alternative to `tar`

[Guillaume]

hi,

actually, I use the tar utility to backup my fedora box to a file...
After a full backup file is reach near 8GB, and when I want to restore
some backuped files, it take veeerrrryyy long time (more than 1h30) to
analyse/index the file and extract the needed folders. Is there a way
to speed up the restore process with any options to tar, or, any other
command utility to use for my backup.

Thanks for your help.

-- 
Guillaume