Another Millionth Backup Question

[Theriex]

OK so i've looked and seen tons of questions related to backing up your system, but none seem to answer it for me.

I want to do a full format/reinstall of kubuntu, but i'm not sure what files/folders i need to backup in order to keep all the nice settings I have now, eg: my login splash screen, my desktop wallpaper, my desktop settings, etc...

Any help would be appreciated.

Sorry to post 'another' backup question.

Edit: Also how would I copy the files/folders 'properly'?

[Snowhog]

Re: Another Millionth Backup Question

Do you have your system set up with a separate partition for /home?

[Fintan]

Re: Another Millionth Backup Question

Most of your settings are in your /home/username/ folder under ./kde (hidden)
So, if you have, as snowhog suggested, a separate /home partition you are in luck. Just choose the same username at install.
If not you will have to move /home, which is not brain surgery and depends on how your system is set up.
It may be helpful to know how your HD is set up. Partitions etc.

Your login splash is where ever you put it, so if it resides in /home you will have it when you back up /home.
You can retrieve it by using kdmthemes after you reinstall.

[Theriex]

Re: Another Millionth Backup Question

I don't have my /home directory on a separate partition. I try to keep everything I install and everything else stored under ~


My partitions are as follows:

/dev/hdc
-- /dev/hdc1 ext3 Storage
-- /dev/hdc2 linux-swap

/dev/sda
-- /dev/sda1 ntfs Windows XP

/dev/sdb
-- /dev/sdb2 ext3 Kubuntu

The Storage partition is exactly that, i put pictures and stuff on it, no programs or settings there, this is where I will want to copy all my settings to, or by the sounds of it, my ~ directory.

[Theriex]

Re: Another Millionth Backup Question

Any pointers? Hoping to get it done tonight if I can.

Or do you need more information?

[Fintan]

Re: Another Millionth Backup Question

Sorry, I live in switzerland so I was probably asleep.

Well yes you ca move your (home/username folder over to hdc1 to back it up.

I would advise making a separate /home partition, partition it as ext3 and move your username folder over to there before you reinstall.
There are plenty of good reasons for this. data security being one.
When you install you choose "manual" at the partitioning section and choose the partition you made as /home, DO NOT FORMAT !!!!! and the username you had before.

I hope that helps

[Theriex]

Re: Another Millionth Backup Question

Yes it was like 1am here.

I will make a separate home partition this time. My only concern is that I really want to format the drive, reason being that I got a ton of stuff from previous installs mixed in with this. I just want a full 'clean' install.

Could I not just format the drive, run the live cd/dvd and create my home partition and then copy over the home directory from hdc1, then install and manualy choose my partition for /home and not format?

If that makes any sense.

[Fintan]

Re: Another Millionth Backup Question

If I understand you correctly you want to format sdb. That is okay.
-format sdb drive
-create / formated as ext3 = 10-12gig
-create /home as ext3 = as big as you want.

The procedure is the same as I pointed out and as I mentioned DO NOT FORMAT /home once you have moved your username folder over to the sdb /home partition.

You will probably have to reformat / (root) during install but that doesn't hurt anything

Good luck

[Theriex]

Re: Another Millionth Backup Question

You must be just getting up, and i'm just going to bed after 9 hours of beating my head against the wall with a GRUB issue.

Anyways I just went ahead and copied over my home directory to the Storage drive using the command
$find . -depth -print0 | cpio –null –sparse -pvd /media/Storage/linux-backup

Then I nuked the entire sdb drive, repartitioned it with a separate partition for my /home directory. Got that all set up and then recopied over the backed up home directory from my Storage drive to the new /home partition.

Then I did a reinstall and ran into the GRUB problems, which i finally solved after 8 and half hours.

Then when I actually get into the system, its not what i was expecting. I was expecting to just be able to copy over my home directory and everything I had installed would work the same, just click on the icons and away I go, unfortunately that wasn't the case, nothing worked, everything was a mess.

So I said screw it and nuked the drive again and starting with a blank /home partition. I still have my backed up home directory on my Storage drive, so i can copy some of the stuff over that isn't dependant on anything.

Anyways if I did something wrong and thats why everything wasn't working when i finally got in, let me know, it'll save me a lot of time reinstalling all the programs I had and getting them all set up properly.

Thanks

[Fintan]

Re: Another Millionth Backup Question

A few questions first.
What did you copy over to the new /home?
Did you copy and paste as root??
This would have given all your folder and files root permission when you need user permissions.

If you copied over the username folder and your data (AS USER NOT ROOT!) all should have been fine.

If you now have a new /home/username working you can just replace ./kde with the old one as user.
./kde is a hidden file so you will have to activate view-> "show hidden files" in konqueror or dolphin.

While you are at it you can copy over all the other app. related setting files like ./mozilla, ./mozilla-thunderbird, etc. should they be existent.

........ it'll save me a lot of time reinstalling all the programs I had and getting them all set up properly.

It is a bit late for that now.
For future reference have a look here:
http://aptoncd.sourceforge.net/

Let us know how it goes

[Theriex]

Re: Another Millionth Backup Question

I copied over my username under home to my storage drive, not as root. Then after repartitioning and copied it back, but for some reason it wouldn't let me do it unless i did it as root this time, probably because I was on the live cd and had to mount the new partition or something, i dunno.

The problem I had was for instance when i tried to open up firefox from the desktop icon, nothing happened. So I tried running the program from the console and it wouldn't run, gave an error about missing libraries and stuff.

What would replacing the ./kde folder with the old one do? What settings are stored in there?

Where would I find the rest of my application settings, as you stated like ./mozilla, but for other programs, would they be under ./<programname> ?

Its not too late to fix this, like I said i still have the home directory backed up on my Storage drive and I'm pretty sure I copied them over as user and not root. Just to make sure, how could i check if they were copied over properly?

I'll check back when I get up, it'll probably be like 8-9pm your time

[Fintan]

Re: Another Millionth Backup Question

Then after repartitioning and copied it back, but for some reason it wouldn't let me do it unless i did it as root this time, probably because I was on the live cd and had to mount the new partition or something, i dunno.

That is what I thought. Those permissions can be tricky but they do serve a good purpose.

Your old ./kde folder contains all the desktop settings and the settings for kontact, konqueror and most other kde apps.

.mozilla, .mozilla-thunderbird, etc should be in /username.

Like: /username/.mozilla, /username/.mozilla-thunderbird, etc.
For example if you had superkaramba installed you will find those settings there as well under ./superkaramba.
But not the widgets, unless you have them stored in your /username/somefolder you will have to reinstall them.

The easiest way to be certain you don't have permission problems give /dev/sdc1 read/write privileges for all users.