Nevermind, I hadn't read the other message in the thread. I see the rationale, playing to the least common denominator for being sure about the position and such...but surely some overrides would be useful. I just thought maybe there were some already.
Anyways, the current strategy is probably "good enough" for me for now. Thanks for the explanation! Cc [EMAIL PROTECTED] on Tue 30/12 17:47 -0500: > Richard Bond on Tue 30/12 14:34 -0800: > > "By Design" is the official answer, to prevent overwriting > > data you have already saved. > > > > [...] > > > > 1. Reading it all in and then writing it all back out > > again are two more opportunities for entropy (and Murphy ) > > to get at your data. > > > > 2. tape heads have limited lifespans compared to the rest > > of your computers. > > > > tapes are cheap compared the cost of losing data and the > > labor to restore it. Buy more tape, that's a better use > > of your time and money. > > Um, both of those assume I've taken the tape out of the > drive and/or used the rewinding tape device. Why not just > leave it at the current filemark and if it's still there at > same tell position on next run, just resume backup there at > next filemark? If tape leaves drive, just fsf to the > filemark that we left off at, no need to rewrite any data. > Don't see how this strategy would cause undue wear and tear > on tape device.
