usb disk -- copy arch install.

Leigh · 2007-06-10 01:58:19

I formatted a usb drive and created the same partition scheme as I did with my current arch install, same size and same file systems. I went ahead and did a base install and everything is peachy. What I want to do is have a clone install to use as a backup so I can unplug it (the usb), maybe boot it every so often to upgrade and match my current arch install. Even though arch has been fairly stable for me over the past few years, being a rolling release, something is bound to happen sooner or later, and I want to be prepared. It would be a real pain to reinstall and redo everything that I've done over the past year.

Anyway, maybe this is a dumb question. Is it as simple as just copying all files and directories from one install to the other, except for disk specific files? If so, which files should I omit, other than the obvious fstab and menu.lst, when copying?

Am I doing this the hard way? I've never tried to duplicate an install before, and everything I have googled leads me to believe it's as simple, as just copying everything from one disk to the other. It would sure be a lot easier than installing everything independently to catch up with my current install.

Would really appreciate any advice! Thanks

gradgrind · 2007-06-10 05:02:34

Yes, it's quite an easy way to install an already configured system. The only thing that immediately occurs to me is that to do the copying you shouldn't be running either of the systems (i.e. the copying to or the copied from) - use for example a live CD.

Leigh · 2007-06-10 16:18:39

Thanks! I have a few live cds that I use for rescue, or tasks like this one. My favorite is puppy, but I think I'm going to give larch a try.

retsaw · 2007-06-19 23:01:23

Use rsync to synchronise your copy, it'll save time as opposed to doing a complete copy each time, since rsync will only copy the updated files. You likely won't suffer any harm from doing the copy on a live system as long as you aren't doing anything which does significant writes to the disk (like pacman -Syu), although to be safe dropping to single user mode and remounting / as read-only will be as good as using a live-cd for maintaining consistency during the copy.

Leigh · 2007-06-20 00:33:37

A few days ago I did manage to get my system backed up to usb, but rsync sounds very cool for backups!
http://www.mikerubel.org/computers/rsyn … ots/#Rsync
Thanks for the info!

Arch Linux

#1 2007-06-10 01:58:19

usb disk -- copy arch install.

#2 2007-06-10 05:02:34

Re: usb disk -- copy arch install.

#3 2007-06-10 16:18:39

Re: usb disk -- copy arch install.

#4 2007-06-19 23:01:23

Re: usb disk -- copy arch install.

#5 2007-06-20 00:33:37

Re: usb disk -- copy arch install.

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