Backing up entire system with tar

[Saqib Shaikh]

Hi,

I keep on finding myself wanting to play with new things etc.  Instead of having to reinstall my system ever time I end up breaking something (sorry, I'm a perfectionist who feels my system must be perfect!), can I just back up my entire system with tar.

The first question is: what is the syntax for this?

Secondly, where will the tar file go.  What I mean is, if the command were:
tar cf /* ./backup.tar
then won't the program get into a loop since I'm backing up the current directory, but also continually writing data to this directory?  Equally, if I mount a second partition under /mnt and save the tar file to /mnt/backup.tar won't it try and backup the mounted partition also?

I'd be greatful if anyone has the answer to my question.

Thanks, Saqib

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