/mnt/p5$ mkdir BACKUP
/mnt/p5$ sudo du -s /etc
18056   /etc
/mnt/p5$ sudo cp -a /etc ./BACKUP/
/mnt/p5$ sudo du -s BACKUP/etc/
16459   BACKUP/etc/
/mnt/p5$ ll BACKUP/etc/ | wc -l   #ll == alias ll='ls -al --color=always'
280
/mnt/p5$ ll /etc/ | wc -l
280