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From: brnstnd@kramden.acf.nyu.edu (Dan Bernstein)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: Backups using compress
Message-ID: <11389:Nov3010:16:4190@kramden.acf.nyu.edu>
Date: 30 Nov 90 10:16:41 GMT
References: <25106@adm.brl.mil> <14582@smoke.brl.mil> <27551FBF.2222@tct.uucp>
Organization: IR
Lines: 9

In article <27551FBF.2222@tct.uucp> chip@tct.uucp (Chip Salzenberg) writes:
> I would think twice before using this method for backups.  LZW
> compression (i.e. /usr/bin/compress), like most kinds of compression,
> is _extremely_ unforgiving of trashed data.  If you lose ONE BYTE, the
> rest of the archive will probably be lost permanently.

If you want to correct errors, use an error-correcting code. Sheesh.

---Dan