Comments on: How Do I Make Linux / UNIX Filesystem Backup With dd?

By: CesarIII

CesarIII — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 05:00:41 +0000

Hi there,

If you are trying tu backup an USB you can try “dd” + “gzip” so you can compress your backed-up-data. You can improve compression ratio, and even more, If you create a file filled with “0″ an then delete it, you’ll obtain a smallest file:

To create a file with “0″ so we erase the free area:

dd if=/dev/zero of=DELETE.ME

Once created, delete it.
Once deleted, backup:

dd if=/dev/usbflashdrive | gzip –best > backup.img.gz

You can improve reading/writing by adding “bs” or “obs” on dd… check “man dd”

dd obs=100MB if=/dev/usbflashdrive | gzip –best > backup.img.gz

Make tests… eh!… to restore just do a:

gunzip -c backup.img.gz | dd bs=100MB of=/dev/usbflashdrive

Regards,
CesarIII

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 19 May 2011 16:59:33 +0000

I would like to use dd to make a backup of my USB flash drive to my HDD, I’m using a Live CD, both are unmounted.
I tried:
dd if=/dev/usbflashdrive of=/dev/sda1>usbdiskdate.img
This destroyed the ext3 partition.

Any suggestions for improvement?

By: Eric J

Eric J — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 11:19:29 +0000

I never knew about this tool. I was only recently exposed to it while reading how one man managed to boot ubuntu on the CR-48. He dd’ed the ubuntu rootfs to the CR-48 over ssh. SO. COOL.

By: A person

A person — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:34:08 +0000

RE: Jann…

dunno, give it a try. In unixland, you’d do something like:
mkdir /mnt/mountpoint
mount -t ext3 /somepath/ /mnt/mountpoint

By: Jann

Jann — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 19:08:18 +0000

I know that you can later on mount partition-level dd dumps. Can you also somehow mount the dump of an entire disk?