Choosing Which Media to Use

You typically back up Solaris systems by using the following tape media:

• 1/2-inch reel tape

• 1/4-inch streaming cartridge tape

• 8-mm cartridge tape

• 4-mm cartridge tape (DAT)

You can perform backups with diskettes, but doing so is time-consuming and cumbersome.

The media that you choose depends on the availability of the equipment that supports it and of the media (usually tape) that you use to store the files. Although you must do the backup from a local system, you can write the files to a remote device.

The following table shows typical tape devices that are used for backing up file systems. The storage capacity for each device depends on the type of drive and the data being written to the tape.

Table 29-1 Media Storage Capacities