Re: [TCLUG:8536] cpio examples needed...

["Carl Wilhelm Soderstrom" <carls@agritech.com>]

>I ended up just going with tar, but it's a single workstation
>situation.  If you're doing net backups, it changes things, I guess.  
        well, I really only have to do 2 servers; and maybe quarterly
backups on the workstations. (which I figure I can do w/ smbmount)

>I
>figure that in the event of a catastrophic failure (read:  equipment
>destroying fire), you should be able to pull a surviving tar tape up on
>almost any *nix machine with the right tape drive.  However, I feel like
>it's a little like the Wild West -- in general, people aren't worried
>about backup compatibility and it's every man for him/herself.
        yeah. I've gone through about 3 different backup utils since
starting this job; none of them compatible. we do our archiving to CD-ROM;
tho, so that's a definite plus. (tho some of the really old CDs use some
proprietary archiving format, which you need a special program to read. ;(
fortunately I've never had to retrieve anything off those; otherwise I'd
just go convert them all to iso9660s).

><Aside:  If the PC morons (Apple, IBM, Microsoft) had introduced the
>concept of reliable backups to the mainstream public by simply including
>*some* drive in the boxes and forcing backup utilities on the unwitting
>consumer the way they do less useful software, the world would be that
>much closer to nirvana.>
        back in the days of the apple II; backups were easy. just stick an
identical floppy in the drive and save your work to that one too. :)
        but when storage capacities got so big that floppies were no longer
an option (20MB or so); tape drives were still expensive. (they still are,
compared to a $500 PC). people will cut corners when they can.
        Iomega Zip drives were a saving grace for a while. when they were
new, they were still a viable backup solution. by the time they became
popular, tho; they were several years obsolete. (really amazed me that they
became popular, considering how obsolete the technology was).
        CD-Rs are still a viable backup for some home/workstation use; but
they're kind of cumbersome to make.

let's face it; tape is and always has been the best backup; but most people
have to justify it as a buisness expense.
        for big buisness; the vendors were always trying to lock people into
*their* solution. for home use; no one much cared if the format was
portable. small buisness seems to have been caught in the middle; without
enough spare time to care.

such is life.

Carl Soderstrom
System Administrator	307 Brighton Ave. 
Minnesota DHIA		Buffalo, MN	
carls@agritech.com	(612) 682-1091