Simple Backup problems

[Rashkae]

David Christensen wrote:
> Faizan Kazi wrote:
>> Can TimeVault, Flyback, Backintime, rsync and other such softwares that 
>> copy file by file really be used to completely restore a system?
> 
> I have been using Norton Ghost for many years on Windows systems.  Ghost 
> 2003 (only; beware of other versions) can deal with ext2 filesystems, so 
> I build my Linux systems that way.  Given the size and granularity of 
> Ghost images (e.g. one large block), I put my operating systems and 
> applications on one drive, backed up infrequently by Ghost, and put my 
> data on another drive, backed up frequently by rsync.
> 
> 
> A key issue in hard drive/ boot sector/ partition/ filesystem backup/ 
> recovery/ archive tool selection is metadata (owner, group, permissions, 
> ACL, SELinux, whatever) and specials (boot sector, /dev, /proc, etc.). 
> As I'm the primary/ sole user of my data, I only care about the file 
> name, mtime, and contents, and can use rsync at a very basic level. 
> But, it is my understanding that rsync can capture much more if you run 
> it as root on both ends and pick the right options.  Figuring out how to 
> rsync one system drive to another, deal with the MBR's, power down, pull 
> the first drive, install the second, power up, and have the system work 
> correctly is an exercise left for the reader.
> 
> 
> I recently read "Backup & Recovery Inexpensive Backup Solutions for Open 
> Systems" By W. Curtis Preston, and recommend it for anyone who is 
> serious about administering computer systems:
> 
>      http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596102463/
> 
> 
> HTH,
> 
> David
> 
> 

Unlike certain other operating system, files in Linux, to the best of my
knowledge, are never locked and unreadable.  Therefore, rsync, or even
just cp or tar, are perfectly capable of making and restoring a complete
backup.  (With the caveat that you need to run the boot-loader setup to
make a hard drive bootable.).

Data files can possibly be in an inconsistent state when they are backed
up while being written, but that's not an issue with the system files,
therefore it's perfectly ok to back up a system while it's up and
running, and restore it perfectly.  (Although, I would make sure that
the system files are not, in fact, being written when the backup occurs,
so make sure your backup doesn't run at the same time as the
installation of updates, for example)