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SCSI Tape Backup Utility - Version 1.02

Copyright (c) 1989 by Larry W. Beam All Rights Reserved

Released - 89/09/07


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WARNING - Improper use of this utility can result in the loss of some
or all data on your hard drive or tape backup, with no chance of
recovery!

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SCSI Tape Backup Utility is FREEWARE. It is copyright material but can
be used and distributed free of charge to anyone for personal,
non-commercial use.

The author makes no warranty or representation, either expressed or
implied, with respect to this software, its quality, performance or
fitness for any particular purpose.  As a result, this software is
distributed 'AS IS,' and the user assumes the entire risk as to its
quality and performance.


INTRODUCTION

SCSI Tape Backup Utility is a simple ProDOS-8 program which can be used
to backup a SCSI hard drive on a 3M DC2000 tape.  This is done by
making a block for block image of an entire hard drive partition on the
tape.  The program can also be used to restore the hard drive partition
from the tape image as well as format and rewind tapes.


USING THE UTILITY

The utility begins by checking for an Apple II SCSI Card with a Rev C
ROM.  If a SCSI card is not found, an error message is displayed.  The
first SCSI card found is then checked to see if a tape drive and at
least one hard drive are connected.  The tape drive must have the
lowest priority on the SCSI bus (ie, its SCSI ID must be 0). 
Appropriate error messages are displayed if the above conditions are
not met.

As soon as a tape is placed in the tape drive it is re-tensioned by
winding the tape to the end and back again.  The entire process takes
about 30 seconds to complete and when finished, the light on the front
of the tape drive should not be flashing (if this light is flashing,
see below).

Backup Hard Drive - This option allows you to copy the contents of one
hard drive partition onto a 3M DC2000 tape.  This process takes about 5
minutes per megabyte of storage space allocated to the partition and
destroys all data previously saved on the tape.

You will be requested to enter the unit number of the hard drive to be
backed up.  Acceptable unit numbers are 1 to 6, depending on the number
of block storage devices connected and their partitioning.  Under
ProDOS-8, if the SCSI card is located in slot 5, up to four block
storage devices may be connected; devices 1 and 2 appear as drives 1
and 2 in slot 5 and devices 3 and 4 are mapped into slot 2, drives 1
and 2, respectively.  In addition, the program will recognize two more
devices, which normally could be accessed only by GS/OS.  Once the unit
number has been entered, the volume name of the selected device is
displayed and you will be requested to confirm your choice.

Once the process has started, a 5 digit number will appear.  This is
the running total of the number of blocks copied (the total number to
be copied may be obtained by CATALOGing the partition prior to
starting).  The backup process may be stopped at any time by pressing
the ESCAPE key.  When the backup process is finished a distinct tone
will sound twice and "Process Successfully Completed" will appear on
the screen.

Restore Hard Drive - This option allows you to restore the contents of
one hard drive partition from the tape image created by the previous
option.  This process takes about 5 minutes per megabyte of storage
space allocated to the partition and will return the partition to the
state it was in at the time the backup was made.   All files and data
saved since the backup will be destroyed.

You will be requested to enter the unit number of the hard drive to be
restored.  Acceptable unit numbers are 1 to 6, depending on the number
of block storage devices connected and their partitioning.  Once the
unit number has been entered, the volume name of the selected device is
displayed and you will be requested to confirm your choice.

Once the process has started, a 5 digit number will appear.  This is
the running total of the number of blocks copied.  The restore process
may be stopped at any time by pressing the ESCAPE key.  When the
restore process is finished a distinct tone will sound twice and
"Process Successfully Completed" will appear on the screen.

Format Tape - This option allows you to perform a low-level format on a
tape (blank or otherwise).  This process takes about 40 minutes and
destroys all data previously saved on the tape, with no chance of
recovery.

You will be requested to enter an interleave value used during the
format process.  Acceptable interleave values are 0 and 2 through 7. 
Entering 0 will result in the default value of 2 being used.  From
limited tests carried out by the author, an interleave value of 2 is
recommended, as it appears to result in the fastest tape access time. 
The tape is formatted with a block size of 8192 ($2000) bytes.   When
the format process is finished a distinct tone will sound twice and
"Process Successfully Completed" will appear on the screen.

Rewind Tape - This option allows you to rewind the tape prior to
ejecting it.  This is done by issuing a SCSI StopUnit command to the
tape drive (see below). When the rewind process is finished a distinct
tone will sound twice and "Process Successfully Completed" will appear
on the screen.

Quit - This option allows you to leave the program.  This is done by
issuing the ProDOS-8 MLI QUIT call.


NEW TAPES AND OTHER PROBLEMS

Formatting a New Tape - When attempting to format a new tape, the
program may at first appear to do nothing.  There could be two reasons
for this.  First, for reasons unknown to the author, the tape drive
refuses to respond for about two minutes.  The solution is to just be
patient and the drive will eventually respond.  Second, the SCSI bus
may have lost track of the tape drive.  This is not limited to the
formatting of new tapes, as it may occur at anytime.  The solution is
to press CNTL-RESET (just RESET on a II+) and re-select the desired
option.  To determine which of these situations has occurred, press any
key not used for option selection.  If the response is a single 'BEEP',
then the second situation has occurred.  NEVER, NEVER press CNTL-RESET
when the hard drive or tape drive are being accessed!!!

Tape Drive Light Flashing - If the light on the front of the tape drive
is flashing at the end of the re-tensioning sequence, an error has
occurred and the tape drive will not operate.  This could be due to
several things, such as a bad tape, a defective tape drive or external
magnetic or RF interference.  To determine which, start by trying
another tape.  Next, disconnect the tape drive from the SCSI bus and
try again.  If this does not work, try to test the tape drive as far
away from all electrical equipment as possible (especially your
computer monitor).  Finally, the interference may be coming from the
tape drive's power supply (removing the cover from the case may help). 
If the problem persists, it is likely that the tape drive is defective.

Hard Drive Crashes - During development of this program, the author
experienced several hard drive crashes.  It is his opinion that they
were due to a problem with the Rewind option.  Prior to the release of
the original version of this program, the author believed that this
problem had been fixed.  It has been reported that the original version
of this program may have been responsible for at least one hard drive
crash.  The author has attempted to correct this problem, however, if
you should experience any problem which may be attributed to this
program, please discontinue using it immediately and notify the author.
As a precaution, you may wish to re-boot your computer after rewinding
a tape.

Write Protection - If the program displays the "Device
Write-Protected!" error message, check the write protection gizmo on
the tape.  It should be positioned as close to the edge of the
cartridge as possible.


|<RECORD|  |~~~~~~~~              |  <RECORD||~~~~~~~~ |~~~~~~~~~~~    
                 |~~~~~~~~~~~ |                                 |

Write-Enabled                     Write-Protected


HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS

Development of the SCSI Tape Backup Utility was carried out on an Apple
IIe connected to a home brew SCSI system consisting of an Apple II SCSI
Card (Rev C ROM), a Seagate ST251N hard drive and a 3M MCD-40/SCSI tape
drive. It was the author's intent to provide a tape backup utility
which would run on any Apple II computer with expansion slots.

The following hardware is required:

1.  Apple II+, IIe, or IIGS

2.  Apple II SCSI Card (Rev C ROM)

3.  SCSI hard drive

4.  SCSI 3M MCD-40/SCSI tape drive (eg, Apple 40SC Tape Backup)


SMARTPORT ERROR CODES

The following are the most likely error codes you will encounter using
the SCSI Tape Backup Utility.  Most of these error codes are displayed
as "real" error messages by the program.   Additional error codes are
listed in the Apple II SCSI Technical Reference Manual distributed by
APDA and ATW.

$06 - SCSI bus error $27 - I/O error $28 - No device connected $2B -
Device write-protected $2D - Block number out of range $2E - Disk
(tape) switch took place $2F - No (tape) disk in drive

REVISION HISTORY

Revision 1.00 - Original release.

Revision 1.01 - Allow program to work with Apple 40SC Tape Backup. -
Allow program to recognize all hard drives/partitions on bus. - Prevent
program from attempting to backup/restore tape drive. - Display volume
name of hard drive/partition. - Fix (hopefully) tape rewind problem. -
Other minor changes.

Revision 1.02 - Allow program to recognize ProDOS FST formatted
volumes. - Allow program to detect when tape is write-protected. -
Allow 64 blocks to be copied at a time. - Fix 32Mb hard drive/partition
bug. - Fix minor backup/restore bug. - Display some SmartPort error
codes as messages. - Check tape size prior to starting hard drive
backup. - Other minor changes.

Please send your questions, comments and suggestions to:

Larry Beam 360 Bloor St. E., Suite 907 Toronto, Ontario M4W 3M3

CompuServe: 71540,2501 GEnie: L.BEAM1