>From: fedora-list-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx >[mailto:fedora-list-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Daniel B. Thurman >Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2005 9:32 PM >To: ringwas@xxxxxxx; For users of Fedora Core releases >Subject: RE: How to backup root filesystem the correct way.... > > >>From: fedora-list-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx >>[mailto:fedora-list-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Steve Ringwald >>Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2005 5:39 PM >>To: For users of Fedora Core releases >>Subject: Re: How to backup root filesystem the correct way.... >> >> >> >> >>Daniel B. Thurman wrote: >>> I am familiar with the unix dump and restore programs from >my hey-dey >>> and system admin used these for backing up individual >>filesystems to tape >>> using these programs. But apparently, someone here told me >that using >>> dump/restore is not the preferred way and said that Torvald quoted >>> that tar is better than D/R because it is not maintained nor >>current and >>> may be fraught with failures.... and recommended that TAR be used. >>> >>> Geez.... >>> >>> Well since I have a /boot problem, i.e. I blithely used a >>partition of /, including >>> /boot and a seperate partition for swap (i.e. two >>partitions) of which my BIOS >>> may eventually fail to see /boot, so I need to correct this >>mistake. But before I do, >>> I need to backup my main boot drive by copying its contents >>to my 2nd drive >>> so that I can recover if all hell breaks loose. >>> >>> So... >>> >>> When I used /tar this way: >>> >>> tar zcvf root.tgz -C /<second-disk> / >>> >>> It appears that everything gets tarred up but there are many errors >>> put out (such as sockets and such) but eventually after a long time, >>> the final error at the end (whereever that may be) reports: >>> >>> tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors >>> >>> Hmm... cryptic as heck. But the bottom line is that there is no >>> guarantee that all the files are being properly backed up. Seems >>> that this is very unreliable. >>> >>> Perhaps I should just use dump | restore to backup the filesystem >>> to another filesystem (disk) would be better? What is the >>reccommended >>> way to backup the root disk to my second backup disk? >>> >>Daniel, >> >>Well, what I would do is boot off the rescue image on the install cd. >> >>Partition the destination disk (I would use fdisk and >>mkfs.ext3/mkswap) >>then mount those partitions as /destination, /destination/boot, etc. >>Mount your src partitions in a src directory (or whatever) /src, >>/src/boot, etc. >> >>Then go to the source directory and type: >> >>find . | cpio -pmd /destination (or you could use rsync, or tar -cvp) >> >>Then all you need to do is install grub on the destination >>drive, update >>your /destination/fstab, and delete /destination/{mtab,blkid}*. >> >>Unmount the partitions, powerdown, pop out the source drive, and the >>destination should be good to go. >> >>Hope that this helps! >>Steve >> > >OK, my major issue right now is getting GRUB to work and >I am not able to get GRUB to see my /boot partition I am >assuming since it cannot find the configuration files nor >can it boot. > >I have: > >/dev/hda1 /boot >/dev/hda2 / >/dev/hda3 swap > >Documentation says to install grub as follows: > >1) Boot off rescue CD >2) chroot /mnt/sysimage >3) grub-install /dev/hda > >But therein lies my problem I think. Is it supposed to be: > >3) grub-install /dev/hda1 OR >3) grub-install --root-directory=/ /dev/hda? >3) grub-install --root-directory=/boot /dev/hda? > >Do I have to somehow install the MBR on /dev/hda or >is this part of GRUB's job? > >Thanks! >Dan > Yup - It was /var that was a problem - tar crapped out there in mulituser mode. But when I tried: dump -0 -f - /dev/hda1 | (cd /mnt/disk2; restore -rf - ) It worked like a charm and is actually very fast compared tar. Tar took several hours and the dump/restore took something like 30 minutes. Also, I tried the other way too: to boot in rescue linux and then to mount the src and dst filesystem and use the cd /mnt/src; find . | cpio -pmd /dst per Steve's suggestion Fast also. I have backed up the src filesystem to the dst filesystem, repartitioned the src partition to: /dev/hda1 /boot 40MB /dev/hda2 / 12GB /dev/hda3 swap 2GB and tried: grub-install /dev/hda and grub fails to boot on the first try. I tried: grub-install /dev/hda1 and grub went into interactive mode. I noted that doing this actually created /boot/boot/(grub-installed-files) which is not what I want - I think.... Anyway it failed bad. I tried: grub-install /dev/hda1 : Failed I tried: grub-install --root-directory=/ /dev/hda (also /dev/hda1) : Failed I tried: grub-install --root-directory=/boot /dev/hda (also /dev/hda1) : Failed So - I am at loss why grub is not working right for me.... HELP!!!! :-) Dan -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.371 / Virus Database: 267.13.13/200 - Release Date: 12/14/2005
