From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Sep 27 06:32:51 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BCB3D16A4B3 for ; Sat, 27 Sep 2003 06:32:51 -0700 (PDT) Received: from nagual.st (cc20684-a.assen1.dr.home.nl [217.120.160.32]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7F6A344014 for ; Sat, 27 Sep 2003 06:32:50 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from dick@nagual.st) Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) (uid 1000) by nagual.st with local; Sat, 27 Sep 2003 15:32:34 +0200 Date: Sat, 27 Sep 2003 15:32:34 +0200 To: freebsd-questions Message-ID: <20030927133234.GA514@pooh.nagual.st> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.1i From: Dick Hoogendijk Subject: dump, tar or pax? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 27 Sep 2003 13:32:51 -0000 Up 'till now I used dump/restore to make a backup of my system. Someone pointed out to me however that this was not the wisest thing to do, given the fact that is is a level-0 dump so it needs to be restored onto a clean (newfs) filesystem. ## dump -h0 -0f - /usr | ssh host "cat > /usr3/pooh/fbsd-usr.dump" I always thought having this backup was safe. Just make a minimal install of FreeBSD ans restore the backup would be fine. As I understand now, this is not the case, because the filesystem has to be new for a restore (level-0) to work. I'm told that instead of the dump/restore option it's better to use TAR with a rule like: ## tar cvzfl - /usr | ssh host cat > destination I understand that there will be problems with named pipes and device nodes that are handled correctly by dump/restore and not by tar. This should not be a problem, I'm told. Is this true? Is dump/restore for a level-0 (system backup) not the wisest thing to use and should I really consider using TAR? Is the calling argument above the right one? Or should I use PAX? If so, with which options? -- dick -- http://www.nagual.st/ -- PGP/GnuPG key: F86289CE ++ Running FreeBSD 4.8 ++ Debian GNU/Linux (Woody) + Nai tiruvantel ar vayuvantel i Valar tielyanna nu vilja