[ale] Tape Backup Procedures?

[Bob's ALE Mail]

On Thu, 7 Oct 1999, Jeffrey B Layton wrote:

> Hello,
> 
>    I think I'm about to perform a Linux reinstall due
> to some weirdness that I can't fathom. So, I'm going
> to back up some critical stuff (/home, /usr/local/, /opt,
> and a few other things) to a SCSI tape I have. Does
> anybody have any recommendation for a simple
> 1 line tar commen to do this (Ok, maybe more than
> 1 line) and a simple untar command?
> 
>  TIA,
> 
> Jeff Layton
> 
> Lockheed-Martin Aeronautical Systems
> Marietta GA

Save:
	cd /
	tar -cf /dev/tape .

Show what is on a tape:
	tar -tvf /dev/tape

Restore:
	cd /
	tar -xf /dev/tape

-c	Create a tape
-x	eXtract from a tape
-f	Specify tape file in next arg
-v	Be Verbose: list each file

If the filename is "-" then will read from stdin or write to stdout.

The GNU tar also has a flag that allows spreading the backup over
multiple tapes if it will not fit on one.  GNU tar will backup and restore
devices (by stating or mknoding the device entry in /dev) and symlinks.

Bob Toxen
bob at cavu.com http://www.cavu.com
transam at cavu.com [ALE & Linux Laptops]
Fly-By-Day Consulting, Inc.

"The bad reputation UNIX has gotten is totally undeserved, laid on by
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