Re: Backup using ontape

ontape is better than onarchive. are you using unix? if so, does your DAT drive have compression? well it doesn't really matter, if you have unix use the software compression device links for your tape drive, such as: /dev/rmt/0xbn that'll use OS-level compression on the data being put on your tape automatically. -FPL >>> <magic@bet.po.opole.pl> 08/15/00 04:59AM >>> Hello All ! I would like to ask you about Informix database back-ups. So far, we were using dbexport/dbimport method, which has its drawbacks (locks up the database). Quite naturally I would like to use 'ontape' and 'onarchive' utilities. I know that, using that programs, it is possible to back up the database even during normal operation (i.e. it doesn't lock up the database). The backup copies should be dumped on tape; the problem is, that we have only an old DAT drive (I don't remember the model) and we can only support 150 and 250MB tapes. The database (after dbexport) takes up about 300MB. Usually we 'dbexport' it on harddrive, compress it and 'tar' it on the tape. After compression it takes about 40MB. The question is: using 'ontape' or 'onarchive', can I compress the data *before* putting it on tape ? And which method (i.e. ontape or onarchive) is better ? What about those "backup levels" (0-level, 1-level etc.) --- what is the best tactics ? Greetings from Opole, Poland, -- ------------------------ MAGIC aka Lukasz Wiechec Internet mailto:magic@bet.po.opole.pl tel/fax +(48 77) 4 555 113