​http://www.intencorp.com/karmilow/share/howto-cpio.html

Bernie's abbreviated Solaris/Linux cpio How-To

1. Backing up files to a cpio file

cd to the directory you want to archive, and issue the command

solaris-$ find . -depth -print | cpio -ocBdum > filename.cpio

-or-

linux-$ find . -depth -print | cpio -o -H newc > filename.cpio

2. Restoring files from a cpio file

cd to the directory you want the archived files written to, and issue the command

solaris-$ cpio -icBdum < filename.cpio

-or-

linux-$ cpio -idum -H newc < filename.cpio

3. Backing up files to a cpio tape

cd to the directory you want to archive, and issue the command

solaris-$ find . -depth -print | cpio -ocBdum > /dev/rmt/0

-or-

linux-$ find . -depth -print | cpio -o -H newc > /dev/rmt0

4. Restoring files from a cpio tape

cd to the directory you want the archived files written to, and issue the command

solaris-$ cpio -icBdum < /dev/rmt/0

-or-

linux-$ cpio -idum -H newc < /dev/rmt0

5. Restoring a particular file from a cpio tape

cd to the directory you want the archived file (/etc/hosts in this example) written to, and issue the command

solaris-$ cpio -icBdum < /dev/rmt/0 "/etc/hosts"

-or-

linux-$ cpio -idum -H newc < /dev/rmt0 "/etc/hosts"

6. Some other local (Linux) examples

local out:

find etc -depth -print | cpio -o -H newc > cpios/etc.cpio

find include -depth -print | cpio -o -H newc > cpios/include.cpio

local in:

cpio -idum -H newc < /mnt/home/cpios/etc.cpio

cpio -idum -H newc < /mnt/home/cpios/include.cpio

7. Some network (Linux) examples

net out:

pull: remote cpio -> local archive

rsh -n remote_host "cd /remote_dir ; find remote_file -depth -print | cpio -o -H newc" > local_archive

push: local cpio -> remote archive

find local_file -depth -print | cpio -o -H newc -F remote_host:/remote_dir/remote_archive

net in:

pull: remote archive -> local cpio

cpio -idum -H newc -F remote_host:/remote_dir/remote_archive

rsh -n remote_host dd if=/remote_dir/remote_archive | cpio -idum -H newc

push: local archive -> remote cpio

dd if=/local_dir/local_archive | rsh -n remote_host "cd /remote_dir ; cpio -idum -H newc"