Backup Questions...

[Cuddles]

Lets get the "customary" things out of the way...

Knoppix 3.3 (v2.4.22-xfs) - hard drive installed...
Main HDD - /dev/hda -=- 2 partitions -=- 41gig total:
*** hda1 -=- 39.5gig "Linux ext3" FS
*** hda3 -=- 500meg "Linux Swap"
2nd HDD - /dev/hdc -=- 2 partitions -=- 80gig total:
*** hdc1 -=- 2.0gig "Windows VFat" FS - With Win98 installed for Wine (only), but can be booted
*** hdc2 -=- 78gig "Linux ext3" FS

I have been looking for a "complete" image backup, for my hda1 only area...
I wanted to run something, that can backup the complete OS, and all files, in one "restore" pass. I also wanted this "backup" to be able to be scheduled, be run in the "background" without user intervention, and be easy to restore from, in case I need a file deleted, or in the case of a complete drive crash, ease of restore back to last "image" backed up.

What I guessed was something that comes on the Knoppix Live CD, and what I could find was KBackup...

What I am having a problem with:
KBackup seems to like to use a "filename" provided in its config, so, backups to the same area, would overwrite previous backups - not good... KBackup also appears to "like" having those backup files in the place they were created, so moving them is also, not good...

I used to use, in the Windows World, a clone program, which just "imaged" the backup device on a target device. With Linux, I am looking at a backup that can be used to regain a complete drive crash in as minimal amount of steps. This can either be done through the Live CD, or from a Boot Floppy with the restore on it.

My preferred resolve:
Backup "everything" from /dev/hda1 to /dev/hdc2 - into a folder called backups, with either a single file named "fbackupYYYYMMDD" or into a folder named the same, if it has to be multiple files. -=- where YYYY is the YEAR in four digits, MM is the MONTH in 2 digits, and DD is the DAY in 2 digits.

This format would allow more backup "images" to be saved, on the 78gig hard drive, and facilitate ease of restore by knowing exactly which "image" was done on which date.

I already tried a form of script, to perform a "tar" of the system, but I feel it would be more work getting a system back to itself, than I prefer to do, and was not able to perform an "image" of the system I am looking for...

Anyone have any ideas????
Thanks in advance,
Cuddles

[OErjan]

the comand below will give you the imagefile you asked for

dd if /dev/hda2 of=/mountpoint/for/hdc2/backupfile.img

if you make a script, using the comand above, and start that script with cron or you run manually it should give you what you want.
as to the filenaming and so. hmmmm.
here you have a good article.
http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue91/keates.html

about halfway down you have a script you might modify to use dd instead of tar...

here is a suggestion

#!/bin/bash
# backup

Backup_Dirs="/mount/piont/of/partition"
Backup_Dest_Dir=/mount/point/for/hdc2
Backup_Date=`date +%b%d%Y`

# Create image-file with todays Month Day Year prepended for easy identification
dd if=$Backup_Dest_Dir/$Backup_Date.img $Backup_Dirs &> /dev/null

this should make a image with todays date as name.
i am no wizard on scripting so you should get a second opinion.
EDIT you might compress that image with tar.../EDIT