[NTLUG:Discuss] Tape Backup info needed - Help?

[Stephen Davidson]

Greetings.

I have an IOMega Ditto 2GB Tape Drive.  Works fine on Microsoft.   Ever
since I switched to SuSE 9.2/9.3, I have been unable to do a network
backup (or anything else that requires a large load on the CPU) in
anything resembling a reasonable amount of time.

So, I want to backup my email and work files, and see what happens when
I throw SuSE 10 on this machine.

I have spent the last couple of hours pouring through man pages and
Google searches looking for how to backup linux onto a Ditto Tape drive
that I have had for some time.  Plugs into the machine's parallel port.
All the documentation I have seen says this is supported.  (See parport,
a module which is currently loaded btw).  But I have not found anywhere
that tells me how to work this.

gorky:~ # mt status
mt: /dev/tape: No such file or directory
gorky:~ #

Ok, well, hooked up to parallel port.

gorky:~ # mt -f /dev/lp0 status
mt: /dev/lp0: Invalid argument
gorky:~ #

Since I got "slammed" with work a few months back (the last time I tried
to upgrade this machine, and get it working), I have been stuck on using
M$ for all development work.  This is a situation I would like to
rectify.  Before I upgrade this machine again, I want some kind of
backups in place.  Yes, M$ is not the greatest, but right now, it is the
thing that works.

I do have other machines I can backup to, except for the fact that
network based backups are currently taking in excess of 1 week (on a
10/100 LAN, I might add).  Oh, and TAR seems to have trouble with
archives over 1GB?  (Won't unpack them).  So, bottom line is, I am
looking for something/anything that will work as a backup strategy.
(Last alternative, burn my data to CD/RWs, which have lower capacity
than tape).

Help?

-Steve

-- 
Java/J2EE Developer/Integrator
Stephen Davidson and Associates, Inc.
Vice President, DFW JavaMUG (http://javamug.org)
Past Chair, Dallas/FortWorth J2EE Sig (http://j2eesig.org)
214-724-7741