ruario |
01-03-2014 02:19 AM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by allend
(Post 5090865)
Thanks for the technical advice, but for the situation I have, backups of recently acquired files on a suite of Windows machines, I like cpio for the ability to manipulate path names.
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You can do the same with numerous other utils, including those I mentioned (e.g. GNU tar has the --xform switch).
Quote:
Originally Posted by allend
(Post 5090865)
It has been working fine for years.
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Fair enough but as computing changes and common file sizes increase you may find a time where you hit the individual file size limitations of the old cpio formats (bin = 2GB, odc = 8GB, newc = 4GB). I know that I personally have multimedia files and Linux distro ISO images in these size ranges lying around on my disks. afio extends the odc format (only for entries that need it) past these limits and pax has no real, practical limits right from the get go (9 EB file sizes are possible).
Quote:
Originally Posted by allend
(Post 5090865)
I do not want to use a packed archive format, as what is required is to be able to read files directly from the Windows machines.
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I'm not sure what you mean by this but the pax file format is the POSIX.1-2001 standard file format and an extension of tar. There are numerous utilities available on Windows that will open its contents just fine. Additionally as afio works with odc by default and only extends the header on entries that exceed its limitations its archives should also be readable using common Windows archiving tools, particularly as you state no files currently do exceed the limits.
Quote:
Originally Posted by allend
(Post 5090865)
It is also easier to demonstrate the recovery process to the occasional external auditor when our quality system is being assessed. The disaster recovery plan for these Windows machines (basically dedicated instrument controllers) is to restore a known good disk image, then restore any needed recently acquired files from backup.
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I fail to see how this would be different if you used pax or afio.
Quote:
Originally Posted by allend
(Post 5090865)
The file size issue will not occur due to the way these Windows machines are used.
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Fair enough, I did not know your specific use case until you just stated it, so it could well have been an issue. In any case you can just take the information (assuming you were not already aware) as something to keep in mind for the future.
Quote:
Originally Posted by allend
(Post 5090865)
I think what I am really trying to say is just the truism that the best choice of backup system heavily depends on what taking backups is trying to achieve.
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Sure, I agree with that. It was just a warning that (IMHO at least) cpio (the GNU implementation in particular) has run out of steam as it is no longer being actively developed to handle the types of files that are ever more common in the modern world. So it was just a heads up, so that you don't get bitten in the future. Like all advice on the internet you are free to just ignore it! ;)
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