Storage Determination for archiving data (backup): Example using “du” , “mt” , “tar” command

Step 1:  Find out how much I have to store.

#du   -s   /etc   [means to determine the amount of data of the directory “etc”

Step 2: If I use a non-rewinding SCSI tape device (/dev/nst0),  I can write one archive after another on a tap.   

#mt   -f   /dev/nst0   rewind    [means to rewind the tape]  

Step 3: Extract

#tar   xvf   /dev/nst0   [means to extract files from the first archive to the current disk directory]

Step 4: Go to the next End-of-File (EOF) marker

#mt   -f    /dev/nst0   fsf   1   [means to go to the next EOF marker and extract the next archive]

Step 5: Repeat reading and ,perhaps, extracting data

#tar   xvf   [means to read this archive]