Q. I would like to Backup all directories in /home to /dev/st0 tape drive. How do I use script to automate task and what commands do I need to use?

A. Use tar command to backup /home directory. The GNU version of the tar archiving utility included with all Linux distributions. Following tar command also works with Solaris/HP-UX UNIX and FreeBSD/*BSD oses.

For example tar command to backup /home should be as follows:
# tar -czf /dev/st0 /home

Where,

1. /dev/st0 : Linux SCSI Tape device name
2. /home : Home directory name

This will also backup hidden files and directories. Since this topic is already covered, please refer scripts and previous posts:

• Linux tape backup with mt and tar command – howto
• Howto: Use tar command through network over ssh session
• Shell script to backup directories & files from your home directory and email them as .tar.gz file
• Backup shell script to backup selected directories and upload securely (gpg) to FTP server