restore(8) System Manager's Manual restore(8)
Name
restore - incremental file system restore
Syntax
/etc/restore key [ name... ]
Description
The command reads from magnetic tapes, disks, a file, or a pipe created by the command. The default dump media from which files are read
is You can request another dump device or dump image file by using the f key modifier. The key is a character string containing one func-
tion letter and possibly one or more function modifiers. Other arguments to the command are file or directory names specifying the files
to be restored. Unless the h key is specified, the appearance of a directory name refers to all files and, recursively, the subdirectories
of that directory. The function portion of the key is specified by one of the following letters:
Keys
i This key allows interactive restoration of files from the dump media. After reading in the directory information from the dump media,
lets the user move around the directory tree selecting or deselecting files to be extracted. The available interactive commands are:
ls [arg] List the specified directory. If no directory is specified, the user's current directory is listed. Entries that are
directories are appended with a slash (/). Entries that have been marked for extraction are prepended with an asterisk
(*). If the verbose key is set, the inode number of each entry is also listed.
cd arg Change the current working directory to the directory specified.
pwd Print the full pathname of the current working directory.
add [arg] The current directory or the specified argument (a directory or file) is added to the extraction list (the list of files
to be extracted). If a directory is specified, then it and all its descendents are added to the extraction list, unless
the h key is specified on the command line. Files that are on the extraction list are prepended with an asterisk (*) when
they are listed by ls.
delete [arg]
The current directory or specified argument is deleted from the extraction list (the list of files to be extracted). If a
directory is specified, then it and all its descendents are deleted from the extraction list, unless the h key modifier is
specified on the command line. The easiest way to extract most of the files from a directory is to add the directory to
the extraction list and then delete those files that are not needed.
extract All the files on the extraction list are extracted from the dump media. The command asks which volume the user wishes to
mount.
verbose The verbose ( v ) key is toggled. Entering the command turns on verbose. Entering the command again turns off verbose.
When used, the verbose key causes the ls command to list the inode numbers of all entries. It also causes to print out
information about each file as it is extracted.
help List a summary of the available commands.
quit The utility immediately exits, even if the extraction list is not empty.
R The utility prompts for a particular volume of a multivolume set on which to restart a full restore. This option lets be interrupted
and then restarted.
r The dump media's data is read into the current directory. You should use this function key only to restore the complete dump media
onto a newly created file system, or to restore incremental dump media after a full level-0 restore. See the Examples section for a
typical sequence to restore complete dump media. Note that leaves a file, in the root directory to pass information between incremen-
tal restore passes. Remove this file after the last incremental dump media has been restored. A followed by a and a can be used to
change the size of a file system.
t The names of the specified files are listed if they occur on the dump media. If no name argument is given, then the root directory is
listed. This results in the entire contents of the dump media being listed, unless the h key modifier has been specified.
x The files specified by the name argument are extracted from the dump media. If a named file matches a directory whose contents had
been written onto the dump media and the h key modifier is not specified, the directory is recursively extracted. The owner, modifi-
cation time, and mode are restored, if possible. If no name argument is given, the root directory is extracted. This results in the
extraction of the entire contents of the dump media unless the h key modifier has been specified.
You can use any of the following characters in addition to the letter that selects the function desired:
B The next argument to is a number giving the size, in 1024-byte blocks, of a fixed-size storage medium, such as diskettes or removable
disks (see the Examples section). The command does not ask whether it should abort the restore if there is a dump media read error.
It always tries to skip over the bad block(s) and continue.
f The next argument to is used as the name of the archive instead of If the argument is a dash (-), reads from standard input (see the
Examples section).
h The command extracts the actual directory, rather than the files that it references. This prevents hierarchical restoration of com-
plete subtrees from the dump media:
m The command extracts by inode numbers rather than by file name. This is useful if only a few files are being extracted, and you want
to avoid typing the complete pathname to the file.
s The next argument identifies which dump file on the dump media is to be used by This is useful when the dump media has more than one
dump image on it and not all of them will be restored.
v Normally, does its work silently. The v (verbose) key modifier causes it to display the name of each file it treats, preceded by its
file type.
Examples
The following example shows a typical sequence of commands to restore complete dump media.
/etc/newfs /dev/rra0g ra60
/etc/mount /dev/ra0g /mnt
cd /mnt
restore r
Another can be done to get an incremental dump.
The following example shows how and can be used in a pipeline to dump and restore a file system:
dump 0f - /usr | (cd /mnt; restore xf -)
The following example shows how to restore files interactively from a dump on RX50 diskettes:
restore iBf 400 /dev/ra2a
Restrictions
The utility can make errors when doing incremental restores from dump media that were made on active file systems.
You must do a level 0 dump after a full restore. Because runs in user code, it has no control over inode allocation; thus, you must do a
full to get a new set of directories that reflects the new inode numbering, even though the contents of the files are unchanged.
Diagnostics
Complains about bad key characters.
Complains if it gets a dump media read error. If the user responds with a y, attempts to continue the restore.
If the dump extends over more than one dump volume, will ask the user to change volumes. If the x or i function key has been specified,
also asks which volume the user wishes to mount.
There are numerous consistency checks that can be listed by Most checks are self-explanatory. Some common errors are:
Converting to new file system format
If dump media created from the Fast File System (FFS) has been loaded. It is automatically converted to the Berkeley Version 4.2 file sys-
tem format.
<filename>: not found on tape{disk}
The specified file name was listed in the dump media directory, but was not found on the media. This is caused by dump media read errors
while looking for the file or from using dump media created on an active file system. Expected next file <inumber>, got <inumber>
A file that was not listed in the directory was found on the media. This can occur when using dump media created on an active file system.
Incremental tape{disk} too low
When doing incremental restore, dump media was loaded that was written before the previous incremental media or has too low an incremental
level.
Incremental tape{disk} too high
When doing incremental restore, dump media that does not begin its coverage where the previous incremental dump media left off, or that has
too high an incremental level has been loaded.
Tape{Disk} read error while restoring <filename>
Dump media read error while skipping over inode <inumber>
Dump media read error while trying to resynchronize
A dump media read error has occurred. If a file name is specified, then its contents are probably partially wrong. If an inode is being
skipped or the restore is trying to resynchronize, then no extracted files have been corrupted, although files may not be found on the dump
media.
resync restore, skipped <num> blocks
After a dump media read error, may have to resynchronize itself. This message lists the number of blocks that were skipped.
Files
Default tape drive
File containing directories on the dump media
Owner, mode, and time stamps for directories
Information passed between incremental restores
Required for user interface
See Also
dump(8), mkfs(8), mount(8), rrestore(8c)
restore(8)