The document provides 6 examples of using the dd command in Linux to backup disks and partitions. It describes using dd to make full backups of hard disks by copying from one disk to another, create disk images, restore from disk images, create floppy disk and CDROM images, and backup partitions. dd allows for bit-by-bit copies and restoration of storage devices and creates ISO image files. The examples cover full disk, partition, floppy, and CDROM backups using dd and specifying the input and output files and block sizes.

1. 6
Examples
to
Backup
Linux
Using
dd
Command
(Including
Disk
... hWp://www.thegeekstuff.com/2010/10/dd-­‐command-­‐examples/
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6
Examples
to
Backup
Linux
Using
dd
Command
(Including
Disk
to
Disk)
by
Sasikala
on
October
11,
2010
0 Like 11 Tweet 41
Data
loss
will
be
costly.
At
the
very
least,
criCcal
data
loss
will
have
a
financial
impact
on
companies
of
all
sizes.
In
some
cases,
it
can
cost
your
job.
I’ve
seen
cases
where
sysadmins
learned
this
in
the
hard
way.
There
are
several
ways
to
backup
a
Linux
system,
including
rsync
and
rsnapshot
that
we
discussed
a
while
back.
This
arCcle
provides
6
pracCcal
examples
on
using
dd
command
to
backup
the
Linux
system.
dd
is
a
powerful
UNIX
uClity,
which
is
used
by
the
Linux
kernel
makefiles
to
make
boot
images.
It
can
also
be
used
to
copy
data.
Only
superuser
can
execute
dd
command.
Warning:
While
using
dd
command,
if
you
are
not
careful,
and
if
you
don’t
know
what
you
are
doing,
you
will
lose
your
data!
Example
1.
Backup
En>re
Harddisk
To
backup
an
enCre
copy
of
a
hard
disk
to
another
hard
disk
connected
to
the
same
system,
execute
the
dd
command
as
shown
below.
1
of
8 18
Apr
12
7:06
pm

2. 6
Examples
to
Backup
Linux
Using
dd
Command
(Including
Disk
... hWp://www.thegeekstuff.com/2010/10/dd-­‐command-­‐examples/
In
this
dd
command
example,
the
UNIX
device
name
of
the
source
hard
disk
is
/dev/hda,
and
device
name
of
the
target
hard
disk
is
/dev/hdb.
# dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb
“if”
represents
inpu_ile,
and
“of”
represents
output
file.
So
the
exact
copy
of
/dev/sda
will
be
available
in
/dev/sdb.
If
there
are
any
errors,
the
above
command
will
fail.
If
you
give
the
parameter
“conv=noerror”
then
it
will
conCnue
to
copy
if
there
are
read
errors.
Input
file
and
output
file
should
be
menConed
very
carefully,
if
you
menCon
source
device
in
the
target
and
vice
versa,
you
might
loss
all
your
data.
In
the
copy
of
hard
drive
to
hard
drive
using
dd
command
given
below,
sync
opCon
allows
you
to
copy
everything
using
synchronized
I/O.
# dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb conv=noerror,sync
Example
2.
Create
an
Image
of
a
Hard
Disk
Instead
of
taking
a
backup
of
the
hard
disk,
you
can
create
an
image
file
of
the
hard
disk
and
save
it
in
other
storage
devices.There
are
many
advantages
to
backing
up
your
data
to
a
disk
image,
one
being
the
ease
of
use.
This
method
is
typically
faster
than
other
types
of
backups,
enabling
you
to
quickly
restore
data
following
an
unexpected
catastrophe.
# dd if=/dev/hda of=~/hdadisk.img
The
above
creates
the
image
of
a
harddisk
/dev/hda.
Refer
our
earlier
arCcle
How
to
view
initrd.image
for
more
details.
Example
3.
Restore
using
Hard
Disk
Image
To
restore
a
hard
disk
with
the
image
file
of
an
another
hard
disk,
use
the
following
dd
command
example.
# dd if=hdadisk.img of=/dev/hdb
The
image
file
hdadisk.img
file,
is
the
image
of
a
/dev/hda,
so
the
above
command
will
restore
the
image
of
/dev/hda
to
/dev/hdb.
Example
4.
Crea>ng
a
Floppy
Image
Using
dd
command,
you
can
create
a
copy
of
the
floppy
image
very
quickly.
In
input
file,
give
the
floppy
device
locaCon,
and
in
the
output
file,
give
the
name
of
your
floppy
image
file
as
shown
below.
# dd if=/dev/fd0 of=myfloppy.img
Example
5.
Backup
a
Par>>on
You
can
use
the
device
name
of
a
parCCon
in
the
input
file,
and
in
the
output
either
you
can
specify
your
target
path
or
image
file
as
shown
in
the
dd
command
example
below.
# dd if=/dev/hda1 of=~/partition1.img
Example
6.
CDROM
Backup
dd
command
allows
you
to
create
an
iso
file
from
a
source
file.
So
we
can
insert
the
CD
and
enter
dd
command
to
create
an
iso
file
of
a
CD
content.
# dd if=/dev/cdrom of=tgsservice.iso bs=2048
dd
command
reads
one
block
of
input
and
process
it
and
writes
it
into
an
output
file.
You
can
specify
the
block
size
for
input
and
output
file.
In
the
above
dd
command
example,
the
parameter
“bs”
specifies
the
block
size
for
the
both
the
input
and
output
file.
So
dd
uses
2048bytes
as
a
block
size
in
the
above
command.
2
of
8 18
Apr
12
7:06
pm

3. 6
Examples
to
Backup
Linux
Using
dd
Command
(Including
Disk
... hWp://www.thegeekstuff.com/2010/10/dd-­‐command-­‐examples/
Note:
If
CD
is
auto
mounted,
before
creaCng
an
iso
image
using
dd
command,
its
always
good
if
you
unmount
the
CD
device
to
avoid
any
unnecessary
access
to
the
CD
ROM.
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{
14
comments…
read
them
below
or
add
one
}
1
pupu
October
11,
2010
at
4:31
am
I
recommend
using
‘dd’
on
unmounted/readonly
devices
only.
You
never
know
what
changes
in
the
middle
of
this
kind
of
backup.
Dd
doesn’t
lock
your
filesystem.
It
will
read
and
write
blindly
and
if
you
don’t
know
what
you
are
doing,
well…
2
rene
October
11,
2010
at
6:49
am
Will
this
work
with
a
hard
drive
with
both
Windows
and
Linux
on
it?
3
Jorge
Cedi
October
11,
2010
at
11:53
am
You
can
backup
a
usb
key
with
dd
4
ciastek
October
12,
2010
at
5:46
pm
Thanks
for
nice
examples.
When
and
why
should
i
use
synchronized
I/O?
How
should
i
find
opCmal
block
size?
5
Bernardo
October
13,
2010
at
12:18
pm
3
of
8 18
Apr
12
7:06
pm

4. 6
Examples
to
Backup
Linux
Using
dd
Command
(Including
Disk
... hWp://www.thegeekstuff.com/2010/10/dd-­‐command-­‐examples/
Nice
examples,
I
would
like
to
share
one
of
many
hacks
to
know
the
“status”
of
dd
copy
progress.
Send
the
dd
command
to
background
i.e.
#
dd=if=/dev/sda
of=backup.img
&
[1]
26431
<——–
Process
ID
Check
the
process
ID
and
run
the
next
command:
#
kill
-­‐SIGUSR1
26431
This
will
shows
the
copied
bytes
and
the
copy
rate.
6
MaCas
October
14,
2010
at
7:05
am
Hello!
It’s
a
really
useful
post,
but
I
think
it
should
be
noted
that
dd
is
used
just
to
copy
files,
and
not
to
make
backups,
because
a
backup
tool
has
a
lot
more
funcConality,
like
different
backup
levels,
automaCon
of
backups
and
some
kind
of
database
storing
related
data
(files
saved,
operator
who
run
the
backup,
etc).
Bye!
7
Paul
A.
October
20,
2010
at
2:54
pm
This
is
not
very
much
related
to
dd,
but
I
thought
you’s
like
to
know
that
your
example
5
has
a
bash-­‐ism
that
I’m
not
enCrely
sure
is
a
bug
or
a
feature.
Most
other
shells
won’t
expand
the
~
to
$HOME
like
bash
does
for
that
parCcular
command.
Zsh
has
an
opCon
MAGIC_EQUAL_SUBST
to
let
you
choose
either
way.
8
iri
October
26,
2010
at
12:34
am
Regarding
example
5.
what
if
~
is
on
/dev/hda1
9
Cosmos
November
17,
2010
at
10:35
am
Another
useful
Cp:
In
this
case
for
copying
the
Master
Boot
Sector:
dd
if=/dev/hda
of=disk.mbr
count=1
bs=512
It
copies
1
chunk
of
512
bytes
which
is
the
amount
of
info
that
the
MBR
of
the
disk
takes.
and
for
restoring
the
MBR:
dd
if=disk.mbr
of=/dev/hda
It
overwrites
the
first
512
bytes
of
your
/dev/hda
drive.
Just
another
command
that
I
use
to
do
a€erwards
for
saving
the
parCCons:
sfdisk
-­‐d
/dev/hda
>
disk.sf
It
dumps
the
parCCons
of
the
/dev/hda
disk
to
a
text
file,
which
you’ll
be
able
to
recover
easily.
sfdisk
/dev/hda
<
disk.sf
Bye
10
Sathish
Kumar
November
28,
2010
at
1:58
am
Thanks
a
lot…..
11
Anonymous
April
9,
2011
at
4:15
pm
mistake
with
the
device
names
here:
4
of
8 18
Apr
12
7:06
pm

5. 6
Examples
to
Backup
Linux
Using
dd
Command
(Including
Disk
... hWp://www.thegeekstuff.com/2010/10/dd-­‐command-­‐examples/
In
this
dd
command
example,
the
UNIX
device
name
of
the
source
hard
disk
is
/dev/hda,
and
device
name
of
the
target
hard
disk
is
/dev/hdb.
#
dd
if=/dev/sda
of=/dev/sdb
12
Anonymous
June
23,
2011
at
12:55
am
Be
VERY
VERY
careful
about
the
source
and
desCnaCons,
if=
and
of=
If
you
make
a
mistake
and
put
the
wrong
source/desCnaCon
as
if/of,
you
WILL
lose
your
data
and
recovery
becomes
very
annoying.
Possible,
but
annoying,
such
as
losing
all
your
filenames
and
filesizes.
13
ƒeƒ
November
19,
2011
at
9:35
am
delete
MBR
dd
if=/dev/zero
of=/dev/sda
bs=512
count=1
14
Antonio
Nogueira
February
27,
2012
at
9:21
am
Despite
that
is
a
comment
about
to
use
dd
command
to
backup
(and
restore)
dual
boot
parCCons
with
Windows
and
Linux
inside
(I
didn’t
see
any
repply
about
it),
may
I
use
dd
command
to
backup
a
HD
with
one
ParCCon
only
containning
a
windows
system
64bit
and
a€er
to
create
two
parCCons,
restore
the
windows
operaConal
system
on
the
first
parCCon
of
the
HD?
Leave
a
Comment
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E-­‐mail
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6. 6
Examples
to
Backup
Linux
Using
dd
Command
(Including
Disk
... hWp://www.thegeekstuff.com/2010/10/dd-­‐command-­‐examples/
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7. 6
Examples
to
Backup
Linux
Using
dd
Command
(Including
Disk
... hWp://www.thegeekstuff.com/2010/10/dd-­‐command-­‐examples/
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8. 6
Examples
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Backup
Linux
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dd
Command
(Including
Disk
... hWp://www.thegeekstuff.com/2010/10/dd-­‐command-­‐examples/
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