Yes, but be careful if you back this up by mounting the volume and using NFS or CIFS instead of using dump on the filer or some other backup client.  If the pathnames to the files that you are backing up once mounted looks something like "/dir/.snapshot/hourly.0/otherdir/filenames" then you will have some additional work to do if you need to restore those files.  If, however, you mount or connect to the .snapshot/hourly.0 directory then the pathnames to your file look something like "/dir/otherdir/filenames".  The issue is that anything on a filer below .snapshot is going to be read only so you want to make sure that .snapshot is not in the pathname that gets stored on your tapes.

>>> "Clawson, Simon" <simon_clawson@mentorg.com> 04/25/01 04:32AM >>>
Is it possible to backup just the .snapshot and then perform a restore from
this data?

I am looking for ways to speed up the backups and this seems to be a
possible option. It was suggested to me by a colleague as a method of
backing up Clearcase VOBS, but would it be viable for the whole filer. Of
course I would need to run a full backup at tleast once a month, but this
would help me speed up most of my weekly runs.

Any ideas/suggestions/views?

Simon

Simon Clawson
HDS Team Systems Administrator
Mentor Graphics Uk
Rivergate
London Road
Newbury
Berkshire
RG14 2QB
<<Clawson, Simon.vcf>>