Backup any Unix fs

IMPORTANT: Be sure to add your mounting path to exclude-list before going any further!

Usage :

sudo rsync -aAXv --exclude-from=exclude-list.txt / <distant-path>

Restore backup by inverting / and <distant-path>

Tip: distant path can be accessed through ssh or it can also be a local path.

Migrating to another HDD/SSD

You'll have to re-generate your Grub/EFISTUB according to your hardware.

Nowadays you're more probably about to install it on a GPT SSD bootable in UEFI mode.

Be sure to format partitions accordingly

EFI system partition

Be sure to have dosfstools, grub, efibootmgr and something to fake root like arch-chroot from arch-install-scripts.

• Create a first partition of ~350M with EFI Filesystem
• Format it in FAT32 (in order to be able to mount it): mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/..
• Mount that partition and copy /boot/{vm-linuz,initramfs*} inside
• Mount your root partition
• Activate your swap swapon /dev/xxx (to have it found by genfstab)
• Generate the corresponding fstab: genfstab -U /mnt/ >> /mnt/etc/fstab (let's assume root is mounted on /mnt)

If you want grub to be installed (recommended for dualboot) follow these steps:

• Mount your root partition and install required packages: pacstrap /mnt grub os-prober (assuming root is mounted at /mnt)
• Mount your ESP somewhere
  • If you've got the error: 'unknown filesystem vfat' you're good to format it: mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/xxx
  • Be sure to re-generate your other OS EFI entry (ie: for Windows boot with recovery USB and mount the ESP by assigning it a letter: diskpart then assign letter=G:. Exit diskpart and run bcdboot C:\Windows /s G: /f UEFI)
• Chroot into your new root partition / and install grub this way: grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=EFI_MOUNTED_DIR --bootloader-id=GRUB
• Run os-prober to detect other OS thus add it as a grub entry
• Generate your grub config: grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Otherwise you can boot through UEFI directly by generating a new entry: efibootmgr --disk /dev/sdX --part Y --create --label "Arch Linux" --loader /vmlinuz-linux --unicode 'root=PARTUUID=XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX rw initrd=\initramfs-linux.img' --verbose

• Y should be 1
• You can find right PARTUUID by looking into /dev/disk: ls -l /dev/disk/by-partuuid/

Finally, do not forget to re-order your boot order wisely!