Problem with tar

[Rene Mendez]

My files are the 4Gb what option o software tar need to save this files.

[Patrick Wallek]

What version of the OS are you running? If you are on HP-UX 10.20, you are out of luck, 2 GB is the limit for files tar can handle.

If you are on 11.x then tar can handle up to 8GB files with a patch.
I can't find the appropriate patch for 11.0, I thought it existed, but here's the patch for 11i:

PHCO_26423
http://www2.itrc.hp.com/service/patch/patchDetail.do?patchid=PHCO_26423&context=hpux:800:11:11

[monasingh_1]

you can try doing dd instead of tar if that is possible and you are tar is not a absolute requirement.
mona..

[T G Manikandan]

you have to go with
GNU tar

http://hpux.cs.utah.edu/hppd/hpux/Gnu/tar-1.13.25/

[Bill Hassell]

Industry standard tar can only backup 2Gb files. That means that if you use a non-standard version (the HP-UX version or the appropriate GNUtar version) then you must use a compatible version to restore the files. Classic Unix utilities are no longer useful for today's large files. For interchange between other HP-UX systems, use fbackup/frecover (no limitations for large files) or for interchange with non-HP-UX systems, you'll need the correct version of GNU tar or a commercial backup program. If the data is important, I would go with a commercial solution for reliability. tar has no high speed restore or error recovery.

[Steven E. Protter]

I've been using the HP-UX 8G tar for a few months. I've had no known problems, its a pretty useful tool(above link).

If there are any issues with using that I haven't seen them. It's nice to be able to tar up large database backups.

I only wish they'd do something about pax and Ignite so they could reliably handle bigger files for database pushes.

SEP

[Nitsulenko Sergey]

Hello,
To me have advised
PHCO_24633 for 11.0.

[Superuser Nokia]

Hello,

Is the s700_800 11.11 tar(1) cumulative patch also available for HP-UX 11.00?

Can I install the patch PHCO_26423 on 11.00?

Does the patch PHCO_24633 make it possible to tar big files (>2GB) ?

I know there are a lot of questions, but please help me.

BR
Thomas

[Cheryl Griffin]

Patch Name: PHCO_26423
Patch Description: s700_800 11.11 tar(1) cumulative patch

This patch is for 11.11 only, so no you cannot install it on 11.00.

It addresses a enhancement request
( SR:8606196471 CR:JAGad65674 )
Enhancement Request: enhance tar(1) to support the archival of files up to 8GB from the current 2GB.

So far only this 11.11 patch addresses tar but pax, tar, and cpio were all mentioned in this ER.

[Superuser Nokia]

Thanks for the fast reply.

Does it mean, that HP will work on a patch?

If yes, can I see somewhere the status of the Enhancement Request?

Thanks
Thomas

[Tim Sanko]

If you really want error recovery and a whole group of nifty features that can generate tar readable executables af far greater than 2 GB Buy Microlite's BackupEdge. We old fogeys may occasionally call it Ctar.

BackupEdge will do incrementals as well as Masters read where tar says a checksum fails and is generally a $500.00 or less lifesaver.

It also allows for large memory blocks to get greater speed than a tar.

I don't work for Microlite, or sell their product. I have used it to save my keister many times...

Tim

Tim

[Bill Hassell]

The patch mentioned by Cheryl will allow HP-UX tar to handle up to 8Gb files--but no larger! The resultant tar tape is NOT compatible with other versions of tar. Asking to enhance tar (or cpio or pax, etc) means that you are asking for incompatible tools. True, if all you do is to backup and restore locally then the 8Gb solution will work (until you need larger files). And note that tar (cpio, pax, etc) have no error recovery. If the tape has a bad spot, there is nothing in these tools to skip over the bad spot and resync to restore the rest of the tape. Thus the reason to look at commercial tools.