Shell Programming and Scripting

Hello everybody,

i am trying to make a script in UNIX to backup some compressed files to a tape drive. The thing is that i cannot use cpio command because some of these files are greater than 2GB. so i think the only solution left is backup command.
to restore the files i should use the restore command. i am not sure if i can specify a given file to restore and not restoring the whole backup. is this possible with restore command?

thank you in advance

You do not tell what file system is this and what OS you are running. In any case, unix tar, gnu tar or star should handle files larger than 2GB in addition to your OS specific backup/restore commands.

i dont wish to backup a file system. just some specific compressed files that i will create under a path.
the OS is AIX 5.3.
yes i am aware of the tar command but i think that tar only copies files right? what i want to do is to backup those files to a tape. and then when i want to make the restore i want to do it in a way that i can restore only a specific file and not all of them.
is it possible to do this using tar?

No. "cp" is copying files.
That's what it was designed to do: "tar" = "Tape ARchive".

ok but is it possible to restore a specific file?
i mean i will backup on tape around 120 different compressed files.
when i want to restore from tape i may only need to restore just one of them. i can do that with tar command or i should use different command for the restore?

You use the tar command too to restore. Just specify the file(s) you want as parameter(s).
Have a look at the tar manual pages for syntax / examples.

ok thank you for your help!