Backing up an install [SOLVED]

[HeXiLeD]

Recently i found that i have bad blocks on a couple HD's and i would like to keep my install the way i have it but moved to a new HD.

The current install is:

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   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1           6       48163+  83  Linux
/dev/sda2               7         261     2048287+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda3             262        4500    34049767+  83  Linux

And i am also upgrading my HD to a bigger one where i will be redoing the size of these 3 partitions.

I know that i can use "dd" to create the backup but i want to be sure that i wount be making any mistakes.

so lets go for questions:

1: I would like to know if i will have any problems with the fact that the 3 new partitions will be of bigger size.
2: Will i have any problems if i change the file system ?
3: Can anyone give me a few exemples on how to use "dd"or another tool; to do the backup and how i should proceed in the end.


Thanks

[jettjunker]

My harddrive recently died, and I simply created a stage4. It worked well and was easy to do. It's described quite clearly on the following page:

http://blinkeye.ch/mediawiki/index.php/ ... t_(stage4)
(note that the forum software is throwing a fit about the parentheses... just copy/paste, and make sure you get the whole url)

As to your questions...
1) It won't matter (though could matter if they were smaller, of course)
2) I don't know what "dd" is, but if you use the stage4 method it certainly won't be a problem, just as you can copy a file from one partition to another even if they have different file systems. Be sure to have both enabled in your kernel though.
3) stage4 is really quite easy. I added ~/.wine/drive_c, my /usr/portage/distfiles, and my media (pictures/videos/music) to the default_exclude_list= portion of the script, and simply copied them over after following the stage4 instructions since there's no point in tar-ing them up. The instructions are quite clear, and worked perfectly (though it might be worth mentioning that "install grub" doesn't mean emerge it, but rather update your MBR with a "grub-install --no-floppy /dev/sda").

[d2_racing]

For a complete backup, you can also use the Stage 5.

[fangorn]

dd is a good utility, but for backups of linux installations it is plainly speaking overkill. Usually I just create a tarball (an archive) containing all the directories and files besides the ones created dynamically (which can get pretty big /dev/zero *hint*). That way the filesystem and size of source and target are more or less irrelevant. The same is true for a harddisk with failing sectors.

I do use the following script.

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#!/bin/sh
# Create live backup of running linux system


path=`pwd`
#erstellen eines eindeutigen Verzeichnisnamens
dirname=$path/`date -I`
mkdir $dirname
zipper=yes

if [ -z `/bin/which 7z` ] ; then
   echo "Please install 7zip archive manager for better performance"
   zipper=no 
fi

echo "creating backups in $dirname directory"

if [ ! -d /mnt/backup ] ; then 
   mkdir /mnt/backup 
fi

#erstellen des / backups
if [ -d /mnt/backup ] ; then
  mount -o bind / /mnt/backup
else
  mkdir /mnt/backup 
  mount -o bind / /mnt/backup
fi
cd /mnt/backup
if [ $zipper = "no" ] ; then
	tar -cjvpf $dirname/linux-root.tar.bz2 *
else
	nice -20 tar -cp * | nice -20 7z a -si -tbzip2 $dirname/linux-root.tar.bz2
fi

#erstellen des /home backups
#cd /home
#tar -cjvpf $dirname/linux-home.tar.bz2 *

#erstellen des /boot backups
cd /boot
if [ $zipper = "no" ] ; then
	tar -cjvpf $dirname/linux-boot.tar.bz2 *
else
	nice -20 tar -cp * | nice -20 7z a -si -tbzip2 $dirname/linux-boot.tar.bz2
fi

#erstellen des etc abbilds
cd /etc
if [ $zipper = "no" ] ; then
	tar -cjvpf $dirname/linux-etc-`hostname`-`date -I`.tar.bz2 *
else
	nice -20 tar -cp * | nice -20 7z a -si -tbzip2  $dirname/linux-etc-`hostname`-`date -I`.tar.bz2
fi

#erstellen des opt abbilds
cd /opt
if [ $zipper = "no" ] ; then
	tar -cjvpf $dirname/linux-opt-`hostname`-`date -I`.tar.bz2 *
else
	nice -20 tar -cp * | nice -20 7z a -si -tbzip2  $dirname/linux-opt-`hostname`-`date -I`.tar.bz2
fi

cd $path

cp mbr.save $dirname
cp partitions.save $dirname

umount /mnt/backup

Downside:
Every directory that is not on the partition that contains / has to be backed up seperately (in the script these are /boot, /etc /home and /opt)

To extract them just unpack them using tar xjpf <filename> in the appropriate target directory.

To get the installation booting again you have to reinstall grub. I prefer the grub shell, but you can do it using the same command as with the installation process.

[cwr]

dd is good idea for snapshot images, but you probably don't want an image if
your hard drive is dying. And dd won't work unless the source and destination
partitions are _exactly_ the same size.

In your case, use tar, which understands files and directories rather that the
raw blocks which dd uses. Tar just packs or unpacks the files it sees; it doesn't
care how big the whole filesystem is, as long as the destination filesystem has
at least as much space as the source.

The only things you _have_ to back up are /etc, for the configuration files, and
/home and /usr/local for your data; everything else can be recovered by a re-install.
Obviously if you have the space it's quicker to back up everything (except /sys and
/proc).

Will

[d2_racing]

I never tested that, but maybe you can even backup a ext3 partition with tar and you can untar it inside a ReiserFs partition or something else.

[fangorn]

I never tested that, but maybe you can even backup a ext3 partition with tar and you can untar it inside a ReiserFs partition or something else.

Sure you can. With tarballs you can easily realize heavy migrations.

Say you have a setup

/ reiserfs 15GB
/home xfs 5GB
/usr/portage reiserfs 6GB

and want to go to this setup

/boot ext2 100MB
/ ext4 3GB
/usr ext4 10 GB
/usr/portage 1GB reiserfs(512bytes blocksize)
/home ext4 20 GB on dmcrypt
/opt reiser4 5GB
/tmp tmpfs

This is just a point of creating and formatting the partitions, mounting them in the correct places and unpacking the tarball and editing /etc/fstab and /boot/grub/menu.lst.

[d2_racing]

Nice to know that

[blueflame]

Nobody mentioned partimage yet....?

[d2_racing]

Partimage backup same size partition like dd.

[HeXiLeD]

Another topic with a similar subject.

I have moved my Gentoo partitions several times.
I always use rescuecd.
I simply use

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mount /dev/<original> /mnt/gentoo
mount /dev/<new-partion> /mnt/backup
cp -a /mnt/gentoo/* /mnt/backup

I use it also to make back-ups.
Never any problems.
It's probably not the most sophisticated way,but it works and is simple.
Gerard.

I have used it. Easy as pie

[GWilliam]

#NULL

[nikaya]

I'm using fsarchiver for my backups. http://www.fsarchiver.org/Main_Page

It's not in portage yet, but in sunrise overlay: http://www.ebuildfind.net/application/fsarchiver/. And it is included in SystemRescueCD.

[gerard27]

I am happy that my method is being used.
I have in the past used it to move WinXP from one partition
to an other one.
The new partition has to be formatted to NTFS first of course.
It worked ok,WinXP never noticed that it had been moved.
The directory names mentioned in my post exist in Rescuecd.
Gerard.

[d2_racing]

Is there any avantages to use fsarchiver instead of a tar command ?

I don't get the point why fsarchiver is the new backup buzz these days ?