FSArchiver review
A focused Linux filesystem archiver, not a complete bare-metal imaging tool.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
FSArchiver is an open-source Linux utility for saving filesystem contents to compressed archive files and restoring them to partitions. It suits administrators and technical users who need filesystem-level backups, metadata preservation, or restoration across partitions of different sizes and filesystem types. Archives can include multiple filesystems, and the tool can run from an installed Linux system or a live environment such as SystemRescue.
The published model is open source with a free plan, and its feature set centers on controlled archive creation and restoration rather than full-disk duplication. FSArchiver preserves filesystem labels, UUIDs, permissions, timestamps, links, extended attributes, and ACLs. It checks archive headers, data blocks, and files for corruption, supports password-based archive encryption, and can use multi-threaded compression. Large archives can be split into multiple volumes, while live backups can use LVM snapshots or network filesystems.
Platform fit is the main boundary. FSArchiver supports Linux and filesystems including ext2, ext3, ext4, reiserfs, reiser4, xfs, jfs, btrfs, FAT16, and FAT32; NTFS support is experimental. It restores filesystems to partitions, but does not provide verified bare-metal recovery or bootable recovery media. Choose FSArchiver when filesystem-level control, metadata retention, and archive portability matter more than complete-machine recovery. Choose a broader disk imaging tool when restoring an entire system or booting directly into a recovery environment is central to the workflow.
FSArchiver pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Compressed archives with multi-threaded compression and volume splitting
- Preserves labels, UUIDs, permissions, timestamps, links, xattrs, and ACLs
- Checksums, password encryption, and live backup support
- Where it doesn't
- No bare-metal restore or bootable recovery media
- Linux-only platform focus with experimental NTFS support
- No cloud destination integration
FSArchiver fact sheet, pricing and score →
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