On 17 October 2014 09:43, Mark Rogers mark@quarella.co.uk wrote:
I assume I can (with the right combination of switches to avoid infinite recursions, /dev etc, and trying to back up the backup file) go with tar cjf /mybackup.tar.bz2 / <insert switches here> which would be closer but I wasn't sure if there was a better way? (If not, advice as to what switches I need would be appreciated.)
Taking this as a starting point gives me something to Google for, with some good results assuming tar is the right place to start (see below). As always with the Internet, lots of slightly different versions so I'd still appreciate comments/corrections or suggestions for tar alternatives, but otherwise I think I have my answer...
Eg, from http://www.aboutdebian.com/tar-backup.htm:
tar -cvpf /backups/fullbackup.tar --directory=/ \ --exclude=proc --exclude=sys --exclude=dev/pts \ --exclude=backups .
Or from: http://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/show/381-how-to-backup-and-restore-an...:
sudo tar cvpzf backup.tgz --exclude=/proc \ --exclude=/dev --exclude=/lost+found --exclude=/backup.tgz --exclude=/mnt --exclude=/sys /
Or from https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BackupYourSystem/TAR:
tar -cvpzf backup.tar.gz --exclude=/backup.tar.gz \ --one-file-system /
Mark