dumb backup question

[Tim M]

On Jan 11, 2008 7:19 AM, andy baxter <andy at earthsong.free-online.co.uk>
wrote:

> Tim M wrote:
> > Hi, I have used Sbackup to the small file server I am learning on. I
> > have tried to restore a couple of times using sbackup and never have
> > really gotten it to work. Would it be simpler to just backup /home
> > rather than mess with backing up the other /var, /usr/local and /etc?
> > The only way I have been completely successful in restoring is by
> > backing up my home directory. I know it most likely takes much more
> > time to do completely reload Ubuntu and download updates. I might try
> > to backup and restore this laptop later today . . . just to see if I
> > can get it to work.
> > Tim
> I think that if you try to use a backup program to restore your system
> files, you are likely to get into trouble. E.g. you need a basic system
> in place to run the backup program in the first place. So I would
> recommend that you let the ubuntu installer take care of rebuilding your
> system if you ever need to, and use the backup program just for your own
> files. A couple of things which may be useful to make it quicker to
> rebuild your system:
>
> - you can make a log of all installed packages using 'sudo dpkg
> --get-selections > packages.log'. When you reinstall, you can run 'sudo
> dpkg --set-selections < packages.log' and 'sudo apt-get dselect-upgrade'
> (I think) to reinstall everything that was logged as installed before.
> - all the .debs you have downloaded are kept in /var/cache/apt/archives,
> so you could back these up to make reinstalling a bit quicker.
>
> The way I do things is to have a single partition, mounted as /local,
> which contains all the files I have created or downloaded myself, and
> then link this into the main filesystem using symbolic links. e.g.
> /local/usr => /usr/local
> /local/home => /home
> /local/website is an image of my personal website.
> etc.
>
> This means that all the data I need to back up is in one place, and I
> can back it up easily by just copying everything under /local to my
> backup device (a partition on a usb hard drive). It also means that if I
> want to completely reinstall the system, I can do so without risking
> destroying the files under /local, which are on a separate partition.
>
> If you want to back up /etc, this may not work so well though.
>
> andy.
>
>
> Thanks Andy,

I am going to give what you suggested a try. It sounds more logical than the
default settings in sbackup. I have had to restore this laptop a couple of
times but I always do a complete re-installation. Usually if it isn't
working right there is a problem somewhere and it is quicker to re-install
that try to figure out where the problem might be. Your idea for storage
seems ideal. Thanks.

Tim
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