Should I include /dev in backups?
Solution 1:
Some directories are irrelevant into a backup. For example:
- /dev/*
- /proc/*
- /sys/*
- /tmp/*
- *lost+found
They are created during the boot, and are related specific with your devices and/or your running processes.
While its irrelevant to backup or not - your kernel will recreate those directories when boot from restored backup - you probably will save a little time if you do not backup it.
Solution 2:
- None of the nodes in dev are real files, and none of them contain much that isn't generated.