[kwlug-disc] backups capped at 2 gigs

[John Van Ostrand]

Hi Glenn,

Tar can handle archives larger than 2GB. I recall seeing backups (a long time ago) where writing to a file wouldn't generate an error, would continue to appear to work, but the tar archive size would stop at 2GB and a broken tar archive would be the result. It was a file system maximum file size limit problem.

Do this:

1. run "mount" and see what device your file system is on, (I'll assume /dev/sda2 in all example commands.)
2. run "tune2fs -l /dev/sda2" and look for the "Filesystem features:" line. You should have a "large_file" word listed, if not you need to set it:
3. set large_file "tune2fs -O large_file /dev/sda2", then double check by running step 2 again. You may need to remount the filesystem.

----- Original Message -----
> 32
> 
> On 12/07/10 01:21 PM, Lori Paniak wrote:
> 
> 32 or 64 bit operating system?
> 
> On Mon, 2010-07-12 at 13:12 -0400, Insurance Squared Inc. wrote:
> 
> I've got a backup system running where I rsync my desktop over to a
> backup server then I tar it up every night.
> 
> The tar seems to be capped at 2gigs. Any idea on why that would be? I
> wonder if it's not the filesystem type. I've got two large drives in
> the backup server, one is set up as ext4 (that's where the tar is
> happening) and the other is set up as linux native. I don't know why I
> set it up that way - could that be the problem, and what type of
> filesystem should I be using?
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> --
> Glenn Cooke
> Insurance Squared Inc.
> (866) 779-1499 www.insurancesquared.com Insurance Agent Discussion
> Forum: www.americaninsurancebroker.com
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> http://astoria.ccjclearline.com/mailman/listinfo/kwlug-disc_kwlug.org

-- 
John Van Ostrand 
CTO, co-CEO 
Net Direct Inc. 
564 Weber St. N. Unit 12, Waterloo, ON N2L 5C6 
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Linux Solutions / IBM Hardware