Filesystem Backup?

[a12ctic]

So lately my hard drive has been giving me some problems. Nothing major, but I'd like to replace it before it becomes worse. I plan on upgrading from a 200GB WD drive to a 500GB Samsung drive (the new F3 series to be exact). I would ideally like to be able to ghost my current distribution install onto the new drive and not have to deal with any configuration or updates.

I seem to have found software should allow me to do so, fsarchiver, but I'm not one hundred percent sure if this is what I should be using. I run ext4, so that eliminates a couple options that I found while doing some research. fsarchiver seems to fit all my requirements, but I'm wondering if anyone else has a better solution (or conformation that this is my best option).

[robertdaleweir]

Hi a12ctic
I hav downloaded a CD Version of Clonezilla (from distrowatch.com) and using it as a bootable media which allows me to Backup Partitions and/or Hard Drives and restore them as required. Used to use Acronis but it will not backup ext3/4 partitions) and they have gone commercial which I do not use. I am not familiar with 'fsarchiver'. I like to back up partitions and hard drives while they are not mounted, hence the Bootable CD. Hope this helps. Cheers...
Robert

[OldGrantonian]

I seem to have found software should allow me to do so, fsarchiver, but I'm not one hundred percent sure if this is what I should be using. I run ext4, so that eliminates a couple options that I found while doing some research. fsarchiver seems to fit all my requirements, but I'm wondering if anyone else has a better solution (or conformation that this is my best option).

I have dual-boot Windows XP (NTFS) and Karmic (ext4).

I clone the system partitions for both OSs using fsarchiver on the SystemRescueCD. I've used fsarchiver several times with no problems.

Here's a link that compares fsarchiver with partimage:
Fsarchiver vs partimage - FSArchiver

BTW: I use rsync for data files, because it's incremental, and I like to be able to access individual files.
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