[ILUG] Embarassingly Simple cpio question

[HAMILTON,DAVID (HP-Ireland,ex2)]

Hi All,

I am currently trying to scrap a Windows 2000 Advanced Server box I have at
home, and replace it with a Linux box.
The reason I was using the Win2k was in order to use a nice backup package,
but I'm sick to death of it and want to switch back to Linux.
The problem is that I have about 25Gb of data on the box that I need to
transfer onto DDS-3 so that I can wipe the disks and put Redhat on it.
I believe tar has some file limit sizes, and when I set the tape size to
12Gb on my linux box and try and back up the drives over an SMB mount, it
freezes half way through the second tape.
I tried using Arkeia and one or two other packages, but couldn't get the
*^A%ing things to work the way I needed them to.
I would like to suggest that the person who wrote the cpio man page be
strung up and pelted with something suitably horrible, like windows manuals.
I believe that cpio should be able to do what I need, but the man page is
just plain nasty.
If anyone could help me out with the best syntax to achieve this, I'd
appreciate it.  (Any good alternatives, preferably with auto-changer support
will also be welcomed.

Thanks,
	David.

David Hamilton
Senior Technical Consultant
HP Ireland