Name
dump — stdin stdout - file -- opt --help --version
Synopsis
dump [options
]partition_or_files
The dump
command writes an
entire disk partition, or selected files, to a backup medium such as
tape. It supports full and incremental backups, automatically
figuring out which files need to be backed up (i.e., which have
changed since the last backup). To restore files from the backup
medium, use the restore
command.
To perform a full backup of a given filesystem (say, /usr) to your backup device (say,
/dev/tape), use the −0
(zero) and -u
options:
# dump −0 -u -f /dev/tape /usr
This is called a level zero dump. The
-u
option writes a note to the
file /etc/dumpdates to say that
the backup was performed.
Incremental backups may have levels 1 through 9: a level
i
backup stores all new and changed files
since the last level i-1
backup.
# dump −1 -u -f /dev/tape /usr
Don’t run dump
on a “live”
filesystem actively in use: unmount it first when possible.
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