[Samba] Using Backup from Windows -> Samba : >4GB file limit?

[Urban Widmark]

On Tue, 12 Mar 2002, Dan A.Dickey wrote:

> Hi,
> I was backup up my laptop the other day, and the Windows backup utility said
> it was going to do about 17GB of data - and I was dumping this to a Samba
> share from my Linux machine.  However, it looks like the data wrapped around
> when it got past 4GB.  Not really sure what happened though.  When I saw
> that the .bkf file was smaller (the next morning) that what a previous 'ls -l'
> showed (the night before) I cancelled the backup.
> Is this something that I should expect to be able to do?  Backup my Windows
> laptop to a Samba share?  I'd sure like to.  Thanks.

Yes, you should be able to write a 17G file to a samba share.

However, the smbd you are running on the linux server must support large
files. If it does or not depends on how it was compiled. Not sure how 
to check that ...

Also I would recommend using 2.2.3 as I believe there was some large file
related bugs in earlier 2.2s.
(btw, always list the versions used when asking questions)


You can also use smbfs and copy the files from the linux side. But you
will lose permissions and ownerships, and probably also any extended
attributes on the files. If you want a complete backup I think getting
samba as a server to support a 17G file is a better option.

To get large file support with smbfs you need to patch your kernel as well 
as samba. Patches are available here:
    http://www.hojdpunkten.ac.se/054/samba/index.html
    (2.4.18 kernel patches and 2.2.3a samba patch)

/Urban