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From: Terry Lambert <terry@cs.weber.edu>
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: Floppy-based tape drive questions.
Date: 27 May 1995 22:25:34 GMT
Organization: Utah Valley State College, Orem, Utah
Lines: 67
Message-ID: <3q88su$jan@park.uvsc.edu>
References: <kientzleD97Cru.3nw@netcom.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: hecate.artisoft.com
kientzle@netcom.com wrote:
] After upgrading to a much larger hard disk, I'm starting to get a tad
] nervous about having no way to backup this system, so I'm looking to
] buy a tape drive. However, I know next to nothing about
] floppy-interface tape drives (which is what I'd almost certainly end
] up buying).
]
] So, here goes:
]
] 1) Are ``all'' floppy-interface tape drives essentially compatible?
] If not, are there any clues to determining which ones will work with
] FreeBSD?
No. They are essentially incompatible. They all initialize a
little differently, for one thing.
The main clue is the hardware listed in the driver sources. If the
driver writer has the hardware, it'll work.
] 2) Do some of the larger-capacity minicartridge drives work with FreeBSD?
] (i.e., the new Conner 420Mb and 850Mb tape drives)
I haven't tried them. The Colorado Memory Systems drives are pretty
standard within the product line itself, so if one works, another
will probably work.
Most of the very high capacities are the result of compression
built into the backup software. Of course, the backup software
won't run except under DOS.
] 3) What's a good choice for backup software? What are the pros and cons
] of `dump' vs. `tar'?
Dump is a file system image. Tar is a archive of explicitly
designated file system paths (and their subdirectories). Tar
is a better format for distribution, Dump is a better format for
regular backups.
Basically, it has to do with what they each back up; dump is more
thorough on inode information, but tar is easier to use for a quick
"one-off".
Peter will chime in here with "Amanda!", which is a rather full
featured backup software system. It's available for FTP. Peter
will probably say where. 8-).
] 4) Is it reasonable to back up a DOS partition from within FreeBSD?
] (In particular, is the pcfs file system reliable enough? I've heard
] some bad rumours and had one or two inexplicably trashed DOS directories
] myself.)
Yes, this is a perfectly reasonable way to back up your DOS
partition.
The trashed directory problem, etc. is probably an artifact of an
older MSDOS FS; the -current code resolves all the known problems
as far as I've been able to tell.
There may still be issues in moving directories -- this is not a
typical operation that occurs during backup/restore procedures.
Terry Lambert
terry@cs.weber.edu
---
Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present
or previous employers.