[plug] Backing up to DVD

[Lee de Byl]

Thanks for pointing me in the direction of BackupPC; it looks like a 
great tool, and I will investigate using that instead of tar. However, 
I'm still curious about writing DVDs under Linux. It seems writing to 
DVD-R(W) requires a tool such as dvdrecord or cdrecord-prodvd, which 
seems logical, but it seems with DVD+RW I can simply mount the DVD drive 
and use it as a normal disk e.g
   mke2fs /dev/cdrom
   mount -t ext2 /dev/cdrom/ /cdrom
   cp * /cdrom

or writing directly to the device without mounting or creating a filesystem.
   tar -Mcvf /dev/cdrom /home

I can understand being able to do such things with DVD-RAM, but are 
these methods a good idea for DVD+RW? Will disks created in such a 
manner be readable on other linux systems (with different drives)? I 
would have thought the kernel would need to be patched for packet 
writing to allow such things to happen.

Thanks,
Lee

Shayne O'Neill wrote:

>backup pc is utterly the bomb. Its awesome. I've struggled heaps with
>backup stuff, particularly since we have such a diverse environment at
>work. Linux server. Linux app server/terminals. Os/X boxes. OS/9
>Boxes/ Windows. But with the exception of the Os/9 boxes (handled
>admirably by another app) , backuppc is perfect because it doesnt require
>any client software on the linux boxes and I think on the Os/X boxes
>(havent deployed there yet.) For the rest, use rsync.
>
>The interface is sooo nice.
>
>--
>"Well, I think if you say you're going to do something and don't do
>it, that's trustworthiness."
>-- George Bush on CNN online chat, Aug.30, 2000
>RIAA Copyright notice trap: http://guild.murdoch.edu.au/~shayne/
>
>On 16 Jan 2005, Gavin Chester wrote:
>
>  
>
>>On Sun, 2005-01-16 at 11:44, Lee de Byl wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>Hi,
>>>This is my first post to the PLUG list, so if I show my ignorance, please
>>>excuse me.
>>>      
>>>
>>I'm only carrying a month or so of "experience" to this list myself so I
>>hope my suggestion has relevance ;^)
>>
>>    
>>
>>>I'm trying to implement a routine backup system for my home network,
>>>using
>>>DVD as the medium. I'm using a LG 4082B DVD burner, supporting DVD+R(W),
>>>DVD-R(W) and DVD-RAM. It's installed in a machine running a 2.4 kernel,
>>>which has NOT been patched for packet writing or UDF writing.
>>>
>>>I'm planning on using tar to do incremental backups, and I want to avoid
>>>having to create intermediate files on the hard drive (tars and ISOs)
>>>- ie
>>>writing directly to the media.
>>>      
>>>
>>Two good tools for backup are rsync and backuppc.
>>
>>http://rsync.samba.org
>>a HowTo is given in this article:
>>http://www.linuxfocus.org/English/March2004/article326.shtm
>>
>>http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/info.html
>>A user on the backuppc list recently posted a link to his
>>step by step HOWTO for fedora:
>>http://www.mybizguard.com/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=10
>>
>>Using either saves having to tar the files.  Backuppc uses compression
>>and (I believe can be) combined with rsync to recognise the changed
>>files to backup (ie, incremental) after the initial full backup.
>>
>>On a sysadmin list that I lurk on many posters to that list swear by
>>backuppc.  I haven't looked into whether it will write direct to
>>removable media, but a little reading will tell that.
>>
>>HTH.
>>
>>Regards, Gavin.
>>
>>
>>_______________________________________________
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>>http://spark.plug.linux.org.au/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/plug
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>>
>>    
>>
>
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>
>  
>