Fastest way to create local copy of live InnoDB MySQL database?
You can take a backup from the live MySQL with Xtrabackup.

Percona provides deb repository for Ubuntu. To install the repo for Ubuntu 12.04 follow instructions:


Install the key:

# apt-key adv --keyserver keys.gnupg.net --recv-keys 1C4CBDCDCD2EFD2A

Add the source file:

# cat /etc/apt/sources.list.d/percona.list 
deb http://repo.percona.com/apt precise main
deb-src http://repo.percona.com/apt precise main

Update the local cache:

# apt-get update

And install xtrabackup:

# apt-get install xtrabackup



To take a copy of the database run following:

    # innobackupex .


It will create a directory like "2010-03-13_02-42-44". Copy that directory to a development box, apply redo log:

    # innobackupex --apply-log /data/backups/2010-03-13_02-42-44/ 


Then the directory is ready to use. Copy it back to MySQL datadir and fix ownership:

    # cp /data/backups/2010-03-13_02-42-44/ /var/lib/mysql
    # chown -R mysql:mysql /var/lib/mysql


Then you may start MySQL.

More details you can find on http://www.percona.com/doc/percona-xtrabackup/2.1/how-tos.html