Will gnu tar work with file greater than 8GB?

[Jan Shu]

Hi All,

My dba used the tar command for their backup jobs. Recently they got an error message "tar: Size of abc.DBF.Z greater than 8GB, Not dumped." Will gnu tar work with file greater than 8GB? Thank you.

Regards,
Jan

[whiteknight]

hi Jan,

Up to 8 GB only
11.0:
PHCO_29229 s700_800 11.00 Cumulative tar(1) patch
( SR: 8606309652 DTS:JAGae72527 )
Enhancement Request:tar has been enhanced to support backup of files up to 8GB
from the earlier 2GB

11.11:
PHCO_26423:
( SR:8606196471 CR:JAGad65674 )
Enhancement Request: enhance tar(1) to support the archival of files up to 8GB
from the current 2GB.


WK

[Khairy · Accepted solution]

probably it would be. Why don't use fbackup? Its much easier and manageable and its very much stable in HPUX.

Anyway, i've check GNU tar website and find the following (taken from http://www.gnu.org/software/tar/manual/tar.html.gz#SEC4)

format UID File Size File Name Devn
gnu 1.8e19 Unlimited Unlimited 63
oldgnu 1.8e19 Unlimited Unlimited 63
v7 2097151 8GB 99 n/a
ustar 2097151 8GB 256 21
posix Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited

You can check which version you're using. If you're using v7, maybe that answer why it happen. Sometimes i use tar to backup small files (but it was never my favourite) and fbackup for big files where multiple tapes are needed. But its up to yr dba.

Rgds

[Steven Schweda]

An ITRC forum search for:

gnu tar 8gb

would have led directly to:

http://forums11.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=1176422

which includes a demonstration of exactly
this (with, I'll admit, a lot of additional
noise).

[Jan Shu]

Hi Steven/Khairy,

I will download the latest gnu tar and try it and hopefully it will work for my dba :-)

Thank you very much. Wish you a Happy New Year.

Regards,
Jan