How do you back up Raw devices using cpio?

[antzzz]

Hi. I have a DBMS that uses Raw devices. I want to back them up as part of my complete filesystems backup (ie all filesystems in all drives).

How do you backup or include raw devices using cpio? By the way, if ever my machine fails and I restore this complete filesystems backup, will my DBMS run as usual without me installing it again? I know how to backup the DB data and restore them too. Not sure about the DBMS itself. Thanks for any feedback.

 

[squirrelbite]

antzzz,

You cannot use cpio to backup raw devices.

Whatever database you are running should have their own backup and restore utilities. You can also use the 'dd' command to copy the data to tape, but again it is highly recommended that if your DB has a backup and restore utitlity with it, to use it instead.