Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!caen!ox.com!mudos!mju
From: mju@mudos.ann-arbor.mi.us (Marc Unangst)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: Automatic file compression?
Message-ID: <iN5wq2w163w@mudos.ann-arbor.mi.us>
Date: 12 Oct 90 08:43:41 GMT
References: <23653:Oct1019:40:1190@kramden.acf.nyu.edu>
Organization: The Programmers' Pit Stop, +1 313 665 2832
Lines: 18

brnstnd@kramden.acf.nyu.edu (Dan Bernstein) writes:
[automatically compressing files transparantly]
> Anyone want to try to stick this into RFS?

This is a bad, bad idea, for the same reason that compressing backups
before writing them to tape is a bad idea.  The difficulty of
recovering a trashed filesystem increases by several orders of
magnitude when you need to reconstruct a compressed file; in fact, I'd
say it's almost impossible to recover the undamaged portions of a
compressed file (especially if it was the key table that got trashed).

Maybe your disks never fail.  But mine do on occasion, and I like to
have at least half a chance of bringing my data back.

--
Marc Unangst               |
mju@mudos.ann-arbor.mi.us  | "Bus error: passengers dumped"
...!umich!leebai!mudos!mju |