I am new in unix/linux. Now I need to know how to use tar to do
increamental backup of my system. specifically I have the following
questions:

1. Looking at the man page, it seems to have options like -d
(difference), -u (update: which append the updated files to archive
file), and -g, and -G. But I am not really sure which one to use for
increamental backup. I tried -u, but it seem to still back up the
whole things (not changed files only).

2. In order not to overwrite the current archive file, do I have to
change archive file name everytime I start to do increamental backup?
e.g if I have a fullback called backupweend, do I have to chagne name
to backupmon, backuptue if I do increamental backup on monday and
tuesday? If yes, that means I have to write a script to do automatic
backup?

3. If I tar the root filesystem "/", will all the filesystem mounted
to it be backup too. If I have a storage system mounted as "/share",
then the backup will include all the contents in "/share"? Is there a
option not to include?

Thanks for your help,

Steven

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In comp.unix.misc Steven <yuezhan.zhu@medicinenet.com> wrote:
quote:

> I am new in unix/linux. Now I need to know how to use tar to do
> increamental backup of my system. specifically I have the following
> questions:

quote:

> 1. Looking at the man page, it seems to have options like -d
> (difference), -u (update: which append the updated files to archive
> file), and -g, and -G. But I am not really sure which one to use for
> increamental backup. I tried -u, but it seem to still back up the
> whole things (not changed files only).

quote:

> 2. In order not to overwrite the current archive file, do I have to
> change archive file name everytime I start to do increamental backup?
> e.g if I have a fullback called backupweend, do I have to chagne name
> to backupmon, backuptue if I do increamental backup on monday and
> tuesday? If yes, that means I have to write a script to do automatic
> backup?

quote:

> 3. If I tar the root filesystem "/", will all the filesystem mounted
> to it be backup too. If I have a storage system mounted as "/share",
> then the backup will include all the contents in "/share"? Is there a
> option not to include?

quote:

> Thanks for your help,

quote:

> Steven


Don't confuse backup with archiving.

Tar is a archive/exchange format. Backup is done with other tools,
dump is one of them. And dump will of course make true incremental
backuo(and restore) possible.

--
Peter Håkanson
IPSec  Sverige      ( At Gothenburg Riverside )
Sorry about my e-mail address, but i'm trying to keep spam out,
remove "icke-reklam" if you feel for mailing me. Thanx.

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