Stan replied:

> Re:
> > I'm just wonderin'... I just heard from HP that it could be
> > possible to copy a failed (not yet completely crashed) disc
> > by using "dd" after booting from a hp-unix cd-rom even on
> > mpe system. Just copy old to new, swap the old disk
>
> That should be possible.

HP did that for us once years ago on our old 957;  it worked
fine.....   but let me sotto voice continue to plug what in many
cases may be a better future option (realize it probably doesn't
help for current case):

If to the max extent you keep all user files & databases & even
third-party accounts on user volumes (i.e.:  keep <long_name>
volume set as "HP-pure" as possible), then at least on a 9X9
class machine a reINSTALL of just the SYSTEM volume is a lot
faster than the  S L O W  disc-to-disc copy option....   When I
did INSTALL one time on our 959 after Predictive indicated a
SYSTEM spindle was starting to get read errors, IIRC actual
INSTALL took less than 20 minutes (of course we were down
for a bit more than that, but that expect additional wall time would
be about the same in either case)....   of course you want to be
REAL SURE you have a good backup before you launch any
INSTALL....  If you are truly paranoid about this like me, you
will keep at least TWO current SLTs with STORE of all on
SYSTEM in two separate buildings....  after of course having
gotten good CHECKSLT and VSTORE runs on both tapes....

Ken Sletten