Re: Q about using tar to do backups

From: Michael W Cocke (cocke_at_catherders.com)
Date: 01/04/05 

Date: Tue, 04 Jan 2005 07:46:49 -0500

On Tue, 04 Jan 2005 15:36:33 +1300, Enkidu <enkidu.com@com.cliffp.com>
wrote:

>On Mon, 03 Jan 2005 23:25:30 GMT, Eric <no_one@comcast.net> wrote:
>
>>I'm using tar to create a complete system backup.
>>That works just fine but there doesnt seem to be a
>>true "update" option to tar (or have i misunderstood this opt?).
>>I really dont want to recreate the tar file each time, all I want
>>to do is to have it updated if some of the files in the various
>>dirs change or new files are added.
>>Suppose I have an existing 500 meg tar file of directory /home/User1,
>>and the next backup comes due and User1 has 5 files that changed. I
>>dont want to delete the old 500 meg tar file but i would like to replace
>>(not append a second copy as "-update" seems to suggest) the changed files
>>in that tar.
>>I think you see what I'm getting at.
>>Is this do-able with a script? Would it be faster (hopefully) than
>>simply erasing the old tar and creating a new one?
>>Any ideas, bash snippets, suggestions, etc?
>>
>I think Rich's scheme looks good (ie backup changed files after the
>full backup to a different tar file), but I firmly believe that
>incremental backups are a PITA! I always take full backups (where I
>can) and I always create new backups in a grandfather-father-son
>scheme.
>
>[Sidenote: People get quite *religious* about the proper way to back
>things up. Just like people get *religious* about what distro....]
>

I agree with Cliff. There's too many ways an incremental can get
screwed up. I always do full backups too, although I don't do a
standard 3 generation.. Needs vary.

Mike- 

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