tar/cpio backup limitation

[aliasgar]

Hi ,
I find a problem when i take a backup of file which is greater than 2gb in size using tar/cpio command ,it is not backing up .this is the limitation of tar/cpio command in hpux 11.X if so how do i take backup of file size greater than 2gb using tar/cpio command only.

Thanks,

[Santosh Nair_1]

Unfortunately tar and cpio do have problems with files over 2gb. There is a document that states which utilities support large files and which ones don't in /usr/share/doc/lg_files.txt.

I've heard that the GNU version of tar does support files over 2gb, but haven't tried it myself.

The only other alternative I can think of is fbackup.

Hope this helps.

-Santosh

[eran maor]

Hi

Some of the backup commands, specifically tar, cpio(tar & cpio formats), and ftio (because it creates cpio format archives) are
restricted from supporting large files due to standards defined headers in the archives. Although the headers allow archival of files
up to 8 GB, there is no guarantee that there will be no attempt to restore these files on a system that does not support large files. These commands will therefore support files up to 2 GB only. Attempts to archive any files greater than 2 GB will fail,
and the files will not be added to the archive.

so you need to use fbackup or OPENview omniback to backup this files

[Patrick Wallek]

If you must back up a file that is more than 2GB with tar or cpio, then you can't back it up.

The only way to get it backed up is to make the file so it is less than 2GB by compressing it (compress, gzip).

Otherwise your only option is fbackup or some third party software like OmniBack, Legato Networker, Veritas, etc.

[Suhas_3]

I used 'dd' to backup files which were problematic in tar/ cpio. Hope dd will work well for you also, unless there is specific need for tar / cpio.
Regards,
Suhas

[Varghese Mathew]

Hi Ali,

The option left out in front of you is simply use either fbackp, or any other utilities like OmniBack etc.

Even you need to get few of the latest patches also to be put in the machine. PHCO_238543 na dits dependencies have to be in the machine for meeting so many vulnerabilities of backup/frestore.

Hope this helps... Ali..,
Cheers !!!
Varghese Mathew