Partial Backups

I use RedHat 7.1
I've never had to recover using this! But I've used it for years and for transfering materials to other machines.
since you need a working system to restore a backup to anyway ...
with a package-based system, you can keep a list of your packages and not back up that part of the system (usually the bulk of the material on the drive)

I use RedHat 7.1