Guest ashok Posted May 25, 2004 Report Share Posted May 25, 2004 Newbie here, i want to make a clean install of linux 10.0. i was wondering: if i use the backup utility of Mandrake Control Center in 9.2, can i use it again in 10.0 OE in order to have my emails, adress books, documents, etc back ?? Thx for your responses. Ashok Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ixthusdan Posted May 25, 2004 Report Share Posted May 25, 2004 Best thing is to assign a partition to your data, even inside of /home and then don't format it when you perform the install. All your stuff will be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted May 25, 2004 Report Share Posted May 25, 2004 ashok... If you dont know how to do this just ask.... (Welcome btw ... its difficult to judge HOW basic to be with new members 'till we get to know your experience so dont be afraid to ask) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ashok Posted May 25, 2004 Report Share Posted May 25, 2004 hmmm, well...so i just ask: How can i do a backup of all my personnal datas (like email, adress book, etc) before doing a clean install of Manfrake 10 OE ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted May 25, 2004 Report Share Posted May 25, 2004 that was quick :D OK. One way is partimage.... I think we have a FAQ .... (if not someone let me know) This is similar to norton ghost.... Another is selectively making a backup of the directory as a CD image and write it onto a CD.... then you can rewite the parittions and make a special home partition (if all goes well as it does in 90% of the cases) you can then copy the data across to the new partition (actually since you have a CD backup you can MOVE ) Can you post /etc/fstab or the results of typing mount (as root) I can (or someone else) be more specific then. The third option if your /home is mounted from a different partition to / is to resize / and create a seperate home. This is generally GOOD BUT all the back up your data first caveats apply! Backing up a /home onto CD-RW is never a bad idea .... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roland Posted May 25, 2004 Report Share Posted May 25, 2004 (edited) generally, when you install Linux, you have 3 partitions: - swap: don't care, for virtual memory - /home: where datas are. If your account is blabla, your datas are in /home/blabla - /: called root. all the rest are there. When you do a fresh install, you reformat / do NOT format /home and you'll keep all your datas simple like that :) Edited May 25, 2004 by roland Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ashok Posted May 25, 2004 Report Share Posted May 25, 2004 i am quick.... B) ... thx for your answers. Now, is Mandrake Control Center DrakBackup a good idea ? Or should i do that manually ?. Roland, i just noticed your message. Thx. simple. But...i need to change the harddrive so i have to make a backup. :( By the way, i already try to make an archive of the Mail folder and copy it on an external FAT32 external HD. When i extract it (the archive is ok), i don't see nothing in the folders, any idea ? Thx to all of you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feralertx Posted May 25, 2004 Report Share Posted May 25, 2004 Hi there, It is really simple... If all you got to do is backup your user /home directory (whether this is a standalone partition or not doesnt really matter here) just do this: 1.- Create an iso image of that dir with: mkisofs -o file_with_backup_of_home.iso /home/your_username (where 'file_with_backup_of_home.iso' is the name of the iso file that'll be created and 'your_username' is ehh.. well, your username). 2.- To check if everything is on the file you can mount the iso image to a directory by issuing this command (as root): (First create a directory where to mount the iso file to, for example /mnt/temp, with this command: md -p /mnt/temp, and then...) mount -o loop -t iso9660 file_with_backup_of_home.iso /mnt/temp Now you can change to /mnt/temp (cd /mnt/temp) and check that everything is there, if it is then just burn the iso file to a CDRW (you can do that with k3b) and you are done. I wouldnt use Drackbackup myself, havent ever tried it. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ashok Posted May 25, 2004 Report Share Posted May 25, 2004 do i need some special package to use this function (mkisofs)? Cause the console says it cannot found the command...or i miss something ?? again ?? :unsure: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feralertx Posted May 27, 2004 Report Share Posted May 27, 2004 (edited) do i need some special package to use this function (mkisofs)? Cause the console says it cannot found the command...or i miss something ?? again ?? Yeah, you need to have package mkisofs installed (mkisofs-2.01-0.a27.2mdk which is on MDK10 OE cd 1). To install it go to Mandrake Control Center, Software management, Install software, type mkisofs and it'll find it for you, then just tick it and click on install. Alternatively, to do the same via console, just type as root: urpmi mkisofs Nothing else needed AFAIK. :D Edited May 27, 2004 by feralertx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted May 27, 2004 Report Share Posted May 27, 2004 ashok, 1) have you decided that you dont need anything except on your home ?? 2) remember FAT32 doesnt have permissions so the files inside will not either. If you want to go the iso route like feralertx suggests then you can also make the iso file from k3b. The important thing is to make sure you REALLY have everything... try tar cvfp mail.tar /home/ashok/Mail This should make a file called mail.tar (substitute YOUR username for ashok ) now test tar tvfp mail.tar this should list the contents... you may optionally zip the tar or compress etc. if gzip is unstalled then gzip mail.tar Now if you copy this to the external FAT32 the permissions are preserved inside the tar file and will be restored when you extract it later! Weight up if you prefer discrete tar files like mail.tar or the whole directory. If you make seperate ones then you can be slective when you restore more easily. i.e. you might let your mail directory be created THEN populate it. However from 9.x to 10.x thats not a good idea because it SHOULD migrate it from Mail to .Mail (or the other way) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feralertx Posted May 27, 2004 Report Share Posted May 27, 2004 I fully agree with Gowator, first you have to decide WHAT you want to backup. My method is just an example, and it only backups your /home, although you can use it to backup any other directories. In resume, with my example I'm not telling you that your /home is the only thing you need to backup but showing you a straightforward method to backup all files in a directory, and it gives you the advantage be able to mount the iso file anywhere afterwards. Gowator way is a good one too since it will store all your data in a single file preserving permisions. To do the same but compressing the data at the same time (using gzip) use: tar -zcpf my_home_backup.tar.gz /home/my_username Regards, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ashok Posted May 27, 2004 Report Share Posted May 27, 2004 Thx a lot guys for all your great advices. I like the iso solution........ ;) ...i can go for the new 10.0 now i think. And because you want to help me and because i need help ()...one more: i'm sure to understand correctly the permission thing on FAT32 HD....Could you tell me more ? Thx. Ashok Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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