backup_with_fsarchiver.sh

# install fsarchiver
# In Fedora/RedHat system's :: yum install fsarchiver sfdisk dd 
# In Debian/Ubuntu System :: apt-get install fsarchiver sfdisk dd 

DEVICE_TO_BACKUP=/dev/sdb # assuming /dev/sda is where you have booted ur primary OS
mkdir ./backup_with_fsarchiver # create a directory
cd ./backup_with_fsarchiver # enter into newly created directory
# only get the first 512 bytes  # read mbr in wiki for more details
dd if=$DEVICE_TO_BACKUP of=mbr count=1 bs=512 
sfdisk -d $DEVICE_TO_BACKUP > partition.sfdisk

# for partition which are installed on a physcial device
fsarchiver savefs PARTITON_IDENTIFIER.fsa ${DEVICE_TO_BACKUP}/{1,2,3,4...etc} 

# for partition which are installed on a physcial device
fsarchiver savefs PARTITON_IDENTIFIER.fsa /dev/VOLUME_GROUP_NAME/VOLUME_NAME 

bootinfoscript

Boot Info Script 0.60    from 17 May 2011
 
 
============================= Boot Info Summary: ===============================
 
 => Grub Legacy0.97 is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks at sector
    32636 on boot drive #1 for the stage2 file.  A stage2 file is at this
    location on /dev/sda.  Stage2 looks on partition #1 for /grub/grub.conf..
 
sda1: __________________________________________________________________________
 
    File system:       ext4
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info: 
    Operating System: 
    Boot files:        /grub/menu.lst /grub/grub.conf

fsarchiver

No arguments provided, cannot continue
====> fsarchiver version 0.6.11 (2010-12-01) - http://www.fsarchiver.org <====
Distributed under the GPL v2 license (GNU General Public License v2).
 * usage: fsarchiver [<options>] <command> <archive> [<part1> [<part2> [...]]]
<commands>
 * savefs: save filesystems to an archive file (backup a partition to a file)
 * restfs: restore filesystems from an archive (overwrites the existing data)
 * savedir: save directories to the archive (similar to a compressed tarball)
 * restdir: restore data from an archive which is not based on a filesystem
 * archinfo: show information about an existing archive file and its contents
 * probe [detailed]: show list of filesystems detected on the disks
<options>
 -o: overwrite the archive if it already exists instead of failing
 -v: verbose mode (can be used several times to increase the level of details)
 -d: debug mode (can be used several times to increase the level of details)
 -A: allow to save a filesystem which is mounted in read-write (live backup)
 -a: allow running savefs when partition mounted without the acl/xattr options
 -e <pattern>: exclude files and directories that match that pattern
 -L <label>: set the label of the archive (comment about the contents)
 -z <level>: compression level from 1 (very fast)  to  9 (very good) default=3
 -s <mbsize>: split the archive into several files of <mbsize> megabytes each
 -j <count>: create more than one compression thread. useful on multi-core cpu
 -c <password>: encrypt/decrypt data in archive, "-c -" for interactive password
 -h: show help and information about how to use fsarchiver with examples
 -V: show program version and exit
<information>
 * Support included for: lzo=yes, lzma=yes
 * support for ntfs filesystems is unstable: don't use it for production.

restore_with_fsarchiver.sh

#just ensure you select the right 'x'.  "fdisk -l" can show connected disks  
DEVICE_TO_RESTORE=/dev/sdx  
dd if=mbr of=$DEVICE_TO_RESTORE
sfdisk -L $DEVICE_TO_RESTORE < partition.sfdisk  
fsarchiver restfs PARTITON_IDENTIFIER.fsa id=0,dest=${DEVICE_TO_RESTORE}{1,2,3,4…}

# based on partition type, if its volume based or normal partition u need to use pvcreate 
# pvcreate 
# vgcreate
# lvcreate

sfdisk

# partition table of /dev/sdb
unit: sectors
/dev/sdb1 : start=     2048, size=   409600, Id=83, bootable
/dev/sdb2 : start=   411648, size=  7495680, Id=8e
/dev/sdb3 : start=        0, size=        0, Id= 0
/dev/sdb4 : start=        0, size=        0, Id= 0