Server side backup - tar or gzip?

[GwilliamP]

I do a monthly backup by backing up the database and then FTP downloading every file/folder locally where I then winrar the files.

 

I would like to create the archive at the server end using an ssh session then FTP the created archive. This should be faster as FTPing all those small files is a slower process than one large archive.

 

1 - Which would get the better compression - gzip or tar?

2 - What command line parameters should I use?

3 - Winrar can put a recovery record in an archive. Is this possible with gzip or tar?

 

Thanks,

 

Paul.