10.3 Backup Tools
Backups are important under any operating system. Debian GNU/Linux provides
several different utilities that you might want to use. Additionally, while many of
these utilities were aimed at tape backups originally, you’ll find that they are now
being used for other things. For instance, tar is being used for distributing
programs over the Internet. Some of the utilities that you’ll find include the
following:
- Taper is a menu-driven, easy-to-learn backup program that can back up
to a variety of media. Its limitation is that it doesn’t handle large (4GB
or larger) backups.
- dump is designed specifically for tapes; its main strengths are its interface
for file restores, low-level filesystem backups, and incremental backup
scheduling. Its limitations include the inability to back up NFS or other
non-ext2 filesystems and some rather arcane defaults.
- GNU tar (short for Tape ARchiver) is an implementation of what is
probably the most widely used backup or archiving utility in Linux today.
It makes a good general purpose tool and can deal with the widest
variety of target media. Additionally, many different systems can read
tar files, making them highly portable. tar’s weaknesses include a weaker
incremental backup system than dump and no interactive restore selection
screen.