JPH11143690A - Installation system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an installation system capable of installing an OS, an application and data for operating the programs on a computer altogether as needed. SOLUTION: This system is provided with the computer H1 for preparing and supplying a portable recording medium H5 recording a physical image in a hard disk device H6 in the case that the respective kinds of the data are installed and an installation program P3 for copying the contents of the medium H5 supplied in the computer H8 to the device H6 as they are so as to install the respective kinds of the data to the hard disk device H6 of the computer H8. The respective kinds of the data include the OS and the application operated in the computer H8 and the data to be set to the computer H8 so as to operate them.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an installation system, and more particularly to an installation system for installing various data in an external auxiliary storage device such as a hard disk device of a computer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An operating system (hereinafter abbreviated as OS) and an application program (hereinafter abbreviated as application).
Is generally installed in an external auxiliary storage device of a computer by using a dedicated installation program.

[0003] In personal computers that are currently widely marketed, an OS and many applications are already installed at the time of purchase. These are installed by the manufacturer before shipment, and in addition, many data settings depending on hardware for operating these programs on a computer are performed.

[0004] Under such circumstances, when a computer user wants to abandon the OS or application being used and install the OS again, the user himself installs each OS and application one by one. In addition, it is necessary to perform many data settings depending on the hardware described above.

[0005] Recent computers also have a power management function called power management. In order to realize the hibernation function, which is one of the power management functions, a dedicated area may be required in the hard disk device. This area exists independently of the OS, and the work of securing the area needs to be performed by the user independently of the installation of the OS or the like.

As described above, conventionally, there has been a problem that installation of an OS and an application is extremely troublesome when performed by a user individually.

In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-46270, when an FD (abbreviation of a flexible disk) is set as a method of starting a computer, a process of automatically installing a program on an HD (abbreviation of a hard disk) is performed.
A method to be started by the program of the HD is provided.
Here, when the system flexible disk is set, the installation work of the program from the FD to the HD is forcibly executed.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 5-100828 discloses that when installing an OS as an OS installation method,
A single installation program allows multiple types of OS to be installed. Here, as an operation after the installation, the installed OS itself performs various data settings for operating itself.

An object of the present invention is to collectively install various programs such as an OS and an application on a computer and various data settings for operating the installed programs on the computer as necessary. To provide an installation system that can

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An installation system according to the present invention is a system for installing various data in an external auxiliary storage device of a predetermined computer. A supply unit that supplies a recording medium in which a physical image related to data is recorded in advance, and an installation unit that is provided in a predetermined computer and, when installation is desired, copies the contents of the supplied recording medium to an external auxiliary storage device as it is. And various data are stored in one or more programs and one or more programs operated by a predetermined computer.
It is configured to include data to be set in a predetermined computer to operate one or more programs.

Since the installation system according to the present invention is configured as described above, it includes various programs such as an OS and an application, and data to be set in a predetermined computer in order to operate these programs on the predetermined computer. The installation unit makes it possible to install them all at once in an external auxiliary storage device of a predetermined computer.

[0012] Therefore, the installation work can be performed more easily, and the work of setting various data to be performed by the user of the predetermined computer at the time of installation in the past becomes unnecessary. It is no longer necessary to attach and supply it to a computer.

The above-mentioned recording medium is a portable recording medium, and the supply unit has a first computer different from a predetermined computer, and the first computer is a first external auxiliary storage in which various data are installed in advance. The apparatus may include a device and a recording unit that records a physical image related to various data in the first external auxiliary storage device on a portable storage medium.

Thus, the physical image relating to various data to be installed in the predetermined computer via the portable recording medium can be transferred from the first computer on the supply unit side to the predetermined computer, and the physical image to be installed can be transferred. Can be provided as a transportable recording medium.

The above-mentioned recording means includes a file recording means for recording a physical image relating to various data in the first external auxiliary storage device in an image file, and a content of the image file recorded by the file recording means on a portable recording medium. Medium recording means for recording.

As a result, the development cost of the installation system can be reduced. That is, when a CD-ROM is assumed as the portable recording medium, it is very costly to directly record the physical images related to various data in the first external auxiliary storage device on the portable recording medium. Because, in the manufacture of a CD-ROM, a master medium is first created on a CD-R or the like, and a CD-R is created from the master medium.
It is common to go through the stage of mass-producing OM. Therefore, by configuring the storage unit from a file recording unit that records the contents of the first external auxiliary storage device as a physical image in an image file, and a medium recording unit that records the contents of the image file on a portable recording medium, An existing dedicated program (CD-R creation dedicated program) can be used as a medium recording means for creating a portable recording medium, and the development cost of the entire installation system can be reduced.

Further, even when a new medium is adopted as a portable recording medium, only the medium recording means needs to be changed, so that flexibility in system operation is increased.

The physical images of all areas of the first external auxiliary storage device described above may be recorded on a portable recording medium.

This simplifies the recording operation on the portable recording medium. Further, a physical image of only an area used for various types of data installed in the first external auxiliary storage device described above may be recorded on a portable recording medium.

Thus, since the physical image of the unused area of the first external auxiliary storage device is not stored in the portable recording medium, the required storage capacity of the portable recording medium can be reduced. At the same time, the amount of writing of the physical image to the external auxiliary storage device of the predetermined computer is reduced, and the processing time by the installation unit is reduced.

The above-described installation unit determines whether or not a physical image has been written to a defective portion in the storage area of the external auxiliary storage device at the time of copying, and determines whether or not the physical image has been written. And writing means for writing the physical image to be written in the portion to another normal portion.

When it becomes necessary for the installation unit to write to the defective storage area of the external auxiliary storage device of the predetermined computer, the physical image to be written here is written to another normal storage area.

Therefore, even if there is a defective area in a part of the external auxiliary storage device of the predetermined computer, it is possible to avoid the defective area and perform normal recording, thereby improving the accuracy of the present system. .

The progress of the recording by the recording means or the progress of the copy by the installation unit may be notified.

Thus, the progress of the recording of the physical image on the portable recording medium by the recording means or the progress of the copying of the physical image from the portable storage medium to the external auxiliary storage device of the predetermined computer by the installation unit are determined by the user. Will be notified.

Therefore, the user can predict the end time of the processing, and the time and mental burden are reduced.

[0027]

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

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing a procedure of processing in the installation system according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an apparatus to which the installation system according to the embodiment of the present invention is applied.

In FIG. 2, an apparatus employing the installation system includes a computer H1 and a computer H1.
And a computer H8 on which data such as a program is installed. The computer H1 is a CPU for centrally controlling and monitoring the computer 1 itself.
1. ROM2 for storing beforehand backup programs P0 and P1 and a portable storage medium creation program P2, an I / O controller 4, and an external storage device connected to and controlled by the CPU 1 via the I / O controller 4. 3, an input unit 5 including a keyboard for inputting various data such as external instructions, an output unit 6 such as a display device and a printer, a portable storage medium writing device 7, a transmission control unit T1, and an installed hard disk device H2. including.

The computer H8 has a CPU 8 for centrally controlling and monitoring the computer H8 itself, and an R for storing in advance an installation program P3 to be described later.
OM 9, I / O controller 11, external storage device 10 connected to and controlled by CPU 8 via I / O controller 11, input unit 12 including a keyboard for inputting various data such as instructions from the outside, display device, and It includes an output unit 13 such as a printer, a portable storage medium reading device H7, a transmission control unit T2, and a hard disk device H6.

Each of the external storage devices 3 and 10 stores an image file H4 having the same contents. The portable storage medium writing and reading devices 7 and H7 write and read various data such as programs on the installation portable storage medium H5.

When the computers H1 and H8 are communicatively connected via the data way DW as shown, the transmission control unit T1 controls the interface between the computer H1 and the data way DW, and similarly, the transmission control unit T2 The interface between the computer H8 and the data way DW is controlled.

In FIG. 2, the computer H8 has an OS,
Various data for operating the application and these programs on the computer H8 are stored in the computer H8.
1 and installed in the hard disk drive H6 of the computer H8. There are the following two specific usage modes.

In the first mode of use, the manufacturer of the computer H8 installs an installation portable storage medium H5 (CD-RO) created from the contents of the installed hard disk drive H2 built in the computer H8 at the time of shipment.
M) and supplies it to the user by attaching it to the computer H8. The user reinstalls the OS and the application on the computer using the portable storage medium for installation H5. Thus, the data in the hard disk drive H6 at the time of shipment can be restored only when the user desires.

The second mode of use is as follows. A person who provides a new OS and application for the computer H8 creates a portable storage medium for installation H5 and provides it to the user. The user installs a new OS and application on the computer H8 using the portable storage medium for installation H5. This allows the user to install a new OS and application as desired, and eliminates the need to separately install and set these programs.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the installation procedure in FIG. The procedure for installing various data such as programs from the computer H1 to the computer H8 will be described with reference to FIGS. First, the OS, application, and these programs for the computer H8 are stored in the installed hard disk drive H2 of the computer H1.
It is assumed that data relating to various settings for operation on the hard disk drive 8 has been installed in advance in the state when it was installed in the hard disk drive H6. First, the creator of the portable storage medium for installation H5 instructs the execution of the backup program P0.
The image file H4 is created from the content of the item 2 and temporarily stored in the external storage device 3. Thereby, the physical images of the entire area of the disk H2 are recorded in the image file H4 (S11).

Next, the creator of the portable storage medium H5 gives an instruction to start execution of the portable storage medium creation program P2.
The CPU 1 writes the image file H4 of the external storage device 3 as it is to the portable storage medium H5 via the portable storage medium writing device 7 (S12).

Next, the user of the computer H8 instructs the start of the execution of the installation program P3.
The installation program P3 is executed by PU8,
The image file H4 is read from the portable storage medium H5 set in advance in the portable storage medium reading device H7 (S1).
3) While being temporarily stored in the external storage device 10, the physical image of the image file H4 is directly written (copied) to the hard disk device H6 (S1).
4).

Thus, the backup program P
0, the portable storage medium creation program P2 and the installation program P3 read and write physical images on the hard disk devices H2 and H6. The physical image is the content read out of the hard disk drive H2 composed of a plurality of sectors for each sector. That is, the backup program P0 sequentially reads all the sectors of the installed hard disk drive H2, and the installation program P3 transfers the read contents to the hard disk drive H6.
Is sequentially written to all sectors. Reading and writing are performed on the installed hard disk drive H2 and hard disk drive H6
Are performed so that the contents of the sectors at the same position of the same are the same. Therefore, the physical images of the hard disk devices H2 and H6 completely match.

The advantage of reading and writing the hard disk devices H2 and H6 on a sector-by-sector basis is that the hard disk devices H2 and H6 do not depend on the OS or the like to be installed, that is, without depending on (irrespective of) the file system configured on the hard disk device H2. Hard disk drive can read and write.

The file system is a mechanism for making it easier for the OS to handle the contents of an external auxiliary storage device such as a hard disk device. The file system stores management information in a specific location (sector) on the hard disk and performs file management. This makes it possible to use files and directories that are more abstract than sectors for those who use the system (such as applications operated under the OS).
Further, the area itself configured on the hard disk device may be called a file system.

Here, the portable storage medium for installation H
5 is assumed to be a CD-ROM. In this case, C
The mass production process of the D-ROM is omitted, and the CD-ROM and the CD-R, which is the master medium thereof, are identified, and both are referred to as a portable storage medium for installation H5. That is, generally, the portable storage medium for installation H5 created in the processing step S12 of FIG. 3 is a CD-R, and the installation storage medium set in the portable storage medium reading device H7 of the computer H8 in the processing step S13 of FIG. The portable storage medium H5 is a mass-produced CD-ROM. These are both called a portable storage medium for installation H5. Note that a portable storage medium other than a CD-ROM, such as FD, MO, and DVD, is used as the portable storage medium H5.
-It may be a ROM. Even when these are used as the portable storage medium for installation H5, the master medium in the mass production process and the mass-produced medium are regarded as the same.

The above-mentioned portable storage medium creating program P2
By using the existing CD-R creation-dedicated program, the development cost of the entire installation system can be suppressed.

By using the installation system described above, the installation of the OS and the application including various data sets can be performed at once by one installation program P3, and the installation can be performed more easily. As a result, it is expected that various data settings to be performed by the user of the computer H8 at the time of installation in the related art become unnecessary, and it is unnecessary to attach a manual in which the setting contents are documented to the product.

Further, the costs for developing and maintaining the programs used in the above-described installation system can be reduced. That is, by using the general-purpose portable storage medium creation program P2, the cost of program development and maintenance can be reduced. Even when a new medium is adopted as the portable storage medium for installation H5, only the program P2 needs to be changed. Good.

In the flowchart of FIG. 3, the contents of the disk device H2 are temporarily stored in the external storage device 3 as an image file H4 by the programs P0 and P2.
After that, the contents of the file H4 are written to the storage medium H5 via the writing device 7, but a program P1 having both functions of the programs P0 and P2 may be used. That is, the physical image of the contents of the hard disk device H2 may be directly written into the portable storage medium H5 via the writing device 7 by the program P1.

At present, the capacity of the hard disk device is increasing day by day, and it is a relatively large-capacity device as an auxiliary storage device of a computer. Its capacity is C
It far exceeds the capacity of D-ROM. Generally, in order to save (back up) the contents of a hard disk device, a large-capacity tape device (DLT, DAT and Exa) is required.
Byte, etc.) are often used, and even when they are used, a method of improving the storage density of the storage medium for storage, or dividing the storage medium into a plurality of media for storage is used. Such a tape device has a problem that its penetration rate is lower than that of a CD-ROM.

Therefore, in this embodiment, only the contents of the necessary area of the hard disk drive H2 may be stored in the portable storage medium for installation H5. Thus, the storage capacity required for the installation portable storage medium H5 can be reduced. Therefore, FIGS. 4 and 5
As shown in (1), the files configured on the hard disk drive H2 are analyzed, and only the storage area on the hard disk drive H2 logically used by the file system is stored / reproduced.

FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing a procedure for saving and reproducing only a necessary area on the installed hard disk drive H2 in the embodiment of the present invention. FIG.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart for saving only a necessary area on the installed hard disk drive H2 and reproducing the same on the hard disk drive H6 in the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically illustrating a procedure for creating the use area information H2U in FIG. FIG. 7 is a flowchart of the backup program P0 or P1 of FIG. 1 according to the procedure of FIG.

Referring to FIG. 4, the use area information H2U will be described. Of the entire physical area of the hard disk drive H2, the used area is a part and the unused area exists. The used area information H2U is information that lists all areas except the unused area.
By creating the information H2U and creating an image file H4 or a portable storage medium H5 in which only the used area on the hard disk drive H2 is recorded based on the information H2U, a request to the image file H4 or the portable storage medium H5 is made. Required capacity can be reduced. Further, since the number of sectors to be read / written from the installed hard disk device H2 to the hard disk device H6 is reduced to only the required number of sectors, the processing time in the installation system can be shortened.

In FIG. 5, the backup program P
When the execution of P0 or P1 is started, the CPU 1 first analyzes the physical image of the installed hard disk drive H2 and creates information H2U indicating a used area (S4).
1) The use area information H2U is recorded in the image file H4 or the storage medium H5 (S42), and the use area information H2
The physical image in the area on the hard disk device H2 indicated by U is read and recorded in the image file H4 or the storage medium H5 (S43).

When the backup program P0 is executed, the portable storage medium creation program P2 is next started to be executed, and the CPU 1 writes the contents of the image file H4 into the installation portable storage medium H5 via the writing device 7. And write (S44).

Next, when the execution of the installation program P3 is started, the CPU 8 of the computer H8 reads the used area information H2U on the portable storage medium for installation H5 (S45), and reads the area registered in the read information H2U. , The physical image is sequentially read from the storage medium H5, and the read content is written in the same area of the hard disk drive H6 (S46).

Next, a procedure for creating the above-mentioned use area information H2U will be described with reference to FIGS. Here, information indicating the first to sixth sectors, the mth sector, and the (m + 2) th sector to the nth sector is registered as the usage area in the usage area information H2U.

First, the CPU 1 registers an area on the installed hard disk drive H2 where the partition information H2P exists in the used area information H2U (S51). Next, the partition information H2P is analyzed, all partitions configured on the installed hard disk drive H2 are specified, and the following procedure is performed for each specified partition (S52). FIG.
Shows a case where two different file systems FS1 and FS2 are configured as partitions on the hard disk device H2.

First, the CPU 1 executes the partition information H2
It is determined whether the partition is a known file system based on P (S53). FIG. 6 shows a case where the file system FS1 is known and the file system FS2 is unknown. Known file system FS1
With regard to (2), the area of the file system management information FS1C in the header area of the file system FS1 is registered as the used area in the used area information H2U (S54). Then, the file system management information FS1C is analyzed, and it is determined whether each sector of the data area FS1D of the file system FS1 is logically used or unused according to the analysis result, and all the used areas FS1DU are used areas. The information is registered in the information H2U (S55). On the other hand, the entire area of the unknown file system FS2 is registered as the used area in the used area information H2U.

FIG. 8 is a diagram schematically showing a comparison between the image file H4 created according to the procedure of FIG. 3 and the image file H4 created according to the procedure of FIG.
8, the content C1 of the image file H4 created according to the procedure of FIG. 5, ie, created according to the use area information H2U, is compared with the content C0 of the image file H4 created according to the procedure of FIG. More capacity is consumed by the amount of information H2U written. This means that the size of the content C1 of the image file H4 is larger than that of the content C0 of the image file H4 when the unused area in the hard disk drive H2 is sufficiently large or when the used area information H2U is sufficiently small. Is also sufficiently small, and as a result, the portable storage medium for installation H
5 capacity is saved.

In the installation procedure described above, when the installation program P3 writes the contents of the portable storage medium H5 as a physical image to the hard disk drive H6, the write destination area of the hard disk drive H6, for example, the sector is a bad sector (normal The sector cannot be read or written to, and is not used because it is considered physically damaged). Therefore, when it becomes necessary for the installation program P3 to write to a defective sector, processing is performed so that the physical image to be written here is written to another normal and unused sector.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a write operation of the install program P3 into the sector of the hard disk drive H6 according to the embodiment of the present invention. When execution of the installation program P3 is instructed, the CPU 8
Writes the contents read from the portable storage medium H5 to each sector of the hard disk drive H6 in sector units according to the procedure of FIG.

First, the CPU 8 executes the hard disk drive H
Hard disk drive H2 in storage medium H5 in sector 6
Then, the physical image of the corresponding sector is written (S61), and the written sector contents of the hard disk drive H6 are read and compared with the corresponding physical image in the storage medium H5 to determine whether the data has been correctly written (S62). If the data has been written normally, the processing for this sector is terminated and the processing for the next sector is performed (S68). If abnormal, this sector of the hard disk drive H6 is determined to be a bad sector, writing up to this sector is abandoned, and writing to an alternative sector is attempted (S6).
3). First, it is determined that this sector is logically movable (whether it can be replaced by an alternative sector). If the sector cannot be moved, the installation program P3 ends abnormally (S69).

If it can be moved, the CPU 8 modifies the partition information or the file system management information on the hard disk drive H6, and changes the logical attribute of the defective sector to unused (or abnormal) (S64). Next, by analyzing the partition information or the file system management information on the hard disk drive H6, a sector whose logical attribute is unused (or normal) is checked, and this is set as a substitute sector (S65). The partition information or the file system management information on the hard disk device H6 is corrected to change to use a substitute sector instead of a bad sector (S66). The replacement sector is regarded as a write destination sector, and the process is sequentially executed from step S61. If the writing to the substitute sector is normally performed, the process for the next sector is performed (S68).

As described above, even when there is a defective sector in a part of the hard disk drive H6 to which data is to be written, writing to the defective sector can be avoided, and the accuracy of the installation system itself is improved. .

In the above-described installation procedure, the progress of reading the backup program P0 or P1 from the hard disk drive H2 or the progress of writing (copying) the installation program P3 to the hard disk drive H6 is indicated. Can be notified to the user.

The backup program P1 or P0 or the installation program P3 sends the output unit 6 or 13 the ratio of the processing amount up to now of reading from the installed hard disk device H2 or writing to the hard disk device H6 to the output unit 6 or 13. The progress status is notified to the user by appropriately displaying the output.

As a specific example, in the process of S14 in FIG.
4 is copied to the hard disk drive H6. At this time, the total number of sectors to be written to the hard disk drive H6 is known in advance. By notifying the total number of sectors and the number of sectors for which writing has been completed, the user who has executed the installation program P3 can execute the installation program P3.
It is easy to know how much of the processing has been completed. Alternatively, the ratio of the number of sectors for which writing has been completed to the total number of sectors may be reported.

As a result, the progress of the processing can be notified to the user in real time, and the user can predict the end time of the processing.

In this embodiment, the physical image is transferred between the computers H1 and H8 via the portable storage medium for installation H5. However, the transmission control units T1 and T2 are used without using the storage medium H5. Alternatively, the physical image (image file H4) of the external storage device 3 may be transferred to the computer H8 via the data way DW.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing a procedure of a process in an installation system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an apparatus to which the installation system according to the embodiment of the present invention is applied;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an installation procedure in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing a procedure for saving and reproducing only a necessary area on an installed hard disk drive in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for storing only a necessary area on an installed hard disk device and reproducing the same on the hard disk device in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically illustrating a procedure for creating use area information in FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart according to the procedure of FIG. 6 of the backup program of FIG. 1;

8 is a diagram schematically showing a comparison between an image file created according to the procedure of FIG. 3 and an image file created according to the procedure of FIG. 5;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a write operation to a sector of the hard disk device by the installation program according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 H2 Installed hard disk drive H5 Installable portable storage medium H6 Hard disk drive H8 and H1 Computer P0 and P1 Backup program P2 Portable storage medium creation program P3 Install program H4 Image file H2P Partition information FS1 and FS2 File system H2U Usage area information In the drawings, the same reference numerals indicate the same or corresponding parts.

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An installation system for installing various data in an external auxiliary storage device of a predetermined computer, wherein a physical image relating to the various data in the external auxiliary storage device when the various data is installed is recorded in advance. A supply unit that supplies the supplied recording medium; and an installation unit that, when the installation is desired, copies the supplied contents of the recording medium to the external auxiliary storage device as it is, where the various data are An installation system comprising: one or more programs operated by the predetermined computer; and data to be set in the predetermined computer to operate the one or more programs. 2. The recording medium is a portable recording medium, the supply unit has a first computer different from the predetermined computer, and the first computer has a first computer in which the various data are installed in advance. 2. The installation system according to claim 1, further comprising: an external auxiliary storage device; and a recording unit that records a physical image related to the various data in the first external auxiliary storage device on the portable recording medium. 3. The recording means includes: a file recording means for recording a physical image relating to the various data in the first external auxiliary storage device in an image file; and a content of the image file recorded by the file recording means. The installation system according to claim 2, further comprising: a medium recording unit that records on the portable recording medium. 4. The installation system according to claim 2, wherein physical images of all areas of the first external auxiliary storage device are recorded on the portable recording medium. 5. In the first external auxiliary storage device,
4. The installation system according to claim 3, wherein a physical image of only an area used for the various types of installed data is recorded on the portable recording medium. 6. The determination unit that determines whether writing of the physical image to a defective portion in a storage area of the external auxiliary storage device has occurred during the copying, and the installation unit has generated the writing result. 6. The installation system according to claim 1, further comprising: a writing unit that writes the physical image to be written to the defective portion to another normal portion in accordance with the determination. 7. The installation system according to claim 2, wherein a progress status of the recording by the recording unit or a progress status of the copy by the installation unit are notified.