Backing Up My Xenix Distribution Disks

[Paul Ashton]

In article <678 at ssc.UUCP> fyl at ssc.UUCP (Phil Hughes) writes:
>After reading 4 or 5 answers that were amazingly complicated or assumed
>you had something called DOS :-) I decided to make a suggestion - how
>about dd?  It is what I always use.
...
>something like:
>    dd if=/dev/rfd096ds15 of=/tmp/caca bs=30b

Well I agree that using DOS is completely beyond the bounds of reason :-)
but I wouldn't use dd either. The disadvantage is that dd copies the whole
disk even if you only have one tiny tar file on it. Tar recognises the end
of the archive and stops there.

The method I use of backing up a distribution is to completely install
everything including net, multiport drivers etc., and then backup the whole
thing using cpio to tape (always assuming you have one, of course). If you then
create a boot floppy (with cpio on it!) you can reinstall after a complete
crash in a tiny fraction of the time it takes on floppy. SCO Unix with dev sys
can be reinstalled from scratch in under an hour. (What! SCO Unix crash?! you
say)

--
Paul