Hello guys! How are you? I would like to know if someone can get me, if possible, any link to a good and complete system backup manual, that explains how to use the 'tar' command and some backup hints and strategies. I usually backup my system giving the command:

tar -zcvf backup.tar.gz /

And so I move this file to another partition where I've made a very minimal Linux installation. If anything happens, I just boot from my floppy disk this partition, acess my full Linux partition and give the tar -zxvf command. But what I can see is that although it works, I waste so much HD space when I do that, even after deleting the backup file from my full linux partition, I don't know why. I usually see in the examples about tar -xvf people just backuping their home directories. So i would like to know if anyone knows any url that gives a really good guide about what is the best way to backup the system.

Thanks so much for your attention.

I don't have an URL handy, but I'm sure google can find you some.

As for a strategy, it's simple. Anything that you change outside of the bare install should be archived. That way, should the unthinkable happen, you just do a fresh install, tar -zxvf, and you're back up and running (and save a ton of disk space).

You really should put your backup onto CD or tape or something though so you can get it out of the machine. What happens if the machine catches fire, or gets hit by lightning or something else? Then both your drives are dead and you have nothing.