how to backup

[Robert Heller]

At Tue, 12 Aug 2014 17:49:32 -0700 "Ubuntu user technical support,  not for general discussions" <ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com> wrote:

> 
> I currently have ubuntu 13.10 and 14.10, but when I installed 14.10, it 
> didn't replace 13.10 and it doesn't work.  I am using 13.10.
> 
> Now I want to install a vm and ubuntu 14.10 from bar metal.
> 
> My question is how do I backup my data.  I have usb hard drives, and 
> sticks that are big enough, but they are formatted in FAT32.. I assume 
> that I will loose my permissions, and possible other things if I copy 
> the ext4 files to fat32.

You can install tar and create tar files on the fat32 file systems:

tar cpzvf /media/usbstick/home.tgz -C /home .

The tar file will retain the original file permissions.

It is possible to reformat usb sticks (or USB drives in general), esp. if the 
drives will only be used under Linux.

> 
> tia,
> John
> 

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