Fdsplit Script
For backing up a compressed tar file
that occupies more than one floppy
Bill Bynum
Fall, 1999



Backing up course information
Create the tar file of the course directory

Change to the parent directory of the course directory, pick a name for the course archive file, 312f97.tar, for example and type 

             tar fcv 312f97.tar 312

This will create the 312f97.tar tape archive file that contains the 312 directory and all of its subdirectories.

Compress the course tar file

Type 

             gzip 312f97.tar

This will create the file 312f97.tar.gz.

Copy the compressed tar file to floppy disks

If the compressed tar file produced in the previous step will fit on one floppy, then use mcopy (see man mcopy for usage information) to copy the file to a floppy disk.

If the compressed tar file produced in the previous step requires more than one floppy, then use my fdsplit script described below.

Fdsplit Script

The fdsplit Bourne shell script splits the file to be saved into 1.4 megabyte floppy-sized chunks, then guides you through the process of inserting the disks and copying the chunks to the disks. The script creates a restore Bourne shell script and writes it to each floppy in the set of disks in the backup. By running any one of these copies of the restore script, the saved file will be reconstituted. The restore script, like the fdsplit script guides you through the process of successive disk insertions needed to restore the file.

Usage Information 

usage: fdsplit  [ -b binary_size -p new_prefix ]   file_prefix
    splits a file into 1418k byte pieces, then constructs two scripts,
    a save script and a restore script.  The save script guides you through
    the sequence of disk insertions to save the pieces of the file to floppies.
    The restore script guides you through the sequence of disk insertions
    to copy the pieces of the file from floppies to hard disk, and then
    reconstitutes the file.  The save script is named file_prefix.sav and
    the restore script is named file_prefix.rst.  Both scripts are copied to
    each floppy.

    'binary_size' is the max size of each disk.  default: 1418k
    'new_prefix' is the prefix to use in creating the storage files
    'file_prefix' is the root of the filename of the file to be split
        for the file 'goo.tar.gz', file_prefix is 'goo'
     If the suffix of the file is neither '.tgz' nor '.tar.gz',
     then you will be prompted for the file suffix.

Script source

Sample save script

Sample restore script


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