[xubuntu-users] 14.04 Upgrade problems

[Ralf Mardorf]

On Wed, 2014-07-23 at 19:14 +0000, Bob Lewis wrote:
> I need to get my files backed up and don't know how to copy them from
> the command line to either a usb or CD.

To ensure that permissions are preserved, assumed the USB stick is FAT
formatted and to keep the "backup" small you could use tar.

sudo -i
cd /the/path/to/your/data
tar czf /path/to/the/usb/mount/point/name_of_your_backup.bak.tar.gz .file_foo .dir_bar *

Note the "*" is tricky, if you aren't experienced with globbing, it will
copy all files and directories, excepted of files and directories that
start with a ".", but it will copy all files and directories starting
with a "." in a directory that is copied because it didn't start with a
".". ".file_foo" are hidden files. JFTR a real "backup" shouldn't be
done to an USB stick or CD, since both are unsafe medias. An USB HHD is
a good backup media. Btw. you can backup a whole Linux install this way.

I'm using scripts to do it.

[rocketmouse at archlinux ~]$ cat bak_arch_halt 
#!/bin/bash
# bash bak_arch_halt

BACKUP_DIR_Q="/media/u1.linux/2014-Jul"
#BACKUP_DIR_Q="/media/u1.unix/2014-Jul"
BACKUP_DIR_A="/media/data2/2014-Jul"
ARCH_BACKUP_NAME_EXTENSION=""
LOG=$BACKUP_DIR_Q/bak_arch_halt.log

function stopwatch_start
{
  STARTED=$(date +%s)
  if [ "$A_STARTED" = "" ] ; then
    A_STARTED=$STARTED
    echo
    echo "Turn off the monitor :)!"
    echo
    echo -n "$BACKUP backup started at "
    date -d @$STARTED
    echo                                 >> $LOG
    echo -n "$BACKUP backup started at " >> $LOG
    date -d @$STARTED                    >> $LOG
  else
    echo
    echo "Turn off the monitor :)!"
    echo
    echo "$BACKUP backup starting now."
    echo "$BACKUP backup starting now."  >> $LOG
  fi
}

function stopwatch_stop
{
  DONE=$(date +%s)
  ((MIN=(DONE-STARTED)/60)) ; ((SEC=(DONE-STARTED)%60))
  for ((i=1; i<=$SPACE; i++)) ; do echo -n " " >> $LOG
    done
  echo -n "           done at "                >> $LOG
  date -d @$DONE                               >> $LOG
  printf "attended time: %3d:%02d\n" $MIN $SEC >> $LOG
  echo                                         >> $LOG
}

cpufreq-set -g ondemand
mkdir -p $BACKUP_DIR_Q #; mkdir -p $BACKUP_DIR_A
clear
echo "Mount /media/u1.linux   Backup partition"
#echo "Mount /media/u1.unix    Backup partition"
#echo "      /media/data2      Backup partition"
#echo "      /media/debi386    Debian "
echo "      /media/archlinux  Arch Linux"
echo "      /media/winos      winos"
#echo "      /media/debbsd     debbsd"
#echo "      /media/saucy      Kubuntu Saucy"
echo "and press enter to continue."
echo
echo "SHUTDOWN IS DISABLED"
read any_pushed_key

BACKUP_NAME_ADD=$(date "+%Y%m%d_%H%M%S")
A_STARTED=""

#BACKUP="MBRs"
#SPACE=${#BACKUP}
#stopwatch_start
#cd $BACKUP_DIR_A
#dd if=/dev/sda of=MBR_SDA-$BACKUP_NAME_ADD bs=512 count=1
#dd if=/dev/sdb of=MBR_SDB-$BACKUP_NAME_ADD bs=512 count=1
#dd if=/dev/sdc of=MBR_SDC-$BACKUP_NAME_ADD bs=512 count=1
#cd $BACKUP_DIR_Q
#dd if=/dev/sda of=MBR_SDA-$BACKUP_NAME_ADD bs=512 count=1
#dd if=/dev/sdb of=MBR_SDB-$BACKUP_NAME_ADD bs=512 count=1
#dd if=/dev/sdc of=MBR_SDC-$BACKUP_NAME_ADD bs=512 count=1
#stopwatch_stop

#BACKUP="Debian"
#SPACE=${#BACKUP}
#cd /media/debi386
#stopwatch_start
#tar -czf $BACKUP_DIR_Q/debi386_$BACKUP_NAME_ADD.bak.tar.gz * .config
#echo "tar exit status: $?" >> $LOG
#stopwatch_stop

BACKUP="Arch Linux"
SPACE=${#BACKUP}
cd /media/archlinux
stopwatch_start
tar -czf $BACKUP_DIR_Q/archlinux_$BACKUP_NAME_ADD$ARCH_BACKUP_NAME_EXTENSION.bak.tar.gz * .chuser
echo "tar exit status: $?" >> $LOG
stopwatch_stop

BACKUP="winos"
#PACE=${#BACKUP}
cd /media/winos/
stopwatch_start
tar -czf $BACKUP_DIR_Q/arch_winos_$BACKUP_NAME_ADD$ARCH_BACKUP_NAME_EXTENSION.bak.tar.gz *
echo "tar exit status: $?" >> $LOG
stopwatch_stop

#BACKUP="debbsd"
#PACE=${#BACKUP}
#cd /media/debbsd/
#stopwatch_start
#tar -czf $BACKUP_DIR_Q/arch_debbsd_$BACKUP_NAME_ADD$ARCH_BACKUP_NAME_EXTENSION.bak.tar.gz *
#echo "tar exit status: $?" >> $LOG
#stopwatch_stop

#BACKUP="Kubuntu Saucy"
#SPACE=${#BACKUP}
#cd /media/saucy
#stopwatch_start
#tar czf $BACKUP_DIR_Q/kubuntu_saucy_$BACKUP_NAME_ADD.bak.tar.gz *
#echo "tar exit status: $?" >> $LOG
#stopwatch_stop

((MIN=(DONE-A_STARTED)/60)) ; ((SEC=(DONE-A_STARTED)%60))
echo                                                         >> $LOG
echo -n "First backup started at "                           >> $LOG
date -d @$A_STARTED                                          >> $LOG
echo -n        "Last  backup    done at "                    >> $LOG
date -d @$DONE                                               >> $LOG
printf "attended time for all backups: %3d:%02d\n" $MIN $SEC >> $LOG
echo                                                         >> $LOG

#echo "Power off in 28 Minutes. Run shutdown -c to cancel the shutdown."
#shutdown -hP 28

exit 0