[SOLVED] Unable to pipe an image from dd into gzip on the fly.

orsty9001 · 02-03-2013, 08:31 AM

I'm trying this.

Code:

dd if=/dev/sdc bs=2M | \ gzip -9 - > name-of-backup.img.gz

I get this strange error.

Code:

Command 'gzip' is available in '/bin/gzip' command not found

If I take an image of the drive I'm trying to backup without piping it into gzip it works as expected and I'm able to then gzip the image file to compress it. So dd and gzip are there and working. I'm just not sure if my command is incorret or what. I submit to someone with more experiance than myself.

Ser Olmy · 02-03-2013, 09:05 AM

Why the backslash in front of gzip? The output you're getting indicates that the shell somehow interprets this as a "whereis" command. That's not what I'm getting in a bash shell (it tries to find the " gzip" command instead and fails), but your system may use a different shell/version/configuration.

I don't think the gzip "-" switch is required, as gzip will default to getting data from stdin when no file is specified, but it shouldn't cause any problems either.

In other words,

Code:

dd if=/dev/sdc bs=2M | gzip -9 > name-of-backup.img.gz

ought to work.

orsty9001 · 02-03-2013, 06:42 PM

Thanks that worked a treat.

I was under the impression for some reason a "\" would indicate to the shell that the command is not yet complete and more text will follow. But apparently it just confuses everything and everybody and just flat out doesn't work.

chrism01 · 02-03-2013, 07:00 PM

Close but no cigar

Quote:

a "\" would indicate to the shell that the command is not yet complete and more text will follow ...

'... on the next line (!)

It enables you to break long cmds onto multiple lines. Actual length of line is irrelevant (up to a system specified limit).