full system backup without free partition to store image on

paw · n00b Joined: 14 Jun 2003 Posts: 6

Hi everyone,

while only 28.5 MB out of 2.8 GB on my /usr partition are still free, my /tmp is only using approximately 200 MB out of 3.7 GB.

Well, both partitions lie next to each other such that I could shrink /tmp from 3.7 to 1.5 GB and add the remaining 2.2 GB to /usr s.th. this would add up to 5 GB.

That would not be a problem at all, if I could make a full system backup. However, while partitioning my harddrive during the installation, I forgot to leave one partition free for backups. This means that I cannot run the Gentoo LiveCD or Knoppix for just using partimage (which would be the most convenient way), since I can neither backup to harddisk, nor am I currently in the position to backup to some network device.

Running mondoarchive over the running system did not work out (though I compiled the kernel with loopback fs support, mindi can't loopback one device during the backup procedure and exits).

Since my Gentoo is now running almost perfectly, and I don't want to go through all that hassle of installing and configuring everything such that it suits my demands, I would need a full system backup before repartitioning /usr and /tmp.

I do not possess a floppy drive, only a CD-RW/DVD Combo-Drive.

Please find attached my fstab.

Running Gentoo 1.4 with KDE 3.1

sschlueter · Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2003 8:49 pm Post subject:

As far as I can see, you haven't told us the amount of used space on the other partitions but for /usr you could do:

Use partimage to save /usr to image files of approx 700MB on /tmp and then burn the images to CD-Rs. Even without compression, 4 CD-Rs should suffice. Don't forget to verify the CD-Rs afterwards!

revoohc · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 12 Oct 2002 Posts: 128

While we still need to know space used on your system you might try this

1. delete /usr/portage/distfiles/* and /var/tmp/portage/* - this is where gentoo stores downloaded files it compiles. May clear up quite a bit of space

2. Run tar to make your backup. With several gig on your /tmp dir you can probably get a bzipped tar. Try tar --exclude=/tmp --exclude=/mnt --exclude=/proc -cvjpf /tmp/backup.tar.bz2 /

HTH,

Chris

paw · n00b Joined: 14 Jun 2003 Posts: 6

Thanks for your answers.

Sorry, totally forgot about the parition sizes.

Jimbow · Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2003 2:41 pm Post subject:

Another idea: You could mount /tmp as a tmpfs, as in:

ZX-81 · Guru Joined: 23 Jul 2003 Posts: 355 Location: Germany