Back Up Techniques

[Ted Hilts]

I used to use "dd" for backup of small partitions.  This takes a lot of 
time when trying to back up large partitions and complete hard drives.  
I tried a commercial product running on the dual boot XP in order to 
backup the entire disk including the 80GigB Ubuntu partition.  However, 
the commercial product (Acronis True Image) complained about 
inconsistencies but I continued with the backup anyway.  It took many 
hours and consumed the CPU and neither XP or Ubuntu could run.  XP would 
actually run (slowly) but I wanted to work on Ubuntu.  Also, I have no 
way of testing the integrity of that part of the backup involving the 
Ubuntu partition.

There is some kind of backup running on Ubuntu (or supposed to be) but I 
have no indication when and what it is backing up.  Apparently it was 
installed as part of the initial installation.

I need some input on this whole issue.  I would like to be able to work 
on Ubuntu (involving heavy CPU usage) and have the backup solution work 
when CPU usage tapers off.    Also, I would like the backup routine to 
feed the backup directly to a DVD.  And I would like some kind of 
verification that I have a legitimate backup on DVD and some way of 
proving that is the case.  Also, if Ubuntu dies I would like a process 
that allows me to reinstall based directly on the DVD contents.

Thanks -- Ted