One solution: As root: # cd / # find . -xdev | afio -o -Z filename.afio xdev tells find not to go across a mount boundry, so you may have to list several root s for find, i.e. # find . /root /other/dir /somewhere/else -xdev | afio -o -Z filename.afio Of course, there a many ways to do this, some using tar, some using afio. I am sure you will get other suggestions as well.