Can I create a backup image of Linux using Macrium or Acronis?

In this excerpt from
Answercast #79, I look at the pros and cons in using backup programs, such as
Macrium Reflect or Acronis, to back up a Linux-based computer.

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Backing up Linux computers

Believe it or not, the answer is yes, but it’s not a very straightforward thing.

What you end up doing is with those programs’ rescue media, instead of booting from Linux (or whatever happens to be installed on the machine);

• You boot from the rescue media;

• The rescue media, for most of these programs, will then allow you to back up.

So you would connect an external drive. After booting from the rescue media, use the version of the backup program that is automatically run to back up an image of the hard drive of your machine. The backup contents don’t matter in that case. The backup program will simply backup whatever is on that hard disk, be it Windows or Linux or something else completely.

Can’t access files with Linux

Now, the downside of this approach is that you cannot access the contents of that backup image in your Linux operating system.

You may be able to access it from Windows… but I’m thinking you may not, because it’s probably not a file system that Windows will recognize.

So, the only thing that that backup image would be useful for would be for restoring in its entirety to that hard disk or a replacement hard disk.

So, it can be done; it is possible. There are some pros and cons to it. It’s not as flexible as a traditional Windows-based solution for a Windows-based machine, but absolutely, backup imaging software like Acronis and Macrium could in fact be used to back up whatever happens to be within a partition after having booted from their rescue media CDs or DVDs.

(Transcript lightly edited for readability.)