backup for downloads

Forum: Other Help Topics
Topic: backup for downloads
started by: lovdsl

Posted by lovdsl on Feb. 25 2006,01:34

I am at the point where I require backup for the downloaded .dsl extensions..on an old machine I would usually split larger files and save to floppy..or save to second hd that would be accessable after reinstall...
1 - Does dsl have a splitter/joiner. if so where ,how to use
2 - if no dsl can one be added such as xjsplit.tar.gz via mydsl or how to
3 - how do I add a second master hdc on IDE2 on dsl to store for reinstall...when I installed dsl it gave an error for hdc so I removed it..can not remember the error..seen drive and size then..no something.. thought it was a controller error and that dsl only had one was easier at the time to remove..split may be better befor I play with that..thanks for any input..

Posted by cbagger01 on Feb. 25 2006,06:47

< http://www.die.net/doc/linux/man/man1/split.1.html >

< http://www.die.net/doc/linux/man/man1/cat.1.html >

Both are part of DSL.

Posted by lovdsl on Feb. 25 2006,10:27

Ok..thanks very much...I understand there is some kind of file splitting thing built in...but the help file is well..what it is...I saved the text from the first link to a file called dslsplit to the home directory in a directory called Inbox...I opened the manager and said directory and clicked on the file dslsplit..which is 1440bytes...in the box below I type...split -b 720 /home/Inbox/dslsplit...i now see two additional files each 720 xaa and xab...I can not for the life in me join them back together and I am unsure they are even the text file I wanted ti split...and what if I wanted a large file in 5 pieces..just divide by five what about decimals..Is it too much to ask..I do not find this self explanitory should I just give it up...I'm so close.bohoho

Posted by lovdsl on Feb. 26 2006,01:58

Ok guess to much..will reinstall and redownload all the adds one more time..

Posted by cbagger01 on Feb. 26 2006,21:20

Here is a better explanation. Examples sometimes say more than a one thousand word user manual:

split -b 720 /home/Inbox/dslsplit outputname.

will give you:

outputname.aa
outputname.ab

to rejoin them:

cat outputname.aa outputname.ab > newfile

or you can simplify the join with a wildcard:

cat outputname.* > newfile

Posted by lovdsl on Feb. 27 2006,07:13

Thanks again..the added file name makes it easy to split more than one large file..however when I attempt to rejoin useing the command cat filename.* > name the file name appears empty 0bytes. the error is no such directory..I attempted to add the directory the files are in but same...moved split files to new empty directory as file to be joined was in the folder already..does the event have to happen in the same directory it was split in?so if split in /home/downloads..must be cat together in same?phew..gatta figure this out

Posted by cbagger01 on Feb. 27 2006,17:58

Nope, but you do need to specify the directory if the files are not sitting inside your "current directory", aka pwd

I would also choose different names for the various stages of splitting and joining to eliminate confusion. In other words,

original_name

splitfiles_name_prefix.

reconstitutedfile_name

should all be unique.

Posted by lovdsl on Feb. 28 2006,01:32

Ok..good advice..I copy ace_freecell to /home/dsl
dsl@box# split -b 8330 /home/dsl/ace_freecell fcell
result/home.dsl fcell.aa 8330b fcell.ab 8330b and fcell.ac 404b
dsl@box# cat fcell.* >freecell
result freecell 0b
error= cat:fcell.*:no such file or directory
the split advice was very handy and I feel more confident but can still not join them. thanks

Posted by cbagger01 on Mar. 01 2006,06:12

I am confused as to why the "cat" program cannot find your fcell.aa and fcell.bb files

I assume that your current directory is already /home/dsl. Otherwise, you need to be more specific:

Code Sample

cat /home/dsl/fcell.* > /home/dsl/freecell

Posted by lovdsl on Mar. 01 2006,09:50

Well..I have still no luck with the .*..but went back to the aa ab and had success..YEA..I discovered that when I cat aa ab it gives me the file with the wrong value..each time I cat the files a different value..but if I change directories and then reopen the directory the values are correct...maby a refresh issue? I also discovered that I can just give a -b value that equals the floppy like 1380000 and it creates the remaining amount..so I am ready to try copy to floppy and then cat and install to see if it works. strange the .* does not not work..would be convienient..will play some more and post if I have success...thanks very much for your help. MUCH APPRECIATED