The preferred method for performing system disk backup and restore operations is to boot the operating system media, choose the DCL option from menu, and then enter the appropriate backup commands. The detailed procedures are described in Section F.4 and Section F.5.

However, if you do not have access to the CD or if you want to back up a shadowed system disk without disabling the shadow set, you can use a different procedure, which is described in Section F.6.

Store the backup media in a safe place.

If you have an OpenVMS Cluster environment with more than one system disk, be sure the volume labels on each system disk and on backup copies of system disks are unique. Use the SET VOLUME/LABEL command to change a volume label, if necessary.