Linux in a Nutshell, 6th Edition

Name

dump

Synopsis

dump [options] files

System administration command. This simple backup utility accesses ext2 and ext3 file devices directly, quickly backing up files without affecting file access times. files may be specified as a mount point or as a list of files and directories to back up. While you can use this on a mounted system, dump may write corrupted information to the backup when the kernel has written only part of its cached information. Dump maintains a record of which files it has saved in /etc/dumpdates, and will perform incremental backups after creating an initial full backup. Use the restore command to restore a dump backup.

Options

-a

Write until end-of-media. Default behavior when writing to tape drives.

-A file

Create a table of contents for the archive in the specified file.

-bblocksize

Block size in kilobytes to use in dumped records. By default, it is 10, or 32 when dumping to a tape with a density greater than 6250 bpi.

-Bblocks

Specify number of blocks to write per volume.

-c

Treat target as a 1700-foot-long cartridge tape drive with 8000 bpi. Override end-of-media detection.

-d density

Specify tape density.

-D file

Write dump information to file instead of /etc/dumpdates.

-E file

Exclude inodes specified in file.

-f files

Write backup volumes to the specified files or devices. Use - to write to standard output. Separate multiple files with a comma. Use host:file or user@host:file to write to a networked host using either the rmt program or the program specified by the RMT ...