[ubuntu-za] NETBOOK CRASH

[Jonathan Groll]

On Sun, Oct 03, 2010 at 10:23:36AM +0200, vincent wrote:
>On Thu, 2010-09-30 at 08:16 +0200, Jonathan Groll wrote: 
>> On Wed, Sep 29, 2010 at 09:43:38AM +0200, vincent wrote:
>> >It's still unclear to me though as to why 10.04 places a lock on any
>> >backups made and put in the backup folder in var, while this never
>> >happened in 8.04?
>> 
>> Please explain why it is necessary to remove any locks? Which program
>> requires this? Which guide were you following?
>
>Ok, when trying to burn my backups from /var/backup to a dvd, using
>either Brassero or KDE3,they tell me I do not have permission to burn,
>as the files are owned by root, hence the chown.
>The program I use to do the original backup to /var/backup, is sbackup.
>
>I explain this, although it has nothing to do with my problem, because
>this is where I first was exposed to the chown command.

You could try and run k3b as root, by launching k3b as follows: "gksu
k3b"

>
>In this particular instance, what I attempted to do, was copy all backup
>files of keyopt if you recall, which 10.04 had locked and wouldn't let
>me copy to a flash drive, unless I changed ownership and that, as they
>say, is where the trouble started:-)

And perhaps try and make/burn the backup while keyopt is NOT running
so that lock files will not be involved. 

If you wanted to be extra paranoid about avoiding lock files, create a
new user account on the system, and logon as that user to make the
backups, ensuring that your primary 'vincent' user is not logged on at
the same time.

>As a matter of interest, what method do you use to back up?
>

I normally just backup 3 things:
- my home directory 
- a list of packages that I had installed on the machine. 
- Also, I keep a copy of all my configuration files in /etc in case I
need to refer to them.

Assuming your wine/keyopt files are installed in your home directory
it should also be sufficient for you to worry about the same
things. If the wine files are not in your home directory you'll have
to make additional provisions for backing them up.

If I wanted to backup the entire system, then I would use a 'live'
cdrom to mount the filesystem, and use tools like 'tar' to backup the
machine, but I almost never do that as system reinstalls are so simple
and easy, especially if you have broadband.

Cheers,
Jonathan