In regard to: Re: [Networker] recommendation to backup 1.5 million small...:

yes, that's 1 one directory. It takes days to backup, even 3 million
files takes 30+ hours to backup. I know it's the worst way to organise
data but it was given to us by a external programmer.

Hopefully that external programmer has been educated, perhaps in a
painful way.

so is there a way using legato to bypass the filesystem layer ?

Using some of the add-on products that Rob Sterba and others have talked
about, you can bypass the filesystem layer.

Even without those products, there may be ways to do it, but I've
never been faced with a problem like you are, so I have no experience with
making it work and where the pitfalls would be.  The general idea
involves splitting a raid1 mirror and backing up the block device for the
half of the mirror that's no longer changing, but restores are where
things would get very tricky.  Hence the benefits of a product like
SnapImage.

PS: how long does an ls take in that directory -- I would love to know!
;-)

        cd /your/obscene/directory
        time ls > /dev/null

Tim
--
Tim Mooney                                        Tim.Mooney AT ndsu DOT edu
Information Technology Services                   (701) 231-1076 (Voice)
Room 242-J6, IACC Building                        (701) 231-8541 (Fax)
North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58105-5164

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