Is etx4 backup and restore only possible in sector-by-sector mode?

Question

linux

Is it possible to quickly create/deploy a disk image of a Linux system (MBR, one etx4 partition and a swap partition)?

And now expanded.

In the case of Windows + NTFS, creating / restoring a disk image is easy and natural - there are Acronis, Paragon, Ghost, which write to the MBR image file and all files, and can also compress the archive if desired. For example, a half-filled 500 GB disk Acronis backs up in less than 20 minutes, restores about the same quickly.

Now the case with Linux. Debian installed on an MBR disk of the same size 500 GB (one ext4 partition + swap partition), with less than 50 GB occupied. I make a backup with Acronis. I notice that the process takes a suspiciously long time. At the end, I read in the Akronis log - "the backup is forcibly made in the sector-by-sector mode." I'm trying to make an image with Paragon - the same thing - backup only in sector-by-sector mode and for a very long time. Okay, I'm trying Linux dd - naturally only in sector-by-sector mode and also very long (500 GB for more than two hours). But that's not all - the image created by dd also takes a very long time to restore and does not work at all after restoration.

It turns out that Linux systems (at least on ext4) are backed up only in sector-by-sector mode? Or am I doing something wrong?

And, if possible, an optional question: are there any analogues of Acronis or Paragon in the Linux world, which would allow, just like in the case of Windows, to make backups easily, conveniently, and most importantly quickly ? Don't offer solutions like Bacula, because not because of one Linux machine it is not worth fencing Bakula.

Answer 1

there is a partclone utility that copies only busy blocks for supported fs.
used as part of the clonezila partition backup package.

Answer 2

Getting on Habré is right for you: Copying hard disk partitions using GNU / Linux: how to get by with a bootable USB flash drive where Acronis used to be needed.

Answer 3

https://relax-and-recover.org/
For a lonely simple Linux, that's it. Especially if you don't have to deal with the database.

Answer 4

timeshift

Answer 5

clonezilla