ideas for imaging a P/390 system?

[hush]

hey all! i am working with an IBM PC server 500 S/390, a neat little pentium PS/2-style system with a Personal/390 coprocessor. the system traveled around the country to different trade shows demonstrating the company's (GTMVS, if that rings a bell for anyone here) software, and may have data worth archiving on the disks. i have been having trouble the past couple days trying to get it into a state where i can image the disks for a fresh OS/2 reinstall. here is the situation:

• system runs OS/2 warp 3, no eCS
• no SCSI, ATA, IDE etc on the motherboard
• external differential SCSI (i think?) but no way to connect to it and no suitable storage
• SCSI tape and CD, but a SCSI drive or SCSI2SD in those slots are not detected in DOS or OS/2
• SCSI drives install into backplane, 80pin SCA i think? backplane connected to RAID controllers
• 2.88MB floppy drive (1.44MB media only), one connector
• CD drive that respects el torito spec, CDs need a boot catalog
• i have been unable to boot any BSD or linux floppies i have tried completely, DOS 6.22 works reliably

i have network storage (SMB, NFS, FTP, whatever) available. someone has suggested DOS + etherDFS which might work with norton ghost, but i am wondering if there is a cleaner solution? i cannot pull the drives and put them in another box, apart from the connector being something alien to my lab they are also in three separate hardware RAID arrays, and the RAID controllers are microchannel- this is unfortunately the only microchannel machine i have available.

i am not necessarily looking for an OS/2 disk image, a dd image would be suitable as well. i just want to get the disks imaged before they die or i blow them away.

i apologize if this is a bit rambling. thank you!

 

[ardent-blue]

Ah, the PC Server 500. A big enclosure for the 95A planar and some space for RAID bays...

The P/390 adapter is a hoot.

I hope you understand "The IBM Way", otherwise you will try to fight "the system" and only die tired.
OS/2 Warp 3. Yep.
No SCSI on-planar. BUT if the SCSI controller dies, you slap in another one. Sad story of a 9585-K with corrosion under F/W SCSI controller...
You must provide filthy-feely pictures of the adapters, shoot from below, so we can see the shape
Differential SCSI? Not a common option, but possumble. The RAID controller is SE.
The inch high SCSI drives are 68 pin, but they fit into trays. The trays have the SCA or whatever connector.
The stock SCSI CD is a slim-line, but others should work.

I do not know WHAT is still installed in the system, so let's load the parts cannon...

SCSI-2 Fast/Wide Adapter "Corvette"
SCSI-2 Differential F/W "Corvette Turbo"
Fast/Wide Streaming RAID Adapter/A "Cheetah"
Cheetah in a Server 500
Fast/Wide RAID Adapter Cable Configuration
Type 4 "Y" Processor Complex "Cubrun"
PS/2 Models 85 and 95 Types 8595, 9585, 9595, 9595A
9595A / Server 500 Planar

 

[g4ugm]

You don't need to image OS/2 disks, you can just copy the files. Just remember OS/2 wildcards work like Linux so you need "copy *". If you put "*.*" it will miss files with no extension.
The slots go through the RAID controller so need to be configured in there.