Backing up raw-device databases
Firebird databases need not be files;they can also be placed on a so-called raw device, for instance a disk partition without a file system.The question of where the delta has to be placed in such cases was at first overlooked during the development of nbackup
.On Posix systems, if the database was located at e.g. /dev/hdb5
, it could happen that the delta was created as /dev/hdb5.delta
.In light of the nature and purpose of the /dev
directory and its often limited available space, this is undesirable.
As of Firebird 2.1, nbackup refuses to operate on raw-device databases unless an explicit location for the delta file has been set.The way to do this is discussed in [nbackup-deltafile], later on in this manual.