Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!clyde.concordia.ca!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!me!arane
From: arane@me.utoronto.ca (Raphael Arane)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apollo
Subject: Re: tar vs wbak
Keywords: tar, wbak, rbak, backups
Message-ID: <1990Jan12.093225.17170@me.toronto.edu>
Date: 12 Jan 90 14:32:25 GMT
References: <7125@tank.uchicago.edu>
Organization: University of Toronto
Lines: 17

In article <7125@tank.uchicago.edu> rtp1@tank.uchicago.edu (raymond thomas pierrehumbert) writes:
>Another elementary question:  If I am running BSD4.3 under Domain,
>can I use tar instead of wbak/rbak to read and write cartridge tapes?
>Do I use ct0 as my device?  Can it be used for backups?  What is the
>advantage of wbak/rbak over tar?

My answer pertains to BSD4.2 and SR9.7, but it's probably still correct.
For a cartridge tape I use /dev/rct8.  Practically always my 'tar' fails to
recognize the tape drive on the first attempt, so I have to "wake it up"
using  /com/rbak -reten, for example.  I find tar much-much slower than
wbak/rbak, therefore I use it exclusively for information exchange with
Suns, for example.  For backups I stick with the wbak.

Actually I'd like to know why tar is so slow compared with the Aegis
feature - anybody out there to enlighten us?

-- Rafi Arane.