Re: Copying partitions in terminal mode

Hello elmo,
I would suggest, that you use find and cpio.
1) both partitions have to be mounted
2) Assuming that /dev/sda7 is your root directory and /dev/sdc5 is mounted
on /mnt:
find >AllYourTopLevelDirsUnderRoot< | cpio -pdv /mnt

For example:
find /bin /sbin /usr /home /var /etc /boot | cpio -pdv /mnt

Hope that helps.


elmo wrote:
Is it practical to use terminal mode to copy an entire ubuntu partition
to an external hard drive for backup purposes?

I haven't done much with terminal commands except for the simplest ones
so I'm not comfortable with copying an
entire partition. I have copied a file or two within a partition but
copying an entire partition seems like a big job.

After digging around in my notes, a book or two, and some websites, I
came up with this command:
cp -aprv /dev/sda7 /dev/sdc5

sda7 is where ubuntu is currently installed and sdc5 is the target, an
empty ext3 formatted
partition on the external hard drive.

The command seems to be too simple to do a complete partition copy.

Which way is the better way to run this kind of command,. from an
installed ubuntu or from
a ubuntu CD?

elmo





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