Linux Mint Forums

1. I want to use the Mint Backup Tool to backup my home directory to a DVD (or possibly a usb flash drive). After I insert a blank dvd-rw I can't find it in the Destination list on the Backup Tool. (It does show any flash drives I have plugged in though.) Where is it? I do see the icon for the blank dvd on the desktop.

2. How can I determine how much space is needed for the backup so I know how many dvds I need or how big of a flash drive I need?

I'm using Mint 13, Cinnamon 1.6, Backup Tool 2.0.7.

Thanks.

Well I have to say I don't use mintbackup, but to the best of my knowledge it has no disk burning capabilities. If you want your data on a dvd you have to save it onto your hard disk first and then use something like Brasero or Xfburn to burn it onto the disk. It will of course write direct to flash drives.

How much space will it take - well, if you save it to your hard drive first you will know exactly how much space it takes up before you transfer it.

Thanks for your response.

I'm making the backup following the Mint upgrade tutorial here: http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/2 I want to upgrade from Mint 13 to 14. The tutorial suggests using the Backup Tool to backup the home directory to an external drive such as a usb or dvd.

You are quite right it does say that, but I had a go at doing it before I replied to you, and I couldn't do it and you can't do it, which seems to say to me one of two things, either we both have the wrong technique or it can't be done. Like I said it don't use this software so I am not sure about its capabilities.

Wait a minute, I forgot about packet writing. There is a very old article about that here:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=129093

I don't know if it is of any use to you. The first thing it suggests is that you need to install the package udftools. I certainly don't have that installed, maybe you don't also. I really don't know if that is the answer for you though as the tutorial is a bit old.

DVD's can go bad after awhile especially the cheapies as they grow crc errors as the media degrades over time. Are slow for doing backups. Usb keys limited for larger capacities partitions.

Easier way not relying on Windows or Linux at all is Redo Backup http://redobackup.org/

Dowload 250mb iso and burn to cd. And boot with it. Uses same under the hood engine as Clonezilla but a lot easier to use.

Easy and can back up all your partitions including Windows to another hardrive partition or external usb drive is what I do.

Then second set I just back up the Linux partitions only. So I can do clean installs of different distro's and then back them up once I have them setup and running with my programs & settings. And only takes me 20 mins to restore linux back to prior distro or full including windows in 40 mins.

And a lot easier and faster than the options presented.

And have Ubuntu 12.10,Mint 14 Cinnamon,Fuduntu,Voyager 12.10 xfce backups on a external usb drive. And last night did a clean install of Linux Mint 14 KDE. Once I have everything installed upgraded and tweaked then will redo backup the KDE 3 linux partitions also.

Then I can swap distro's in 20mins and no hassles. As have done total and just linux restores half a dozen times no issues.
Only issue is use the same partitions and don't change the size of the partitions.

And a much faster and cleaner way then DVD''s or limited size of usb keys as 64gb key is pretty expensive and cost as much as a 1tb usb external drive. A 32gb usb is the cheapest but for the cost to keep just one backup on it makes least then ideal cost/use ratio.
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