Byte level hard drive synchronization?

[Hedgehog1]

What I wish to do is backup the entire (internal) hard drive onto an external hard drive, to ensure I can access all the files I'm using ubuntu booted from a usb stick. (The internal hard drive has windows 7 installed)

Folks - remember the OP is backing up a Windows system using his Ubuntu-On-A-Stick.

Clonezilla will backup windows, but it is it's own Linux CD (but it works). dd and dd_rescue do as well. None of these three options offer incremental backup, as was pointed out.

Are there issues with TAR based backups of NTFS partitions? I have never tried it.

[matt_symes]

Hi

Are there issues with TAR based backups of NTFS partitions? I have never tried it.

Tar can be used to backup windows files and folders. There might be issues with filename characters but i have never come across any yet.

Kind regards

[srs5694]

I missed that this was a Windows installation. If you don't have Linux installed on the computer at all, then I recommend you look to Windows backup tools, not Linux tools. One I've used successfully is DriveImage XML; however, my needs for Windows backup are modest. I have successfully backed up and restored using this software, though. One caveat: You'll need to prepare a custom Windows recovery CD/DVD to restore using DriveImage XML. Its Web page provides instructions for creating such a disc, but the procedure is a bit hairy.

I doubt if backing up a bootable NTFS partition using tar from Linux would work, since when you mount NTFS in Linux, you lose access to certain types of data, such as NTFS's ownership and permissions data. (There's no easy way to map this data to Linux equivalents, so the Linux drivers ignore it.) There might be a tar port to Windows that would work from Windows, though. This issue might not be a big deal on a data-only partition.

If you absolutely must back up an NTFS partition from Linux, I recommend ntfsbackup, which is in one of the regular Linux NTFS packages (I don't recall which one offhand). It can create backups that omit unused sectors, which can help with speed, particularly if your drive is far from full, and it's a low-level utility that can preserve bootability; however, there's no incremental backup option, and you've got to be very careful when restoring to restore only to a partition that starts on the same sector as the original, or it won't boot.

Now, all that said, if the computer dual-boots between Linux and Windows, you can still use a Linux option (tar, rsync, etc.) to back up the Linux partition(s), along with a native Windows tool to back up the Windows partition(s). Something like Clonezilla can theoretically handle both. (I think it uses ntfsbackup to handle NTFS, but I'm not positive of that.)

[jordanmoore]

Learning some very interesting things here.

The reason I wish to choose ubuntu on a stick is because I need access to files that cannot be copied while running windows (like shell32.dll, sam, etc).

I do need a method that can backup the boot sector too because, as my hard drive is encrypted, the first bootloader is actually where I have to enter the decryption key. (though I have a DVD which can restore this boot loader).

My problem is however, I cannot run a windows tool because that would require windows - and I don't "think" I'd be able to fit a bootable windows on a 2GB usb stick.


I read something interesting about setting up a "raid" drive or something. Would this, if setup correctly, essentially act as a backup? (because to my knowledge it's essentially a mirror image).

[jerome1232]

A RAID mirror is NOT a backup. It's for fault tolerance only. (ie if one drive fails the computer can continue to run normally)

If your Windows partition is encrypted using a Windows specific encryption tool then your only option from linux may be to do a byte-for-byte copy since linux won't be able to unlock the encryption.

[jordanmoore]

The encryption tool is available for linux and mac too. Although I would not like to decrypt the drive at any stage because this would result in an unencrypted backup on the external drive - which would kind of ruin the whole point of encrypting the hard drive in the first place in my opinion.

Can anyone give me an estimated time it would take to do a byte to byte backup using "dd" using a 250GB source drive to a USB external drive (480mpbs connection)? (internal hdd is 5400rpm if that helps).

Thanks again!

[jerome1232]

If you want to do an incremental type backup you need to unlock the encryption. That doesn't necessarily result in an unencrypted backup, you just encrypt the target backup partition.

[jordanmoore]

You're absoloutly right, that would work. I think I've discovered what I'll need to do now.

My internal HDD is 250GB.
I'll purchase a 320GB external hard drive.
On the external hard drive I'll create two partitions:

• backup partition (260GB) for (weekly) byte level backup
• backup partition (60GB) for (nightly) backup of most important files

Thanks for all your help everyone, I truly appreciate it!