To archive my Windows 98SE installation, I need an archiver that can
-deal with long file names
-compress/expand to long paths (>127 chars) without failing
-can archive/restore files that have hidden, system and/or r/o flag
-be used from DOS (7.1)
Does such a program exist?
I don't think "DOS 7.1" sees long file names until you load Windows (but my memory might be deceiving me). In any case, RAR can do what you need. It supports long file names and paths up to 259 characters. It has a native DOS version (latest is 3.93) as well as a command-line 32-bit Windows utility that can run from Windows DOS Box (latest is 5.71). It's not free, though. Later versions of ARJ can also use long filenames, but I don't remember their path length limits.
https://cloakedthargoid.wordpress.com/ - Random content on hardware, software, games and toys
For backup/restore my Windows 95 installation i experimenting a little and choose this:
To backup (in Win9x DOS window):
Console Win32 zip.exe from Info-ZIP 3.0 package. cmd-line is: zip -r -9 -S xxxx.zip "C:\Program Files" C:\WINDOWS ("C:\My Documents" and etc -optional).
-r: recurse (add) subdirs too.
-9: better compression.
-S: include hidden and system files.
Only one file will be ignored (safely): win386.swp
To restore:
DOSLFN (0.32n works fine for me) + PKWARE PKZIP 2.50 for DOS. cmd-line is: pkunzip -d -Jhrs xxxx.zip C:\
-d: extract with subdirs.
-Jhrs: extract hidden/read only/system files too.
