I just got a bios message: “Hard disk failure is imminent! Please back up your hard disk and have it replaced!”
So now I’m backing everything up but I’ve got tons of repos added, tons of packages installed, apps, etc and I have no idea how I figure out what they all are and how to properly back them up. I need to also back up my virtual machines. Can someone tell me how to do this?
Just to make sure you have already got data backups but you want backups of the repositories you have and which packages you’ve got installed.
You can make a list of your repositories with this command:
zypper lr -u
The -u argument will show the URI of the repository so you can enter this in YaST to add him.
To make an file containing all the installed packages you start YaST->Software->Software Management.
Select “File” on top of the window and select Export.
This will generate a file containing all the **user **installed packages.
When you need to import them you can simply start Software Management again and select File->Import.
Remember that the file only contains the user installed packages so I recommend you only use this file on a system with the same openSUSE version.
I’m not sure how to make a backup of your virtual machines.
If you use VirtualBox you can simply make an backup of your ~/.VirtualBox folder.
And on a new system place this folder back, make sure you’ve got VirtualBox installed and it should work.
VM’s will be in their own files where ever you put them. If you use VirtualBox I believe it defaults to you home directory. I have a special partition that I always use just for VM files.
Use Clonezilla or other image type backup to make images of the partitions.
Note when restoring to a new drive you will need to be able to boot from an external Linux disk so you can edit the /boot/grub and /etc/fstab files to point to the new drive name.
On 2010-09-17 17:06, 6tr6tr wrote:
>
> I just got a bios message: “Hard disk failure is imminent! Please back
> up your hard disk and have it replaced!”
run “smartctl --health /dev/yourdevicename” and “smartctl -a /dev/yourdevicename”, post the result here.
> So now I’m backing everything up but I’ve got tons of repos added, tons
> of packages installed, apps, etc and I have no idea how I figure out
> what they all are and how to properly back them up. I need to also back
> up my virtual machines. Can someone tell me how to do this?
Just copy everything, file by file, to the same destination on another disk. Use rsync. Partition
and format it first in any layout you like (or the same layout as the original).
Or image the disk to another one big enough, as image file. This disk is not the replacement disk,
but a fast place to make a backup on a hurry. Use dd or dd-rescue (check the name).
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 11.2 x86_64 “Emerald” GM (Minas Tirith))
First, I would check your drive with smartctl command to see what’s up
with the drive… overheating maybe? Download the manufacturers
diagnostic tools to verify it as well.
What drive and size is it?
For your virtual machines you should just be able to drag/drop the
directories (thats all I do with vmware workstation) but check for
hidden files maybe. You could also bzip the directories up and
drag/drop.
Else I would pull the drive if it is going to fail and then connect up
externally to do your recovery.
–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 (i586) Kernel 2.6.32.19-0.2-pae
up 3 days 2:56, 2 users, load average: 0.00, 0.07, 0.12
ASUS eeePC 1000HE ATOM N280 1.66GHz | GPU Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME
I turned off that computer (I did back up my most critical data first, but it’s dual-boot with windows and I didn’t get a chance to back up the windows stuff) and I want to figure out what steps to take before proceeding. Here’s what I will do:
Backup the repos, installed packages
a. zypper lr -u
b. YAST -> Software -> File -> Export
(I’m thinking that I might install opensuse 11.3 on the new HD. But since I have 11.2 on the current one, can I just change all the 11.2 references to 11.3 for the packages/repos?)
Install openSUSE on the new HD (is there anything I need to do to make this work?)
In most cases it will work, but there could be an 11.3 repository missing a package you had on 11.2.
Well it’s just like a fresh install.
The only things are when you put back your home folder backup it could contain outdated config files for some applications.
Not yet. I’m booting up to a USB stick first and grabbing all data off it first. Once I’m done with that, I’ll boot into it and check the HD, as well as get the data from repos/packages. I’ll post back here when I do.
> ==> WARNING: May need -F samsung2 or -F samsung3 enabled; see manual for details.
Better read that.
> SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
> Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
> ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
Sure you have good cooling in your system? 45C seems a tad high for an
80GB drive, I run 3x500GB drives and they are at 30-33C my 36GB Raptors
ran at around 25C…