While not specifically designed for backups, you could use the Helix cd (http://www.e-fense.com/helix/), which has netcat and dd, which make a great combination for grabbing the contents of a file (or partition, or drive) and dumping them across the network to another computer. Since Helix is Knoppix-based, this might do what I think you're looking for.
Jon -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Maarten Sent: Thursday, May 27, 2004 11:59 AM To: Full-Disclosure Subject: Re: [Full-Disclosure] Imaging Operating Systems On Thursday 27 May 2004 18:30, Kevin Connolly wrote: > Maarten wrote: > > This is an interesting thread... But out of curiosity, is it also > > possible to do backup / restores using readily available linux tools? > > I'd like to be able to do something like running dd over a network > > connection, or tar, or whatever other tool. In that case, a > > bootable CD is all you need. But I'm unsure how to do that... > > > > Maarten > > one suggestion > make the PC dual boot: Windows and Linux with the Linux partition > larger. Yes, I know. I did that at the time when I still needed dual-boot. No, what I want is more generic (and it is slightly offtopic since it is not specifically meant to tryout malware). Suppose I visit a friend who has a botched system, and I carry with me my linux laptop and a knoppix CD. Now if there would be a way to backup his entire HDD with just the tools on the CD (and the laptop as receiving host) that would be fantastic. I was thinking of something like using {tar | dd | cpio} and netcat but I'm unsure if it can be done, much less how to proceed. > boot Linux and dd the raw Windows partition to a Linux file boot > Windows and play with malware boot Linux and dd the file back out to > the Windows partition rince and repeat... This works just fine for one or two drawbacks: You need to plan this in advance, and malicious code that randomly overwrites disks will kill linux + imagefile then, too. Maarten -- Yes of course I'm sure it's the red cable. I guarante[^%!/+)F#0c|'NO CARRIER _______________________________________________ Full-Disclosure - We believe in it. Charter: http://lists.netsys.com/full-disclosure-charter.html _______________________________________________ Full-Disclosure - We believe in it. Charter: http://lists.netsys.com/full-disclosure-charter.html