Stefan Viljoen wrote:
> I managed to fix this by booting up in runlevel 3 without Xwindows - works
> 100% fine. Apparently attempting the commands in a terminal emulator in X
> (at least on my system) does not work at all.
This is a known issue and is even mentioned in the ftape FAQ. Unless
you're running a very fast machine with a lot of RAM, you can't run X
//and// perform ftape backups successfully.
> Now, another question: I want to use one tape for both Windows and Linux
> backups. Is this the right approach:
>
> 1. Do Windows first.
> 2. The first time you write the Linux backup on that same tape, do
>
> ftmt -f /dev/nqft0 eod
>
> then
>
> tar czvf /dev/nqft0 /home/whatever
>
> 3. For subsequent Linux backups do
>
> ftmt -f /dev/nqft0 seek 2
>
> tar czvf /dev/nqft0 /home/whatever
>
> Is this right? Will "seek 2" position the tape at the start of the second
> volume i. e. the "Linux part" of the tape? If not, what command must I use
> to position the tape at the end of the backup written by the Iomega windows
> backup software? Does "seek 2" mean "volume 2" i. e. the second volume, i.
> e. my Linux backup?
No, 'ftmt seek 2' will position you at block number 2, not backup set
number 2. You would use the fsf command (from BOT, fsf 1 will place you
at the beginning of the second backup set).
Keep in mind, tape is not disk. You can't "replace" data once it's
written. With tape in Unix, it's either an append or overwrite
situation. You can only write to the tape in 2 places - at BOT or at
EOD. So, your first described operation will succeed, but attempts to
overwrite JUST the Linux backup will fail. When you write at BOT, you
overwrite the contents of the tape. Since there is no way to know that
your backup will fill exactly the same number of blocks, the driver just
writes a new EOD marker when you close the backup. Effectively, you
have deleted, or erased, any additional backup sets on the tape. As
soon as you rebackup your Windows system, your Linux data is gone. And,
the only way to continue writing Linux backups is to append them.
Do you plan on performing regular backups of both systems? You really
should be using different tapes for these operations.
--
Tim Jones [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Vice President http://www.estinc.com/
Enhanced Software Technologies, Inc. (602) 470-1115
"The BRU Guys"
