The Workplace Shell stores a great deal of critical data in the OS/2 initialization file OS2.INI and in Extended Attributes associated with data files and directories. The OS2.INI file contains system details such as the pointers for all the abstract objects - shadows, program references, etc. A fuller discussion of what the Workplace Shell stores in OS2.INI may be found in Workplace Shell Implementation.
If this information is lost or corrupted for any reason, the effect on the system can be very serious. Backing up only the contents of data files is, therefore, no longer sufficient while backing up OS2.INI has gained critical importance.
This section discusses approaches to back up and restore that will allow a user to recover from system failures in such a way that his desktop environment is not disrupted too badly. It also discusses some of the more popular back up utilities in terms of their suitability for backing up a system using the Workplace Shell.