[plug] Backing up a system partition

[John Summerfield]

> Hiya all,

> Just a quick question about backing up a system partition. On the machine in
> question I have two disks with my main / (root partition being on the first
> disk, and all my data being on the second. My second disk has enough space
> on it (and I have set it up during install) to keep a backup copy of the /
> partition in case the first (and older of the two disks) fails.
> 
> My idea is that if the old disk croaks I can change the IDE cable over,
> install Lilo on the mba and modify some fstab entries and the system would
> be back up.  I was wondering if:
> 
> 1. This simple approach is to good to be true and I am missing something
> *grin*
> 2. That a cron job (say midnight's on Sundays as the root partition doesn't
> change that much) that copies the root partition to my backup partition
> would work. (Does a copy follow down directories mounted on other partitions
> ?)

Test it.

I'd go with a boot floppy though; less messy than opening the case (I know 
you like opening cases, Michael, but it does get tedious after a while), 
and easier to test.

You should be able to have your script adjust fstab at the time it backs 
up.

I'd go with something like this:
tat cpC / | tar xpC /backup

I always have trouble figuring what cp is going to do - it seems to behave 
differently if the target directory's already there.
 

-- 
Cheers
John Summerfield
http://os2.ami.com.au/os2/ for OS/2 support.
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