Backups using compress

[Chip Salzenberg]

According to brnstnd at kramden.acf.nyu.edu (Dan Bernstein):
>In article <275A875A.3AB0 at tct.uucp> chip at tct.uucp (Chip Salzenberg) writes:
>>Sure, error correction is very nice.  But sometimes data are lost,
>>period, no recourse, from the *middle* of a backup.
>
>So what? Do you mean to say that error-correcting codes can't correct
>errors?

I meant "loss despite best efforts at error correction."  Obviously,
error-correcting codes can't fix everything.  If I lose a few bytes in
a tape block, then depending on the method used, I'm probably covered.
But if a media defect spans three tape blocks, those data are *gone*.

Furthermore, as I wrote (but was not quoted by Dan):

>>If you've compressed individual files, at least you can recover the
>>files on the untrashed portions of the archive, both before and after
>>the point of failure.

So you see, Dan, I am not attempting to proscribe compression during
archiving.  Rather, I am putting forth the position that files should
be compressed individually as they are archived, instead of having the
archive compressed as a whole.  This approach gains tape real estate
while minimizing the damage caused by dropped data in the middle of an
archive.
-- 
Chip Salzenberg at Teltronics/TCT     <chip at tct.uucp>, <uunet!pdn!tct!chip>
      "I'm really sorry I feel this need to insult some people..."
            -- John F. Haugh II    (He thinks HE'S sorry?)