Couple of questions before I try Arch

dtandersen · 2007-01-31 00:54:28

How do you backup Archlinux? Let's say your HD crashes, can you upgrade a new install with pacman and then copy your /etc directory back and it works?

Also a question on Ubuntu vs Arch. When a new version of Ubuntu comes out do you have to reinstall or can you "keep it rolling" like Arch?

ralvez · 2007-01-31 01:59:17

Backing up Arch is no different than any other Unix (or OS for that matter), you copy the files onto a tape, CD disk or network drive.
I have my Arch partitioned so that my /home and /data1 are separate partitions, so if something goes wrong and I ever need to install (it happened to me once) it took me about 1 hour to go 'back to normal'.

I think that Arch and Ubuntu are both rolling upgrade type of distros but I like pacman a million times better that the Ubuntu updater.

Hope this helps.

hugin · 2007-01-31 03:05:09

Ubuntu is not a rolling release system like Arch, but no you don't have to re-install to get the lastest version. You can use the dist-upgrade command from apt-get. On Ubuntu I've found that with every version it works pretty well; if you read and follow the instructions. I've upgraded many 5.10 to 6.06 and a couple 6.06 to 6.10. It gets better and less buggy every time.

As for the backup thing, couldn't tell ya the best way. I always thought that CVS or subversion were cool ways to keep backups around, and also easy to put back in place... but tar and scp are my favorite. If you do a little research on gentoo stage4 stuff, you will get the idea of whats involved with that. Sure it's a big file, but you get your system back exactly the way you backed it up... to save space you can make your home dir a seperate partition, and keep your data there or on yet another partition.

/swogs

onearm · 2007-01-31 09:17:54

I use rdiff-backup (based on rsync) to copy the root and boot partitions to a second drive. It's fast, incremental and it's meant exactly for this kind of tasks.

SiD · 2007-01-31 11:54:51

I use partimage from a live CD (e.g. http://www.sysresccd.org/Main_Page) to backup my partitions.
If something goes wrong I have my system back in about 10 minutes

if I want to move the system to a smaller partition I use tar (the gentoo-stage4 way) cause partimage has problems if the destination partition is smaller than the backuped one, I think.....

Last edited by SiD (2007-01-31 11:57:01)

s26c.sayan · 2007-02-28 13:08:51

Hi!!! I'm thinking of trying Arch too, after having used Ubuntu for quite sometime!!

I just want to ask something about backing up installed packages:
In Ubuntu, I could just copy the contents of /var/apt/cache/archives to some safe place, and after a reinstallation, I just copied back the contents in the respective directory of the new installation...and apt could almost always reinstall them without downloading anything. (I sometimes used a GUI tool called AptOnCD to same effect)
My question is, in Arch if I copy the contents of /var/cache/pacman/ and restore them to a new installation, will pacman be able to install them ??
My ISP charges me per MB uploaded/downloaded, so downloading everything everytime is not feasible! also, I tend to experiment and consequently break my sytem very often, so reinstalling is very frequent for me!!

skymt · 2007-02-28 14:07:44

s26c.sayan: The short answer is yes.

The long answer is yes, you can.

Arch Linux

#1 2007-01-31 00:54:28

Couple of questions before I try Arch

#2 2007-01-31 01:59:17

Re: Couple of questions before I try Arch

#3 2007-01-31 03:05:09

Re: Couple of questions before I try Arch

#4 2007-01-31 09:17:54

Re: Couple of questions before I try Arch

#5 2007-01-31 11:54:51

Re: Couple of questions before I try Arch

#6 2007-02-28 13:08:51

Re: Couple of questions before I try Arch

#7 2007-02-28 14:07:44

Re: Couple of questions before I try Arch

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