backup of disk image to tape but i need some flexiblity when restoring !

From: Tom Van Overbeke (tom.van.overbeke_at_pandora.be)
Date: 02/23/04 

Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2004 15:05:47 +0100

Hello,

I have a few linux servers that i want to be able to restore in no time, so
i was thinking of dumping the entire disk contents to tape using dd.
sth. like dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/st0.

the problem with this is: what if the disk to be restored on is different in
size.

Can i expect that if the disk is bigger, the restore would work without a
problem ?

The problem being that the servers are serviced by the manufacturer itself,
and who nows if they decide a year from now to only provide disks of 72GB
instead of currerntly 36GB. Would my 'dd' backup still be of any use ?

other question, could i restore these tape contents to an image file, and
mount this image file as a virtual disk ?

lastly,
are there other problems or better approaches for what i am trying to do ?
btw, the disk is a 36GB disk, and the tape drive would be a dds4 (20/40).
how do i get the entire disk contents to fit on one tape. is it safe to pipe
the data through gzip before writing them to tape ?

thx,

Tom.

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