BE12.5 small files delaying backup

hi to all

I have a scenario where i need to do a full backup each night of a server to tape (LTO4), the server runs a database which has thousands of tiny files associated to it, which slows the backup down massively, and is taking nearly 24 hours to run. i have optimised the backup as suggested in other posts, but need a proper solution.

Would running two jobs side by side backing up the database files to disc, then backing up the backup to disc- to tape work? if so how would this impact recovery?

does anyone have any clever ideas other than incremental backups?

thanks

SandraM