From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Feb 15 15:37:58 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 195301065672 for ; Tue, 15 Feb 2011 15:37:58 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from wblock@wonkity.com) Received: from wonkity.com (wonkity.com [67.158.26.137]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id CE2B08FC08 for ; Tue, 15 Feb 2011 15:37:57 +0000 (UTC) Received: from wonkity.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by wonkity.com (8.14.4/8.14.4) with ESMTP id p1FFbvc7016092; Tue, 15 Feb 2011 08:37:57 -0700 (MST) (envelope-from wblock@wonkity.com) Received: from localhost (wblock@localhost) by wonkity.com (8.14.4/8.14.4/Submit) with ESMTP id p1FFbudl016089; Tue, 15 Feb 2011 08:37:56 -0700 (MST) (envelope-from wblock@wonkity.com) Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2011 08:37:56 -0700 (MST) From: Warren Block To: Xn Nooby In-Reply-To: Message-ID: References: User-Agent: Alpine 2.00 (BSF 1167 2008-08-23) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; format=flowed; charset=US-ASCII X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-4.2.6 (wonkity.com [127.0.0.1]); Tue, 15 Feb 2011 08:37:57 -0700 (MST) Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: What is the best way to image copy a FreeBSD system? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2011 15:37:58 -0000 On Tue, 15 Feb 2011, Xn Nooby wrote: > On Linux I use clonezilla, which understands the EXT3 filesystem, and > it can skip unused space (I'm using about 3GB out of 1TB). > > On FreeBSD, I have to fill the 1TB drive with zero-filled files, then > delete them, on each partiton, since CloneZilla uses DD+gzip on the > entire drive. Some of the development versions of Clonezilla do understand UFS. It's been a few months since I looked at this, and I need to go back and figure out exactly which. > Is there an image-copy backup program that understands the UFS > file-system? Or perhaps there is a better solution on FreeBSD? Others have already mentioned good points of dump and restore. They can be used even on mounted partitions, so the system can stay up while a backup is running. Some scripting could make restores as easy as Clonezilla. A bare-metal restore could be made from a modified FreeBSD install CD. Partition the target disk (interactively or not), locate the dump files, restore them, then do any interactive fixup needed.