[CentOS] CentOS 5.0 /proc Backup/Restore

Hi,

I've recently switched to CentOS 5.0 from RedHat 9.0 and found a new directory /proc which contains "virtual" files according to the docs. When I try to run my normal backup which uses cpio to create archives, it complains about not being able to access many files in the /proc directory. This is also true of some files in /sys/devices.

Searching for something that wouldn't have this problem, I tried mondorescue. One of the first things I noticed is, by default, mondorescue skips the /proc directory. Does anyone know the details of my observations here? Are these files automatically generated at runtime?

Thanks is advance for any insight someone can provide here!

John