Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!cs.utexas.edu!helios!n025fc From: n025fc@tamuts.tamu.edu (Kevin Weller) Newsgroups: comp.unix.xenix.sco Subject: Re: Best way to backup SCO Xenix/UNIX Message-ID: Date: 9 Apr 91 20:06:53 GMT References: <3599@sixhub.UUCP> Sender: news@helios.TAMU.EDU Followup-To: comp.unix.xenix.sco Organization: Texas A&M University, Computer Science Department Lines: 37 In-reply-to: davidsen@sixhub.UUCP's message of 2 Apr 91 04:05:58 GMT I've been making backups with find and cpio for over a year now, and I have a (relatively) friendly shellscript front-end for it all which I'd post if I could solve a thorny problem with the compression scheme. The problem is that, since I pipe the cpio output through compress and my own volume splitter (restore is just the reverse), I can't start a restore in the middle of a multi-volume backup. This means that a bad volume in the middle stops me from restoring the rest of the way. I've tried and tried to figure out compress's scheme for packing the data so I could uncompress starting in the middle, but no luck. I find the idea of backing up 180 megs of data without compression ludicrous, so is there another high-performance compression utility out there that will do the job (let me start uncompressing from the middle of a file, which is essentially what a multi-volume backup is)? Any pointers would be appreciated, and if and when I make my backup scheme adequately reliable, I'll post the package of files to get it going. Thanks -- Kev PS: I use diskettes to make backups since I can't afford a decent tape drive, but the principle is the same for tape backups. Even if I COULD afford a tape drive, I don't think I have another hardware interrupt slot available for the controller (can't use the floppy controller either). -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kevin L. Weller /-------+--------------------\ internet: n025fc@tamuts.tamu.edu | aTm | GIG 'EM, AGGIES! | CIS: 73327,1447 (but I rarely log on) \-------+--------------------/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ %SYS-E-BADOPSYS, Fatal system error, DEC VMS halting / "And now for something -SYS-I-GETUNIX, Replace with UNIX immediately! / completely different." ----------------------------------------------------------------- Monty Python