2 ms·
It should be enough to copy partition table and boot loader only once. After that, it's safer and probably faster to backup with consistent btrfs/zfs snapshots.
by andor 11y ago
It should be enough to copy partition table and boot loader only once. After that, it's safer and probably faster to backup with consistent btrfs/zfs snapshots. Copying raw blocks from a writable mounted filesystem will lead to inconsistent backups.
- stargrave 11y agoAgreed that it is preferred way, after raw dd with unmounted filesystem. But I need to be prepared for that: I am a human, I can forget some steps. Here command takes only two arguments (src and dst) -- simplicity is reliability against humand mistakes. Some data will be corrupted, but with journaling filesystems or something like ZFS this is not dangerous (unfinished transactions will be ignored).