Backing up my system?

[Kenneth Galle]

Here's how I handle it...

Use PQImage or...

I'm going to use /dev/hda1 mounted on /mnt/extra as an example.  Can be
windows or linux or whatever.

remount the partition readonly.

mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/extra -o remount ro
or if it isn't / or /usr etc just unmount it

<<caution --- be very careful with dd - make sure you understand what it is
you are doing - don't just copy>>

then copy the whole partition to a file
dd if=/dev/hda1 of=extra_dev_hda1.ext2

remount the partition
mount -a

verify with
mount -o loop extra_dev_hda1.ext2 /mnt/image
diff -qr /mnt/extra /mnt/image
umount /mnt/image

optionally gzip the extra_dev_hda1.ext2

optionally split the file into the needed number of pieces:
split -b 650m extra_dev_hda1.ext2 extra_dev_hda1.ext2.split.

save the pieces off to cdrom.
mkisofs -J -r -v extra_dev_hda1.ext2...  > makecd.iso
cdrecord -dev=0,0,0 -speed=4 -v -eject -data makecd.iso

If you don't gzip it or split it up, you can mount the file onto the file
system:

mount -o loop extra_dev_hda1.ext2 /mnt/image

In my opinion, no backup is for sure, unless you verify the contents and test
the restore (to a backup machine).  Verifing the contents is esp. important
with burning cds.

Just try that with Windows.  I love Linux!

If you retore from this, you will need to renun LILO.  Makes having a
seperate / or /boot partition a really good idea.

Ken


> Joe Pollock wrote:
> 
> Hi.  Before I get into all the gruesome details, my basic question is: How
> do I backup my system using linux so I can restore it *completely* in a
> simple manner without going through reinstalling everything (my Windoz


> of installing a cd-rw drive.  One of the main reasons for getting it was so