From owner-freebsd-questions Sun Jan 6 10:58:47 2002 Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from smtp01.mrf.mail.rcn.net (smtp01.mrf.mail.rcn.net [207.172.4.60]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7A12737B41C for ; Sun, 6 Jan 2002 10:58:37 -0800 (PST) Received: from 66-44-54-34.s34.tnt1.lnhva.md.dialup.rcn.com ([66.44.54.34] helo=sten.alder.net) by smtp01.mrf.mail.rcn.net with smtp (Exim 3.33 #10) id 16NI82-0004WO-00; Sun, 06 Jan 2002 13:34:42 -0500 Received: by sten.alder.net (sSMTP sendmail emulation); Sun, 6 Jan 2002 13:34:32 -0500 Date: Sat, 5 Jan 2002 23:01:56 -0500 From: "Bob Hall" To: freebsd@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: backing up & recovery Message-ID: <20020105230156.A341@starpower.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.2.5i Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG I'm trying to finish setting up a backup and disaster recovery system for myself. I have the following questions: 1) In the handbook, it says to create boot and fix-it floppies. Are these necessary if I can boot from the install and fix-it CD's? 2) I'm backing up to DVD-RAM disks. (By a fluke, I got a DVD writer cheaply, so this is the most cost effective way for me to do backups.) After dumping, I run restore in interactive mode. At some point, I get the message specify next volume #: Would one side of a disk be equivalent to a volume? E.g. when I fill up one side of a disk and switch to the other side, is that volume 2? 3) Shortly after the volume message, I get set owner/mode for '.' [yn] I don't know what this means, and I can't tell that it makes any difference whether I type 'y' or 'n'. Can anyone tell me what I'm doing when I type either 'y' or 'n'? 4) My dump command is dump -0u -af /mnt/usr.dump /usr where the DVD disk is mounted on /mnt. I haven't been able to figure out how to backup to a DVD disk except by explicitly writing to a data file (as opposed to a device). With a tape, the docs say to write everything to the device and then restore from a specific dump with the -s option. This doesn't seem to work when writing to a data file. Am I correct in believing that each file system dump, on a given date, has to have its own backup file? I.e. the root and usr file systems each have to have their own file, and incremental dumps each get their own file? I've spent about 45 minutes trying to make my questions as clear as possible, but when you are new to something, you don't know the best way to express yourself, nor do you know what info to provide. The documentation is all geared toward backups on tapes, and I'm pretty fuzzy on how backup data is structured, so I don't know how tape oriented structures map to DVD disks. Any info or sources of info will be gratefully received. Bob Hall -- Know thyself? Absurd direction! Bubbles bear no introspection. -Khushhal Khan Khatak To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message