Backup-snapshot-external-hdd

[rdotex]

I used snapshot to back up my MX-14 system to an external hdd before installing MX-16. Now, I would like to use the snapshot to put MX-14 on another hdd (either internal or external), but am unable to get any of the programs in MX-16 to write an iso to anything but a DVD! The snapshot file is about 28GB. Any suggestions?


My system is ... I can't remember! Is there a list I can find somewhere in MX-16?

[rokytnji.1]

Code: Select all

inxi -Fxz

Paste readout in code tags. That covers your "list" I guess.

For 28 gigs. I do not use the snapshot tool. I do not make a iso either. Here is what this Illiterate GED edjucated scooter tramp does.


1. Boot up your Live Mepis DVD.
2. Open a terminal window on the GUI desktop.
3. Switch to the root account with the command su
4. Plug in the external drive. If it is recognized a disc icon will appear on the desktop. If it isn't then you will need to mount it manually. We'll assume it is auto-mounted. It should be mounted as /media/something <sbxx?> where something may be "disk" or some other label. You will need that path to backup the system disc. <I am assuming you are talking about the drive you put your snapshot on. If me. I'd delete it. Unless there is enough room on exteranl drive for both of them. I am not there. So I don't know.>
5. Assuming that the external drive was mounted as /media/disk, execute the following command in the command-line window:
Code:

dd if=/dev/sda | gzip -c >/media/disk<whatever its name is>/system-image.gz <----This is your external drive that holds the MX-14 Backup>

That will copy and compress the system disc image, including the partition table, boot loader, and all of the partitions. Later if you need to restore it, then bootup the Live Mepis DVD again, mount the external drive, open the terminal window, switch to root as shown above, and execute this command:
Code:

gunzip -c /media/disk<whatever its name is>/system-image.gz | dd of=/dev/sda <or what ever its name is. This is the destination drive for you MX-4 backup>

Do what I said at your own risk. I take no responsibility if what I suggest breaks your stuff. I am just telling you how I handle this kind of scenario. This system/set of steps works for me. YMMV from mine however. Because you are not me. Other wise. Your snapshot iso should be bootable, no?
Just pick usb boot from bios with your external hard drive snapshot and see what happens, I guess.

[m_pav]

The root cause of your issue is you used a tool that creates a CDFS filesystem type designed to hold a maximum single size of 4GB. Whether this CDFS type has modifications to expand the capacities to BluRay proportions or not, I don't know, however, the end result is you have a whopping 28GB ISO image and I can think of a number of ways to get it to work, but they will depend on your engineering prowess and how far you're willing to go to accomplish your desire, if that is at all possible.

The first thing you'll have to get out of your mind is the term "Burn to disk" optical media is DEAD and I can't emphasise how delighted I am with that position because ...... enough, lets not go there.

You're going to need to start with a minimum 32GB flash drive formatted with a Linux native FS like ext4, or a FS that can handle large file sizes like ntfs (yuk) FAT32 tops out at 4GB per file, so that rules it out as a possibility. I haven't tried making a bootable USB using exfat, which is the successor to fat32 and now the default FS for almost all 16/32GB+ high speed SD cards, however, if you can format a USB drive with it and write to it, I see no reason why it should not take the image.

Lets get on with this now. The first tool to try is unetbootin, followed by the Live-USB maker app inside MX Tools and if neither of them will do the job, it looks to me like you need to employ a technique called "fromiso" to boot the image directly from a storage medium using Grub. All of these possibilities are built right into MX16.

It's way after my bedtime, so I'll have to let some of the other folk chime in here as I won't be able to come back to the forums for at least a day, maybe more. Look up a grub cheatcode or stanza that makes it possible to boot from iso, you should be up and running fast enough, but a word of warning for the future - avoid making ISO images larger than 4GB. Employ another tactic like a proper backup for your data like luckybackup, or just rsync through the terminal, and a snapshot (choose general for redistribution) for the OS.

[rdotex]

I have to apologize to y'all. I thought that I had posted this to the wrong section, MX-14, so I posted again in the MX-16 section and haven't checked back here in a few days. I'm still trying to decipher all the helpful writings, but haven't accomplished anything, Yet.

I will keep trying and will let y'all know what happens.