jamf takeSnapshot

Got a million dollar question here:

from the binary

$ jamf help takeSnapshot

Usage: jamf takeSnapshot -target <target volume> -saveTo </path/to/file> [-modDates]

-target The target drive take a snapshot of

-saveTo The file to save the snapshot to

-modDates Have the snapshot include modification dates of files

Has anyone used this feature before? I have run into a few machines lately where the mobile user account on a laptop is just botched beyond belief and of course there is always like billions of files (ok that is a hyperbole) that the end user never backed up. I am accessing these files from the command line manually copying them to the local user account and then backing those up off the machine so I can wipe and reimage and then apply the back up back to the machine once it has been wiped.

I am just looking at an easier method of grabbing data than manually from the command line. In all 4 or 5 cases I have seen in the last few weeks the user account pretty much disappears all together from the GUI, but is still accessible from the command line.

I assume that if I mount a network share to the machine from the local account and take a snap shot of a user's home directory and save it to that network share I can just copy it back?

Anyone ever use this feature at all? What does it use under the hood, rsync? Is -modDates just like the -E switch in rsycn that captures extended attributes of a file?

Thanks,

Tom