On Sunday 01 July 2001 15:16, David E. Fox wrote:
> > backup in order to re-instate my old system from tape. I would always
> > backup the directories /root and /home, but if I restored say /usr,
> > would I have all my old programs again...this is what I would like, but
> > is this correct.
>
> Yeah, unless something went wrong, you'd have the old stuff still there.
> You'd at a minimum want to backup /home, /etc, /usr/local and other places
> where you'd typically make changes after the system is installed (a
> reinstall shouldn't touch /home or anything under /usr/local, but it
> certainly might put system defaults into /etc.)
>
> > If any of you are using tape drives...what systems do you use.
>
> I've had a 2gb (not a whole lot for today's standards) 4mm DAT tape for
> a few years. During the time I've used it, I've tried a few different
> methods. I gave BRU and Arkeia a spin, thought they were pretty good. I
> tried Perfect Backup, which is pretty much a look & feel clone of the old
> DOS Fastback Plus program (which is what I used to use when I had Windows).
> Unfortunately, I couldn't get the d&mn thing to restore, so out it went.
>
> I've pretty much settled on tar and/or dump. Tar is pretty much the easier
> of the two, but dump isn't all too difficult either. The one important
> thing is that your data should be easily restorable. For most (especially
> X-based) backup systems, that means nearly a complete reinstall of the
> system plus the backup software, whilst tar/dump/restore can be put on
> a rescue floppy.
>
> > I am using tar at the moment...is this the best choice? I can retrieve
> > single files this way, but is there alternatives?
>
> Yes, but slowly. It's ok for select directories but if you are trying to
> resture a single file you might have to slog through the tape to get to
> it. Some of the alternative ones have waysto speed this process up: they
> can put index files on the tape, for instance. restore (the companion
> to dump) has a neat interactive shell where you can see what's on the
> tape, change directories, etc.
>
> > The tape unit size is 14Gig, but this is with compression of 2:1, how do
> > I get this compression, do I have to tar -zcvf for example. Is this a bad
> > idea though?
>
> The drive might have a jumper you can set to enable compression - at least
> IIRC there's one on my HP DAT. But I would advise against compressing the
> whole stream, since a bit error in the middle can make the rest unusable.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> David E. Fox Thanks for letting me
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] change magnetic patterns
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] on your hard disk.
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
I have uploaded the script I have written to www.dgssoftware.co.uk/backup.pl
Anyone can use it, it uses tar and allows you to search tapes and restore
individual files. I maintains a list of tapes in your pool and rotates them.
Any hints would be nice. This is my first shot and is not tidy, I will do
this tidy-up over the next few days. If it is any use to anyone other than
myself, then email me, i'll notify you once it has been cleaned up.
Dave.
