# restore a tar archive tape from linux



## gazj (Nov 17, 2008)

I have a server running arch linux.  I make daily backups of my files on dds3 tape.

I want to move my server to free bsd, can free bsd restore tar archive's

Also if anyone knows of any other problems I might encounter, then warnings are welcome.

My server runs nfs postfix dovecot sshd proftp samba rsync ntpd xinetd webmin apache php mysql


Many thanks in advance


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## gordon@ (Nov 17, 2008)

I can't think of anything that would be a problem. The only gotcha might be the support for the dds3 tape drive itself. Best way to find out would be to get a live CD distribution of FreeBSD and boot it up. If it finds your tape drive (/dev/sa0 I think?) it should work. Pop in a tape and then try 
	
	



```
tar tf /dev/sa0
```
 and see what happens.

Our tar implementation is actually more comprehensive than GNU's at this point thanks to the excellent work by Tim Kientzle.

As for the software you cite, I'm pretty sure everything is in the ports system so you shouldn't have a problem getting everything going.


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## gazj (Nov 17, 2008)

Thank you for the quick reply, I will probably make the move over the weekend, any livecd you would recommend.

I had a little tinkle with freebsd a few years ago, and I remember the auto partitioning was split quite heavily.  Is this really nessesary.

Of and is software raid relatively easy.

Sorry this is turning into many questions :s


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## cracauer@ (Nov 17, 2008)

Tar archives should be read fine. And even if not, installing GNU tar from ports will fix it.

I generally don't partition much. Only what needs to be separated gets it's own partition, otherwise it's TBs as far as I am concerned.

FreeBSD has various raid-0 and raid-1 subsystems. I don't remember offhand whether the GEOM raid-5 module has been committed and in which versions it is. The question is how much safety and how much failover support do you need?


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## gazj (Nov 17, 2008)

Thanks I can now keep partitions simple just /, /data and swap 

my current raid looks like this


```
[gary@reddwarf ~]$ cat /proc/mdstat
Personalities : [raid1] [raid0]
md2 : active raid1 hdb1[1] hda1[0]
      20008832 blocks [2/2] [UU]

md1 : active raid0 sdb2[1] sda2[0]
      1044096 blocks 64k chunks

md0 : active raid1 sdb1[1] sda1[0]
      17245632 blocks [2/2] [UU]

unused devices: <none>
```

so raid 0 and 1

raid 0 for swap (md1), half on each of my scsi drives (sda2 and sdb2)

raid 1 for / (md0) consisting of partitions on both my scsi drives (sda1 and sdb1)

raid 1 for /data (md2) consisting of two ide drives (hda1 and hdb1)


Would this config be ok

Many thanks in advance


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## graudeejs (Nov 17, 2008)

when you use tar to make backup
use *-p* switch to preserve owner/group and permission


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## vivek (Nov 19, 2008)

In worst case you can specify block size 

```
tar -b 512 -xvf /dev/sa0
```


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