Copy a directory tree preserving metadata
Preserve mode, ownership, timestamps, and symlinks.
bashANYcparchivecopy
bash
cp -a /src/. /dst/Notes
Preserve mode, ownership, timestamps, and symlinks.
Linux Backup and Disk Imaging Cheat Sheet
Backup, copy, imaging, clone, and storage troubleshooting workflows on Linux.
Export
Copy the compact sheet, download it, or print it.
Download
`D` dense toggle · `C` copy all
Copy and Synchronize
Copy, archive, and sync data efficiently.
Mirror a directory with rsync
Powerful local or remote copy preserving metadata and ACLs when supported.
bashANYrsyncarchivecopy
bash
rsync -aHAX --info=progress2 /src/ /dst/Notes
Powerful local or remote copy preserving metadata and ACLs when supported.
Mirror and delete removed files
Make the destination match the source exactly.
bashANYrsyncsyncdelete
bash
rsync -a --delete /src/ /dst/Notes
Make the destination match the source exactly.
bash
rsync -aP /src/ user@host:/backup/Notes
Efficiently transfer deltas to a remote server.
bash
tar -czf backup.tar.gz /dataNotes
Package and compress a directory tree.
bash
tar -xzf backup.tar.gz -C /restoreNotes
Restore archive contents to a target directory.
bash
tar -tf backup.tar.gzNotes
Inspect what an archive contains before extracting.
Create a cpio archive from find
Useful in some initramfs and recovery workflows.
bashANYcpioarchivefind
bash
find . -print | cpio -ov > archive.cpioNotes
Useful in some initramfs and recovery workflows.
Show throughput for a pipeline
Add transfer progress to streaming backup pipelines.
bashANYpvbackupprogress
bash
tar -cf - /data | pv | gzip > backup.tar.gzNotes
Add transfer progress to streaming backup pipelines.
Compute a checksum for a backup
Record integrity hashes for backup artifacts.
bashANYsha256sumbackupintegrity
bash
sha256sum backup.tar.gz > backup.tar.gz.sha256Notes
Record integrity hashes for backup artifacts.
Images and Clones
Create raw images and clone or restore devices.
bash
sudo dd if=/dev/sdb of=disk.img bs=64K status=progress conv=sync,noerrorNotes
Image a disk device to a raw file.
bash
sudo dd if=disk.img of=/dev/sdb bs=64K status=progress conv=fsyncNotes
Restore a disk image onto a target device.
Recover an unhealthy disk with ddrescue
Preferred over dd for failing disks because it tracks progress and retries.
bashANYddrescuerecoverydisk
bash
sudo ddrescue -f -n /dev/sdb disk.img disk.logNotes
Preferred over dd for failing disks because it tracks progress and retries.
Backup a GPT partition table
Save GPT headers and partition entries to a file.
bashANYsgdiskgptbackup
bash
sudo sgdisk --backup=gpt.backup /dev/sdbNotes
Save GPT headers and partition entries to a file.
Restore a GPT partition table backup
Restore GPT layout from a saved backup file.
bashANYsgdiskgptrestore
bash
sudo sgdisk --load-backup=gpt.backup /dev/sdbNotes
Restore GPT layout from a saved backup file.
Inspect a virtual disk image
Show image format, virtual size, and backing file info.
bashANYqemu-imgimagevirtual-disk
bash
qemu-img info disk.qcow2Notes
Show image format, virtual size, and backing file info.
Convert a virtual disk image
Convert between raw, qcow2, and other image formats.
bashANYqemu-imgconvertimage
bash
qemu-img convert -O qcow2 disk.raw disk.qcow2Notes
Convert between raw, qcow2, and other image formats.
Compress a raw disk image
Compress large raw images for storage or transfer.
bashANYgzipimagecompress
bash
gzip -1 disk.imgNotes
Compress large raw images for storage or transfer.
bash
xz -T0 disk.imgNotes
Use stronger compression for cold storage backups.
Compare two images byte-for-byte
Quick equality check for cloned images of the same size.
bashANYcmpimageverify
bash
cmp disk1.img disk2.imgNotes
Quick equality check for cloned images of the same size.
Troubleshooting
Find hot paths, busy mounts, and performance or capacity problems.
Show disk throughput and utilization
Inspect per-device read/write rates and utilization over time.
bashANYiostatperformancedisk
bash
iostat -xz 1Notes
Inspect per-device read/write rates and utilization over time.
Watch per-process I/O usage
Find which processes generate the most disk I/O.
bashANYiotopperformanceio
bash
sudo iotopNotes
Find which processes generate the most disk I/O.
Show per-process I/O counters
Track read/write activity by process over time.
bashANYpidstatperformanceio
bash
pidstat -d 1Notes
Track read/write activity by process over time.
Show system-wide I/O wait and block activity
Quick check for iowait, swap, and block device pressure.
bashANYvmstatperformanceio
bash
vmstat 1Notes
Quick check for iowait, swap, and block device pressure.
Filter kernel logs for storage messages
Look for hardware and filesystem errors in kernel logs.
bashANYdmesgstorageerrors
bash
dmesg | egrep -i 'sd[a-z]|nvme|md|I/O error|ext4|xfs'Notes
Look for hardware and filesystem errors in kernel logs.
Search journal for disk errors
Kernel journal view for storage-related problems.
bashANYjournalctlstorageerrors
bash
journalctl -k | egrep -i 'I/O error|blk_update_request|nvme|md'Notes
Kernel journal view for storage-related problems.
Interactive disk usage explorer
Find large paths interactively with a terminal UI.
bashANYncdudisk-usageinteractive
bash
sudo ncdu /Notes
Find large paths interactively with a terminal UI.
bash
find /var -xdev -type f -size +1G -printf '%s %p
' | sort -nNotes
Locate unexpectedly large files on a filesystem.
Find deleted files still consuming space
Useful when df is full but du cannot explain it.
bashANYlsofdeleted-filesspace
bash
sudo lsof | grep '(deleted)'Notes
Useful when df is full but du cannot explain it.
Trim mounted SSD filesystems
Discard unused blocks on mounted SSD-backed filesystems.
bashANYfstrimssdtrim
bash
sudo fstrim -avNotes
Discard unused blocks on mounted SSD-backed filesystems.
More in Linux Disk Storage
Linux LVM, RAID, and Encryption Cheat Sheet
LVM volume management, mdadm RAID, and LUKS encryption workflows.
Linux Filesystems and Mounts Cheat Sheet
Mount, unmount, fstab, filesystem check, and repair workflows on Linux.
Linux Disk Storage Cheat Sheet
Disk inventory, partitions, formatting, and capacity analysis for Linux systems.