[PARPORT] cpio vs tar on linux backup/restore?


Tom Jenkins (tjenkins@hawaii.rr.com)
Mon, 15 Mar 1999 19:08:00 -1000


I'm going to need some help in getting an understanding of both tar and cpio
in making backups/restorals.

Over the last few days, I've installed ftape (4.03-pre-02) on my RedHat 5.2
(2.0.36) box. The software feeds an external parallel port Ditto 2G drive.
Tape status indicates that it is indeed 'on line' and simple tar scripts
backup and restore files with (apparently) no problem.

My backup and restore scripts, as well as directory and compare are:

tar cvf /dev/qft (backup)
tar xvf /dev/qft0 (restore)
tar tf /dev/qft0 (shows what's on tape)
tar df /dev/qft0 (compares tape to directory)

I've heard of cpio and wondered how that would compare with the tar
function. I'm particularly interested in both compression and efficiency of
both methods. Of note, the above backup took 25 minutes for 85M of data.

Is tar (or cpio) 100% reliable?

Also, using tar, how would I extract JUST ONE FILE from the backed up tape?
Is this possible using tar? Or cpio?

I don't need a whizbang solution - just a simple, yet effective and
efficient one.

As a relative newcomer to Linux, any and all help would be most appreciated!

--Tom

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This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Sun 28 Mar 1999 - 17:00:25 EST