so, if i restore, using your example, with root=/sysback, and boot my system using /sysback as my root...
then, the first time i do this, the original /usr will be used, i.e., until i edit /sysback's fstab, correct? will this cause any errors? and, assuming no, once i do this, i can then boot the "mirror" and it will behave precisely like the original, barring any physical diffs between the hdd's? if i copy "/" into "/sysback", does copy copy everything, even the copy program itself? are there things that cannot be copied? thanks again! p.s., i deleted a bunch of stuff while using gnome. the trash apparently is in "/". the trash reported that i had no more space and started prompting me for each deletion, but after a few attempts, i realized that it was not going to permit any more trash. so i cancelled. then i logged out, tried to log back into kde. i couldn't. i restarted, and was told "not enough space in /tmp". x,lpd, mysql, xfs would not start, email died. everything died! my "/" was 100% filled! i tried to find out what was taking up all this space (almost 2gb free on "/" now missing) and could not find it (tried du many ways). finally, i found the hidden .gnome-desktop directory, found Trash.gmc, and found all the files that i was trying to delete. i tried to rm them, but "rm -r *" would not rm them! i had to mv them to another drive, reboot, and then in kde delete them again (not move them to trash). i'm not using gnome for file operations ever again! vora > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Steven J. Yellin > Sent: Wednesday, July 31, 2002 11:32 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: backup question/newbie > > > On Wed, 31 Jul 2002, vvor wrote: > > > I have two hdd, 1 contains seawolf, the other is empty. > > > > the first looks like this: > > / 3gb > > /boot 15mb > > /usr 3gb > > /home 9.8gb > > /web 3gb > > > > the other has 2 partitions, thus: > > /backup 10gb > > /netdrive 10gb > > > > about 7-8 gb of data needs to be backed up from drive 1 to > drive 2 to backup > > everything. > > > > 1. can i backup from multiple partitions on one drive to a > single partition > > of another drive? is tar meant for this? > > Yes you can use tar and put more than one tar file on /backup. But > there may be a limit on the size of the file you can create. > > > > 2. how useful is this scheme? if my system drive dies, how do i > recover a > > tar file from the second drive? don't i have to do a complete > install on a > > new/repaired drive 1 first? if so, will i be able, e.g., to > replace /usr & > > /etc, etc., et al., and have everything work as expected? > > You can boot your system using the installation disk or tomsrtbt -- > see http://www.toms.net/rb/ -- without doing an installation, then restore > your backup file using tar if that's what you used to make backups. > Another approach would be to make smaller partitions of /backup and > call one, say, /sysback for a copy of /, one /usrback for a copy of /usr, > and have a third partition for everything else. Then copy / into /sysback > and /usr into /usrback. For example, tar can do a copy with something > like "cd fromdir; tar clf - .|(cd todir; tar xfBp -)". Suppose, for > example, that /sysback is in the /dev/hdc3 partition. You can boot your > computer with what you called /sysback in place of / by, at the lilo > prompt, typing "linux root=/dev/hdc3". And suppose, for example, /usrback > is the /dev/hdc5 partition. If you have modified /sysback/etc/fstab to > mount /dev/hdc5 as /usr, that will be what's called /usr when you boot > with root=/dev/hdc3. > The rest of what you want backed up can be done with tar to put > files into some other partition. > > > 3. should i just get a tape drive and forget about my /backup partition? > > > > > > Disks are cheap, but the backup I described is vulnerable to crackers. > Tapes can be put in a drawer, where they at least cannot be reached via > the internet. However, even with tapes, if your system is compromised, > it's probably safest to restore it from the installation CD even if you > have done a backup to tape. > > > thanks for any advice, i appreciate it! > > > > vora > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Seawolf-list mailing list > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/seawolf-list > > > > -- > Steven Yellin > > > > _______________________________________________ > Seawolf-list mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/seawolf-list _______________________________________________ Seawolf-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/seawolf-list
