[Dump-users] back up to a hard drive

[Anthony E. <ae...@gb...>]

Hi All,

    With the cost of a decent small server tape drive
(vxa2 $1100.00, decent scsi card and cable $300.00, plus $80.00
per tape), I am thinking of using removable hard SATA
drives instead.

    CRU makes a hot swappable carrier:

        http://www.cruinc.com/htmldocs/products/SATAdp5plus.htm

that comes well recommended.

Question:

    1)  as long as the backup drive is unmounted, will Linux
freak out when the drive gets jerked out of its carrier?

    2)  will Linux get annoyed at the new hard drive being
inserted (mount /dev/hdb1)?  (It will have a new serial
number, etc.)

    3)  would it be faster to leave compression on or off
when doing a dump? (I will have lots of room on the backup
drive.)

    4)  any gotchas I am missing?  Will dump work properly with
this scheme?

Many thanks,
--Tony
ae...@gb...