dumping file system subtree (/var)

[Gary Aitken]

When I originally set up my SSD, the stuff I was following indicated there was no need to put anythng on a separate filesystem.  I'm now trying to build a backup system on a usb drive and I want a separate /var and /tmp.

I had originally set the nodump flag on /tmp and /var, so my snapshot is empty for those.

I don't think there's any reason to preserve /tmp, but is there any good way to copy /var from the running system on the SSD to another filesystem (and still preserve everything, including flags)?  My impression is both mksnap_ffs and dump should only be used on a complete filesystem, not a subtree.

Or do I need to unset the nodump flag on /var, make a snapshot of /, take a dump :-), and then split the /var out upon restore?

And would it be wise to repartition the SSD to put /var and /tmp on their own partitions?

Gary