Gnost - backup, restore, copy NTFS, ext, FAT partitions

[ebisu]

[gcmartin]

Yes. Clonezilla features image backup AND offers file backup services. Users choose which service best matches their needs, especially their needs in the event of restoration. PUDD does offer, similarly, the same 2 services to PUP users. Direct disk cloning is available in Clonezilla, IIRC. But, these backup-restore-cloning subsystems has a tract record of decades of tweaking over time as both OSes and storage technologies have changed. And have a long record of data integrity not to mention the many features.

Again, this too, Gnost, is a very good approach in providing a simple solution to this community for capture of the files on a partition and restoring the files.

Keep up the good work, Bill. I'm sure you will advance this package as you see fit.

[Sylvander]

@gcmartin

1. "I assume you may have done this using a Linux. Correct?"
Correct.
Done in "Puppy->Xfe".

2. "Not sure how you accomplished your restore."
Backup, delete, and restore all done using "Puppy->Xfe".

3. "...problems in booting Windows..."
I had no such problems.
Was Win2000Pro on a FAT32 partition.

4. "...assuming this was done to a Windows boot partition with its boot flag set on a Windows PC containing the Windows boot manager."
Was...
"done to a Windows boot partition with its boot flag set on a Windows PC"...
Not sure about...
"containing the Windows boot manager."
But I expect it did.

5. "...should you have wiped the boot partition in Linux..."
I didn't "wipe" the Win2000Pro boot partition, I just deleted the files.

6. "...and did a write with the files restore program using Linux, you probably had problems in booting Windows..."
Again...
I wrote the files back to the empty [folders/files deleted] Win2000Pro boot partition using Puppy->Xfe and subsequently win2000Pro booted OK.

7. "File restore programs not designed for Windows use, suffer from this problem."
My Win2000Pro didn't suffer any problem; does it perhaps only affect later Windows?

[rcrsn51]

Gnost v3.3 is posted above. It replaces traditional gzip compression with lzop. In limited testing, lzop is much faster with only a small decrease in compression. Most (all?) Puppies have lzop built-in through Busybox.

For advanced users, the GZIPARG variable is set at "-3", which is the lzop default. For higher speed, try "-1".

Testers are welcome. Discussions unrelated to this project are not.

Thank you to the anonymous collaborator who has provided invaluable help with this project.

[ebisu]

[rcrsn51]

Thanks for testing.

sda3 (9.6G total 8G used)
Pudd: 35min 7736M
Gnost: 23min 7759M

That's a surprising result. Since the partition is almost full, you would expect the two methods to be almost equivalent. Gnost should make a slightly smaller image because it stores fewer sectors, but it should take slightly longer because of the additional work it does. I'm guessing that the Gnost tools (ntfsclone, partclone, lzop) are optimized for speed over image size.

[Edit] If Pudd is using gzip-6, then it will definitely take longer and make a smaller compressed image than Gnost, which is using lzop-3.

Of course, most Gnost users will be in the opposite situation. They are backing up a large partition that is only partly full.

I understand your reluctance to use the Restore function. But you can test it by restoring onto an unused partition of a USB drive.

For small partitions I feel safer with Pudd

People always feel safer using the tools that they know. But to suggest that dd is safer is to imply that the millions of users of products like Acronis or Clonezilla are using tools that are less safe.

Bill

[rcrsn51]

Gnost v3.4 has a new Space function. It identifies the amount of space being used in the selected partition (before compression to an image file) and the amount of space available in the current location for saving images. These values come from the "df" command and are approximate.

[ebisu]

[bobc]

Lets say I have a linux partition ext4 on SDB5 on machine A and I want to restore it to SDA9 on machine B. I then want to use Grub 2 (which is installed on that partition) to install and update-grub to rebuild the boot menu to add it so I can boot from it?

I have tried this with pudd and gparted, and am able to get the partition successfully onto machine B, I believe.

Then I do a few mount commands, chroot to it, and then run the grub-install and update-grub, which seem to work ok, but it doesn't add the partition SDA9 to the boot menu. It was bootable as SDB5 on machine A, but the same grub 2.0 doesn't find it as SDA9 on machine B.

Since machine B isn't important, if I used your program, I could test the restore there if I could get it to boot.

Any suggestions? Any guess what I missed?

[comcoco]

On this topic, it is stated that gnost 3 is available. I can not find how to get it on the forum. Please help.

[musher0]

Please see 1st post.

Maybe contact the initiator?

[comcoco]

Thanks for your reply, musher0!

I am sorry for my ignorance. I still can not find the posted gonst program. When you say the 1st post I am not sure what you mean. Are the posts numbered? I assumed you meant the first posting on the first page. Is this correct?

What should I look for? Usually on these Puppy forums I see downloadable programs in a grid telling the name, number of downloads, etc with a botton to download the item. I see nothing like this on the whole thread named Gnost. What am I missing?

Is this provided as a pet. This is the only format which I seem to be able to use to install a new program? If not how can I get it as a pet or use it in other formats? I can also install from ppm, but searching for gnost in ppm produces nothing the way I search which may be incorrect.

Thanks for an help you can provide to so inept a Puppy user. By the way I have several computers running Puppy Tahr. None of them have hard drives. They run from USB memory sticks which hold both the Puppy program and also my data. I have NO Windows on any computer.

All I really want to do is to back up the data on the USB drive to another USB drive. The only way I know to do this is with Pudd which works perfectly but takes overnight to do the job. I have discovered to my dismay that data merely saved to the USB stick containing the running Puppy is lost if it neither the big save button provided on the desktop by Puppy is pushed, nor is it not saved during a shut down. The causes any new or modified data to be lost if the power fails or Puppy locks up and must be shut down without saving. This is data which is saved and available for use or modification before a shut down. I used to separate the Puppy program and the data onto 2 separate USB drives. Then I did not have this problem. Maybe I should revert to that system.

[musher0]

Hello comcoco.

Yes I am referring to the 1st post on the 1st page.

It says that rcrsn51, the author, has withdrawn the program for lack of
community interest.

I have never seen not used this program, so I cannot answer your other
questions about it.

As I suggested before, why don't you -- as a member of the community --
send a private message to rcrsn51 asking for a copy of the program?

Perhaps rcrsn51 will reconsider and oblige?

In any case, this is only a suggestion.

~~~~~~~~~~
About Puppy back-ups generally, maybe the nifty solution the same
rcrsn51 has come up with last April will answer your need. It's here:
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 723#950010

IHTH.

Best of luck.

[mfb]

Hi comcoco,

You wrote "All I really want to do is to back up the data on the USB drive to another USB drive."

A lightning fast alternative to the "gnost" solution (for second and subsequent backups) is using "snap2" in mirror mode.

Open your PPM and search for it - then, assuming you find it, post back if you would like to try it - and after you provide some info about your flash sticks - I will advise, in detail, exactly how to set it up and how to use it in mirror mode.

[comcoco]

OK
I searched and found snap2 on ppm, installed it, got a confirmation that it installed. Now how do I use it to backup data on a USB stick?

[mfb]

Hi again,

(1) With both flash sticks inserted (i.e. the one you booted from and the one you want to copy it to) open a terminal and type
partview
then take a screen shot of the output window and post it here (or retype the details).

(2) Then in your terminal type
gparted
and advise (with screen shots or typing) how both the sticks (and, if applicable, any partitions each may have) are formatted.

My final instructions will be simple and I anticipate you will be pleased with the outcome.

[s243a]

[Edit] Project withdrawn due to lack of community interest.

-------------------------

Was there links in this post to the software. If so I don't think that lack of interest was a good reason to remove them.

[rcrsn51]

Gnost v3.8 is posted on the first page.

I will leave it for a month. If it does not generate enough useful response, I will withdraw it.

[mfb]

Hi rcrsn51,

Thank you for reinstating Gnost; although (to me) your instructions seemed complicated your screen shot looked pleasingly uncomplicated.

So here are my screen shots of my (easily actioned) test run - which yielded a perfect and quick result. So - thank you again.

My two previous posts in this thread (the penultimate post on page 3 and the first post on this page) were aimed at helping comcoco (prior to your reinstatement of Gnost); no disrespect to this thread was intended.

[rcrsn51]

Thank you for replying. But here is the real test.

1. Make an ext partition on another drive, like a flash drive.
2. Restore your image file back to that partition.
3. Compare with the original.