I am trying to devise a backup/restore mechanism that allows me to easily backup and restore the system root / to/from rewriteable CDs. I was initially fiddling around with tar, but could never restore a tar archive such that the links after the restore were correct . I try now the dump/restore utility and this looks a bit more promising. I use the following procedure for the dumps: 1. dump the system root into 650MB files using the command dump -0 -f /workspace/sysdisk.dmp. -B 665600 -M -z /dev/hda3 The z option of dump compresses nicely, so that a 3GB root partition usually fits onto 2 files / CDs. 2. I omit the step of converting the dump file into a iso9660 file system and burn the dump file directly using cdrecord -v speed=8 dev=3,0 fs=16m -dao -eject /workspace/sysdisk.dmp.nnn -data For the restore I do the following: 1. mke2fs /dev/hda6 2. mount /dev/hda6 /mnt 3. cd /mnt 4. restore rfv /dev/hdb It takes about 12 - 15 minutes to restore a 3GB system root, which is fast enough for my needs. Unlike after a restore from a tar archive, the links are now correct. But every file that spans two CD volumes is missing. The messages I get during the restore operation are: Missing blocks at end of <./path/missingfilename>, assuming hole resync restore skipped n blocks checkpointing the restore expected next file 635951, got 0 <./path/missingfilename> not found on tape This must have something to do with the way I burn the CD's. When I use the dump files without burning them onto the CDs, it works well. Question 1: Are there any options to stop dump spanning files over volume boundaries or are there any options for cdrecord I could use so that all files can be restored? Question 2: Should the root file system be corrupted, then I have to boot a rescue system via floppy or CDROM. Where does restore come from? Is ist sufficient to keep a copy of restore on a separate partition which I can mount? If so, what is the procedure to guarantee that this separate restore is compatible with the dump and also with the runtime libraries provided with the rescue system? i.e. booting the rescue system with the CDs that came with SuSE 7.1 don't run a SuSE 7.3 restore. Question 3: I intend to use the above procedure also to 'clone' systems, i.e. create a system on a new machine by restoring from the CD's, then re-configure the network related information only. Are there any issues with that, provided the machines are of the same type, lets say all intels or alphas? Question 4: Is there still an easier way of doing backups/restores and / or cloning systems without spending too much money on fast tape drives or other equipment? Thanks for your help and suggestions. Peter Sutter