Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

[rcrsn51]

Gnost is a partition backup/restore system. It can create image files of NTFS/EXT/FAT partitions. It can also copy a partition directly from one drive to another.

Install the PET below. It creates the folder /usr/local/gnost containing two items - the clickable script "gnostmenu" and the folder "gnocode". It also adds a menu entry under Utility that is a link to this document.

NTFS Partitions

Gnost is a reliable solution for backing up your Windows partition. Assuming that you have Windows installed in an NTFS filesystem, here are the steps.

You will need another partition to hold the backup image files. Ideally, it should be formatted as ext2 and the safest place is on an external USB drive . However, your "backup drive" could be another ext2 partition on the same internal hard drive as Windows. You can also use an NTFS partition as the backup drive, if your USB HDD is already formatted that way. (But this alternative has not received extensive testing.)

Go to the folder /usr/local/gnost and copy the two items onto your backup drive. If you plan to store the image files in a subfolder, copy the Gnost items there instead.

Boot the target Windows computer off your favourite Puppy Live CD. Connect your USB drive and open the backup partition.

Click on the "gnostmenu" file. Select #1 from the menu.

Read the initial instructions. Select the type of operation (create or restore an image) and the name of the image file. I like to use the extension ".gno" for my NTFS image files. The image will be saved in the current folder.

Ordinarily, you will use Gnost to backup/restore an image to the same Windows partition. But you may eventually need to upgrade your hard drive or replace a failing unit. In this scenario, you will be transferring the image to a new drive whose geometry may be different than the original. So some extra steps are required.

Before running Gnost, you must prepare the new drive by making an NTFS partition and setting the boot flag. Make sure that the new partition is at least as big as the original.

After Gnost restores the image, it will expand the NTFS filesystem to fill the new partition, update the boot sector and write a new WinXP MBR.

[Update] If you have Vista or Win7 and need the matching MBR, get the newer ms-sys program here. Run either

[Flymo]

Thanks very much for that - 'egnost' is new to me, and looks to be seriously useful now that EXT4 is with us.

For those confused by Grub, there is a fairly simple solution called 'SuperGrubDisk' available at: http://www.supergrubdisk.org

Yes, it is possible to boot a regular live CD, loop mount the partition, then chroot into it and run grub, but..... this CD is script-driven with menus, and the Grub 1 version (0.9799) is very fast and easy to use, even on a P3 with 256M RAM. Worked well for me.

Have not tried the Grub 2 SuperGrubDisk since it is still deprecated at the moment, worth checking that on their website. Not impressed by Grub 2, yet. I'll give it some more time.

All the best, Ben

[Sylvander]

1. Tried Gnost, and it was successful.

2. See:
Post #437...
And...
Post #438...
Showing the results.

[rcrsn51]

Thanks for testing.

[Hotdog]

Puppy 5.2.8 full HD install is my main OS. It has a load of add-ons, too. It has been my interest for quite a while to find a utility such as Gnost which would backup this installation and then restore it to a different machine with Puppy and all the add-ons intact. It has suddenly occurred to me that everything on the new machine will be different. There will be a different disk drive, network adapter, video card or chip, audio, optical drives, CPU and just about everything else.

It is now my opinion that it is better/easier to install from scratch again on the new machine. Gnost and other such fine programs are best left to rescue us from disaster on the machine that originated the backup.

Have any of you found it easy to backup from one computer and restore to a quite different one using Gnost? Or, anything else?

[rcrsn51]

[Hotdog]

I have tried using the utilities on Ultimate Boot CD, the multi-talented linux dd command, etc. So far the results have ranged from not being able to boot at all or applications that will not run or run and fail.

The problem is of my own making. When I was a gun-ho CentOS user I installed the OS on each machine (3) then when I added something to one I took the time to update the others also. Then I discovered Puppy 5.1.1 followed by Puppy 5.2.8. The CentOS boxes gathered dust while the Puppy box gained one favorite application after another. Now that Puppy 5.2.8 is all I want or need on all my computers, I regret not keeping the other two caught up as I did with CentOS.

Gnost is new to me. Will try it next.

BTW, my last Microsoft OS was Windows 98 so Linux being like or not like Windows doesn't mean much!

[rcrsn51]

[eps]

i have a copy of puppy to another partition an is ok
eps

[Sylvander]

@rcrsn51
1. I wonder if you could help me in my present difficulty?

2. My old PC failed on Thursday past = June 21st.
I bought a new PC, and have a couple of Puppies working on it OK, but I need to Get Windows [my previous Win2000Pro?] working on it to be able to access my Family Tree, and all the emails of the past years stored by Outlook Express, and, and...

3. Might it be possible [easy?] to restore the Gnost backups I made of sda1=C: [2000Pro partition] and sda5=D: [data files for Windows and various programs installed therein].
These backups were made on June 10th, and the old PC failed on June 21st, so they're fairly recent.
(a) Since the hardware is very different [much more up-to-date], would I need to "repair" the installation prior to attempting to boot it?
The "Recovery Console" was installed to C: within the 2000Pro installation.
A normal boot offers me the choice to load that.
Don't have the original 2000Pro CD that includes the Recovery Console.
(b) Or might I boot into "Safe Mode" and use the driver CD supplied with the ASRock H61M-S mobo to install all the drivers?
The guy who sold the new PC said: XP drivers are included on the disk, and those should be OK for Win2000Pro.

4. Here's my thread about the old-PC/new-PC situation.

[rcrsn51]

It sounds like your new PC did NOT come with Windows installed?

[Sylvander]

1. "It sounds like your new PC did NOT come with Windows installed?"
Correct.

2. "Did it come with a new Windows disc?"
No.
No OS of any kind installed, and no OS disk supplied.
Just a blank 250GB SATA internal HDD.
I partitioned and formatted the partitions with FAT32 using the "Seagate Disk Wizard" bootable CD...
[Windows installations won't work unless its partitioning/formatting is done with Microsoft program]
...then used Puppy->GParted to re-arrange.
Only sda1 was unchanged.
sda1[boot, lba], sda2[lba], sda3[no lba!] all FAT32.
sda4 = extended partition.
sda5, sda6 ext3 partitions.

3. "If you try to restore it to a significantly different machine (like yours) it is highly probably that it won't boot at all. "
My understanding is:
When Windows is installed, the Setup program detects all of the connected hardware it can see, and...
If it has suitable drivers on the Windows CD, it installs them.
If it fails to initialize an item of hardware, the setup stalls.
Each time this happens...you are expected to shut down, restart, and at next run the Setup will continue where it left off, but auto-skip the item of problem hardware.
Once all detected hardware items have been initialized or skipped, provided Windows has enough initialized hardware to get to the desktop...
If you then go into the Device Manager, you willsee all the problem devices identified.
It's then that the drivers for those can be installed.
However, see the alternatives below...

4. "You might be able to boot it in Safe Mode and run the installers on the driver CD"
(a) True.
This is the safer alternative to 3 above [when there are problems].
This method [if it works] would provide a new/fresh install, but takes a lot of work/fiddling/frustration.
An easier, but less perfect alternative, is to restore an image of the Windows partition as it existed on the other hardware, and...
REPAIR the installation prior to any attempt to load/boot it.
BUT...
(b) Not sure how best to do that.
I wonder if "FalconFour's UBCD" includes a "Recovery Console" [or whatever] so as to repair the restored image of the old Windows installation.
Or else...

5. "However, you can still get the data out of the D: image by creating a data partition on the new drive and restoring the image to it."
(a) I have some slightly older [snap2 and/or Xfe] copies of the folder/file contents of the C: D: E: partitions.
In fact, I've already restored older copied of D: and E:
But I'd like to restore the newer [10-day-old] Gnost image backups.
Besides...
(b) I notice you said regardin NTFS partitions [mine are FAT32]...
"After Gnost restores the image, it will expand the NTFS filesystem to fill the new partition, update the boot sector and write a new WinXP MBR."
This sounds good!
Would it do the same for FAT32?
If it doesn't...
I think my "Emergency Boot CD" [EBCD] is capable of writing a FAT32 MBR.

[rcrsn51]