Hi guys,
I have been delving into the Avid knowledge databases and forums recently looking for information on PTIII setup for NuBus systems -I'm currently upgrading my Pro Tools I system (442) to a Pro Tools III complete rig that I got recently from a donor in France. While doing a search I came across a mention of a so-called "Monte Method" a way of using FWB Hard Disk Toolkit's "Device Copy" function to do a block-by-block copy for back up of a full installation with auths. Yes, it works with PACE auths too (!).
Obviously, this immediately reminded me of our efforts at backing up with ASR to have a fully authorized backup install. Sorry guys, apparently this one had already been solved...almost 20 years ago xD And yes, it is much easier than the ASR method...you can even use this method to backup to a CD-ROM if you keep the partition under 650mb.
Most threads mentioning this are from the 1999-2000 period. The particular thread I first came across was this one:
http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=14897After some research, I came across several other topics mentioning the "Monte method", all referencing the original source as daw-mac newsgroup but with no complete information on the procedure. They all sort of implied not to post the procedure in the Avid forums but to go to daw-mac instead. Daw-mac archives are not available -as far as I know- but after some intensive research I found it
Here is the MONTE METHOD explained:
Hi Jerome,
Below is a post I made some time back. It contains statements concerning
the procedure made by others on this list. The procedure was originally
created by Monte (AFAIK). I have taken several posts and merged them into
what's below in an attempt to more clearly explain how the Device Copy is
performed.
I, in no way, am responsible for this and take no credit for it. If there
are others that feel they need to add to or take away form what's below
please feel free to chime in. I will say that because of this procedure I
will never lose another PACE key! It's also just a great way to backup
your
boot drive or any other drive.
Here it is.........
Steinberg's not going to be very happy with this post and neither is PACE,
but I really don't give a fat baby! The basic principal here is to use a
separate mechanism, either another drive, or CD-ROM, MO removable,
whatever.
FWB's Hard Disk Toolkit has a function called Device Copy which will
create
a Disk Image file of your precious System drive, PACE keys and all to the
backup drive. If anything gets screwed up on your System drive (lost
keys,
directory problems, etc.), you reload the pristine image in a few minutes
and get back to work.
I suggest a small partition around 300 meg or so. Make sure this
partition
is the first partition on the drive. Partitions are assigned from the
inside of the platter first and then works out for the next and so on.
You
want the first partition to hold the system because the inside part of the
platter has much faster access speeds than the outside part of the
platter.
And because you're partition will be small it will also be very fast.
Install a clean system onto that, then install a clean version of all the
apps etc. including Pace keys. Now's a good time to do use Speed Disk...
I
use optimization and 'wipe free space' so that the unused end of the
partition backup file is easier to compress during backups etc. Once you
have a good system, back up blocks 0 to N of that drive to a file using
FWB
device copy (pick N from looking at the partition table... N is one block
less than the starting block number of the partition immediately following
the 300MB partition). In this way, you have a file that contains an image
of block 0 through the small boot partition, and that contains all the
Pace
stuff and your system.
You can now deauthorize all the Pace stuff to get your keys back on floppy
and then restore the partition using device copy and you're up and
running.
Repeat this procedure until you have regained all your key disks. You do
need two drives to get this to work, because when you restore to the
device
from the backup file, FWB wants to unmount all the partitions from that
device. If you made a bootable CD-ROM that contains a system, FWB and the
backup image, you could boot from that before you use Device Copy. BTW,
since it's a CD, it's actually a bit faster to do the recovery: press 'c'
when you're booting to boot from CD-ROM right after the crash.
I've used the above technique to regain all my PACE keys and as a result
Steinberg and PACE will never get any of my hard earned money because my
system crashed and I needed another set of keys. In fact, if any of you
have ever lost all of your installs you also know that some companies
charge
big bucks for a new disk.
T-Von (with a lot of help from my friends at daw-mac)
I am telling you guys, it was such a weird feeling finding out about this one....specially after all the ASR hassle
- MusicWorks