Linux Mint Forums

hello,
how do i do a full backup of my linux mint and later restore if my linux crashes ?

Thank you

Google Clonezilla and Redo backup.

I use clonzilla on PartedMagic. http://partedmagic.com/
Just back up the home and root partitions (presuming you have both) - clonzilla will allow you to restore individual partitions.

You could try Redo backup http://redobackup.org/ again this is a little easier to use but is not as good (imho)
With this you should back up individual partitions - if you back up both home and root at the same time you have to restore both.

I use Redo backup http://redobackup.org/.
Same under the hood engine but less features and less learning curve for doing straight and easy backups.
And less confusing to use for simple partition backup than clonezilla is.

I backup partitions to external usb. Great if wanting to install different distros in same spot then restore back to your default setup. Have backups of different distros like Ubuntu 12.10,Bodhi,Funduntu,Opensuse 12.3,Cinnamon 14 and my default Mint KDE 14. Can boot up the live CD and restore the linux partitions and be back in 10mins.
.

I have a root and /home partition and only back up the root with my backup program, which I save on the /home partition and on another computer. This keeps the backup file to only about 3 GB and the procedure is quick, under 3 minutes. I make additional backups whenever I make a major change to my system, such as installing a new video driver.
If you are going to have a crash, then it will be from a problem on your root partition. Heck, you can delete all the content in you /home partition, except you can't delete the desktop folder, and still be able to get to the desktop upon restarting.
The /home partition can get very large with the backup partition image files and all the other documents, music, and video files so I just manually back them up as these files are added, using a USB flash drive or over my network to another computer.
However, if you make frequent changes to many files or additions in certain folders then using a backup program for those folders may be better.
Redo Backup definitely has a lot easier interface to use. Strangely, when there is more than one partition, it allows you to select an individual partition to back up but when you go to restore the partition, then there is no listing of each partition in the "select destination" window, just the whole drive, and then come the warning messages.
Also, if I tried to start Redo Backup with a USB flash drive already connected, then it would start with one drive but not with another. I would have to start the program first and then attach the drive. This didn't happen with Clonezilla.
With Clonezilla there is one screen that could be really confusing to some. It's the "Advanced extra parameter screen", where you can choose to have the file system checked and repaired first. The default selection is to skip this part. However, I found that almost all of the time the backup procedure would start but then stop, with the message “Failed to use partclone program to save or restore an image”. There was supposedly a log file generated in "/var/log" but I never found one. I finally figured out that you should always choose the check and repair option. It's amazing how there are almost always one or more errors found. Even when I do subsequent backups there usually are more errors found. I seldom saw this using backup programs in Windows.
Also, if you select the /home partition to store your backup, then you are limited to just three locations.
So if you are backing up the whole drive, then try out Redo Backup, but if you just want to backup one partition in the drive like I do, then use Clonezilla.

hi, i do have multiple partition, 2 partitions running windows OS and 1 running linux. i just need to backup the linux partition. I will try the clonezilla, thanks for the info.

jeret wrote:hello,
how do i do a full backup of my linux mint and later restore if my linux crashes ?

Thank you

I've been quite successful using remastersys to completely backup and restore my Ubuntu 12.10 and 13.04 installations to a single live boot dvd, I've not yet tried in on Mint.

dd is useful also to copy individual partitions

jeret wrote:hello,
how do i do a full backup of my linux mint and later restore if my linux crashes ?

Thank you

I just installed Remastersys in Mint 14 (Cinnamon - classic gnome no effects) seems to work just fine !

This link no longer works the owner ( Fragadelic ) is transfering repository
Directions >>http://www.remastersys.com/ubuntu.html

It looks like this will be the fork that I authorize - http://system-imaging.blogspot.ca/

I am in the process of handing everything over to them.

If you've installed already use CLI

When I use Redo it appears to create a backup (progress bar completes) but then their splash page appears and the process hangs?

elchucko wrote:When I use Redo it appears to create a backup (progress bar completes) but then their splash page appears and the process hangs?

Parted Magic works well.
http://partedmagic.com/doku.php