[ale] Backup Nirvana - bootable backup

[Ron Frazier]

Hello all,

I wanted to pass along a preliminary report on an amazing backup
experience I had today.  I've been using PC's pretty much ever since
they were invented for consumer use, and backing them up most of that
time.  It's always a pain, and doing a restore is a royal pain even with
a backup.

My backup strategy has 2 parts:

1) Never need one.

and, because "stuff" happens

2) If you ever have to use one, have one and make sure the restore works
as easily and quickly as possible.

I do not subscribe to the back up the data and rebuild the system
theory.  There are literally hundreds of settings that I configure or
tweak during a computer install.  They relate to power, security,
wireless, applications, add-on's, preferences, etc.  The configuration
screens for Firefox alone have about 30 settings.  It may take me a
couple of days to set up a new system.  That's time I only want to spend
the first time, never again.

I want a backup that gets the system totally back to the way it was on
the day of the backup, including all settings, applications, and
operating systems.

For years, I've been using Acronis TrueImage to make images of my
Windows systems.  I have, on a few bad days, had to use them to restore
the systems, and it works, but it's still a pain.  The main disadvantage
of that is that you have to dig up the restoration software disc and
wait hours while the image is restored.

Last week, I ran the SMART long diagnostic on my HDD in my laptop and
found a couple of bad sectors.  I decided to go ahead and replace the
drive.  I bought a new same size one from Frys then RMA'd the old one.
(This is a 7200 RPM 2.5", and has hybrid platter and flash, which is
cool.)  I cloned the old data on the laptop to the new drive I bought,
then installed the drive.  In that case I connected both the new and old
drives directly to available SATA interfaces in my desktop machine.  I
used a program on the free CD from http://ultimatebootcd.com/ called
CopyWipe to make an exact clone of the drive.  When I installed the new
drive, it worked perfectly, both on the Windows and the Ubuntu side of
the dual boot fence (hence avoiding the need to use my old backup).  I
then used CopyWipe  to wipe the old drive before returning it to
Seagate.

I decided to use the replacement drive that Seagate sent me as a
bootable backup, which I'd never done before.  To prepare it, I put it
in a USB SATA enclosure.  This is the way I'd generally do a backup,
rather than removing the drives and installing them in the desktop
machine.  I booted an Acronis TrueImage CD at bedtime, attached the
spare drive to the USB port, and selected the clone option to clone the
laptop's drive over to the spare, then went to bed.

In the morning, the cloning operation was done.  I decided to simulate a
"recovery" and pretend that the laptop drive was dead.  I shut down the
machine, removed two screws from the HDD, and removed it.  I then slid
the spare drive that I'd cloned into the same slot, since it's an
identical size SATA drive.  I turned the machine back on and booted from
the spare drive.  Very shortly, I had my Windows running on the backup
drive as if nothing had happened.  (I know it's a Linux group.  Keep
reading.)

This was GREAT!  I had recovered my system using the BACKUP in 2
MINUTES!  Now, I still have to clone it once a week (or two or four),
but I think I can do that.  I don't like to leave the backup drive
attached lest a malfunction or virus in the target machine also trashes
the backup drive.

OK, now it gets interesting.  I decided to boot into Ubuntu.  Now, I
have the Windows boot loader as my primary boot screen, and that's set
to chain to Grub using a setup provided by using the EasyBCD program
http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1 .  So, the Windows boot screen appears,
then I select Ubuntu, then Grub should appear.  It didn't appear.  It
locked up on something that said BootSector, I think.

Now, here's what's interesting.  Remember that I said I got a new hard
drive and cloned the original laptop drive on my desktop machine with
CopyWipe.  The drives were directly installed on SATA ports.  That drive
worked flawlessly when installed, including both the Windows and the
Ubuntu side of the fence.

However, the drive I cloned with Acronis TrueImage via the USB port
worked with Windows but not Ubuntu.  I have no idea why.  I have not
tried CopyWipe via USB yet.

In any case, I booted back into Windows, ran the EasyBCD program to
rebuild the link to Grub and set up the Windows boot screen, then booted
again.  I selected Ubuntu, then Grub appeared as it should, then I
selected the latest version, and TA-DA, Ubuntu is booted.

So, now I'm back in business on the SPARE drive.  Worst case scenario, I
can be back up and running after a drive failure, including Windows and
Linux, even having to tinker with the boot sequence, within 20 minutes.
And, I have EVERYTHING that I had configured before in the system as of
the date of the clone.  This is by far the best backup strategy I've
found.  I still have JungleDisk backing up the data online every 6 hours
in case there is a fire, flood, or theft, which kills my local backups.
Also, I would still have to restore the data created or altered since
the backup.

The main disadvantage, other than actually having to do the backups, is
that this takes one spare hard drive and enclosure for every clone you
want to make, for every computer.  However, I have enough hard drives
and enclosures on hand to clone 4 computers once.  Later, I hope to add
a 2nd clone of each.

If anyone else has had experience with bootable backup systems, please
post it.  If I get a chance to do further experiments, I'll post the
results.

By the way, the Jan 2011 issue of Linux Journal has a neat article about
CloneZilla.

Sincerely,

Ron

-- 

(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
call on the phone.  I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
mailing lists and such.  I don't always see new messages very quickly.)

Ron Frazier

770-205-9422 (O)   Leave a message.
linuxdude AT c3energy.com