tar & un tar Data integrity error

ShadowHywind · 08-13-2008, 05:42 PM

Hi all, having a bit of a problem. I am trying to make a backup of my linux partition, using the command

Code:

sudo tar -cvjf disk-1/backup.tar.bz2 -C rootfs .

or even

Code:

sudo tar -cvjif disk-1/backup.tar.bz2 -C rootfs .

which runs exactly what I want, and leaves me a 6 gb tar.bz2 file. However the issue i get is when i un tar the file using

Code:

tar -xvjf backup.tar.bz2

or

Code:

tar -xvjif backup.tar.bz2

I will randomly get this error.

Code:

bzip2: Data integrity error when decompressing.
        Input file = (stdin), output file = (stdout)

It is possible that the compressed file(s) have become corrupted.
You can use the -tvv option to test integrity of such files.

You can use the `bzip2recover' program to attempt to recover
data from undamaged sections of corrupted files.

tar: Unexpected EOF in archive
tar: Unexpected EOF in archive
tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now

The Data integrity error doesn't always seam to happen at the same file. I am thinking that perhaps this is due to the 6 gb size file. If it helps any, I am saving and extracting the tar.bz2 on a ext3 external harddrive. Any ideas would be great. Thanks

jailbait · 08-13-2008, 08:29 PM

If you have the room on your backup partition I suggest that you use cp instead of tar and not compress your backup. If you use the -a option of cp then all backups except the first will run much faster than tar backups.

Also partial restores will be easier because the backup tree will mirror your / tree and you can browse and selectively restore a few files or a few directories fairly easily.

If you have to compress because of space limitations then I suggest that you break the backup into individual directories. Back up /bin, /boot, /dev, and so on as separate tar backups. This method also makes partial restores easier but not as easy as the cp method.

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Steve Stites