add files to tape

[Jose Ramirez_6]

hi.

Who can i add files to the tape whitout delete the files old?.

thank you.

[A. Clay Stephenson]

It might be helpful to tell us what kind of backup you are doing? Fbackup, tar, cpio, dd, OmniBack, ...

[S.K. Chan · Accepted solution]

I assume you're talking "tar" here because I think you can't do this with fbackup.

To append (use -r) file A to existing tar tape.

# tar -rvf /dev/rmt/0m fileA

[hpuxrox]

Jose

If you used the "tar command to add files to the tape. You can use it to add more files.

The use the -r syntax. Ie.

tar -rvf /dev/rmt/0 /tmp/filename


Also, Look into "mt" so you can create tape markers. So you can add multible archive formats to the same tape.

Thanks,

Yates

[Jose Ramirez_6]

hi.

I use fbackup for backup my files.

thank you.

[Helen French]

Hi Jose:

Unfortunately, there is no option with fbackup command to append/add more files to a backup media. You may have to choose other backup methods or use another media.

If you are looking for an incremental method, it is possbile with a graph file.

HTH,
Shiju

[S.K. Chan]

There is an enhancement request to fbackup for it to be able to append file. Right now it's just not possible because it always rewind the tape just before it backs it up. The only scenario that fbackup "append" wil work is while fbackup is running and it was interrupted and you want to continue with the same session, in that case you would use the -R option to continue the fbackup.

[Helen French]

Hi Jose:

Check these threads too (TKB #8606255494):

http://us-support2.external.hp.com/cki/bin/doc.pl/sid=3d22f10b15200e3bae/screen=ckiDisplayDocument?docId=200000060372022

and TKB #UNX1000087:

http://us-support2.external.hp.com/cki/bin/doc.pl/sid=f14fcf94084716546b/screen=ckiDisplayDocument?docId=400000000010776

HTH,
Shiju

[Bill Hassell]

You cannot add anything to an fbackup archive. Like commercial backup tools, reliability and performance are very important so there is a complete table of contents at the beginning of every fbackup tape. And fbackup explicitly issues a rewind before starting a backup. So it doesn't matter what device file you use or whether you pre-position the tape and then run fbackup--it always starts at the beginning.

Adding files to a small tar or cpio backup can be done, but I would never do it as a normal porcess to backup the entire computer or as a way to save on tape media. By appending files and directories onto the end of the tape, you won't be able to determine what was actually done without very meticulous record keeping.

More than one system administrator has been burned by trying to use a backup with many versions of the same file and no reliable way to restore the right version.

[MANOJ SRIVASTAVA]

Hi Jose


tar rvf /dev/rmt/0m filename will append to the tape


Manoj Srivastava