Hi I was wondering if there is a way with linux to backup sda3 to sda4 just like clonezilla would. would dd if/dev/sda3 of=/dev/sda4 or is there any way to do it without making an iso and rebooting computer?
here is my setup:
humbler:/home/eric # lsblk
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
sda 8:0 0 232.9G 0 disk
├─sda1 8:1 0 512M 0 part /boot
├─sda2 8:2 0 16G 0 part [SWAP]
├─sda3 8:3 0 100G 0 part /
└─sda4 8:4 0 116.4G 0 part
sdb 8:16 1 28.9G 0 disk
└─sdb1 8:17 1 28.9G 0 part /run/media/eric/1CB8A4D943A2D7AE
sr0 11:0 1 173M 0 rom
Your question is very vague, but assuming you are asking whether it is possible to create image of the system root partition while this system is active - no, it is not possible (at least, using dd). The image will be corrupted and may not even mount. You need to stop access to the file system (and ideally unmount it) which is not possible for root.
In general, “how do I do something like this or that application does” is not the best way of asking questions. Not only you artificially reduce the number of users who may answer (simply because not everyone is familiar with “this or that application”); you may misunderstand what application does and so others will get completely different meaning of your question.
Always explain what you want to achieve, not how you think it must be done.
It seems to be a 32 GB drive – on this system a 16 GB FAT32 USB stick (Thumb-Drive) is reported as being 14.5G – don’t worry about the “lost space” …
I wouldn’t use XFS or Btrfs on such a device – stick with ext4 but, only if, you don’t need to transfer the files to a Redmond (Windows) system …
For a safe and secure Linux backup on such devices, a “proper” Linux filesystem is highly recommended because of the user-specific file attributes – The Redmond systems don’t have the concept of user related file attributes – for that folk, a Personal Computer is just that – personal …
I think i was intending to do a soft raid but idk how unless i use something like clonezilla, how would you do a soft raid-1 from /dev/sda3 to /dev/sda4? I think I messed up putting the boot in it’s own partition because if that messes up i cant restore the root directory anyways the solution might be to get another drive for backup i guess but i still would like to know how to do a Soft Raid-1 configuration because basically i just want to backup my system without having to reboot my system.