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Yes<br />
<br />
dd if=/dev/your folder of=/where you want to output file
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Yes

dd if=/dev/your folder of=/where you want to output file

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Thank you for your response. &nbsp;I had tried your example before I posted and all I got was an empty file. &nbsp;The DD command indicated that what I was trying to DD was a directory.
</div>


Thank you for your response.  I had tried your example before I posted and all I got was an empty file.  The DD command indicated that what I was trying to DD was a directory.

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dd command cannot be used for copying / imaging a directory.<br />
<br />
on unix / linux, a directory is a especial file that contains info about subdirs and files under that dir.<br />
<br />
so, when you dd a dir then dd will just copy that especial file and not the full directory content.<br />
<br />
you could use command like tar <br />
<br />
tar -cvf /somedir/mydir.tar /path/to/mydir<br />
<br />
but make sure you have enough space on /somedir<br />
<br />
to restore it<br />
<br />
tar -xvf /somedir/mydir.tar
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dd command cannot be used for copying / imaging a directory.

on unix / linux, a directory is a especial file that contains info about subdirs and files under that dir.

so, when you dd a dir then dd will just copy that especial file and not the full directory content.

you could use command like tar

tar -cvf /somedir/mydir.tar /path/to/mydir

but make sure you have enough space on /somedir

to restore it

tar -xvf /somedir/mydir.tar

<div>
Thank you for your help. &nbsp;This actually makes more sense to use.
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Thank you for your help.  This actually makes more sense to use.

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<div class="content wysiwyg-content">
Is it possible to use the DD command to create and image of a directory? &nbsp;I realize that the DD command is traditionally intended to create a copy of data on a piece of media and that if is in allocated or unallocated space is irrelevant. &nbsp;What I am looking for is a bit stream of data from allocated data within a directory.<br />
If I should use another command please let me know. &nbsp;Any examples would be greatly appreciated.
</div>
</div>


Is it possible to use the DD command to create and image of a directory?  I realize that the DD command is traditionally intended to create a copy of data on a piece of media and that if is in allocated or unallocated space is irrelevant.  What I am looking for is a bit stream of data from allocated data within a directory.
If I should use another command please let me know.  Any examples would be greatly appreciated.

Can you use the DD command on a directory in Linux?

Linux is a UNIX-like open source operating system with hundreds of distinct distributions, including: Fedora, openSUSE, Ubuntu, Debian, Slackware, Gentoo, CentOS, and Arch Linux. Linux is generally associated with web and database servers, but has become popular in many niche industries and applications.