backups on 386/ix - some pronblems using GNUtar; any hints?

[A. Lester Buck]

In article <478 at myab.se>, herder at myab.se (Jan Herder) writes:
> If the tape is not streaming you don't get 120Mb. Everytime it has to 
> stop you loose a some bytes.

This is incorrect.  You do not lose any bytes from start/stop mode.  If the
tape is streaming but the next block is not quite ready, the drive can write
an extended inter-record gap and then the data when it arrives.  If the data
does not arrive within a certain time window, and the drive has to stop and
reposition, the extended gap is re-recorded as a normal inter-record gap.
The extended gaps can really chew up tape if your system is on the brink of
stopping streaming.

-- 
A. Lester Buck		...!texbell!moray!siswat!buck