Backup Consistency
Whichever command we choose to perform our backups, it is important to remember that the backup will not be consistent if the files being backed up are being worked on while the backup is taking place. Therefore, we need some way of ensuring that the system is in a state that allows us to back it up consistently. The files could be changed if people are using the system while the backup is taking place, but if an application, such as a database, is running it too may be changing files as the backup is running.
The safest way of ensuring that a filesystem is not changing would be to unmount it. But it is not always practical to manage to include this in an automated backup procedure, and we can't just go unmounting the root ...
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