Linux

48112 readers

655 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
No misinformation
No NSFW content
No hate speech, bigotry, etc

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

[Question] Using DD to make a backup of an OS drive? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

28 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Would this work or would I have problems:

Using dd command to backup an entire SSD containing dual boot Windows/Ubuntu partitions into an .iso file, with the intent to then dd that iso back onto the same size SSD in the case of a drive failure?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 months ago

Honestly, that just seems like you're treating dd as some kind of arcanum. dd works just fine and I've been doing 1:1, full system backups for decades with it, no issues. Honorary mention for ddrescue / dd_rescue for recovery options, i. e. re-trying bad sector reads etc.

In fact, when Clonezilla doesn't know your filesystem, it will simply employ dd to copy the data sector by sector.

I'd argue that Clonezilla (due to its use of partclone) is actually a less complete form of backup, since it will only copy used blocks, you don't really end up with a clone of your devices, just a copy of what partclone believes to be your data. Don't get me wrong, that is fine in most use cases, but there are some cases where this doesn't cut it, e. g. wanting to backup / restore a storage device from a PLC where the vendor had the glorious idea to store licensing data in unused sectors, or when you want to create a forensic disk image, might want it look into d3dd then, although it absolutely works using regular old dd as well, d3dd just adds some amenities.

All I want to say is: dd is an absolutely reliable tool and can be a one stop solution for device backups. Also, I have absolutely no quarrels with Clonezilla, if it fits what you're trying to do and it works, great.