There are many ways to do this and many tools available, but the best way is to use a bootable linux cd like slax, siddux or Parted Magic so you don't have to deal with the issues of backing up a running system.
One tool that is somewhat like ghost is partimage. It comes on many livecds and must be run from a livecd since it will not image a mounted partition:
http://www.partimage.org/Main_Page
If you are using a livecd, the easiest method is to just use tar to create an archive of the entire partition. the procedure is as follows:
1. Boot with a livecd and mount the partition you want to backup if it is not already mounted. By way of example, assume you want to back up sda1 which has been mounted on /mnt/sda1 to partition sda2 mounted on /mnt/sda2;
2. Open a console and run:
Code:
$ su
<enter root password>
# cd /mnt/sda1
# tar -czvf /mnt/sda2/archivename.tar.gz .
Don't forget the trailing "." in the above tar command; it is essential part of that command. This will create a gziped compressed tar archive of the entire partition, sda1, named "archivename.tar.gz".
To restore, you boot with your livecd, mount sda1 and sda2 and run as root:
Code:
# cd /mnt/sda1
# tar -xzvf /mnt/sda2/archivename.tar.gz
