partimage(1)

🎀 partimage(1) 🎀

hiiiii bestie 💖 welcome to partimage(1), aka the Partition Image Manual, aka the tool that backs up your disk partitions and brings them back to life. this whole page is literally the glow-up guide for the partimage command and i'm gonna walk you through every single flag, no cap. ✨

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🌸 NAME 🌸

partimage — back up and restore disk partitions 💅

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

okay so here's the shape of it, verbatim, don't @ me:

partimage [ -bcdehimMnoSvwy ] [-B 'pattern response string']
[-z compresslevel] [-V volumesize] [-f actionatend] [-s server]
[-p port] [-a mountoptions] [-U username] [-P password] [-g loglevel] [
save device image_file ]
partimage [ -bcdehimMnoSvwy ] [-B 'pattern response string']
[-z compresslevel] [-V volumesize] [-f actionatend] [-s server]
[-p port] [-a mountoptions] [-U username] [-P password] [-g loglevel] [
restore device image_file/'stdin' ]
partimage [ restmbr image_file ]
partimage [ imginfo image_file ]

so basically you got four modes: save, restore, restmbr, and imginfo. pick your fighter. 👑

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

partimage backs up disk partitions into image files and restores them. that's the whole vibe. archive it, un-archive it, slay. 🫶

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💅 OPTIONS 💅

every single one, in order, no skips. this is the main character section fr fr.

• -z val, --compress val — sets the image file compression level. your options are:
  • val=0: don't compress: very fast but very big image file 🏃
  • val=1: compress using gzip: fast and small image file (this is the default, bestie) 🍓
  • val=2: compress using bzip2: very slow and very small image file 🐌
• -c, --nocheck — don't check the partition before saving. skipping the vibe check, bold move.
• -o, --overwrite — overwrite the existing image file without confirmation. no "are you sure?", just chaos. 💀
• -d, --nodesc — don't ask any description for the image file. no caption needed, it's giving mysterious. 🙈
• -V vol, --volume vol — split image into multiple volumes files. vol will be the size in KB of volumes.
• -w, --waitvol — wait for a confirmation after each volume change. it's like a lil checkpoint break. ⭐
• -e, --erase — erase empty blocks on restore with zero bytes.
• -m, --allowmnt — don't fail if the partition is mounted. Dangerous! ⚠️ lowkey playing with fire, highkey iconic.
• -M, --nombr — don't create a backup of the MBR (Mast Boot Record) in the image file.
• -h, --help — show help. your lil helper. 🎀
• -v, --version — show version.
• -f action, --finish action — action to do if finished successfully:
  • action=0: wait (do nothing) 🧘
  • action=1: halt (power off the computer) 🔌
  • action=2: reboot (restart the computer) 🔄
  • action=3: quit 🚪
• -b, --batch — batch mode: the GUI won't wait for an user action.
• -B 'pattern response string', --fully-batch 'pattern response string' — full batch mode: the GUI is not being displayed. rather, status messages are displayed as normal text. the pattern response string has the following format:

´<glob-pattern>=<response-value>;...´

where the glob pattern is matched against the string <window-title>/<message-text> of the message dialogue box to be displayed. for dialog boxes with buttons in the window, the <response> must be the exact button text. the pattern response string usually needs to be quoted as above.

• -y, --nosync — don't synchronize the disks at the end of the operation. Dangerous! 😭
• -s addr, --server addr — give partimaged server's ip address.
• -p port, --port port — give partimaged server's listening port.
• -g debuglevel, --debug debuglevel — set the debug level to debuglevel (defaults to 1).
• -n, --nossl — disable SSL in network mode. no encryption era. 🔓
• -S, --simulate — simulation of restoration mode. pretend restore, zero consequences, main character energy. ✨
• -a str, --automnt str — automatic mount with X options. read the doc for more details. 📖
• -U name, --username=name — username to authenticate to partimage server.
• -P pass, --password=pass — password for authentication of user to partimage server. 🤫

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🌈 EXAMPLE 🌈

here's exactly how the cool kids do it, copied character for character:

partimage -z1 -o -d save /dev/hda12 /mnt/backup/redhat-6.2.partimg.gz
partimage -z1 -om save /dev/hda9 /mnt/backup/win95-osr2.partimg.gz
partimage restore /dev/hda13 /mnt/backup/suse-6.4.partimg
cat debian.partimg.000 debian.partimg.001 | partimage restore /dev/hda1
stdin
partimage restmbr /mnt/backup/debian-potato-2.2.partimg.bz2
partimage imginfo /mnt/backup/debian-potato-2.2.partimg.bz2

look at that last one, imginfo just peeking at the tea without touching anything. obsessed. ☕

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🫶 SEE ALSO 🫶

partimaged(8) — go say hi to its server-side bestie. 💜

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🔥 DIAGNOSTICS 🔥

you can read options set at compile time running 'partimage -i'.

when using batchmode, exit status is normaly 0. periodt.

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⭐ CAVEATS ⭐

supported file systems: Ext2/3, Reiser3, FAT16/32, HPFS, JFS, XFS, UFS(beta), HFS(beta), NTFS(experimental).

FAT12 will never be supported. never. it's not a phase, it's a lifestyle. 💀

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🧚 BUGS 🧚

refer to BUGS file to read them. the receipts are in there, iykyk. 🙈

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👑 AUTHOR 👑

Franck Ladurelle <ladurelf@partimage.org> Francois Dupoux <fdupoux@partimage.org>

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okay that's the whole page bestie, you made it, i'm so proud 🥹💖 this was 3rd Berkeley Distribution, dated 30 May, 2002, and yes it's still out here being partimage(1) in the manual. go forth and partition responsibly, mwah 💅✨🌸