Close, but no cigar. syntax is:
tar -cvf /dev/tapedevice /usr/thedirectory. To make a full backup I did: tar -cvf /dev/st0 / --exclude /dev --exclude /proc (my tape drive is a scsi rdat on /dev/st0) This command backed up everything, except the dev and proc directories. (I had some BAD things happen trying to access the devices as files, and you don't need to backup the /proc directory as it does NOT exist on the disk.) Don't leave your cd rom mounted for this or it will get backed up also, why waste 650MB of tape for something that can't be trashed?! ----------------------------------------------------- Greetings, Got what I thought was a simple problem. I have a 2GB DAT tape drive, a directory that I want to backup to that tape drive. Seems simple enough, but I can't seem to get it to work. I thought the command was: tar -cvf thetarfile.tar /usr/thedirectory But it isn't working. Now I have created a tar file on the hard drive, and thought it would be just as easy to move the file to tape, but I can't figure that out either. Tried mounting the tape drive and the machine mocks me openly. Any and all help would be apprciated! _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com