SAMS Teach Yourself Red Hat® Fedora™ 4 Linux® All in One

Q&A

Q1:	I have a magnetic tape device, but it isn't connected to a SCSI controller or an IDE controller. How can I access it?
A1:	Although Linux does include drivers for many older tape devices, there are so many of them—and they behave in so many different ways—that use of such devices in Linux is best left to the pros. Consider upgrading to an industry-standard SCSI or IDE streamer instead; the newer drives are much more reliable, and using them with Linux and the tar command is relatively easy.
Q2:	Can I back up my entire system, rather than just my data files, using tar?
A2:	Yes, you can back up every directory tree but /proc using the tar command. Restoring from a systemwide backup of this sort is a matter of booting restore, using parted