How to backup/restore complete archlinux on other system/drive

sundar_ima · 2011-03-14 10:33:02

Hi,
I installed Archlinux in one of my partition. I must say that i am extremely happy with Archlinux. Initially i wanted to test the distro and installed it on a partition which had less space. Now i am planing to install/move it on a partition with more space.

My question is that how do i completely restore my Archlinux installation in to new partition? Is it possible to copy entire root files in to new partition (Ext4), Make the drive bootable and edit grub.cfg so as to boot from new partition.

toad · 2011-03-14 10:36:33

Yep. Plus don't forget your fstab.

I usually use cp -a for moving that kind of stuff.

sundar_ima · 2011-03-14 10:57:33

toad wrote:

Yep. Plus don't forget your fstab.
I usually use cp -a for moving that kind of stuff.

what changes to be done in fstab?

toad · 2011-03-14 11:00:20

Ask the wiki

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fstab

In case you get stuck ask for more info here - we'll need output of fdisk -l, blkid and a copy of your fstab. But the whole thing is quite straight forward - just make sure your pointers are all correct...

Inxsible · 2011-03-14 14:05:52

Why not simply use GParted to increase the size of the partition by encroaching some from the neighboring partition??

olive · 2011-03-14 14:27:06

You can copy all the file and make a usuable arch installation; but pay attention to the following point:

conserve all file attribute and hard links. I think cp -a do this; you can also use rsync with --archive --hard-links --sparse --delete --numeric-ids, see the man page for details. I use this command to make backup. It is usefull because rsync is clever enougfh to only transfer the files that are changed since the last backup.

If you restore to a new partition; you will have to:

1) reinstall grub

2) If you use UUID, edit /boot/grub/menu.lst and /etc/fstab to use the new UUID of the partition.

sundar_ima · 2011-03-15 16:10:22

I got it done with simply copying all the files in to new partition. However i got few errors that "special files can not be copied" and went ahead to update grub from linux mint(from other drive). When i rebooted the system very thing worked fine till kde log in menu, thereafter it simply refuced to login. So i added new user account, updated the system and rebooted. Finally i could boot in to kde with out no issues.

I could have extended the partition with gparted but the archlinux drive was sandwitched between two importent drives with full of data (no space).

Posted this entry so that it will be helpful to other newbies trying this trick...

Last edited by sundar_ima (2011-03-15 16:11:30)

Arch Linux

#1 2011-03-14 10:33:02

How to backup/restore complete archlinux on other system/drive

#2 2011-03-14 10:36:33

Re: How to backup/restore complete archlinux on other system/drive

#3 2011-03-14 10:57:33

Re: How to backup/restore complete archlinux on other system/drive

#4 2011-03-14 11:00:20

Re: How to backup/restore complete archlinux on other system/drive

#5 2011-03-14 14:05:52

Re: How to backup/restore complete archlinux on other system/drive

#6 2011-03-14 14:27:06

Re: How to backup/restore complete archlinux on other system/drive

#7 2011-03-15 16:10:22

Re: How to backup/restore complete archlinux on other system/drive

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