Howto: Backup and restore your system!

[crazybear]

If your backing up a system, and not just personal data. I have found the best option is just to make a hard drive image. For this task, backup options in Ubuntu all seem to be lacking in one aspect or another. Clonezilla is OK, but makes large backup files and hasn't always worked correctly for me.

If you can borrow the use of someone's Windows system for a few minutes, download the free Paragon Backup and Recovery: http://www.paragon-software.com/home.../download.html

Then install and it and create a recovery CD.

The recovery CD provides a pre-boot enviroment which allows you to backup a disk-image of your HDD. There are lots of options available and it creates pretty small files. It's compatible even with ext4 files systems.

Yes, I want to back up the entire system and information - My disks crash regularly and can't be recovered [newer drives are less-recoverable - everyone beware!]...so, Maybe this is the solution. I have Windows and have Paragon....but not sure about the set up, as Windows can't see Linux disks...will try and see what happens in the pre-boot environment. Thanks.

NB - you see to imply that one should install the Pargon on the Ubuntu system...but a windows-based program won't. I do NOT dual boot. I keep my different OS on different disks entirely! Did you mean other?

[janisgeiger]

hey. I'm pretty much surprised about how this linux thing is working....

I was sceptical about this tar method so I used dd_rescue to make an image of my drive, erased the drive, mounted the image and used sudo cp to copy it to the new empty drive. Did Grub restore etc (before) et voila, it's back as if nothing happened... No driver issues and so on. complete duplicate of the system. how is this possible?

[dave2001]

you see to imply that one should install the Pargon on the Ubuntu system...but a windows-based program won't. I do NOT dual boot. I keep my different OS on different disks entirely! Did you mean other?

Sorry if I wasn't clear Crazybear, You do indeed need a windows based system to install Paragon on.

However, once you use the Windows-based Paragon application to create a "rescue and recovery" CD, your good to go.

The resulting CD is bootable, and works as a stand-alone solution for backup and recovery, with NTFS, FAT, and Ext2, Ext3, Ext4 filesystems. I don't know why Paragon doesn't just offer a download of the "rescue and recovery" CD as an iso.

[muppet317]

Just a quick note.

The first time I ran the script in the original post I got the following error:

tar: /: file changed as we read it
root@ubuntu-desktop:/#

I checked the thread and it didnt seem clearly resolved, the clearest advice was

You probably were executing a program and it was writing actively to a file who was being read for tar'ing.

I'd say: back up again (just for safety) but try to have a minimal number of programs running. (I was getting this when tar'ing my home folder with firefox running...)

So I ran it again with every application other than terminal emulator closed and hit the same problem.

I resolved this and it worked fine simply by adding

--exclude=/dev

to the original code. The backup then ran fine without the error (and I noticed that when it had previously stopped with the earlier it hadn't completed a full backup).

I haven't yet tried unpacking, but thought I'd post this up here in case other people come across the same problem.

[muppet317]

And thank you for amazingly useful how to, if this saves me from trying to remember all the tweaks and packages I struggle to find whenever i wreck my system this will be an absolute godsend.

[ziphem]

Thought I'd do another followup from previous posts (http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...postcount=1315)

Using rsync to backup my system to an internal 2nd HD (the backup) is fantastic - but it creates a major problem if the backup hard drive is not mounted (my drives/partitions don't mount automatically, but I mount them manually every boot up).

If the backup is mounted, which is at /media/Backup, then the system will rysnc appropriately, and the world is good. However, what if I forgot to mount one partition manually upon booting up? If the 2nd hard drive is not mounted, my rsync script will create the directory /media/Backup on the PRIMARY drive, so...: you guessed it, my primary drive runs out of HD room. What happens next is a system that ultimately ceases to work, and which will not reboot back into my linux distro. This is fixed by deleting the [primary HD] /media/Backup directory right away, if possible. If not possible, then I have to reboot into a rescue disk/USB, and delete /media/Backup that way. Quite a pain.

Below is a solution that solves this problem. I hope this helps others, as it is quite a good help to me. I don't know why I didn't think of writing this when I started using rsync to backup my system! Also, I guess I could do something fancier instead of echo "Not all devices mounted!!", but it serves my purposes. Eventually I'll see that not all drives are mounted

#!/bin/bash

if [ -d /media/SHARED ] && [ -d /media/Backup ] && [ -d /media/SW_Preload ]
then
rsync -av -Hl -X --delete --stats --ignore-errors --exclude-from=/home/user/Backup_jobs/backup.lst / /media/Backup/
else
  echo "Not all devices mounted!!"
fi

[Robert Lock]

Dude, Heliode, this is some darn good advice! I love the break down of the command, demonstrating you not only know the command, but what it actually means. I also really appreciate the sense of humor you bring to the table (i.e., Windows CrazyThings (tm), now that's entertainment!) I'm in my first six months of making the switch, and I couldn't be more pleased with Ubuntu or with Linux for that matter. Like you and many others, I was once a WinKy user, and this backup method beats the daylights out of anything coming out of the MS world.

Thanks for your time of posting this in the forums!

P.S.-- I think I know the command you're talking about when you said:

"You can even remove every single file of a Linux system while it is running with one command. I'm not giving you that command though!"

-That's probably a good idea - but don't we all feel like typing sudo s**** / every now and then when our computers aren't doing what we want?

[hoveman]

@Heliode: Thanks for your nice tutorial.

I would also suggest to exclude the /media folder, since external devices or some dvd's shouldn't be backuped? Or what would you say?

best regards...

[nepalnt21]

so if i use this guide to create a backup, and then with some messing around screw up my system completely, i should be able to use the backup to restore back completely, including gui settings, etc.?

[Robert Lock]

@Heliode: Thanks for your nice tutorial.

I would also suggest to exclude the /media folder, since external devices or some dvd's shouldn't be backuped? Or what would you say?

best regards...

hoveman - you can exclude the /media folder, or simply unmount any partitions you have mounted there, however, if you want them as part of your backup, then you should leave them. I think heliode is giving this tutorial as a system backup, but you can use it for a full backup, if you wish. As far as audio CD (if one is in the drive) you'll want to exclude /home/<user>/.gvfs - or, of course, just eject the CD, but this should give you some more options.