Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!ncar!noao!mcdsun!asuvax!kennedy
From: kennedy@asuvax.UUCP (Ralph Kennedy)
Newsgroups: comp.os.vms
Subject: Re: another BACKUP question
Summary: Directories are needed to correctly perform full restores.
Message-ID: <289@asuvax.UUCP>
Date: 19 May 88 00:34:44 GMT
References: <8805161525.AA17245@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
Organization: Arizona State Univ, Tempe
Lines: 18

In article <8805161525.AA17245@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>, MADDISOJ@carleton.EDU (Joseph Maddison) writes:
>          My question: are the directory files on tape as useless as
>          they seem? Is there a way to avoid them, if they are? 

     If a disk is lost and backups have been done correctly, during
the restoration BACKUP/INCREMENTAL is smart enough to delete and/or
not restore files that existed on earlier backups but that had been
deleted by the user by the time some of the later backups had been
taken.  Without this feature the user would have to re-delete
previously deleted files after the disk was restored.  Even worse,
if disk space were at a premium the disk might overflow before the
restoration completed.  This feature could not exist without BACKUP's
meticulous recording of directory information; whether or not this
recording can be disabled is left as an exercise for the manual reader.

Ralph Kennedy		       {ames,husc6,rutgers}!ncar!noao!asuvax!kennedy
Engineering Comp. Serv.   {allegra,decvax,ihnp4,oddjob}!--^
Arizona St. Univ.
Tempe, AZ  85287-5206           csnet: kennedy@asu.csnet