Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!bbn!ginosko!uunet!cbmvax!grr
From: grr@cbmvax.UUCP (George Robbins)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.ultrix
Subject: Re: dump on old 1.2 Ultrix...
Message-ID: <7484@cbmvax.UUCP>
Date: 31 Jul 89 07:14:17 GMT
References: <412@wuee1.wustl.edu> <4082@portia.Stanford.EDU>
Reply-To: grr@cbmvax.UUCP (George Robbins)
Organization: Commodore Technology, West Chester, PA
Lines: 31

In article <4082@portia.Stanford.EDU> karish@forel.stanford.edu (Chuck Karish) writes:
> In article <412@wuee1.wustl.edu> tjs@wuee1.wustl.edu.UUCP (tom sullivan) wrote:
> >we're still running old Ultrix 1.2 on our uVAX-II/GPX.
> 
> >is there an optimal setting (density, lenght, blocking factor, etc.)
> >to do dumps onto a TK50 drive. as it is, it takes over 6 hours to perform
> >a level 0 dump of an 80 Meg partition.
> 
> As George Robbins points out, dump accepts the `-b' flag.  The maximum
> value for this flag is 126, as in 126 blocks or 63K.  This works for
> tar, too, and speeds up the TK50 a lot.  I don't know whether values
> between 20 (the documented maximum for tar) and 126 work.  Don't forget
> to specify `-b 126' when you restore an archive.

Does -b 126 really work with TK50's?  I get the feeling you're generalizing
from Suns, rather than DEC stuff.  My recollection is that -b 63 is the
biggest that will work with traditional (massbus TU78) drives, and there
are blocksize limitations described for the PMAX SCSI TK50 that would
limit you to -b 32.  I advise careful testing and verification before
getting carried away with numbers...

Note that as of 3.1, Ultrix restore still does not support the -b switch.
I really wish they would update their porting base for both dump/restore
and UUCP to the current 4.3 or tahoe versions instead of sticking with
the antique and feature lacking versions.  Even Honey-Danber would be
better than the current uucp...

-- 
George Robbins - now working for,	uucp: {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!grr
but no way officially representing	arpa: cbmvax!grr@uunet.uu.net
Commodore, Engineering Department	fone: 215-431-9255 (only by moonlite)