Linux: How to break a large file into smaller files?

Posted by Runcible on Server Fault See other posts from Server Fault or by Runcible
Published on 2009-07-20T23:41:04Z Indexed on 2010/06/03 13:14 UTC
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linux

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tar

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largefiles

I have a giant file (>20 gigs) sitting on my source machine and I need to transfer it to my target machine. For the purposes of this question, let's assume that I do not have network connectivity between the two machines.

I need to break this file into a series of smaller files, write the smaller files to DVD(s), then re-assemble everything on the target machine.

Both source and destination machines are Linux boxes. Is there a way to accomplish this using tar? I have a feeling that I need to use the --multi-volume parameter. What are my options?

I need to be able to specify the size of the volume files, in order to make sure that each one will fit onto a single DVD.

Thanks!

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