Alex Daniloff wrote:

Hello Linux folkz, I have a stupid tar question.

The only stupid questions are the ones that never get asked...

When I do: tar cvf /dev/tapedriver /file1 /file2 (NOT 'tar cuvf' !) Will be previously stored files on the tape overwritten or the new files will be added to the end of previous archive on the tape?

It depends! Usually there are two devices for every tape unit, one is the automatic rewind one (i.e /dev/st0 if you have a SCSI tape unit) the other is the no rewind one (/dev/nst0 again in case of a SCSI tape unit). If you do: tar cvf /dev/st0 /home/user1 tar cvf /dev/st0 /home/user2 you end up with a tape where you have only the files for user2. If on the other hand you did the same with the /dev/nst0 device you would have both sets of files on the tape.

How I can blank the tape with the tar command?

As far as I know you can't. Have a good look at the mt command. mt -f /dev/tapedevice erase hould be the command you need. Read the man page for mt carefully - mt is also highly usefull when you need to extract a specific backup from a tape that contains multiple backups.

Thanks in advance. no prob! Happy hacking!

\Gandalf -- To unsubscribe send e-mail to suse-linux-e-unsubscribe@suse.com For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com Also check the FAQ at http://www.suse.com/support/faq