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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Software Issues and Discussion => Topic started by: motorollin on December 28, 2007, 07:56:06 PM
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What is the most stable/reliable/safe version of LZX to use when backing up a lot of files (i.e. a whole partition)? I know that some versions of LHA have been a bit buggy and not recommended for use so want to check on the status of LXZ.
Also, since I'm having some SFS errors I'm planning to use LZX to do a complete backup of my A4000 before formatting the partitions and replacing the backed up files. Would somebody who has backed up like this before mind checking my planned arguments to LZX to backup the entire contents of a partition?
lzx
a add
-a preserve file attributes
-e archive empty directories
-r recurse in to subdirectories
-x preserve path names
-9 maximum compression
partition:
Not sure if I have to put #? after partition: or whether it is enough to specify the name of the partition to get it to recurse in to the subdirectories as well as pick up all of the files in the root directory.
Finally, since my SFS partition has become unstable, I would prefer not to write the backup on to it and then copy it somewhere else. Does anyone have any experience creating large (well, huge) archives directly on to an SMB server using SMBFS? Does it work reliably? Can I expect any problems? I know it will be slow, but I don't care as long as my backup is 100%.
Thanks in advance
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moto
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There are NO 100% versions of lzx in existence anywhere. I and others in Team Chaos have done many many tests with lzx and lost tons of data. You should never use lzx to backup important data. You have been warned.
Use lha.
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if you, by any chance, want 1:1 copy, you could use dcp
but, I don't know how would you restore from backup..
when I want to archive something important with lha, I use
-a -r -e -x
and if you're short on RAM, redirect work directory to HDD
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I learned the hard way in 1996 about this, so I'll tell you now before you go too far: don't use LZX for backups. If you must use an archiver, use LhA.
The big issue (which affected me) is a 255 character path limit. See here:
http://xavprods.free.fr/lzx/limitations.html
This lost half my work partition with 32 character file names, it'll be a file massacre with SFS and 127 char files.
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Thanks for the warnings about LZX. I was recommended to use LZX in a different thread. Glad I know better now! Which version of LHA is the best to use? ISTR some of the later versions were buggy. And as for syntax, do the -a -r -e and -x options do the same things as they do in LZX?
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moto
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@now2
Wow, I totally forgot about that path limit!
I never tried to backup a whole partition with lzx. I was only trying to archive 1 single game for Aminet (Total Chaos). This was way back in the 90's when the game was much smaller, probably 20 MB or less. And lzx just couldn't make a proper archive. It always corrupted some files. It is a bug that is triggered by having a dir with many files which are very very similar, maybe even a few that are identical. This always triggered the "corrupt archive" bug for me.
lha 1.x is highly reliable. You can't go wrong with it.
And be sure to install TLSFmem unless you want to wait 2 weeks for the backup to complete. I assume you are backing up 4 gigs or more?
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More info about many lzx bugs Click here (http://xavprods.free.fr/lzx/index.html).
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I sent moto down the path of LZX. I've used it exclusively in the past for backups and never lost a byte of data. ::shrugs::
Also, the page shows v1.21... I'm pretty sure I'm using v1.22 or something like that... I'll double-check tonight when I get home.
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Have you boys been doing LZX?
Drugs are bad, m'kay..
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Have you considered using Quarterback instead?
I've always used it for backing up my workbench partition
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Every version of lha after 1.38 is buggy (except for 1.5 - registered). But lzx is worse.
My own experience!
For backups I use Quarterback & lha (1.5...).
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I use lha 1.38 for all my archiving needs. :-)
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Ok, already on 1.38 as it happens. Just kicked off an archive using this command:
lha -a -r -e -x a RAM:OS3.9.lha OS3.9:
Will that do the trick? As for using QuarterBack, well ideally I would like my backup to be accessible from non-Amiga systems (without having to set up UAE and install QB). So I'd prefer to stick with LHA.
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moto
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Still hoping for confirmation of the LHA command above, and any advice on backing up over SMB.
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moto
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moto wrote:
Just kicked off an archive using this command
Ooooooh! This made my brain cell think you had actually started the process mate ;-)
I am unable to confirm it for you as I would just highlight everything and use the 'Lha ADD' function of Dopus 4 myself.
However, after comparing it to another command line it looks like you have an "a" in the wrong place.
This is the command for backing up your existing icons before installing Kens Icons:-
Lha a -a -e -r -x Icon_Backup Sys:#?.info
(This will put an archive called 'Icon_Backup' in your System partition)
I think you are very wise to your Ram Disk as the initial destination mate :-)
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A4000_Mad wrote:
moto wrote:
Just kicked off an archive using this command
Ooooooh! This made my brain cell think you had actually started the process mate ;-)
I did, but I stopped it since it didn't seem to be doing anything.
A4000_Mad wrote:
I am unable to confirm it for you as I would just highlight everything and use the 'Lha ADD' function of Dopus 4 myself.
Does DOpus give any idea of progress, or at least that it's doing something?
A4000_Mad wrote:
However, after comparing it to another command line it looks like you have an "a" in the wrong place.
According to the LHA usage, options (-a -e -r -x) come before commands (a). I don't think it matters though.
A4000_Mad wrote:
I think you are very wise to your Ram Disk as the initial destination mate :-)
Unfortunately this will only work for my system partition. My main data partition won't fit in my RAM disk, which is why I need to sort an alternative solution. SMB would be good if it works, but still looking for some feedback there.
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moto
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moto wrote:
Does DOpus give any idea of progress, or at least that it's doing something?
Well mine most certainly does! It display "Frozen" and the % of compression as it does the task. When completed it displays:-
"Operation successful."
and
"Press left mouse button to continue" :-)
I just turned my Workbench into an LHA file in RAM, unpacked it into RAM and then booted into it.
(well, I didn't really boot into it :-D)
In Dopus4 config 'Menus' I have:-
LHA add
AmigaDOS LHA -x a "{d}{RsEnter LHA archive name}" {0}
Flags ticked are:-
CD source
Do all files
Output window
Recursive directories
Rescan destination
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A4000_Mad wrote:
Well mine most certainly does! It display "Frozen" and the % of compression as it does the task.
That's great - thanks. I'll use DOpus to create my backup.
Cheers mate!
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moto
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Glad you got it worked out mate
Booted up my Amiga today and looked at my settings for archiving with LHA using Directory Opus which are:
-b64 -D3 -e -F -r a
backed up my workbench partition to Ram: as a test and couldn't see any errors or missing files
the version of LHA i'm using is 1.50
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Just created an archive of my system partition using DOpus and it seemed to work fine, and much faster than from the command line which seemed to just thrash the disk for hours with no visible progress. I then noticed that the command I'm DOpus only had the -x option. I added some more and now it looks like this:
lha -a -e -x a {d}{RsEnter LHA archive name}" {O}
Kicked off another archive. Fingers crossed the backup is good enough for a format and re-copy!
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moto