[svlug] backup strategies (was Re: Reminder: SVLUG mailing list server failure risk, gap in backups)

[Sarah Newman]

On 12/30/2014 10:55 PM, Scott DuBois wrote:
> Probably just a misunderstanding. From some of the readings I've done
> online of the methods people use to do backups, nothing anyone does
> really surprises me. Some people go so far as to simply clone
> _everything_ from one drive to another. How the restore from that? Who
> the hell knows. The world is full of madness.

You do it by copying block device(s) instead of the contents of the file system. It's wasteful but
much easier than deciding what needs to get backed up. File or block level encryption is also
preserved, which can be tricky to set up by hand if you want to restore from backup without doing a
full system reinstall. I also recommend a full drive backup before changing the disk layout.

Some, but not all, active versions of tar have everything needed to back up all file system
attributes: selinux, ACL, and extended attribute support.

--Sarah