you have access to newsgroups, post your request in comp.software-year-2000. The reason I hesitate is that c.s.y2k is a real free-for-all of heated Y2K discussion, but it's also visited by numerous folks with some serious IS credentials (some of whom apparently drop in here from time to time.) Someone in that group should be able to help.

-- Mac (sneak@lurk.com), January 11, 1999.