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#1 2006-06-01 14:14:36

seelk
Member
From: NJ
Registered: 2005-04-07
Posts: 38

Backup

I need to backup my entire system and was wondering what is the best way to accomplish this.  Basically I will be wiping out my entire hard drive so that I can partition it properly so that I can have different partitions for different OS'es.  There's nothing wrong with my Arch install so I was thinking on backing up every file and then when I install Arch again I can then do a mass restore and go back to my same configuration.  Please advice.


"smooth as seelk"

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#2 2006-06-01 17:48:47

twiistedkaos
Member
Registered: 2006-05-20
Posts: 666

Re: Backup

seelk wrote:

I need to backup my entire system and was wondering what is the best way to accomplish this.  Basically I will be wiping out my entire hard drive so that I can partition it properly so that I can have different partitions for different OS'es.  There's nothing wrong with my Arch install so I was thinking on backing up every file and then when I install Arch again I can then do a mass restore and go back to my same configuration.  Please advice.

Why don't you just use qparted to delete the other partitions, then resize your arch partition to have the free space?

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#3 2006-06-01 18:08:12

seelk
Member
From: NJ
Registered: 2005-04-07
Posts: 38

Re: Backup

I believe I can't use gparted to resize the partitions because the second half of the drive has backup files for both OS'es (XP and Arch).  The drive Arch is in is divided into two:  Arch and Files (half and half).  I feel 60gb is more than enough for Linux so I wanted to split that up to install another OS.  The layout I want in the drive is:

Arch - 30gb
Another OS - 30gb
Files - 60gb

Currently:

Arch - 60gb
Files - 60gb

(My first drive has XP in it and I can't partition it.)


"smooth as seelk"

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#4 2006-06-01 18:36:06

phildg
Member
Registered: 2006-03-10
Posts: 146

Re: Backup

Use a live CD, this will prevent headaches during the restore with stale lock/pid/socket files, and just copy everything over to the backup location, use the "-a" flag with cp to preserve permissions and ownership. Then use cp to restore, change /etc/fstab to represent your new layout. Update your boot managers config file and reinstall if need be, and thats it.

Check on your hard disk requirements, I think 30 gig is way over the top. My Arch installs takes less than 1.5 gigs. My desktops have 10 gig hardrives in them, and one is partitioned in half for Arch and Arch64. 5 gig may be cutting it fine if you have kde or gnome installed, but you shouldn't be needing more than 10. Assuming of course you store all your user files on the "Files" partition

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#5 2006-06-01 19:39:20

seelk
Member
From: NJ
Registered: 2005-04-07
Posts: 38

Re: Backup

Is the command dd appropriate for this (I never used it)?  Which Live CD do you recommended?


"smooth as seelk"

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#6 2006-06-01 21:09:25

phildg
Member
Registered: 2006-03-10
Posts: 146

Re: Backup

Not really, dd is normally used for copying partitions or full hardrives. If you were to copy your linux partition with dd you would need a destination at least the size of your linux partition (60Gb I think you said).

cp, rsync or tar are appropriate. You will only need as much space as your installation takes then.

Any live cd will do, I use slax simply because I have a CD of it on my desk. I suppose you could always use the Arch installation CD, though I doubt it has rsync on it.

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#7 2006-06-02 01:26:19

thomas23
Member
From: Canada, Montreal
Registered: 2005-06-11
Posts: 40

Re: Backup

I do not know if this solution is for you but I actually use VMWare to have multiple OS on my computer. I use my untrustable Maxtor secondary drive for the VMWare virtual drives. I find it more convienient since I only have one .Net application that absolutely need windows. I also use VMWare to test all kind of stuff or try other OS. I just create an other virtual computer and Voila !

But to copy your actual Arch Install on your secondary partition then copy it on the new designated partition can be done (as said by phildg) with a boot CD. I usually use Archie since it have a gui and all kind of tools. Knoppix is much more complete though...

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