[techtalk] Using Linux to backup Windows 98

[faber at nncf.unl.edu]

Hi,

  I have a dual-PII server with a Sony SDT-9000 DAT drive.  I have been
happily backing up about 40 Windows 98 machines (yuck) with smbtar.
However, I am not totally pleased with this setup.
  First, I am not happy about the way the smbtar script handles passwords.
Second, I am not running a firewall, so I am a little nervous about the
security implications of sharing complete hard drives, and backing them up
over an insecure network.
  Finally, and most importantly, I have several problems with the backup
procedure itself.  Although backing up the hard drives is very quick (less
than 1/2 hour on the average), restoring these files takes FOREVER.  It
took over six hours to restore 800 MB of files.  Additionally, I was not
able to restore the system to the original state.  I instead had to
restore all of the files to an alternate directory, reinstall all of my
applications, and restore the settings.  This was after resintalling
Windows 98 from scratch.
   There has to be a better way!  I have been toying with creating a Linux
boot floppy with network drivers, etc., and using 'dd' to store the hard
drive image on the tape drive.  I am wondering if there is any way to
pipe the dd output through gzip before storing it to the tape?
   While experimenting, I have been able to do the following:
   
     Use dd to write a floppy image directly to tape, and successfully
restore the image back to the floppy.

     I have not, however, been able to gzip the image in any way and
store it to the tape drive.  What am I doing wrong?
     A few hard drives are over 12 GB in size and will not fit on one
tape.  I am also on a limited budget, so I would like to be able to fit as
many images on one tape as possible.

Allison


************
techtalk at linuxchix.org   http://www.linuxchix.org