System Restore

JannaB · External Since: Jul 25, 2009 Posts: 3

Does Suse have a counterpart to Xp/Vista's "System Restore,"
functionality? I am using Gnome. Thx, Janna

jc · External Since: Jul 17, 2009 Posts: 5

JannaB wrote:
> Does Suse have a counterpart to Xp/Vista's "System Restore,"
> functionality? I am using Gnome. Thx, Janna

Ghost4Linux and Partimage are both very good imaging programs. I've been
slacking off, but doing a backup weekly or before a system update should
get you by. Personally, I've never had to fall back to a previous image
in Linux, but it only takes one time...

jc

ray · External Since: Nov 13, 2004 Posts: 3387

On Sat, 25 Jul 2009 12:48:26 -0700, JannaB wrote:

> Does Suse have a counterpart to Xp/Vista's "System Restore,"
> functionality? I am using Gnome. Thx, Janna

What does it do? There are certainly utilities for doing backups and
restores.

DenverD · External Since: Jul 26, 2009 Posts: 19

JannaB wrote:
> Does Suse have a counterpart to Xp/Vista's "System Restore,"
> functionality? I am using Gnome. Thx, Janna

have absolutely no idea what Xp/Vista's "System Restore" does, can you
explain it..

from the name i guess it is a button which tries to undo whatever
usually goes wrong (or whatever the user most usually breaks)...and,
from reading mags and such i can only guess it cleans up the
registry....since there isn't one of those here i guess there is no
'system restore' either..

are you looking for a backup and _restore_ solution? thousands of
those available via google--here is one with 'simple' in the title:
http://www.desktoplinux.com/articles/AT2280165098.html

if not looking for a backup, but rather a rescue, perhaps a
description of what is wrong and what you might have done to cause it
could be helpful..

[oh, don't i remember that you were looking for a way to 'upgrade'
from 10.3 to 11.1 ?? did that go sour for you....i am not surprised
as that is officially "not supported" <http://en.opensuse.org/Upgrade>
but is supposed to be in 11.2 (we will see...don't hold your breath!)]

--
DenverD (Linux Counter 282315) via Thunderbird 3.0.1-1.1, KDE 3.5.7,
openSUSE Linux 10.3, 2.6.22.19-0.3-default #1 SMP i686 athlon

Rob · External Since: Jan 08, 2009 Posts: 25

DenverD <spam.trap.DeleteThis@SOMEwhere.dk> wrote:
> JannaB wrote:
>> Does Suse have a counterpart to Xp/Vista's "System Restore,"
>> functionality? I am using Gnome. Thx, Janna
>
> have absolutely no idea what Xp/Vista's "System Restore" does, can you
> explain it..
>
> from the name i guess it is a button which tries to undo whatever
> usually goes wrong (or whatever the user most usually breaks)...and,
> from reading mags and such i can only guess it cleans up the
> registry....since there isn't one of those here i guess there is no
> 'system restore' either..

Maybe you should leave it to others to react when you have no idea
what is being discussed...

The "windows has the registry and it can go belly-up but Linux does
not have it woohaaa!" thing is getting so old... the Linux system
has the equivalent of what is stored in the registry but it is stored
in many files. The windows registry never gets corrupted as a whole,
there just can be settings set to wrong values and exactly the same
thing can happen in Linux.

The poster just wants to know if there is a possibility to undo recent
changes to the system, and there isn't.

houghi · External Since: Apr 25, 2004 Posts: 3249

jc wrote:
>
>
> JannaB wrote:
>> Does Suse have a counterpart to Xp/Vista's "System Restore,"
>> functionality? I am using Gnome. Thx, Janna
>
> Ghost4Linux and Partimage are both very good imaging programs. I've been
> slacking off, but doing a backup weekly or before a system update should
> get you by. Personally, I've never had to fall back to a previous image
> in Linux, but it only takes one time...

An image is not the same as a backup. I think there are even more
disadvantages of taking an image and use it as a backup.

That does not mean that images are useless, because they are not. They
just should not be seen as a way to do backups.

For backups I use http://storebackup.org/

houghi
--
You can have peace. Or you can have freedom.
Don't ever count on having both at once.
-- Robert A. Heinlein

jc · External Since: Jul 17, 2009 Posts: 5

houghi wrote:
> jc wrote:
>
> An image is not the same as a backup. I think there are even more
> disadvantages of taking an image and use it as a backup.
>
> houghi

If you have a better word for it, please tell.

jc

J G Miller · External Since: Dec 08, 2004 Posts: 34

On Sun, 26 Jul 2009 13:10:02 +0200, houghi wrote:

> An image is not the same as a backup.

Please provide your definition of "backup".

David Bolt · External Since: Feb 14, 2006 Posts: 526

On Sun, 26 Jul 2009, DenverD wrote:-

>JannaB wrote:
>> Does Suse have a counterpart to Xp/Vista's "System Restore,"
>> functionality? I am using Gnome. Thx, Janna
>
>have absolutely no idea what Xp/Vista's "System Restore" does, can you
>explain it..

This gives a good explanation of what it does:

<URL:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Restore>

>from the name i guess it is a button which tries to undo whatever
>usually goes wrong (or whatever the user most usually breaks)...and,
>from reading mags and such i can only guess it cleans up the
>registry....since there isn't one of those here i guess there is no
>'system restore' either..

There's also the DLLs and EXEs as well as the registry that gets backed
up. However, you're right about there not being a "system restore". The
closest equivalent would be to do a snapshot of /lib /usr/lib(64)
/(s)bin /(s)usr/bin /etc and /var/lib/rpm for when someone tried to do a
restore. That way they could copy the whole lot back and end up with the
exact same state as when the snapshot was taken.

It's quite possible to revert changes made by installing a package, if
you have the old package available. By forcibly downgrading to an old
package, any newer libraries or binaries would be replaced with the
older version, although there may still be a requirement to alter some
configuration files.

>if not looking for a backup, but rather a rescue, perhaps a
>description of what is wrong and what you might have done to cause it
>could be helpful..
>
>[oh, don't i remember that you were looking for a way to 'upgrade'
>from 10.3 to 11.1 ?? did that go sour for you....i am not surprised
>as that is officially "not supported" <http://en.opensuse.org/Upgrade>

Officially not supported doesn't mean it won't work. I've performed
several big version jumps, 9.3 -> 10.3 was the biggest one I performed,
and I did do a couple of 10.0 -> 10.3 upgrades. As you can guess, these
were done over eighteen months ago, and I've yet to do another major
jump like that. The next one with a huge version jump will be 10.2 ->
11.2, but that'll have to wait for 11.2 to be released.

>but is supposed to be in 11.2 (we will see...don't hold your breath!)]

I'll be interesting to see if that does come about, but I still don't
think they'll support anything more than an upgrade from the previous
version. It could become a support nightmare, especially if you get
people that haven't upgraded for years suddenly deciding that they want
to.

Regards,
David Bolt

--
Team Acorn: http://www.distributed.net/ OGR-NG @ ~100Mnodes RC5-72 @ ~1Mkeys/s
openSUSE 10.3 32b | openSUSE 11.0 32b | |
openSUSE 10.3 64b | openSUSE 11.0 64b | openSUSE 11.1 64b |
RISC OS 3.6 | RISC OS 3.11 | openSUSE 11.1 PPC | TOS 4.02

houghi · External Since: Apr 25, 2004 Posts: 3249

J G Miller wrote:
>
>
> On Sun, 26 Jul 2009 13:10:02 +0200, houghi wrote:
>
> > An image is not the same as a backup.
>
> Please provide your definition of "backup".

Look it up. I have posted about this already several times. If you are
interested, you will look up how I think and feel about it. If not, ok
with me as well.

I do not want to bore people by repeating myself yet again.

houghi
--
You can have peace. Or you can have freedom.
Don't ever count on having both at once.
-- Robert A. Heinlein

jc · External Since: Jul 17, 2009 Posts: 5

houghi wrote:
> J G Miller wrote:
>>
>> On Sun, 26 Jul 2009 13:10:02 +0200, houghi wrote:
>>
>> > An image is not the same as a backup.
>>
>> Please provide your definition of "backup".
>
> Look it up. I have posted about this already several times. If you are
> interested, you will look up how I think and feel about it. If not, ok
> with me as well.
>

You seem to have a pretty high opinion of yourself, houghi. "Look it
up?" Learn how houghi feels!

> I do not want to bore people by repeating myself yet again.
>

Somehow, I'm not disappointed.

"Disk images" have many uses. A system backup is one. The image contains
all data on a disk at a certain point, as well as boot information that
most backup systems cannot access. The image is stored for later
recovery. This is virtually the definition of a "backup."

jc

Rob · External Since: Jan 08, 2009 Posts: 25

David Bolt <blacklist-me RemoveThis @davjam.org> wrote:
>>[oh, don't i remember that you were looking for a way to 'upgrade'
>>from 10.3 to 11.1 ?? did that go sour for you....i am not surprised
>>as that is officially "not supported" <http://en.opensuse.org/Upgrade>
>
> Officially not supported doesn't mean it won't work. I've performed
> several big version jumps, 9.3 -> 10.3 was the biggest one I performed,
> and I did do a couple of 10.0 -> 10.3 upgrades. As you can guess, these
> were done over eighteen months ago, and I've yet to do another major
> jump like that. The next one with a huge version jump will be 10.2 ->
> 11.2, but that'll have to wait for 11.2 to be released.

That reference was misunderstood. It talks about an online update using
zypper. There seem to be limitations there, but it is not what you
would normally do when upgrading. And the referred article explains that.

Just put a DVD with the new version in the drive and boot from that.
Using this method it is no problem to upgrade from 10.3 to 11.1
(or other big steps)

J G Miller · External Since: Dec 08, 2004 Posts: 34

On Sun, 26 Jul 2009 15:48:27 +0200, houghi wrote:

> J G Miller wrote:
>>
>>
>> On Sun, 26 Jul 2009 13:10:02 +0200, houghi wrote:
>>
>> > An image is not the same as a backup.
>>
>> Please provide your definition of "backup".
>
> Look it up. I have posted about this already several times.

All I can find is this in a different news group

Subject: Re: Image backup in Linux
From: houghi
Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2009 15:50:01 +0100
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc

An image should never be seen as a backup, I think.

but no definition of what you do consider to be a backup.

Kevin Nathan · External Since: Apr 04, 2004 Posts: 1241

On Sun, 26 Jul 2009 19:10:04 +0200
J G Miller <miller.TakeThisOut@yoyo.ORG> wrote:

>All I can find is this in a different news group
>
> Subject: Re: Image backup in Linux
> From: houghi
> Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2009 15:50:01 +0100
> Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc
>
> An image should never be seen as a backup, I think.
>
>but no definition of what you do consider to be a backup.

How did you search? Searching on Google Groups for:

backup group:alt.os.linux.suse author:houghi

Resulted in about 420 matches. I will leave it to those interested in
houghi's definition to do the reading of those msgs. Smile

--
Kevin Nathan (Arizona, USA)
Linux Potpourri and a.o.l.s. FAQ -- (temporarily offline)

Open standards. Open source. Open minds.
The command line is the front line.
Linux 2.6.25.20-0.4-pae
1:51pm up 7 days 15:13, 30 users, load average: 0.27, 0.45, 0.59

Kevin Nathan · External Since: Apr 04, 2004 Posts: 1241

On Mon, 27 Jul 2009 01:37:18 +0200
J G Miller <miller RemoveThis @yoyo.ORG> wrote:

>On Sun, 26 Jul 2009 14:10:27 -0700, Kevin Nathan wrote:
>
> > Searching on Google Groups for:
> >
> > backup group:alt.os.linux.suse author:houghi
> >
> > Resulted in about 420 matches.
>
>So you would concur that finding Houghi's definition of "backup"
>is not an easy and quick task?

Easy, yes. Quick, no. But if you've been reading this newsgroup as long
as some of us have, you already understand his definition! Smile

Maybe you can appeal to him to put a link on his site pointing to his
definition of 'backup' and 'disk imaging' and their differences? Wink

--
Kevin Nathan (Arizona, USA)
Linux Potpourri and a.o.l.s. FAQ -- (temporarily offline)

Open standards. Open source. Open minds.
The command line is the front line.
Linux 2.6.25.20-0.4-pae
4:36pm up 7 days 17:58, 31 users, load average: 0.15, 0.36, 0.52

houghi · External Since: Apr 25, 2004 Posts: 3249

Kevin Nathan wrote:
> Resulted in about 420 matches. I will leave it to those interested in
> houghi's definition to do the reading of those msgs. Smile

I have found a new way of doing backups: Torrent files:
http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/5025134

Very Happy

houghi
--
But I will accept the rules that you feel necessary to your freedom. I am
free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I
tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free
because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.

David Bolt · External Since: Feb 14, 2006 Posts: 526

On Sun, 26 Jul 2009, houghi wrote:-

>Kevin Nathan wrote:
>> Resulted in about 420 matches. I will leave it to those interested in
>> houghi's definition to do the reading of those msgs. Smile

>
>I have found a new way of doing backups: Torrent files:
>http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/5025134

There are still people "backing up" the last wallpaper pack you shared
Smile

J G Miller · External Since: Dec 08, 2004 Posts: 34

On Sun, 26 Jul 2009 14:10:27 -0700, Kevin Nathan wrote:

> Searching on Google Groups for:
>
> backup group:alt.os.linux.suse author:houghi
>
> Resulted in about 420 matches.

So you would concur that finding Houghi's definition of "backup"
is not an easy and quick task?

JannaB · External Since: Jul 25, 2009 Posts: 3

Usually, I run things in XBox or VMWare, so I just copy the whole
directory for the OS I am running, which includes past snapshots. It;s
a nice way to back up everything (incl email client settings and
system settings, regardless of OS) as well as to be able to roll
things back should anything ever get badly infected.

I guess I am looking for a similar soluteion for a box running
OpenSusre striaght up and not through a VW solution. -Janna B

JannaB · External Since: Jul 25, 2009 Posts: 3

Can't I just copy the entire filesystem off to a remote hard drive
(assuming I am logged on as root)? And if nevessary, restore it from
same? Isn;t that one of the advantages of linux to windows?