copy (backup) directories without altering file dates

[daxb]

From https://icomp.de/shop-icomp/en/shop/...CA500plus.html

The ACA500plus comes with essential software pre-installed in it's large flash. This includes fully licensed Kickstart versions V1.2 and V1.3 for backwards-compatibility, and Kickstart V3.1 for running the final version of the OS that Commodore has published. You've lost your installation disks of the OS? Not a problem with the ACA500plus. A full installer for OS3.1 is included in the product. All you need is an empty CF card, and you can install OS3.1 with a few key presses. After that's done, you can use the second CF card slot to exchange data with a modern PC: The ACA500plus supports PC-formatted cards and long filenames out of the box, no special installation required.

So you use two CF cards connected to your ACA500plus? If you use FFS (or PFS/SFS) on both cards you should not get such comment errors. Unless you did something wrong before (do have the source files already such date/time comments?). Or the ACA500plus does something strange while copy from CF to CF.

AmigaOS knows only one file comments (as far as I know): https://wiki.amigaos.net/wiki/AmigaO...rence#FILENOTE

In most cases file comments are not used by the OS or programs but sometimes it is used (e.g. my C directory contains several file comments that I don't want to lose). You need to decide if the file comment information is important for usage (or for you) or not. Btw. BackUp has also an option for FAT filesystem.

[honx]

for partitioning/formatting boot cf card and installation of amigaos 3.1 i used original installer from aca500plus. so i did nothing, aca installer did all the work. if something went wrong here, installer did it wrong. about cf card in aux slot i formatted it using simply workbench disk format utility. i don't know what i could have done wrong by simply formatting the card. as i said, i don't know the filesystem used by aca installer on boot cf card for partitions WB3.1 and WORK. is it ffs? pfs or something else? i don't have a clue. how can i check if there are any comments on any file? and if comments are important then i can't use BackUp if it only works without comments... what is an example for an important file comment one doesn't want to lose? is it tooltypes?

[daxb]

If you type "info" in a Shell you get a list of all mounted devices. If you type "version <device> full" (e.g. "version dh0: full") it will print the used filesystem for the given device. You can also use HDToolbox to get the information. If you didn't change something the filesystem should be FFS.

To get comments you can use the "list" ( https://wiki.amigaos.net/wiki/AmigaO...Reference#LIST ) command. It will print comments if present. Or use DOpus or any other filemanager should do. E.g.:

list dh0: all
or
list c: LFORMAT="%F%S      %C"

BackUp has no problems with comments, it works just like the normal OS copy command. Of course BackUp is much more advanced and handles very special cases. Such like FAT. However, FAT is a bad choice (incompatibility) for backup from Amiga filesystem to FAT. Same goes for ext4 to FAT or similar.

Tooltypes have nothing to do with file comments. Important? It depends. File comments are notes to a file. Often i is just a version string like WHDLoad has. I guess the LHA and/or LZX year 2k(11) patch add a note that says it is a fixed version. Files send by email or downloaded from somewhere can have an URL as comment. If it is important or not or worth to preserve, you can decide.

[honx]

Originally Posted by daxb

You can also use HDToolbox to get the information. If you didn't change something the filesystem should be FFS.

i'm currently not near my amiga so i can't look after your other points, but this one i can answer already: hdtoolbox simply shows an unknown scsi device without any partitions. so what ever aca500plus installer did to boot cf card, it's not recognized by hdtoobox.

Originally Posted by daxb

FAT is a bad choice (incompatibility) for backup from Amiga filesystem to FAT. Same goes for ext4 to FAT or similar.

since today morning i already have an amiga ffs formatted 2gb cf card for backup purposes, no fat anymore. and even with ffs as target file system there were these metac errors if i didn't enable "never copy amiga file comments". so as target is ffs already the problem must come from source.
i'll have to look about what filesystem it uses on its three partitions, when i'm back home.

[daxb]

If HDToolbox doesn't work there must be a tool delivered with the ACA500plus that does similar things.

If the source filesystem/partition is ok, then I would check what ACA500plus does.

[AMIGASYSTEM]

HDToolbox does not show info because perhaps in the Icon Tooltypes there is not the right Device.

As for the comments, I do not know that the Workbench 3.1 files have any comments

[honx]

Originally Posted by daxb

If you type "info" in a Shell you get a list of all mounted devices. If you type "version <device> full" (e.g. "version dh0: full") it will print the used filesystem for the given device. You can also use HDToolbox to get the information. If you didn't change something the filesystem should be FFS.

now i found that damn problem: os3.1 installer from aca500plus obviously used pfs3 to format partitions.
both partitions cf0: and cf1: show pfs3_aio-handler 18.5, so this is why backup doesn't work... oh crikey!
i assume, this is also the reason why hdtoolbox shows nothing except unknown scsi, it doesn't know pfs3.

[Toni Wilen]

ACA500plus aux slot device name is aux.scsi.device.

[honx]

what exactly do i have to do with its device name?
cf card for backup in aux slot (target) i already formatted ffs, using workbench format utility.
it's partitions of cf card in boot slot (source) which are pfs3 format (by aca500plus installer).

[Toni Wilen]

I thought you wanted to use hdtoolbox with aux slot card. (at least it is mentioned in earlier replies)

If hdtoolbox still thinks it is "unknown", installer created RDB probably is not fully correct. Does both 3.1 and 3.9BB2 hdtoolbox show same information?

(Obviously it has nothing to do with pfs3)

[honx]

on my amiga 500 plus (ecs) with amiga500plus i only run amigaos 3.1 which was set up using installer from aca500plus. i don't run os 3.9 on this machine, this might be a bit overkill for an old amiga 500... so i can't compare. and no, i did not want to *use* hdtoolbox, i just wanted to see if it shows any information about filesystem before i someone posted the advice "version cf0: full" for showing file system info.
the main still problem is, that backup does not work, if i want to copy files completely including file comments. and now that i know, that source filesystem is pfs3, i assume this problem is caused by this. so obviously i need some kind of backup software which supports copying files including comments and everything from pfs filesystem to fastfilesysstem.
i don't want to tamper with filesystems or repartition/reformat anything, i just want a proper working fully backup. that's it.

[daxb]

I fear the problem is somewhere else. FFS, PFS or SFS shouldn't matter. Backup should always work fine if you have proper configured system. We don't know what you have done already in the past. I guess the ACA500plus WB3.1 Installer uses FFS and not PFS-aio, but check this please. On the product page and wiki page http://wiki.icomp.de/wiki/ACA500plus..._configuration I didn't found PFS related stuff. Is there a manual delivered with the card? The link above says:

The Aux slot is disabled by default in this mode. This is a safety precaution, as some customers have tried to install the OS on a FAT-formatted card. That's a truly bad idea, as it bears a few incompatibilities that are hard to identify as a user error. The Amiga OS should only be installed on a native Amiga file system. If you need to use the Aux slot for having a 64-bit filesystem or other patches available during install time, please launch the installer by pressing Shift-F7.

You said you used FAT as filesystem and later changed to FFS. So it could be that all your trouble started there.

However, a simple backup with the copy command like DamienD already suggested should work. E.g. "Copy DH0: DH1: ALL CLONE". Comments should be copied like they are. If you still get problems you may start from scratch NOT using FAT as filesystem.

[honx]

i didn't install anything on fat file system. system partitions on cf card in boot slot NEVER were fat formatted. these partitions are formatted the filesystem used by aca500plus installer. as i said, i did not partition/format system card or install amigaos 3.1 by myself. i used installer from aca500plus to get it all installed.
only one cf-card used in aux slot, for pc-amiga-sharing is fat formatted. nothing else. so the fat formatted card was and always will be just a removable device, used for sharing (and until this date problem i also copied my backups onto it). if that fat-formatted share-cf-card is not in aux slot, then nothing fat-related is in the system. so there can't be any problem because of this...
and this shared cf card NEEDS to be fat formatted in order to be able to write downloaded content onto it to install it on amiga. my amiga 500 plus does not have lan or internet access, the one and only available interface for sharing is aux slot of aca 500 plus and cf card reader on windows pc.
despite aca500plus manual does not say anything about pfs3, fact is: "version cf0: full" returns pfs3_aio-handler 18.5, fact is also, I did NOT partition or format WB3.1: and WORK: partitions on cf card. so I dit NOT install pfs3, but these partitions have pfs3 format. so as i did not do it and no one else touched my amiga, this filesystem must have been installed by aca500plus installer.
this copy command i also can't use on cf1: (WORK:), there also are some pfs3-related errors. so pfs3 as file system on source partions in boot slot must be the source of the problems... otherwise there wouldn't be any pfs3 related errors...

and deactivating aux slot is not a solution. as soon i deactivate aux slot (which is default), i'm not able to perform ANY kind of backup, because in this case aux slot is deactivated and not available, not accessable...
and *IF* that fat formatted card in aux slot is the problem, the starting from scratch is also no solution, because as soon i attach that fat fomatted card back into aux slot for amiga-pc sharing purposes, that trouble would start ALL OVER AGAIN...

[DamienD]

Originally Posted by daxb

However, a simple backup with the copy command like DamienD already suggested should work. E.g. "Copy DH0: DH1: ALL CLONE". Comments should be copied like they are.

Yup, just try this honx.

...or even as suggested, use one of these solutions: http://eab.abime.net/showpost.php?p=1332000&postcount=7

[honx]

Originally Posted by DamienD

Yup, just try this honx.

...or even as suggested, use one of these solutions: http://eab.abime.net/showpost.php?p=1332000&postcount=7

for the other solution i need an external cf card reader on pc as far i have read. i only have a built in one. and also i fear, damaging amiga (pfs3) formatted cf card by just plugging it into pc cf card reader. so even if i had an external reader, i most likely would't dare in fear of losing all contents of this card, since i still don't have any useful backup of its contents.

[DamienD]

Originally Posted by honx

for the other solution i need an external cf card reader on pc as far i have read. i only have a built in one. and also i fear, damaging amiga (pfs3) formatted cf card by just plugging it into pc cf card reader. so even if i had an external reader, i most likely would't dare in fear of losing all contents of this card, since i still don't have any useful backup of its contents.

I don't think it has to be an external cf card reader, an internal one should be fine.

...and as for lossing all contents after connecting it; don't try to access via Windows, you just use the utility to make a straight image to a file.

[daxb]

First, you need to know that FAT is not compatible with other Amiga filesystems. So, if possible we should avoid FAT. If you use FAT you have to live with the drawbacks and know them. Just have a FAT CF card in the aux slot is or should be no problem. Problems can or will occur when copy from/to it.

I don't know WinUAE but (if you use it) can't it access the CF cards in your pc card reader? If yes, use the same Amiga filesystem as the source CF card is. This should be the best solution. Copy from or to is save. On the other hand, with UAE you can take any CF into a pc card reader and do backup there.

If you still need FAT for the file sharing or backup CF card then use archives like LHA or LZX and copy this archive files to the FAT formated CF card. Depacking this files to an Amiga filesystem formated CF card will preserve all Amiga file attributes like protection bis and comments.

[honx]

that's what i said, that file sharing fat formatted cf card was only in aux slot, never in boot slot.
packing everything sounds good, is there a lha command available for packing an entire partition?

[daxb]

DOpus has it in the menu "Archiv" -> "LHA packen" on my system but seems it has not good options for a backup. Maybe this works for you:

lha -r -e -Qq a Drive:backup_file DH0:

It is a good idea to check if the content of backup_file is equal to DH0: in this example.

[honx]

Originally Posted by daxb

DOpus has it in the menu "Archiv" -> "LHA packen" on my system but seems it has not good options for a backup. Maybe this works for you:

lha -r -e -Qq a Drive:backup_file DH0:

It is a good idea to check if the content of backup_file is equal to DH0: in this example.

thx, is it possible to exclude one single folder? because there is one drawer (a whdload game) always returning an error.
always different files on three tries, but always in same folder. so i want to exclude that folder which is not working...