Backup / Restore
Forum: Other Help Topics
Topic: Backup / Restore
started by: AArdvark
Posted by AArdvark on Aug. 16 2005,15:58
Hey All,I have always found the forum descussion very very helpful, but this is my first time actually posting.
I just recently updated my HD install of DSL from v0.9.3 to v1.3, and as usual the installation was flawless !
Upon exploring some of the new features in v1.3, I decided that I would try out the "Backup/Restore" function...something I never really played with in v0.9.3.
So it was very simple right click desktop>system>"Backup/Restore". It asked where to backup to, and I indicated hda1. At the root of hda1 it created a file called "backup.tar.gz" which was roughly ~2.85Mb in size....all good!
Upon reboot, it took FOREVER to restore my backup...what's up with that?? Once the desktop came up, I rebooted once again to see if it would do the same thing....and it did!
So, I figured....ok, no problem I'll just consult the DSL forum, and see what the pros have to say about my issue. Well, I literally scoured the forum, (and Google too!) and the only related thing I found was the boot option of "norestore"...which I had already tried ...and didn't work!
Now since I couldnt find any documentation on how to disable "Backup/Restore, and after I bit of exploring in EmelFM....this is how I was able to disable the Backup/restore process;
-navigate to /opt (as root)
-open file called ".backup_device"
(this will indicate something like hda1,hda2,sda1...etc)
-delete whatever device is indicated in this file, save & exit. Don't delete this file as "Backup/Restore" window will not launch in the future.
-next open the file called ".powerdown.sh" (in /opt) and delete the string "if [ -s /opt.backup_device ]; then filetool.sh backup noprompt; fi"
-save & exit.
-navigate to / find your back up file called "backup.tar.gz" delete, or move to another directory (as I did).
This seems to work just fine for me...when I power down DSL doesnt backup my work...and when I reboot, it doesnt take forever to restore!
I realize DSL is a work in progress, so things are going to be less than perfect...but you guys/gals are doing an awesome job, keep up the great work !
Cheers!
Posted by clivesay on Aug. 16 2005,16:13
By default, .filetool.lst backs up the entire /home/dsl directory. So if you have alot of files in there your backup will be large. You never mentioned how big the backup.tar.gz was. Booting DSL with the 'dsl norestore' will prevent DSL from restoring the backup.tar.gz or creating a new one. If you updated lilo with 'norestore' make sure you reran lilo to save your changes. Hope this helps.
Chris
Posted by AArdvark on Aug. 16 2005,16:32
Hi Chris,Thanks for your reply.
You're right! I completly forgot to update Lilo, and that should explain why the "norestore" boot option didnt work!
The backup.tar.gz archive, after the third reboot was no larger than 6Mb in size.
The box is old (AMD K6-2 500Mhz, 256 RAM), but I'm pretty sure it could handle processing a file this size.
Thanks again for your insight!
Posted by clivesay on Aug. 16 2005,16:45
I'm not sure why the restoring would take long. It's usually pretty quick even on my old Toshiba 133 40mb ram laptop. You may want to consider running a frugal install on that machine. I run DSL toram on a p500 256mb lappy with a persistent /home and /opt directory. It screams. 
Chris
Posted by AArdvark on Aug. 16 2005,17:10
Yeah, I never even considered a frugal install....it's just so damn easy to boot off the CD, and install to the HD with the default options....literally in 10 minutes!!I'm not sure why it took so long to do the restore...but the prompt was spinning away for a good 5mins.....thats waaaaay to long...even by Windows standards (heehee!)
No, once I removed the device from .backup_device, and cleared the script from .powerdown.sh, it was like I never even touched the "Backup/Restore" option in the first place!
The box boots very quickly now, (just as it had before I ran "Backup/Restore) besides it was a clean install, so the only things I had done at that point was set the proxy settings, statically config eth0, and set my homepage!
Cheers!