JPH0457118A - Backup device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To copy the data of a 5.25 inch floppy disk and a 3.5 inch floppy disk to a miniature magnetic tape device by recording a floppy name, etc., in a first partition. CONSTITUTION:A floppy in which data to be copied to a 5.25 inch FDD 8 is recorded is set, and a floppy recorded to a 3.5 inch FDD 7 is set. By a switch of an operating panel 4, a copy operation command given from the 5.25 inch FDD 8 to the 3.5 inch FDD 7 is selected. An input from the operating panel 4 is detected by a microcomputer 1. The microcomputer 1 stores the data of the 5.25 inch FDD 8 in an FDD image RAM 2 through an FDD controller 5, and thereafter, records this data again the 3.5 inch FDD 7 through the FDD controller 5. The 5.25 inch FDD 8 and the 3.5 inch FDD 7 can be switched easily. By said operation, a copy executed from the 5.25 inch FDD 8 to the 3.5 inch FDD 7 is completed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a backup device for data recorded on various media in an external memory device of a computer.

[Conventional technology]

A small magnetic tape device with a format capacity exceeding IG bytes has appeared and is attracting attention as a disk backup device for small and medium-sized computers such as minicomputers, workstations, and personal computers.

For example, DAT (Digital, Audio,
A device using Tape-recorder (hereinafter referred to as
DAT-MS (Mass Storage)) or a device using an 8mm video tape recorder (hereinafter referred to as data
There are songs such as ``song''.

Since the storage capacity of these devices exceeds IGByte,
It is considered as a backup device for hard disks that usually have a storage capacity of several 10 MB.

Therefore, most of the device interfaces are S C
S T (Small Compute, er Syst
Employs a high-speed transfer technology such as Tnterface, and is configured to be used by connecting to a post computer. An example of a hard disk backup device is Nikkei Electronics, 1989.
There are examples described in 4.1.7 (no, 471) P205-219.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

The above prior art describes how to use a hard disk as a backup, but does not consider methods such as backing up a floppy disk.

Backups on small computers are usually done on floppy disks. This is due to the fact that the aforementioned magnetic tape devices are not sufficiently supplied on the market and the floppy disk is an inexpensive medium that can be easily operated.

Also, most floppy disks are 5.25 inch and 3.
．． 5 inches, each with a capacity of about 1 Mbyte.

An object of the present invention is to provide a backup device that can copy data on a 5.25-inch floppy disk and a 3.5-inch floppy disk to a small magnetic tape device.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a floppy device (
The interface between the FDD (hereinafter referred to as FDD) and the magnetic tape device must be matched. However, since the two are used for different purposes, FDD is used as an interface for FDD, and DATMS etc. are used as SCS I (Small C
computer 5yst, em Interface
) is adopted. Therefore, it was equipped with a microcomputer to control the interface and an FDD image RAM for temporarily storing FDD data.

Furthermore, when managing files equivalent to the size of a floppy disk, it is expected that the same file name will occur frequently with the file name management normally performed on an FDD, so management using floppy names has been added.

Furthermore, since this management data is required by the magnetic tape device, it was decided to record it on a portion of the tape.

[Effect]

A normal FDD has the same interface whether it is a 5.25 inch type or a 3.5 inch type.

Therefore, only one FDD controller is required to control these. Furthermore, since the data capacity of the FDD is about IMB, it is sufficient that the FDD image RAM is also 1MB.

On the other hand, the DAT-MS is an SC3I and is operated by a separately provided SC3I controller.

Further, the above-mentioned floppy name is input using an input device such as a keyboard or a tablet. This data is also stored in the floppy name management RAM and recorded on the DAT tape.

When recording on a DAT tape, the floppy data and floppy name must be separated. This method will be explained. Figure 4 shows the DAT Tape Four 4 proposed to ANST.

This shows the mat. The tape is divided into the following areas:

(1) Leader Tape Area indicating the beginning of the tape (2) Leader Tape, oad/Unloaj3 Area
a: Area for inserting and ejecting the tape (3) Lead area: Area for recording the table of contents of the tape (4) Partition: User data area (5) EOT: Area for indicating format I/end (6) Unformat Area: Unformatted area (7) Trailer Area: Area indicating the end of the tape All tapes are organized in units called groups. Therefore, for example, if the first few groups (for example, 0 to 1o groups) of the first partition are set as the management area for file names and floppy names, and the subsequent groups are set as the floppy data area, the data on the tape can be easily managed. Alternatively, the first partition can be used as a management area for file names and floppy names, and the second and subsequent partitions can be used as floppy data areas. floppy name,
There are many possible file name management formats, but for example, as shown in the figure, data can be distinguished by file within a group, and data such as floppy name, file name, partition level, group Nα, and other indexes can be stored. One possible method is to record it as a single unit.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an internal block diagram when there is no interface with the outside.

First, data of 5.25 inch FDD8 is transferred to DATMS9.
This section explains the case of backing up to .

A floppy disk containing data to be backed up is set in the 5.25-inch FDD 8, and a tape to be recorded is set in the DATMS 9. A backup operation command is selected using the switch on the operation panel 4. The input from the operation panel 4 is detected by the microcomputer 1, and a display is made on the liquid crystal display of the operation panel 4 for inputting the floppy name.

In response to this instruction, the user inputs the floppy name using a switch on the operation panel 4. The input floppy name is temporarily stored in the floppy name management system RAM3. Next, microcomputer 1 transfers the data from 5.25 inch FDD 8 to FD.
It is read by controlling the D controller 5. At this time,
The data read from the 5.25 inch FDD8 is
It is recorded in the DD image RAM2.

After the transfer from the 5.25 inch FDD 8 is completed, the microcomputer 1 transfers the data to the DAT-MS via the SC8I controller 6.
Operate 9. At this time, the floppy name and file name data are recorded on the first partition on the tape. When managing recorded data in file units, use the floppy name.

These include the file name, partition Nα, group Nα, etc. Here, the partition Nα and the group number are managed by the microcomputer 1, and are determined by selecting an empty area for data. Next, the data in the FDD image RAM 2 is recorded in the target partition and group portions of the DAT tape.

By the above operation, from 5.25 inch FDD8 to DA
Copying to T-MS9 is completed.

The copy operation from the 3.5-inch FDD 7 to the DAT-MS 9 is similar. However, selection between the 5.25-inch FDD 8 and the 3.5-inch FDD 7 is performed using the operation panel 4.

Next, transfer the data from DAT-MS 9 to a 5.25 inch FD.
The case of copying to D8 will be explained.

A tape containing data to be copied is set in the DAT-MS9, and a floppy disk for recording is set in the 5.25-inch FDD8. With the switch on the operation panel 4,
Select the copy operation command from DAT-MS9 to 5.25 inch FDD8. The input from the operation panel 4 is
It is detected by the microcomputer 1 and displayed on the LCD of the operation panel 4.
A display will be displayed for inputting the desired floppy name. The user inputs the desired floppy name using the switch on the operation panel 4 according to the second instruction. In response to this input, the microcomputer 1 first reads the data of the first partition on the DAT tape and stores it in the floppy name management system RAM 3. Based on this data, the microcomputer 1 searches for the previously input floppy name and reads the data of the target floppy. This data is F
It is stored in the DD image RAM2. DAT-MS9
When the data reading from the microcomputer 1 is completed, the FDD
F to the 5.25 inch FDD8 via the controller 5.
Record data in RAM2 for DD image.

Through the above operations, copying from the DAT-MS 9 to the 5.25-inch FDD 8 is completed. Here, we have shown how to input the floppy name directly by the user, but if you read the data of the first partition on the DAT tape, you can find the floppy name recorded on the tape. Therefore, this reading operation is performed first, and then the microcomputer 1 displays the floppy name on the LCD of the operation panel 4, and the user can use the selection switch to search for the desired floppy name and perform the copy operation. It is.

The same applies when copying from the DAT-MS9 to the 3.5-inch FDD7. However, selection between the 5.25-inch FDD 8 and the 3.5-inch FDD 7 is performed using the operation panel 4.

Next, from 5.25 inch FDD8 to 3.5 inch FDD
The case of copying to 7 will be explained.

The floppy disk containing the data to be copied is set in the 5.25-inch FDD 8, and the floppy disk to be recorded is set in the 3.5-inch FDD 7. A copy operation command from the 5.25-inch FDD 8 to the 3.5-inch FDD 7 is selected using the switch on the operation panel 4. Input from the operation panel 4 is detected by the microcomputer 1. The microcomputer 1 stores the data of the 5.25-inch FDD 8 in the FDD image RAM 2 via the FDD controller 5, and then records this data on the 3.degree. 5-inch FDD 7 via the FDD controller 5 again. Note that since the FDD controller 5 is normally capable of selecting four FDDs, switching between the 5.25-inch FDD 8 and the 3.5-inch FDD 7 can be easily performed.

By the above operation, 5.25 inch FDD8 to 3.5 inch
Copying to inch FDD7 is completed. 3.5 inch F
The copying operation from the DD7 to the 5.25-inch FDD8 is also similar. However, the copy operation command is selected using the operation panel 4.

The above is the copy operation between various media that is normally performed. Here, in this embodiment, an example was shown in which the floppy name etc. are recorded in the first partition of the DAT tape, but
Any part on the tape may be used, so for example, it is possible to record in 10 groups of the first partition, or to m groups (n and m are integers) of the nth partition. Since this is data that should be managed by the microcomputer 1, the user is not aware of it at all.

Next, a case in which an external interface is provided will be explained.

Figure 2 shows SCSI (Small Compute
er Tnt, erface). SC8I usually allows devices to be connected up to the upper unit, so this backup device can be connected to two SC8Is.
It can be used as an 8I device. This device connects the SC8I controller 6 to DA using the SC8I interface 10.
Connected to T-MS9. Therefore, 5.25 inch FD
D8 or 3.5 inch FDD7 in one SC3I
and DAT-MS9 as another SC3I device. In addition, 5.25 inch FDD8 and 3.5 inch FD
The selection D7 is made using the operation panel 4. This allows it to be connected to a host computer (for example, a personal computer, workstation, etc.) having an SC3I and used as an external storage device.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram when the FDD interface is installed. Normally, communication is performed using a code formatted for recording on an FDD interface medium possessed by a host computer. Therefore, the present backup device is equipped with an FDD connector 12 and an FDD interface 11 for restoring formatted code data to the original data.

When looking at this backup device from the host computer, it can be used as one FDD.

Commands from the host computer are sent to FDD connector 1.
2 and is sent to the microcomputer 1 via the FDD interface 11. With this command, microcontroller 1
The data in the DD image RAM 2 is sent to the host computer via the FDD interface 11.

This allows it to be connected to a host computer with an FDD interface and used as an external storage device.

Although the above example shows the case where DATMS is used as the magnetic tape device, similar operations can be performed using, for example, an 8 mm video tape recorder.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, approximately the data of a 5.25-inch floppy disk and a 3.5-inch floppy disk can be copied to a DAT tape-book.

It is also possible to copy data on a DAT tape to a floppy disk. You can also copy between floppy disks.

In the case of a device with SC3I, it can be used as two SC3I devices.

For devices with FDD interface - 1 FDD
Can be used as a device.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a second embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a third embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. The figure is a diagram of the DAT tape format.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. 3.5 inch floppy disk drive; 5.
a floppy disk controller for controlling a 25-inch floppy disk drive, and a small magnetic tape storage device; a small computer system interface controller for controlling the small magnetic tape storage device; and a small computer system interface controller for controlling the small magnetic tape storage device; It is characterized by comprising a semiconductor recording device for storing data, a microcomputer for controlling the semiconductor recording device, the floppy disk controller, and the small computer system interface controller, and a system semiconductor recording device necessary for controlling the microcomputer. Backup device for 2. The backup device according to claim 1, wherein the small computer system interface controller includes a small computer system interface. 3. The backup device according to claim 1, comprising an FDD interface circuit.