I use an adapter for this:
https://www.amazon.com/usb-micro-sd-adapter/s?k=usb+to+micro+sd+adapter
Get one of these from any shop. Shutdown your RPI, take out the microSD-card. Plug it into adapter and plug adapter to PC.
I make backup image in Linux because why wouldn't I have Linux installed.
To find out which device it is on your system, run lsblk, blkid or similar in terminal. You might need 'sudo' before the command. 'sudo blkid', 'sudo lsblk', 'sudo fdisk -l'.
Another, graphical way, is using Gnome-disk-utility. It's also easy to mount/automount your NTFS partitions if you want. In case you want to move the backup to your Windows partitions. Always save a backup in more than 1 place. You never know when you have to wipe OSes or partitions or the drive just fails.
It's 1 command: sudo dd bs=4M if=/dev/sdf of=/home/<replace with your username>/rpi.img
if = inputfile. In this case a /dev which is a Device. Sdf is the specific device, in this case my USB-adapter. Don't add any number after sdf. You want the whole device imaged.
of = outputfile. Where you want the image saved. Up to you where you put it.
Here is a guide how to automount your NTFS-partitions:
https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/automount-a-storage-partition-on-startup-in-linux/
Or any partition/device really. It's the exact same procedure. And it is very easy.
If you are on Manjaro like me (or any Arch-derivative I imagine):
'sudo pacman -Sy'
To update repository
'sudo pacman -S gnome-disk-utility '
To install Disks-utility. If you open the utility via Start-menu, it will be called 'Disks'. Works on any Desktop Environment. I am running KDE Plasma. So don't think you have to have Gnome installed or running.
You can also do this graphically, as in the guide. To me, it just takes too long. Faster via terminal.
So now you have the image of your RPI. Copy it to a couple places so you'll always have it.
To image it back to an SD-card, use something like Balena Etcher. You can also use DD but of course reversed. Input file is the image. Outputfile is your device. DD has no failsafes so I would suggest Balena Etcher, so you don't overwrite your OS or anything.
A cross-platform tool to flash OS images onto SD cards and USB drives safely and easily. Free and open source for makers around the world.
www.balena.io
It's those 3 steps, as pictured on the website. Select image, select drive, flash. It is that simple. If you are using an adapter like me, it should be a Mass Storage Device with the size of your SD-card, when you go and select drive.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram