Not necessarily. Tar was invented way back, in early Unix days. I know it would have been updated sometimes, in GNU tar and other Unix versions, but they may no

Not necessarily. Tar was invented way back, in early Unix days. I know it would have been updated sometimes, in GNU tar and other Unix versions, but they may not have anticipated the massive growth in tape capacities and speeds. Using dd with a high block size to write "virtual tapes" (as described elsewhere in this thread) from disk to tape might be one solution (not tried, just had the idea now).