Exporting/Importing a large MySQL database without mysqldump
For MySQL, you have these methods (beside mysqldump):


Select ... into outfile: support all engines, in can be use for a warm backup, it's slow for backup and recovery.
mk-parallel-backup: support all engines, used it for warm, backup and recovery speed is medium.
ibbackup: all engines, warm (if you use this method for only INNODB it can be hot), and it's fast for backup and recovery


here is a good image about backups.