Another general question on Linux - backups
Since my bad sector count is slowly, but steadily increasing I've finally bought a big external disk. 
Yes - that's 15 bad sectors!
The rest of the household have suddenly realised they don't understand what backups are.
Panic!
So they want aneasy understandable way to backup their data.
Unfortunately, there is one, possibly two Windows laptops, which have the data and system intermingled.
I was thinking that, purely for simplicity, I can boot both Linux and Windows from a Linux CD or USB
and use the dd command to write a disk or partition image to an external disk.
Will this work?
Most of the PC's only have USB2.
Quote
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x000f 114 099 006 Pre-fail Always - 65763668
3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0003 100 100 000 Pre-fail Always - 0
4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 096 096 020 Old_age Always - 4817
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 100 100 036 Pre-fail Always - 15
7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x000f 084 060 030 Pre-fail Always - 291811358
9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 074 074 000 Old_age Always - 23080
10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0013 100 100 097 Pre-fail Always - 0
12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 095 095 020 Old_age Always - 5551
184 End-to-End_Error 0x0032 100 100 099 Old_age Always - 0
187 Reported_Uncorrect 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
188 Command_Timeout 0x0032 100 096 000 Old_age Always - 7711
189 High_Fly_Writes 0x003a 001 001 000 Old_age Always - 195
190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel 0x0022 066 059 045 Old_age Always - 34 (Min/Max 31/34)
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 034 041 000 Old_age Always - 34 (0 11 0 0 0)
195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered 0x001a 043 033 000 Old_age Always - 65763668
197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0010 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x003e 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
240 Head_Flying_Hours 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 212098370000718
241 Total_LBAs_Written 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 1435651537
242 Total_LBAs_Read 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 1348295682
Yes - that's 15 bad sectors!
The rest of the household have suddenly realised they don't understand what backups are.
Panic!
So they want an
Unfortunately, there is one, possibly two Windows laptops, which have the data and system intermingled.
I was thinking that, purely for simplicity, I can boot both Linux and Windows from a Linux CD or USB
and use the dd command to write a disk or partition image to an external disk.
Will this work?
Most of the PC's only have USB2.
Addendum. 
I should definitely use rsync and maybe even consider LVM.
I should definitely use rsync and maybe even consider LVM.
Not entirely convinced by LVM, but...
You definitely need to make it as automatic as possible - a link on the desktop to initiate, for example, unless you can initiate it remotely. I use WOL and rsync (daemon) to "pull" data for backup daily, though it's Linux to Linux - additional copies are made during the day if the source is up and running. On a gigabit network, rsync finishes almost as soon as it has started
Using Linux to store files can have a major advantage with rsync using hard links, as storage is minimised by only having one physical file and multiple pointers. However, as always, you have to ensure resilience, which means ensuring there are multiple "real" copies
There's also the option of "paid for" cloud storage (which uses rsync and file deltas
You definitely need to make it as automatic as possible - a link on the desktop to initiate, for example, unless you can initiate it remotely. I use WOL and rsync (daemon) to "pull" data for backup daily, though it's Linux to Linux - additional copies are made during the day if the source is up and running. On a gigabit network, rsync finishes almost as soon as it has started
Using Linux to store files can have a major advantage with rsync using hard links, as storage is minimised by only having one physical file and multiple pointers. However, as always, you have to ensure resilience, which means ensuring there are multiple "real" copies
There's also the option of "paid for" cloud storage (which uses rsync and file deltas
Unfortunately price is a problem.
So I'm only buying a big (2TB) external drive which connects via USB.
So no ethernet.
BTW I'm currently using rsync over ethernet to a remote drive - but it's slow
to backup my entire /home - about 25GB used so far.
Anyway I'd like to put a smallish Linux on this external drive and boot from it,
so that during the backup none of the usual PC files are active.
Unfortunately!
My "main" PC doesn't do booting from USB (although USB works after booting).
It's only about 6 years old.
Last resort would be to boot off a CD.
I suspect my other PC's will boot off of USB.
Then I'd have to write some scripts to make it easy for the rest of the family to
control backup/recovery - I fancy zenity for this.
So I'm only buying a big (2TB) external drive which connects via USB.
So no ethernet.
BTW I'm currently using rsync over ethernet to a remote drive - but it's slow
to backup my entire /home - about 25GB used so far.
Anyway I'd like to put a smallish Linux on this external drive and boot from it,
so that during the backup none of the usual PC files are active.
Unfortunately!
My "main" PC doesn't do booting from USB (although USB works after booting).
It's only about 6 years old.
Last resort would be to boot off a CD.
I suspect my other PC's will boot off of USB.
Then I'd have to write some scripts to make it easy for the rest of the family to
control backup/recovery - I fancy zenity for this.
I've never updated a BIOS in my life!
I'm not willing to risk it.
I think support for my motherboard ceased some time ago...
I'm not willing to risk it.
I think support for my motherboard ceased some time ago...
Quote
Machine: Mobo: ASUSTeK model: A8N-SLI SE version: 1.XX Bios: Phoenix version: ASUS A8N-SLI SE 0502 date: 03/09/2006
Bloody Hell!!!
That gives a load of options!!!
I'll have to work through them all.
Thanks
That gives a load of options!!!
I'll have to work through them all.
Thanks
Sadly a Xubuntu USB-stick created with Unetbootin is recognised as
but nothing happens when I try to boot from it.
When tried on an under-powered netbook it immediately shows a menu before loading in a couple of minutes.
Since this is probably my oldest PC, I'm happy enough to boot from a live CD PLUS a small USB stick, just to run rsync.
It may even happen that when the external disk arrives, it has a better USB connection.
I'm quite keen to have a go at trying LVM on the external disk.
It doesn't matter if it gets reformatted a few times...
Thanks Waldo.
Quote USB DISK 2.0 PMAP
but nothing happens when I try to boot from it.
When tried on an under-powered netbook it immediately shows a menu before loading in a couple of minutes.
Since this is probably my oldest PC, I'm happy enough to boot from a live CD PLUS a small USB stick, just to run rsync.
It may even happen that when the external disk arrives, it has a better USB connection.
I'm quite keen to have a go at trying LVM on the external disk.
It doesn't matter if it gets reformatted a few times...
Thanks Waldo.