Well, as I feared, GNU tar failed as well. Looks like we have a corrupt
backup and we'll have to rely on system backup done with vdump.
So far, I had two answers:
Claudio Tantignone <C_Tantignone_at_sondaarg.com.ar> offered a UNIX utility
to read the tape, it might be worth a try, but it looks like a long shot
(Don't cry for me Argentina).
"Dr. Tom Blinn, 603-884-0646" <tpb_at_doctor.zk3.dec.com> suggested a
faulty tape.
It doesn't look that way to me because we have tried two different tapes
of the same backup on two different DATs and all 4 combinations yielded
the same result: failure to read or premature EOF on tape or something
like that. "tar" asked for another volume in the middle of the tape,
complained on the contents of what it found and died.
I have looked at Aggregate Service Pack 6 and I have found a patch
regarding this problem:
The name of the patch is about fixing pax utility and inside, in release
notes, it says "pax and tar may write wrong data when appending files to
the archive" (thank you Compaq).
Our backup scripts use "append" command, so it looks like our problem. I
know I should have looked deep inside the SP6 docs, but I only glanced
the names of patches and saw nothing that would require immediate
action.
QUESTION: Is there some way to actually access that data or is it gone
forever? I'll write a C program if I have to - if there is anything
salvageable.
Nix.
--
... Benji! Don't run out in the street _at_#$*#'_. NO TERRIER.
Received on Wed Aug 02 2000 - 22:10:41 NZST