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Date: Thu, 4 Apr 1996 11:23:56 +0200
To: mmd@sprintlink.co.za
From: Lutz Albers <lutz@muc.de>
Subject: Re: backing - up FreeBSD
Cc: freebsd-questions@freefall.FreeBSD.org
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In article <3162920F.4C17@sprintlink.co.za>, Stacey writes:

-I would like to know if you can answer the following question?
-1) I would like to backup FreeBSD on on tapes. How do I do this?
-2) I would like to copy a complete "disk/system" i.e. like you can in dos
-when you use xcopy???

Hi,

there are basically two ways to do a backup in most U*X-Systems:
	1) either a full filesystem backup (dump/restore)
	2) or a backup of selected files (cpio/tar)

The second approach is usually not a good method (esp. for desaster
backups), as both tar and cpio have problems with certain kind of files
(special files, sparse files and long names). dump is much better for that
kind of backup you describe. That said, a few examples:

tar - backup:
  tar cvf <backup-device> many<files-or-dirs>
This will backup all the files and dirctories (recursivly)
tar - restore:
  tar xvf <restore-device> optional<files-or-dirs>
This will restore either the whole tape or the selected files.

dump:
  dump 0uBf <nr-of-blocks-on-tape> <tape-device> <file-system>
This will backup the whole filesystem (and only this filesystem). Repeat it
for each filesystem you have.

Hope this helps.

Share & Enjoy !


---------------------------------------------------------------------
Lutz Albers                                     |       What's good ?
Luederitzstr. 14, 81929-Muenchen, Germany       |      Life's good -
email:lutz@muc.de          ph: +49-89-93940364  | But not fair at all
http://www.muc.de/~lutz    fax:+49-89-93940365  |          (Lou Reed)

Do not take life too seriously, you will never get out of it alive.