Linux Pocket Guide

Name

dump [options] partition_or_files — dump

Synopsis

/sbin stdin stdout - file -- opt --help --version

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 tape 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.