linux-archiving-quick-guide

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linux archive tar gzip zip backup compression sysadmin devops docker

Linux Archiving Quick Guide

TAR (Recommended for Linux Backups)

Create `.tar.gz`

tar -czvf backup.tar.gz folder/

Extract `.tar.gz`

tar -xzvf backup.tar.gz

What the flags mean

Flag	Meaning
`-c`	Create archive
`-x`	Extract archive
`-z`	Use gzip compression
`-v`	Show progress
`-f`	Archive filename

ZIP (Best for Windows Compatibility)

Create ZIP

zip -r backup.zip folder/

Extract ZIP

unzip backup.zip

Recommended Usage

Linux servers / Docker backups

tar -czvf backup.tar.gz folder/

zip -r backup.zip folder/

Example Backup

tar -czvf vw-data-$(date +%F).tar.gz vw-data/

Example output:

vw-data-2026-05-24.tar.gz