By default, each dump is appended to the tape following the last end-of-tape mark. Tape volumes are not reinitialized. This allows you to dump multiple databases to a single volume. You can append new dumps only to the last volume of a multivolume dump.
Use the init option to overwrite any existing contents of the tape. If you specify init, the Backup Server reinitializes the tape without checking for:
ANSI access restrictions
Files that have not yet expired
Non-Sybase data
The default, noinit, checks for all three conditions and sends a volume change prompt if any are present.
The following example initializes two devices, overwriting the existing contents with the new transaction log dumps:
dump transaction pubs2 to "/dev/nrmt0" stripe on "/dev/nrmt1" with init
You can also use the init option to overwrite an existing file, if you are dumping a database to an operating system file. This is a Windows example:
dump transaction pubs2 to "d:\backups\backup1.dat" stripe on "d:\backups\backup2.dat" with init
See the Reference Manual: Commands for a description of dumping multiple databases to a single volume.
