Backing up a Linux system
Debian Potato (Frozen) with Slink KDE.
I want to be able to backup my linux system to scsi tape (nst0)
such that, if my hard drive falls into little pieces one bright
sunny day, I can boot from a rescue floppy and restore the lot
onto a new drive without having to re-install anything.
I can certainly do this with OS/2 ( I did have to do it once -
it's amazing what lightning can do) and I'm hoping it is possible
with linux.
I plan to use afio for the backup in conjunction with the
Tomsrtbt rescue floppy (an amazing piece of work).
Naturally I have some questions otherwise you wouldn't be reading
this!
Most parts of the system are straightforward and I could include
mount point directories, such as /cdrom, as long as there is
nothing actually mounted then they would, at least, be
automatically re-created. I wouldn't need to backup /tmp.
What about /dev? Could the device files be backed up without
backing up the contents of the said devices? I did see once that
Midnight Commander could copy a complete linux system onto
another partition so I assume that backing up the /dev directory
could be done.
I'm assuming that the contents of /proc, including any
sub-directories, are generated each time at startup and all that
would need to be done would be to re-create the actual directory.
You are now most welcome to pick my assumptions to pieces and/or
make suggestions.
Barry Samuels
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