I've had a hard time finding a low-end backup solution (i.e., for personal use) that retains and restores all metadata.
Long ago, I assumed that backup (and move) applications are relatively simple. But it has never seemed to work out that way.
Long ago, I assumed that backup (and move) applications are relatively simple. But it has never seemed to work out that way.
Today, back-to-back tar is rarely needed, as cp itself already has options to preserve metadata. In particular, "-a","--archive" turns all the normal features (including --recursive), making metadata-preserving backups as easy as:
cp -a $SRC $DST
cp --recursive --no-dereference \
--preserve=context,links,mode,ownership,timestamps,xattr
mount /dev/sdb1 /m
tar cf - . --exclude=./m --exclude=./proc --exclude=./sys | (cd /m; umask 0; tar -xf -)
mkdir /m/proc /m/sys
grub-install --root-directory=/m /dev/sdb