Hi, How do people backup their machines? What packages do you use? How do the backends (dd, dump/restore tar afio/cpio) compare wrt reliability/ease of use? [dd is just for completeness.] I would like a full backup, so I guess tar is out as a backend (can't handle special files). I guess I would like to hear abot dump vs afio.
______________________________________________________________________ | Tar | cpio / afio ____________________________________|__________________________________ can't handle special files. |may get confused with multiple |hard links. | One copy of hard-linked files, but |Many copies of hardlinked files, can retrieve file using that one |but can be restored using any name only. |of the names | Uses checksums. |No checksums | stops at first sign of corruption | Skips over corrupted area | Blocked to start on a record | boundary | | headers always 512 bytes |Efficient use of space for headers | ______________________________________________________________________ The last time I dealt with backups, I was backing up 30 machines remotely to a tape drive like the moster ones in all the 70's movies, using a mess of home grown scripts and dump/restore. I'd rather not have to re-write the scripts (haven't things gotten easier in the last decade?), so I'm now looking for backup solutions where I don't have to write the scripts. I have come up with the following (based entirely on the descriptions) ______________________________________________________________________ Amanda: Powerful. Reassuringly, it seems to use dump/restore, which I understand. Knows which tape and where on the tape to look for to restore a file (I like that). Cons: Overkill for a single machine. afbackup: Again, client server, which I don't need; says it should be easy to use on just one machine. goes to end of tape automatically. Hmm. tape marks written (I assume that's what the description is trying to say). No idea what the backend is -- afio? dump: An old friend. I used to do tower of hanoi backups -- has dump levels, is integrated in (even fstab format caters to dump/restore). Requires book keeping. Reliability of Linux dump? tob: tar/afio. full/differential/incremental backups, determines size beforehand floppybackup: Well, I have a tape. taper: selection using mouseless commander? recursively selected dirs are supported? This does not sound like what I need to backup several *partitions*. ______________________________________________________________________ manoj -- "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro..." Dr. Hunter S. Thompson Manoj Srivastava <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <http://www.datasync.com/%7Esrivasta/> Key C7261095 fingerprint = CB D9 F4 12 68 07 E4 05 CC 2D 27 12 1D F5 E8 6E -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] .