Back up solutions for dxII Eztrak

[Zombiestomp]

I have over 2000 programs on one of my 2 series2 Bridgeport dxII mills.
And need a good way to back them up each nite. Flopy takes too long ,
Need a way to batch download to my lap-top maybe?

[machintek]

Why keep that many programs on the EZTRAK?
It runs on DOS. It you know how to get to DOS, you could load in procomm and down load all your programs.
In utilities, I know you can tranfer programs as well. I wonder if it would allow a dump using a wildcard like *.pgm.

George

[NC Cams]

If you can get to dos, simply install a zip drive. You can also load a version of Win 3.11 IF you keep it simple and don' allow it to mess with memory needed by "Trak. Might try creating dual boot if you're DOS proficient - just keep win mem small as possible.

If the m/b doesn' have a parallel port, you should be able to install one and slide a ribbon cable out thru the cabinet door (assuming you have a PC based computer system (we do in ours).

Exit to dos, and dump to zip drive via the zip drive and parallel port (if they still make/sell them).

You might also add winzip or use dosbackup to compress them (see dos manual for destructions).

Finally, you can add a "slave" hard drive (reset oem to "master" first). Then simply backthem up to slave and remove when appropriate. Investigate hot sway trays to facilitate R&R.

[machintek]

Depending on the version of mother board on the machine, Win 3.1 may not load. The great majority of EZTRAKs had 4 MB of RAM. The DX had a hard drive or the later ones had flash memory of only 8 MB. These used a trunkated version of DOS to save room.

I have put on super disks and Zip drives on VMCs to run large programs and DNC. I have not done it in a while as the availability of DOS drivers have dried up.

But you reminded me that I do have quite a few Bridgeport VMCs in mold shops with ethernet boards. They put in higher density memory on the mother boards, load up WIN 3.11 for work groups and are good to go. Needless to say, they have full size keyboards and serial port mice (mouse). That sound like the best route to go.

George

[NC Cams]

George:

Is a DOM (disk on module) the flash drive you're talking about??

We had one installed recently to replace the oem H/D and it shows up as C:\ drive when we exit to DOSSHELL. M/B is a "dumpster dive" Pentium 133 that memory could be loaded to. Hmmm. Will do a check to see how much 'disk space' we have and report back.

BTW, we installed DOS 6.22 from M/S disks on the DOM and still have tons of room. We did delete the MSAV (old anti-virus) and other stuff that can be deleted from DOS per the DOS manual (IE: Win DLL's and such) - good luck finding one - we did save ours.

Thus, couldn't you install a H/D as a "slave" and move the programs to it from the DOM??? I many just try to install Win 3.11 (WFW) just for grins to see if I can.... That should kill a weekend

May even try to do the "slave" trick to see if it will work. If the Win install doesn't destroy the weekend, the "slave" deal surely will

[machintek]

The 133 MHz is good news. It means that is may be upgraded to help you function.
The original flash memory was a 8 meg ISA board. The next type used was the DISK ON A CHIP, which was a IC device on the half size, all in one mother board, used in the Cutler Hammer Control in a Box, and carried over to the BMI Control in a Box. CMOS was set to NONE for this device. The thinking being that there are no moving parts thus better reliability as vibration was affecting hard drives. Originally hard drives were mounted in a rubber isolated carrier. This was not good enough so they went to the spring suspension mount. Bridgeport service techs carried special floppy disks to reformat and load software onto these devices (flash card and Disk on a Chip)
The next type used was the Disk on a Module. The first ones were 8 MB devices that plugged into the IDE port. The CMOS was set to these devices (heads, cylinders, sectors, etc.) Later bridgeport used 32 MB devices. Same applies, the CMOS was set as if it was a hard drive. Again, there were special floppies to format and load these.
Recently EMI is selling 64 MB DOMs. These are big enough to load full DOS and win 3.11. Most mother boards can seek these and set the CMOS. These can also be formatted and loaded just like a hard drive.
Yes, you can add another hard drive and set the jumper to a slave and use it for a back up. I am not sure if the EZTRAK software will work with this, but with windows, a full size keyboard and a mouse, you can boot to windows, then run the EZTRAK software, and use the ALT + TAB to toggle between them. Done every day on the VMCs.
Depending on your ultimate goal and ease of use, I still believe the ethernet card and cable may be the easiest solution.
Yes, I agree tha a lot of windows loading is plug and pray. I just spent a lot of time trying to set up a SATA raid on my MSI Neo mother board (2 gig dual channel DDR, 256 MB radeon 9800 pro, 3.2 GHz pentium 4 w hyperthreading). The two hard drives were MAXTORs 200 GB each. I eventually realized that at the end of formatting and loading they suffered from thermal problems and quit reading. They are under warranty but it still consumed a lot of time. A few days later, the motherboard quit after I was swapping IDE hard drives to find a resume'. When the switch is flipped on the power supply (600 watt dual fan) all fans turn on but the mother board will not turn on.
The joys of PCs!

George