[lug] Backup to 2nd HD with dd & rsync?

[Thomas R. Detman]

I have two hard disks spinning in my workstation.
I would like to use one as a backup for the other, 
--> if it isn't too too complicated.
One is a SCSI and the other is IDE.  (A result of history, not plan.)
The SCSI is the one I use, it is 17 GB, ext3, with 4 partitions.
The IDE could be wiped. It is 12 GB, ext2, with 2 partitions.
Every thing stored on the SCSI only takes up only 10.5 GB.

Me thinks I'de start by using dd to copy the "stuff" on the SCSI 
onto the IDE, wiping out previous IDE contents in the process. 
(Doing such "stuff" is outside my envelope of knowledge and comfort.)

Next I'de set up a cron job to keep the IDE drive up to date as
a "mirror" of the SCSI drive using rsync.  The rsync web page:
http://rsync.samba.org/ seems to suggest this is just the kind of
thing rsync was made for.

I think I might be able to muddle thru the rsync part, but even
after reading the man and info pages on dd, it still seems like
black magic to me.

Tom