Re: [rdiff-backup-users] Examples for whole-system backup

[Mike Fleetwood]

On 8 April 2015 at 22:33, Ricky Huang <address@hidden> wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> My friend recommend rdiff-backup so I am currently researching it for my
> backup solution.  I am brand new to the system so please forgive me for any
> dumb questions.
>
> What I am looking for is a FreeBSD backup solution that will duplicate my
> multiple mission-critical servers to a remote system in case something goes
> bad.  In case something bad does happen, I’d like to invoke a command and be
> able to restore the entire system back, not having to do a rebuild then copy
> files back as that will have a longer downtime.
>
> Is rdiff-backup the correct solution for my use case?  If so, does anyone
> have any information on whole-system level backup examples / documentations?
> I have read documentations on the site already, but they mostly talk about
> directories.  I am sure there are caveats when one’s backing up complete
> system.
>
>
> Thanks in advance.

Hello Ricky,

Here is a blog describing how someone used rdiff-backup as part of
their personal bare metal restore.
http://web.archive.org/web/20100217070956/http://www.nowhere.dk/articles/backup-and-bare-metal-restore-with-rdiff-backup

I do something similar myself for my Linux desktop.  To recover it, I
basically do:
1) Boot bare metal using recovery media
2) Recreate partitions and empty file systems
3) Restore using rdiff-backup
4) Reinstall boot loader
(Details documented, printed out and tested.  Recovery should not be a
memory test).
This doesn't really sound like the single restore command you are after.

Thanks,
Mike