8.10 clean install - ext3 disk format different from 8.04???

[mingle]

Hi,

I've performed a few clean installs of Ubutnu 8.10 on several machines, after which I tried to use Norton Ghost and Acronis True Image to create image backups of the ext3 partitons, on which I installed Ubuntu 8.10...

.. With no luck - Ghost would just drop out almost immediately after starting the image creation and Acronis would say that it doesn't support the version of the ext3 filesystem...

This was never a problem with Ubutnu 8.04, as both Ghost and Acronis would create image backups of the ext3 partition with no errors...

Is there something about the formatting of the partitions by the Ubuntu 8.10 installer that's changed? The only thing I can think of is that the default block size has increased

Does anyone know anything about this? Is there any way I can check the disk format?

Cheers,

Mike.

[kaibob]

...Is there something about the formatting of the partitions by the Ubuntu 8.10 installer that's changed? The only thing I can think of is that the default block size has increased

The ext3 inode size has increased from 128 to 256 bytes. Apparently this was done for compatibility purposes to allow upgrades to ext4.

See this thread for further information:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=964793

You can check inode size with:


sudo dumpe2fs /dev/sda2 | grep -i "inode size"

You have to change sda2 to the correct one for your system.

REFERENCE:
http://ph.ubuntuforums.com/showthread.php?t=954746

[mingle]

Hi,

I suspected something sneaky had happened! :-)

I managed to get around it by pre-formatting my Ubuntu destination partition as ext3, rather than letting the 8.10 installer do it for me...

After the install I was able to use both Ghost 11.5 and True Image 8.1.945 to backup my Ubuntu 8.10 partition with no issues...

Will this (my formatting as 'old' ext3) cause any problems?

Cheers,

Mike.

[kaibob]

Hi,

I suspected something sneaky had happened! :-)

I managed to get around it by pre-formatting my Ubuntu destination partition as ext3, rather than letting the 8.10 installer do it for me...

After the install I was able to use both Ghost 11.5 and True Image 8.1.945 to backup my Ubuntu 8.10 partition with no issues...

Will this (my formatting as 'old' ext3) cause any problems?

Cheers,

Mike.

How did you pre-format? With gparted?

I don't know enough to say whether this will cause any problems. I did a google search, and a few programs other than True Image have an issue with 256-byte inode ext3 systems. So, it's possible that you may have fewer problems. Perhaps someone with more knowledge than me can provide a more informed opinion.

[mingle]

Hi kaibob,

I preformatted using Acronis Disk Director on the (excellent) Hiren Boot CD 9.6.

There are loads of handy partitioning and backup tools, most of which support all of the main Linux disk formats.

However most (all?) of the disk backup/cloning tools failed to work with the 'default' Ubuntu 8.10 formatting...

That CD has saved my skin on many occasions.

If you've never used it I suggest you give it a try. I tried using the Linux Rescue CD 1.1.0, but gave up. Hiren is just so useful and easy to use.

Cheers,

Mike.

[kaibob]

Hi kaibob, I preformatted using Acronis Disk Director on the (excellent) Hiren Boot CD 9.6....

Thanks! I'll give it a try.

kaibob

[odieman]

Hi Guys,

check out this forum
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=6064494
to know what is happening. I have the same problem with Acronis as those guys :-)

MiK