I currently have the following setup:2TB HDD /dev/sda:/dev/sda1: (NTFS) Windows 7 Boot Partition: 100GB1TB HDD /dev/sdb:/dev/sdb1: (EXT4) Linux General/Backup Partition - 1TB256GB SSD /dev/sdc:/dev/sdc1: (FAT) Windows 7 Loader Partition - 100MB/dev/sdc5: (EXT4) Main Linux Boot Partition - 255.9GBHere's what I'm going to do. /dev/sdc, the SSD, will be combined with other SSDs in a RAID-0 configuration. /dev/sda will be combined with other drives into a RAID-6 configuration. /dev/sdb will most likely become entirely NTFS for Windows space.Is there a way that I can copy /dev/sda1, /dev/sdc1, and /dev/sdc5 to files on a filesystem in order to then create partitions out of them? After configuring the arrays and setting up GPT on each virtual drive, is there a utility I can use to create the partitions from backup files? Better yet, is there a way to compress down these partitions on the FS so that empty blocks are not copied so I only have to store what's actually there? Essentially, what I'd like to do is to make an optimized backup of these partitions, then install them where they need to go, then expand them as need be to fill the disks. I know how to expand partitions, but is there a relatively easy way to back them up and flash them back?
Copying and expanding partitions
partition;backup
With the exceptions of moving partitions to other devices and partition numbers, Clonezilla is an awesome tool for creating compressed backups of a lot of different filesystem types. There's nothing quite like being able to restore to exactly where you left off in every way. 