i know how to use cdrecord to burn an iso, but can i use it to backup specific files that are not ISO?

if i wanted to back up my /var/www/html dir and every subdirectory how would i go about doing that with cdrecord, or do i need to learn an other program for that?

thank you.

Hi:

I do not know if there is any other way than to create an iso file, you make that with mkisofs
in general I use
mkisofs -R -J -r -f -v -o backup.iso directory_to_backup

I hope this will work for you

Federico

ok so if i wanted to do that with my above dir i would do this:

mkisofs -R-J-r-f-v-o backup.iso /var/www/html/*

with or without spacing between the arugments and will the /* at the end get everything in the directory and subdirectories?

next question will be how do i extract that back to normal files once i burn it out to a cd? or will cdrecord extract the directory so i can just copy/paste it for use in restor if i need it, or for transfering to an other system when i start bring mirror sites online?

sorry for the bumb questions, but i really dont get the linux cli yet. learning slowing. to much M$ in my head. with EZcreator id just click and drag, hit burn and wait. all done.

Not quite, that would only backup the files actually
in html/*

You don't need -R if -r is specified, btw ...

Try
mkisofs -J -r -f -v -o backup.iso /var/www/html

If you want to burn directly:
You do need the spaces :)

And there's no need for "extraction" of any kind,
you can copy the files as usual.


Cheers,
Tink

great, so that does not really turn the files into the compress ISO format.

thank you so very much. wish i had known this the other day before my MDK10 system up and died on me. i could of saved my web page to CD and not have to rebuild it from scratch basicaly.

awsome awsome help. thank you both very much.

No, compression would require the -z flag...


Cheers,
Tink

Tinkster, thank you.

that worked like a dream. it was perfect. i now have my site 100% back to the way i want it before its next major rebuild from the ground up.

i can now safly go live this week to my URL after i get the DNS to swap over to my system.

i now have my excisting www on CD so if ihave any more problems i can be back up in a flash.

agian thanks to everyone for the help.

is there a way to lable the CD while doing this backup?

instead of putting the CD in and it reading CD0012323, id rather it read something more logical like CDapache4-13-04 or something like that?

thanks.