Re: Howto: Backup and restore your system!
Quote:
Originally Posted by jeremy
Partimage is really quite easy to use, somewhat similar to ghost. As far as I know it isn't on the ubuntu live cd, which is why I use knoppix.
You should start partimage from a root console, and the partition that you are imaging should not be mounted. I make my images on a 2nd HD, then burn to dvd from ubuntu.
Partimage not on Ubuntu live: I should have thought of that! That's what comes of writing before my second cup of coffee (or third).
I'll download and burn a Knoppix Live CD and experiment, maybe this weekend. I have three hard drives so I ought to be able to do something safe as a learning experience...
Re: Howto: Backup and restore your system!
Yes, play around with it, it's the best way to learn ;-)
When you've fired up knoppix, go to 'KNOPPIX' in the menu, then 'Root Shell', then type in 'partimage', it may say that it can't find something (can't remember what) and should it be created, say yes. -- I am telling you this because it took me a while to figure it out.
Good luck, and happy imaging!
Re: Howto: Backup and restore your system!
MONDO is in synaptic!
home page is www.mondorescue.org
Re: Howto: Backup and restore your system!
I've managed to back up my Ubuntu install on my laptop to a windows network drive using this guide. Right now I'm backing up the stuff on the windows partition using Ghost.
When that's done, I'm going to format the drive clean and re-create my linux partitions, devoting the whole thing to Ubuntu :) Then I'm going to see if restoring from this tgz backup actually works :p
For those interested (and any who want to point out flaws) here is my restore plan:
1. Format the drive
2. Boot from my knoppix cd
3. Create a 1gb swap partition and an ext3 partition using the rest
4. Copy the tgz backup to the newly created root partition
5. Extract the backup as per the instructions in your guide
6. Reboot and hope for the best :)
Re: Howto: Backup and restore your system!
Using that method, will you have boot capability from the newly created Linux drive? That's the part that worries me about trying to transfer to another drive. I suppose if need be the boot record could be created later on, but it sounds to me like a golden opportunity to really mess things up. And I'm normally not afraid to experiment!
It's just that I lack practice and experience in transferring a whole system, and I don't want to have to spend days recreating all my stuff (even with backups of the home directory in a safe place, there's plenty more that's been customized and apps added, etc.)
Re: Howto: Backup and restore your system!
GRUB should still work fine. I'm not actually going to format the entire drive, but rather delete the existing partitions, create new ones, and format them for linux. The MBR, where GRUB is installed, should be unchanged.
If all else fails, I could simply reinstall Ubuntu from the CD, then use it to copy the tgz backup into the root and extract it, overwriting the existing files. At least I *think* that would work...
Re: Howto: Backup and restore your system!
Good luck. Sounds like a workable plan to me... Be sure to report back with your results, OK?
Re: Howto: Backup and restore your system!
See my post later for an updated overview of the steps I took using the tar.gz method
Re: Howto: Backup and restore your system!
In that case, I think I'll wait to attempt my re-partition and restore O_o
Thanks for the heads up.
Re: Howto: Backup and restore your system!
Lakcaj, I just want to say two things: (1) I admire anybody who can go through that experience and still both maintain a sense of humor AND write cogently; (2) I think I'll wait a while before attempting to transfer my Ubuntu to my big hard drive. :)