Booting Off a Backup Root Partition

One way to recover from disaster is to have another bootable root file system. Use format(1M) to make a partition the exact size of the original, then use dd(1M) to copy it. After making a copy, run fsck(1M) on the new file system to ensure its integrity.

Later, if the system cannot boot from the original root partition, boot the backup partition and use dd(1M) to copy the backup partition onto the original one. If the system will not boot but the root file system is undamaged (just the boot block or boot program was destroyed), boot off the backup partition with the ask (-a) option, then specify the original file system as the root file system.