Tape archive users should pay attention to the most effective ways of archiving to save both space and time spent on extracting files. To go to the archive area, write

cd $ARCHIVE

You can handle the files with Unix commands

cp, mv, rm etc.

If the file is only on tape, reconstructing it to use may take a few minutes. The best way to use space effectively and functionally is to avoid archiving small individual files on the server. If you have to archive small files, you should first combine them to tar format (tape archive) and then compress the archive, for example by using gzip command.

It is worth to notice that the archive is not meant for the files that are continuously changing, e.g. saving periodic backup files. The old occupied space of modified files are not automatically reclaimed from the archive tapes.

See the section, Handling of files.