I have a few questions concerning a full system backup.
I would like to backup my whole (ubuntu 12.04 system including virtual server.
Which are the most important directories which need to be in the backup and which not? I ask this because because some directories are not usefull and/or can cause trouble when making the backup or during restore session.
Is it possible to restore in case of system damage, the whole system including virtual server/ systemfiles and all others?
I found in the meantime the following commands and they make a perfect backup from the disk.
By going into the / you take a backup this and all underlaying folders.
excluding Proc, lost+found, mnt and sys.
If you want only a backup of a specific folder then simply cd to that folder and start the backup command from there.
Here the commands for a full system backup
sudo su
cd /
tar cvpzf backup.tgz --exclude=/proc --exclude=/lost+found --exclude=/backup.tgz --exclude=/mnt --exclude=/sys /
to untar all files. All files will be overwritten.
tar xvpfz backup.tgz -C /
Last but not least, don’t forget to create the folders which where excluded in the original backup.
mkdir proc
mkdir lost+found
mkdir mnt
mkdir sys
After reboot you should have your original situation from before your backup.
This is very simple but very effective.
I hope other users can benefit from this.