DeviceImage Tools

[cgetty]

The goal
To use Linux as a tool for backing up the PC that I’m responsible at my work.

The test
To back up a PC with fresh operating system on (XP Pro) it.
The PC is a Dell GX270
2.6 GZ HZ
80 Gig HD
512 Megs Ram

DeviceImage seems like the next best thing since sliced bread.

I was successful in backing up & restoring the hard drive image thanks to jurij who was patient with me.

This was done by booting up the XP machine with a live CD of Linux.
I used a 200 gig USB drive to store the back on. The size of hard drive on the PC to back up was 80gigs I reduced the size of the partition to 5 gigs (intent to install Linux on the other 75 gigs) the Windows XP system consumed just under 2 of the 5 gigs. The idea was to back up the whole hard drive. The size of the compressed backed up disk image was 1.2 gig.

The results
DeviceImage seems to reproduce the partitions and boot flag correctly and the size of the partitions exactly.

On this Dell PC there are two partitions. hda1 is a small partition that has some Dell utilities in it. hda2 had every thing else.

The backed up disk image was restored to a different hard drive then the one it was backed up from. The size of the drive I restored the data to was a 200gig hard drive.

I was not real clear on the preparation for the hard drive that I intended to restore. So using cfdisk I manually created two partitions on the new drive that I was going to restore the data on. hda1 & hda2 they were made to be just a little bigger then the ones I back up from think that would help.

As it turn out the only thing to be sure of is that the drive that you restore to is the same size or larger then the one you back up from.

As for setting up any partitions in preparation to restore, it dose not seem to matter.
One time I used a win 98 start up disk & cleared out everything (with DOS fdisk), and partitioned the whole 200 gig with fat16. In the end after restoring the data DeviceImage created hda1 & hda2, with the correct file types (in my case hda1 was Dell Utility & hda2 was set to NTFS with the boot flag set) and the reminder of the 200 gigs was not defined.

In spite of all this the restored data would not boot up. So I booted up the PC with a Live Linux CD (Dam Small Linux) and tried to view the restored partitions. I was able to see everything on hda1 (Dell Utility) but was not able to view hda2 (NTFS). Then I reconnected the original hard drive that I backed up from. I put the hard drive that I tried to restore to and put it in a USB enclosure plugged it to the same PC and tried to view the restored NTFS partition. No such luck, windows did not recognize it. I did this whole process (backing up & restoring 5 times) just to make sure. That doesn’t mean that I didn’t make the same mistake 5 times, possible, I hope that’s not the case here.

I did back up & restore some Linux partitions they seem to be fine.

My humble observation is that there is a problem with the NTFS partition when its restored.

I am confidant (and very hopeful) that this NTFS partition problem (if it is a problem) will get resolved. Or somebody with their head on straight will accomplish what I have attempted to do.

Jurij I am impressed. For you to make such an effort and then to share it with others that is commendable. Keep up the good work.

Clark

[jurij]

Hi Clark,
I think we should get your backup/restore trials working!
Newly I have tested my tools again. I have backuped and restored my test installation of WinXP and after 10 runs I could not determine any error, also during the booting of restored drive. I have tested backup/restore of whole device.
The best approach I think we should prove your backup/restore setup step by step.

[quote="cgetty"]The goal
This was done by booting up the XP machine with a live CD of Linux.
I used a 200 gig USB drive to store the back on. The size of hard drive on the PC to back up was 80gigs I reduced the size of the partition to 5 gigs (intent to install Linux on the other 75 gigs) the Windows XP system consumed just under 2 of the 5 gigs. The idea was to back up the whole hard drive. The size of the compressed backed up disk image was 1.2 gig.

Clark[/quote]

Here we should clarify the following: if, as you say, you made an image of whole drive (the drive which has size of 80gigs), the end size of your image was 1.2gigs… Normally after the default compression rate you can reduce the original size up to 60-70% not more… So I would expect the end size of your image (from the original size 80gig) should be something between 50 and 60gigs. The end size 1.2gigs … can only be if you make image from a partition, I think you make an image from the small partition (original size 5gigs, with data which occupied space under 2gigs). It seems like you have done an image from this partition, I guess from /dev/hda1… Under windows you see partitions as drive letters, may be here we have misspelling between windows understanding of drive/device and linux terminology.
If my assumption is true, than could it be that you do the following:
You make an image from /dev/hda1 (from your windows partition) and restore it to /dev/hda ?

Regards,
Jurij

[Guest]

HI Juri
I guess the confusion comes from the fact that the drive that I backed up has the capacity for 80 gigs. Before I backed up the drive I reduced the capacity to 5 gigs (with a linux partition resizing tool). So for all practical purposes Its a 5 gig drive with two partitions on it, hda1 & hda2.

I'm really excited about this tool, hope I can get it to work.
Clark

[jurij]

Hi Clark,

I would suggest you should begin with a very simple approach first.

You have some partitions on the drive 80gig (including your bootable installation of winXP). And you have a drive which is bigger then the first one (200gig). As example I assume that the drive (80gig) will be recognized by linux as device /dev/hda
So try following scenario:

Make the image of the whole drive (80gig):

zsplit –N some_name /dev/hda

At the and of imaging you should get an image file epprox. 60gig (some_name_0.spl.zp).

Plugin your target drive (200gig), and restore this image (we assume that it is still /dev/hda):

unzsplit –D /dev/hda /path_to/some_name

After the end of restoring try to boot your restored device. Don’t forget to check your BIOS settings before booting. For this drive LBA (logical block addressing) should be set to ON.
I think we now are very close to the successful backup/restore procedure for you.

Regards,
Jurij