the best backup system for knoppix?

[helios17]

Since using linux, I have finally got an installation that would kill me if I lost it...and trust me, the old linux saying, "if it aint broke, fix it till it is." is my mantra. I am looking for a program that allows me to do a disk by disk copy with the first disk being bootable. I have apt-cache searched and even installed a couple of them but they look a bit complex for my simple noob mind. Does anyone have a preference for both ease and function?

thanx

helios

[firebyrd10]

Since using linux, I have finally got an installation that would kill me if I lost it...and trust me, the old linux saying, "if it aint broke, fix it till it is." is my mantra. I am looking for a program that allows me to do a disk by disk copy with the first disk being bootable. I have apt-cache searched and even installed a couple of them but they look a bit complex for my simple noob mind. Does anyone have a preference for both ease and function?

thanx

helios

I'm not really understanding what you want here. Do you want to make a iamge of a disk? (partimage) Do you want to make a perfect copy? (dd) What?

[garyng]

boot an alternative linux that don't mount your "beloved" system then do a dd.

I continue to advice people to use loopback file system even for a HD installation. This will make future backup easier.

[CrashedAgain]

Since using linux, I have finally got an installation that would kill me if I lost it...and trust me, the old linux saying, "if it aint broke, fix it till it is." is my mantra. I am looking for a program that allows me to do a disk by disk copy with the first disk being bootable. I have apt-cache searched and even installed a couple of them but they look a bit complex for my simple noob mind. Does anyone have a preference for both ease and function?

thanx

helios
'Disk by disk' copy...do you mean the equivalent of a master installation disk?
This certainly should be possible, all 'normal' (ie not 'run from CD') distros do it but I've never seen a how to. I'm sure it involves more than a simple disk copy since at the very least you would have to create an install script which would boot up a mini system then install the applications etc to your target computer. One problem with just a straight disk copy would be that it would have the hardware setup for the source computer only.
How big is your system? If you are 2 Gig or under you might be able to make a single disk 'remaster'. This can be done from a 'Knoppix style' HD install but might not work for a 'Debian' or 'beginner' style install. On the other hand, it just might work, only a year or so ago remastering from a HD install was just a pipe dream.
Check with the How-to http://www.knoppix.net/docs/index.php/RemasterFromHDInstallHowTo & see if you can make the big Knoppix compressed file system. If this goes OK, add a 'toHD' install somewhere on you system, then replace the 'KNOPPIX' file on your 'toHD' install with your new one & see if it will run. If so, proceed to make your iso & burn the CD.
If it won't run or if it is too big to fit on a CD, it still may be useful as a backup, you could store it somewhere secure on your system. If you need to restore, "just uncompress & restore your system". I've put this in quotes because I don't know if it will work & haven't any idea how to do it (sorry).

[GaTk]

I have two 16 gb partitions on the same drive. One is my active knoppix system and the other is available for backup. I want to protect my ( at the moment !) working system from my LINUX stupidity by using dd to copy
hdb1 to hdb2. If I boot from a knoppix cd willl

dd if=/dev/hdb1 of=/dev/hdb2

do the job. After I break my working system I plan to boot the cd
and do the dd again

dd if=/dev/hdb2 of=/dev/hdb1

Corrections , suggestions and/or criticisms very welcome

Thanks

[cintra]

Hei

IF you also have XP on your system (and sufficient funds) I would invest in Acronis 'True Image' (requires Nero 'InCD'). It has saved my life quickly and simply on several occasions!

You can do disk to disk backup/restore to/from a hidden zone or disk to dvd.

In fact its about the only thing I use XP for now...

regards

[GaTk]

Did the dd from hdb1 to hdb2.... appeared to work. Took 90 minutes.
Can access everything on hdb2. Haven't tried to go back...
more to come

[OErjan]

the comand
cp -ax / /mount_ point_of_hdb2should work about as well.
that wil just copu everything from hda1 to hda2 while preserving all filepermisions... then after copying it back just rerun lilo and enjoy

[Cuddles]

GaTk,

About the only flaw I can see in your backup scheme is,

Since you are backing up from hdb1 to hdb2, this may save you if, say the hdb1 partition goes crazy and you get it "mucked up", but, in the case where you have a complete hard drive failure, i.e. hdb goes out on you, you have your original and backup on the same drive.

For a quick restore, you may want to use that hdb2 partition, for ease, and availability, but, a long term solution, you may want to include "off storing" that hdb2 to some other drive, or media, as a complete backup scheme. That way, if you need to quickly restore a single file, or the complete install, hdb2 is right there for use. In the case of a complete drive crash, you have the "fall-back" of a "off stored" hdb2 backup as well... Just some thoughts :D

[markb]

rsync is your friend.

[GaTk]

Thanks for the varied suggestions on partition backup. The 90 minute dd of the whole partition did not reboot after being re-copied. I modified and used the suggested copy command and it reduced the time to 15 minutes.

cp -ax --reply=yes /a /b

The reverse of this command would not boot.

I am aware of the consequences of "same" drive backups. FWIW I struggled with RedHat 6 and ftape for months.... dropped the whole thing and gave my tape machine the deep six. Another FWIW.... the ASR system from Billy isn't worth a damn if your motherboared dies !!!!

Still looking

Ted in Atlanta

[Cuddles]

Since using linux, I have finally got an installation that would kill me if I lost it...and trust me, the old linux saying, "if it aint broke, fix it till it is." is my mantra. I am looking for a program that allows me to do a disk by disk copy with the first disk being bootable. I have apt-cache searched and even installed a couple of them but they look a bit complex for my simple noob mind. Does anyone have a preference for both ease and function?

thanx

helios

To get back to the original poster, I use kbackup. It comes with knoppix, on the CD - so as to a "failsafe" restore, boot CD and restore. I have two "physical" hard drives, with a few partitions on each, I backup my system to a different hard drive, and retain a few "images" of these backups for selective restores. Kbackup is a GUI "like" program, it uses "text ascii" to make its graphics, kind of like a lot of old DOS programs. It took a little work, with all the configurations and such, but now that I have it configured, all I have to do is load the config, and then change the file that it creates for the backup.

No so much a "disk to disk" kind of backup though, I run it to backup from the root, and exclude the "mount points" that I dont want included in my backup, like my mounted second hard drive, where I store the file at. It works for me, but may not work for what you are looking for, but, you wanted to know what people are using. I haven't tried a restore yet, considering most of my restores are complete re-installs, of a new release, lately...

I guess my "current" backup scheme is that of getting a accidental deleted file kind of thing, or being able to check if something changes, but, not for a complete install...

Hope this helps,
Ms. Cuddles

[helios17]

The answer is: mondo.

http://phazeman.mail333.com/Mondo_Rescue_CD_HOWTO.htm

did exactly what I wanted it to do and it is fairly noob-friendly. can be obtained thru apt with all dependencies.

thanx.

helios