how to get backup using cpio and tar utilities

[goldenluck2007]

m struggling with one question that Using cpio and tar utilities, in conjunction with the scheduling services cron and/or crond how will you implement the full backup with /data/* folder as the source and /dev/sda as the target (tape) at 9:00 PM daily except Saturday and Sunday.

[Irithori]

A tape device is /dev/st0 or /dev/nst0, but not /dev/sda

The cron schedule should look like this
0 21 * * 1-6

Copy one directory to tape:
tar -czf /dev/st0 /data/

Are you aware, that you will have to do all the housekeeping yourself?
- what files from which date are on which tape and on which position?
- rewinding, positioning tapes
- restoring

Depending on the nature of your backup project, you could consider a more sophisticated apporach, like Bacula, the Open Source, Enterprise ready, Network Backup Tool for Linux, Unix, and Windows