Specifying Files to Back Up

You must always include files-to-backup as the last argument on the command line. This argument specifies the source or contents of the backup. It usually identifies a file system but can also identify individual files or directories.

For a file system, specify the raw device file for a disk slice. It includes the disk controller abbreviation (c), the target number (t) for SCSI devices only, a number indicating the disk number (d), and the slice number (s). For example, if you have a SCSI disk controller on your standalone system (or server) and you want to back up /usr located in slice 6, specify the device as follows:

/dev/rdsk/c0t0d0s6

You can specify the file system by its mount point directory (for example, /home), as long as there is an entry for it in the /etc/vfstab file.

See "Backup Device Names" for a complete description of device naming conventions.

For individual files or directories, type one or more names separated by spaces.

When you use ufsdump to back up one or more directories or files (rather than a whole file system), a level 0 backup is done. Incremental backups do not apply.