On Sun, 30 Mar 2008 15:48:54 -0400, Hal Martin wrote: > You cannot use tar unless you create an exclude file, as it will copy > the contents of /dev and /sys, which means the entire contents of RAM, > and anything that is currently being generated by your devices will be > copied as well. > > Personally, I would use either tar or rsync to do this, however, in > saying that, I have never actually done this with a live system. This is > the tar command I use for copying inactive systems, and it works quite > well. > > (cd /mnt/source; tar cfpl - .) | (cd /mnt/dest; tar xfp -) > > I assume you could just generate an exclude file, and include that in > the first command
You don't need an exclude file to avoid /dev and /sys because they are on separate filesystems, so your use of -l takes care of this. Rsync may work, or it may complain that files have changed between building the list and copying them and you'd need to use -x to do the same as -l with tar. Either way, shut down as many services as possible during the copy, particularly anything that uses databases. -- Neil Bothwick If you got the words it does not mean you got the knowledge.
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