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Conference vaxaxp::vmsnotes

Title:VAX and Alpha VMS
Notice:This is a new VMSnotes, please read note 2.1
Moderator:VAXAXP::BERNARDO
Created:Wed Jan 22 1997
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:703
Total number of notes:3722

158.0. "What is really on my tape??" by MUNICH::REIN (How come holes in SWISS CHEESE??) Fri Feb 07 1997 10:17

    I have a question about the amount of data, which I have on a tape.
    
    When I mount a tape foreign, on which I have a saveset of an image
    backup and do a 
    
    dir $2$mua4: /size
    
    dcl tells me that 21565 blocks are on tape.
    
    But I cannot count back to the disksize.
    
    In the backup command I enter /block=64000.
    
    How can I see, what's the blocksize/recordsize on tape, for to see how
    many MB are really on tape?
    
    A dump mua4 tells
    
    HDR2F6400064000
    
    kind regards
    
    Volker  
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158.1Most Tools Show 512-byte Blocks...XDELTA::HOFFMANSteve, OpenVMS EngineeringFri Feb 07 1997 13:0622
    The BACKUP saveset/SAVE/LIST command will show the tape block size,
    as well as the number of 512-byte blocks required by the files.

    The DIRECTORY command shows the file sizes in 512-byte blocks.

    The default settings for BACKUP create a saveset that includes some
    amount of redundant information for detection and correction of tape
    errors -- the size of the saveset will be larger than the total size
    of the files on the tape.  See the CRC and GROUP settings.

    If you are comparing the size of the BACKUP to the size of the disk,
    be aware that various DIRECTORY commands imply there is more data on
    the disk than there actually is.  This is due to directory (and file)
    aliases that are present on various disks -- particularly on system
    disks.

    Also be aware that BACKUP/NOALIAS can greatly reduce the amount of
    information written to the tape, by avoiding writing out the alias
    entries.  This has implications for file restorations of individual
    files, as only the primary file entry can be selected for restoration.

158.2AUSS::GARSONDECcharity Program OfficeSun Feb 09 1997 17:1211
    re .0
    
    Can you explain what problem you are actually trying to solve?
    
    Using the HDR2 label is probably reasonable. You are lucky that BACKUP
    only creates fixed length records.
    
    Note that even without redundancy group information, a saveset will be
    larger than the distinct input files combined due to additional
    information put in the saveset by BACKUP. (I don't believe that /[NO]CRC
    has any effect on the output saveset size.)