NEW foxclone50 linux image backup

[rossdv8]

If restoring to a bigger HDD or SSD, can both the root and the /home be expanded into the extra space manually using a partitioning utility, or does it get messy if root is automatically defined at its previous size?

For example, if my last root was about 25 and I would prefer a new root to be 25 or 40.

[AndyMH]

You have to adjust the partitions after the clone.

I did this recently, swapping out my 256GB msata SSD for a 512GB msata SSD, As I couldn't have both drives in the system (only one msata slot and no msata/usb adapter), I did a full backup of the 256GB SSD to another drive, swapped the SSDs over and then cloned from file to the new SSD.

I checked the new SSD booted and then booted the foxclone stick again and used gparted to resize the partitions. Same situation as you, my / partition was 30GB and I wanted it a bit bigger so I had to move the /home partition. It meant moving around 200GB of data but all was well:

The only problem I had - I could not stop gparted putting a 1MB gap* between the / and /home partitions. Went round this buoy several times before giving up.

Overall probably took me around 2 hours inc. the backup. Maybe 20mins to resize/move /home - I was surprised it didn't take longer.

* you need a 1MB gap before the first partition - leave space for the partition table and grub (legacy boot). Every time I said 0 space after gparted would then start the first partition at 2MB, or it would put 0 space before the first partition (which would be disaster) and 2MB after. Frustrating.

[rossdv8]

* you need a 1MB gap before the first partition - leave space for the partition table and grub (legacy boot). Every time I said 0 space after gparted would then start the first partition at 2MB, or it would put 0 space before the first partition (which would be disaster) and 2MB after. Frustrating.

I would not be concerned about the 1MB gap. I seem to remember reading about that in another context quite a while ago. There was a 'reason' for it happening, but I forget why now, and anyway 1Mb out of 500GB (or even out of 500MB) is not likely to be any sort of problem - just a curiosity

My question was posted for those people who might wonder if it is possible. And while I won't be going bigger than my 1TB drive for now, I did have to resize my /root last time I upgraded Mint, and it might have been so much simpler to Foxclone it, and resize from there, rather than resizing /root on a 1TB SSD with 500GB already in /home.
I took a 500GB 'backup' from the SSD to an external HDD. Foxclone seems to have matured sufficiently that it could be used comfortably for this.

I wonder if it might eventually appear in the Mint / Debian / Ubuntu repos . .

[AZgl1800]

I took a 500GB 'backup' from the SSD to an external HDD. Foxclone seems to have matured sufficiently that it could be used comfortably for this.

I wonder if it might eventually appear in the Mint / Debian / Ubuntu repos . .

Foxclone does not "know" what it is copying, and could care less.

It happily copies my Windows stuff

[rossdv8]

Corrected to:

I wonder if it might eventually appear in the Mint / Debian / Ubuntu / Windows repos . .

[MikeNovember]

I get a notification of a new post on foxclone and always open them with trepidation - what went wrong? Glad you liked it

Hi,

I have downloaded and used "foxclone_std-50-06.iso 5.4 kernel" version. It is on Ventoy USB key.

Once booted from Ventoy key, I select Foxclone ISO, then, once under Foxclone Linux I launch Foxclone app.

I have three partitions on my system: sda1 (system), sda2 (home), swap.

- Change from version 46: all my partitions are selected by default; I have now to edit settings and allow partitions selection to select the partition I want to backup. This is a bit annoying (if I remember correctly, with version 46 I could select / deselect without changing the settings).

- Once I have changed the settings, I can deselect sda2 partition, but I cannot deselect swap partition. This is a bug.

- Foxclone then proposes me to choose a backup disk, and still proposes Ventoy USB key (at least the partition where Foxclone and other ISOs are copied): you said Foxclone is now "Ventoy aware" and it seems not. Bug?

Regards,

MN

[AndyMH]

- Change from version 46: all my partitions are selected by default;

Deliberate on my part - to make it more difficult for newbies to make a mistake and not do a full backup. You have to take positive action to not do a full backup.

- Once I have changed the settings, I can deselect sda2 partition, but I cannot deselect swap partition. This is a bug.

Again deliberate, foxclone will always backup your swap partition (there is nothing to backup, all it does is record the UUID of the swap partition = takes milliseconds). You will also find, if booting UEFI, that foxclone will insist on backing up your EFI partition - another change from previous versions, also aimed at making it more difficult for newbies to make mistakes.

- Foxclone then proposes me to choose a backup disk, and still proposes Ventoy USB key (at least the partition where Foxclone and other ISOs are copied): you said Foxclone is now "Ventoy aware" and it seems not. Bug?

You can install foxclone into another OS using the deb. This is what I do - all my PCs have a 2TB backup drive with another copy of LM on it with foxclone installed in that. I boot from the backup drive, run foxclone and save my backups to the same boot drive, so your boot drive has to be a valid destination for a backup.

I have another user who uses ventoy. They have created a third partition on their ventoy stick - this could be a valid backup destination.

So foxclone detects the ventoy stick and will not let you back it up, but the ventoy drive could be a valid backup destination.

That leaves me with a dilemma - I have modified foxclone to explicitly recognise ventoy - what about the other multi-boot utilities like UNetbootin or yumi? At the moment there is no code in foxclone to recognise them and I am loathe to do it - a lot more work.

[Maxwell-J]

So foxclone detects the ventoy stick and will not let you back it up, but the ventoy drive could be a valid backup destination.

well done

[AZgl1800]

I say Bravo for all the hard work you have done with Foxclone, Andy.

I for one appreciate it greatly, as you have simplified the Image Backup Process so much.

All of the other methods to make Backup Images have a lot of pitfalls that can trip up the unaware user, especially the Neophytes who are coming to Linux after leaving Windows.

I agree with your Default Choices....

I have yet to use an extUSB Backup Drive as the Boot method, I am using the Flash Drive Sticks as they are so handy to just keep in my pocket..... Tough to do that with my 6 and 8 TB Seagate Hub drives

Once upon a Time, Macrium Reflect was my Backup of Choice, but it is so wasteful of space on the Backup Destination, and oh, ever so slow....

[diabolicbg]

I say Bravo for all the hard work you have done with Foxclone, Andy.

I for one appreciate it greatly, as you have simplified the Image Backup Process so much.

All of the other methods to make Backup Images have a lot of pitfalls that can trip up the unaware user, especially the Neophytes who are coming to Linux after leaving Windows.

I agree with your Default Choices....

I have yet to use an extUSB Backup Drive as the Boot method, I am using the Flash Drive Sticks as they are so handy to just keep in my pocket..... Tough to do that with my 6 and 8 TB Seagate Hub drives

Once upon a Time, Macrium Reflect was my Backup of Choice, but it is so wasteful of space on the Backup Destination, and oh, ever so slow....

Macrium Reflect is no longer slow, but unfortunately it still doesn't work well with Linux partitions and causes problems.

[AndyMH]

foxclone.com is down at the moment, please use the archive at foxclone.org. It's what happens when you try to make changes

[diabolicbg]

@AndyMH

Today I attempted to clone the SSD to another SSD with an intermediate snapshot from which to move the information onto the new SSD. Something happened that I don't know if it was my fault or Foxclone's fault. When I tried to check an image taken half an hour ago Foxclone returned a message that it could not find my SSD "MT-128 serial: xxxxxxxx". If I check the image immediately after making, I don't have this problem.
When trying to transfer the image to the new SSD, the program returned a message that it could not find such a drive, even though it was visible in the list after the scan at the beginning.
I then ran a clone from the old SSD to the new SSD and everything worked without problems.

20 minutes ago I encountered a new problem on foxclone_std-50-06. I imaged the SSD of a small Acer TravelMate B117 laptop to an external hard drive.When I tried to check the finished image, the program gave me an error - it could not find the original SSD of the laptop. I was never able to check with it. I use Ventoy, uploaded foxclone46-05 to it and now my verification is almost finished. I tried to take a screenshot of the problem, but could not store it either on the external media or on the SSD of the laptop itself. The only option was in the home folder of the foxclone virtual system.
The old Thunar 1.6.15 file manager gave access to the other media as well.

[AndyMH]

20 minutes ago I encountered a new problem on foxclone_std-50-06. I imaged the SSD of a small Acer TravelMate B117 laptop to an external hard drive.When I tried to check the finished image, the program gave me an error - it could not find the original SSD of the laptop. I was never able to check with it. I use Ventoy, uploaded foxclone46-05 to it and now my verification is almost finished. I tried to take a screenshot of the problem, but could not store it either on the external media or on the SSD of the laptop itself. The only option was in the home folder of the foxclone virtual system.
The old Thunar 1.6.15 file manager gave access to the other media as well.

I thought this was a problem I fixed prior to release - not finding the drive when doing a restore. Or were you doing a verify when the error occurred?

As a temporary fix - open the backup file (it is a text file) and either comment out the serial number or delete the line. Note foxclone runs as root, so navigate to your backup folder in your file manager, right click "open as root" and you can then double click on xxxx.backup to edit it.

Example backup file:

Code: Select all

02 Feb 2021, 12:30
Compression:NO
Split files:YES
Model:ATA WDC WDS240G2G0A-
Serial:1851BF802454
Mount point:sda
Partition:sda1 : ntfs : <none> : 555MB : 73% used [Recovery] : Flags-hidden, diag
Blocks:sda1,395468
Partition:sda2 : fat32 : <none> : 101MB : 32% used : Flags-boot, esp
Blocks:sda2,31597
Partition:sda3 : <unknown> : <none> : 17MB : 100% used : Flags-msftres
Blocks:sda3,16800
Partition:sda4 : ntfs : <none> : 40.2GB : 41% used : Flags-msftdata
Blocks:sda4,15931204
Partition:sda5 : ext4 : <none> : 15.4GB : 40% used [root] *Linux Mint 19.2 Tina*
Blocks:sda5,6095136
Partition:sda6 : ext4 : <none> : 20.5GB : 16% used [home]
Blocks:sda6,3250936
Partition:sda7 : swap : d785dbd8-2558-4993-ac1d-ba09202f60d0
Blocks:sda7,0
End

Either delete this line:

Code: Select all

Serial:1851BF802454

or comment it out, changing it to:

Code: Select all

#Serial:1851BF802454

Does foxclone50 then behave? If there is no serial number, foxclone should just look for the drive based on the model name.

I added saving the serial number of the drive over a year ago when I realised that a user might have two identical drives in the system.

The change thunar to pcmanfm - it should give you access to the drives/partitions in the system, I will check.

Once I have replicated the bug at my end, I'll issue an update, might take me a few days.

[sanmig]

I tried to take a screenshot of the problem, but could not store it either on the external media or on the SSD of the laptop itself. The only option was in the home folder of the foxclone virtual system.

While running the FC app always save SSs to the FC Desktop, FC may use/block drives.
After closing the app usually the access to all drives / partitions will be restored.

[diabolicbg]

I thought this was a problem I fixed prior to release - not finding the drive when doing a restore. Or were you doing a verify when the error occurred?

As a temporary fix - open the backup file (it is a text file) and either comment out the serial number or delete the line. Note foxclone runs as root, so navigate to your backup folder in your file manager, right click "open as root" and you can then double click on xxxx.backup to edit it.

Example backup file:

Code: Select all

02 Feb 2021, 12:30
Compression:NO
Split files:YES
Model:ATA WDC WDS240G2G0A-
Serial:1851BF802454
Mount point:sda
Partition:sda1 : ntfs : <none> : 555MB : 73% used [Recovery] : Flags-hidden, diag
Blocks:sda1,395468
Partition:sda2 : fat32 : <none> : 101MB : 32% used : Flags-boot, esp
Blocks:sda2,31597
Partition:sda3 : <unknown> : <none> : 17MB : 100% used : Flags-msftres
Blocks:sda3,16800
Partition:sda4 : ntfs : <none> : 40.2GB : 41% used : Flags-msftdata
Blocks:sda4,15931204
Partition:sda5 : ext4 : <none> : 15.4GB : 40% used [root] *Linux Mint 19.2 Tina*
Blocks:sda5,6095136
Partition:sda6 : ext4 : <none> : 20.5GB : 16% used [home]
Blocks:sda6,3250936
Partition:sda7 : swap : d785dbd8-2558-4993-ac1d-ba09202f60d0
Blocks:sda7,0
End

Either delete this line:

Code: Select all

Serial:1851BF802454

or comment it out, changing it to:

Code: Select all

#Serial:1851BF802454

Does foxclone50 then behave? If there is no serial number, foxclone should just look for the drive based on the model name.

I added saving the serial number of the drive over a year ago when I realised that a user might have two identical drives in the system.

The change thunar to pcmanfm - it should give you access to the drives/partitions in the system, I will check.

Once I have replicated the bug at my end, I'll issue an update, might take me a few days.

Thanks for the tips! I figured them out, checked the archive file and saw it was possible. I won't need the temporary solution for the moment, because I checked the image with the old version of the program.

I agree that some may have two identical drives in their computer - on my desktop computer it is just like that -two identical SSDs - one with Windows and the other with LM. So this decision has merit.

I tried to take a screenshot of the problem, but could not store it either on the external media or on the SSD of the laptop itself. The only option was in the home folder of the foxclone virtual system.

While running the FC app always save SSs to the FC Desktop, FC may use/block drives.
After closing the app usually the access to all drives / partitions will be restored.

I will check this the next time I make a recovery image. Thanks again!

[FoxyMint]

My foxclone image works perfectly, but now I have just fitted a much faster, but smaller SSD, trying to restore the image of my PC gave me the 'Cannot find drive ATA*******' error. I read the previous posts and followed the removal of the serial number but got the same error. I then read the model from the list of drives in the Source Drive panel and wrote the model number to the ***.backup file.

This worked just fine and I rebooted with a smile, until it booted into grub.... I haven't a clue about grub, was this caused by the new drive being 240GB when the old mechanical drive was 500GB, or have I done a boo-boo somewhere!

Please help... My computer is hideously slow Oh, and the version on my USB stick is 0.46 which works perfectly with the original drive.

[AndyMH]

To clarify, you CANNOT restore a backup to a different drive. That is one of the features built-in to stop newbies making mistakes on a restore - it will only restore to the drive the backup was taken from.

To clone a backup to a new drive you need to select "clone from file" on the clone tab.

EDIT - It would have helped if you had read the user guide. You can clone a larger drive (or backup of a larger drive) to a smaller drive BUT you must shrink the partitions on the source drive so that they will fit on the target drive FIRST.

[sanmig]

the version on my USB stick is 0.46

Hi, I’m a just FC user but would like to mention:

a) v0.46 should be fine (it worked many times here), but likely Andy won’t be happy with digging into "old" versions (?).
When you retry with v50, at first go to tab “Settings” and check the “Enable debugging”, it will create a log file on the desktop to report to AndyMH in case something goes wrong again.

b) I guess the “serial number” point is a misunderstanding of a posting on page 2, there has never been an issue with it:
To write the image to a different drive you’d “Clone” from “Backup file to Drive”, the serial number check is ignored then.

c) To “downsize”, the source must be shrunk before taking the backup, otherwise it won’t fit - But it seems you got that already, otherwise FC would have complained about size? (Rem: See Andy’s edit)

-> So the “boot to GRUB” sounds interesting, is it a full backup you’re trying to write to the target?

[sanmig]

Ahh, I forgot:
Do not attempt to boot with two identical (same GUID, UUID) drives in the machine, neither internal nor USB connected, this could be fatal!

[Lady Fitzgerald]

To clarify, you CANNOT restore a backup to a different drive. That is one of the features built-in to stop newbies making mistakes on a restore - it will only restore to the drive the backup was taken from...

Curious. While your reason makes excellent sense, if I understand this correctly, wouldn't it be a problem if the original drive went belly up and needed replacing?