mysqlhotcopy

Source
A Database Backup Program
mysqlhotcopy is a Perl script that was originally written and contributed by Tim Bunce. It uses FLUSH TABLES, LOCK TABLES, and cp or scp to make a database backup. It is a fast way to make a backup of the database or single tables, but it can be run only on the same machine where the database directories are located. mysqlhotcopy works only for backing up MyISAM and ARCHIVE tables. It runs on Unix and NetWare.
To use mysqlhotcopy, you must have read access to the files for the tables that you are backing up, the SELECT privilege for those tables, the RELOAD privilege (to be able to execute FLUSH TABLES), and the LOCK TABLES privilege (to be able to lock the tables).

shell> mysqlhotcopy db_name [/path/to/new_directory]

shell> mysqlhotcopy db_name_1 ... db_name_n /path/to/new_directory

Back up tables in the given database that match a regular expression:

shell> mysqlhotcopy db_name./regex/

The regular expression for the table name can be negated by prefixing it with a tilde (“~”):

shell> mysqlhotcopy db_name./~regex/

mysqlhotcopy supports the following options, which can be specified on the command line or in the [mysqlhotcopy] and [client] option file groups.

Table 4.12. mysqlhotcopy Options: