[ale] Tape Backup Procedures?

Bob's ALE Mail transam at cavu.com
Fri Oct 8 11:00:36 EDT 1999


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
people who don't understand, who have not gotten in there and tried
anything."  -- Jim Joyce, owner of Jim Joyce's UNIX Bookstore






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