Hi, Richard Owlett wrote > 1. Can individual files or directories be extracted from XYZ.tar.xz ?
Look up exact path of your file, like with: tar tJf XYZ.tar.xz | less and the search capabilities of "less". Or by: tar tJf XYZ.tar.xz | '...some.search.expression...' Go to a directory from where the (usually) relative path leads to the desired storage location. Extract the desired path: tar xJvf XYZ.tar.xz ...path.of.desired.file.as.shown.by.tar.tJf... Multiple paths are allowed. Like: tar xJvf XYZ.tar.xz dir/x other/dir/y Due to the sequential nature of compression and tar, the whole archive will be uncompressed and read with each such run. This may last substantial time. > 2. Is there a compressed format that makes above convenient? Depends much on what you perceive as convenient. I use for backup ISO 9660 with zisofs compression which is recognized automatically by Debian's Linux kernels. So i can use arbitrary file tools to inspect and copy out files from my backup ISOs after having mounted them by normal means. Have a nice day :) Thomas
