On Wednesday 02 March 2005 13:57, Jon LaBadie wrote:
>On Wed, Mar 02, 2005 at 09:45:17AM -0500, Vicki Stanfield wrote:
>> I have recently changed my Amanda config (upgraded to 2.4.4p4 and
>> added a second tape drive - chg-multi) and now the backups require
>> more tapes than before. I hate to waste the space if this is just
>> bad configuration on my part. I have looked at the faq but didn't
>> see this problem addressed even though I am sure it has been asked
>> on the list before. Here is my amanda.conf:
>>
>> =================================
>
>...
>
>> # our tape definition
>> define tapetype HP-C5683A {
>>         comment "DDS-4 DAT tape"
>>         length 16584 mbytes
>>         filemark 452 kbytes
>>         speed 2613 kbytes
>> }
>
>Is there a reason the "length" is not closer to the 20GB native
> capacity of DDS4?
>
Probably because the drives hardware compression is enabled, which 
makes the output of /dev/urandom expand a bit.

Generally speaking, we don't recommend using it, but instead switch 
software compression on and off according to the compressability of 
the data from that DLE.

The advantage then is that amanda knows quite accurately how much data 
the tape can hold because amanda count bytes going into the cable to 
the drive.

>...
>
>> ==========================
>> Also, I understand that my holding area might need to be bigger,
>> but it currently takes up an entire partition. I have heard that
>> there is a way to use to holding disk areas. Where can I find more
>> information about this?
>
>Simply put in multiple definitions.  Each must have the "tag"
> identifying it uniquely.
>
>holdingdisk hd1 {
>    comment "first holding disk"
>    ...
>}
>holdingdisk hd2 {
>        comment "second defined space"
> ...
>}
>holdingdisk hd3 {
> ...
Yup, pick some other partition with some space that could be used for 
scratchpad, make sure its not being backed up itself.  Lots of nooks 
and crannies can be utilized thay way.

-- 
Cheers, Gene
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Copyright 2005 by Maurice Eugene Heskett, all rights reserved.