Disks can be saved in two different ways: either by creating an exact physical copy on another disk of the same format. Or by copying the contents of a disk to MTC. If necessary, FDDRL can then use these MTC to create a physical copy of the saved volume on a disk of the original device type (restoration of the disk).
For backup, FDDRL supports MTC of the types which are supported by the BS2000 OS DX version used. The currently valid list can be taken from the overview of the supported hardware configuration for a BS2000 OS DX version (see the "System Installation" manual [13] or the relevant Release Notice).
The type of backup volume is defined via the TAPE-DEVICE-TYPE operand of the //DUMP-DISK, //DUMP-PUBSET, //RELOAD-DISK and //RELOAD-PUBSET statements.
FDDRL accepts as backup volumes only those volumes which have been initialized in accordance with DIN 66029 and whose retention period has expired. This enhances data protection and allows the FDDRL backup volumes to be archived by means of the standard procedure specific to the computer center.
You can copy FDDRL backup volumes (MTC) using the software product PERCON (see chapter "Duplicating FDDRL backup volumes with PERCON" or the “PERCON” manual [11]). You can also restore disks as from the original backups from the backup MTC copied with PERCON.
If you are using the software product MAREN, MAREN administers all FDDRL backup MTC (see chapter "Administering the volumes with MAREN").