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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hi, I use a dos/Windows program called Image cast
which does the job nicely.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>It makes an image of your drive as it is, and then
can be sent to another computer on the network, to another partition, or be
burned onto a cd.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Haven't tried it with ext3, but it works good with
ext2.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=ss@saqibshaikh.com href="mailto:ss@saqibshaikh.com">Saqib Shaikh</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=speakup@braille.uwo.ca
href="mailto:speakup@braille.uwo.ca">speakup@braille.uwo.ca</A> ; <A
title=blinux-newbie@braille.uwo.ca
href="mailto:blinux-newbie@braille.uwo.ca">blinux-newbie@braille.uwo.ca</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, November 11, 2001 10:54
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Backing up entire system with
tar</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hi,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>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.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The first question is: what is the syntax for
this?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Secondly, where will the tar file go. What
I mean is, if the command were:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>tar cf /* ./backup.tar</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>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?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I'd be greatful if anyone has the answer to my
question.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Thanks, Saqib</FONT></DIV>
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