I'm having problems getting backups working on SCO OpenServer 5.7.

using the following command:

find / -depth -print | cpio -ocvB -O /dev/rct0

some files are backed up then the following error is reported:

Reached end of medium on output.
Device /dev/rct0: Change to part 2 and press RETURN key. [q] q

The tape device is DDS4 (20Gb) and there is only 3Gb of data on the machine so there should be plenty of room on a single tape.

I've tried a different tape drive with the same issue so I don't think it's a hardware problem.

Any help would be appreciated.

I think you have to put a new tape in.
That's what we do.
Thanks,
TT

I dont recommend multi tapes with CPIO.

To fit more onto a tape, I would suggest you use 'compress -H' to compress the data. Your initial find command is piped to compress -H which in turn is piped to the destination device

To read the contents of the tape you will need to use 'uncompress' which is piped from 'dd if' command and uncompress is piped to cpio

2Gb limit in cpio?

May be better to look at "dump" and "restore".

For individual files there is possibly a 2GB limit (I havent tested that limit myself), however the cpio archive itself can go to multiple GB's.

How you back up is your choice..of course. The test of any backup type is your ability to successfully restore it, both on the source system and on a replacement system if the source system ever fails.

Our problem was that the tape was finished (full) and we had to switch to another tape.