Re: tar/NFS problem

[Florian Ernst <florian@uni-hd.de>]

Hello Paladin!

Paladin wrote:
> On Wed, 16 Jul 2003 11:03:07 +0200
> Florian Ernst <florian@uni-hd.de> wrote:
> 
>>  Hmm, you completely delete your older backup, and then you try to
>>  get a new one?
>>  What do you think might happen once an "error" occurs directly
>>  after deleting the old backup? You will end up with _no_ backup
>>  at all.
>> 
>>  Better put it in this order: create a new backup, verify its
>>  integrity, maybe delete the old backup thereafter.
> 
> Why not just do an update on the tar file?

That depends on the preferred backup scheme.

I personally prefer to keep old backups completely untouched /
unchanged in order to eliminate the slightest chance of corruption
during such a change.
Certainly this causes a need for more backup space, but all the time I
have a working backup no matter what happens during the latest
backup.

Just imagine the tar file gets corrupt during the update, you will end
up with no backup at all.
Imagine the corruption (or simply bad luck) spreads over to the files
you originally wanted to backup, you will end up with _nothing_ at
all.

I hope to have clarified my point in this,
CU,
Flo