I am using linux7.2
My question is about backup. What to back, how to back and when to back up.
I have two hard disk.
Primary HDD is linux 10GB
Secondary HDD is FAT32 40GB.
How do I take backup of linux on other hard disk. So that after reinstalling the linux. I can restore the backup and all the settings including all the users and settings as it is now.
What folders should to be backup. Is there any script that can take backup everytime I run.
Can I restore the backup if I upgrade from 7.2 to 8.0.
Thanks.

I always grab these folders (in redhat):
/etc
/var/log
/var/spool
/usr/local
/home
/var/lib/mysql

that should cover most things

as far as upgrading, what do you mean? The backup from 7.2 will be 7.2 specific. As soon as you upgrade to 8.0, perform a backup and that problem is solved. the configuration is pretty much the same but newer packages may have added removed options from the configs.

Not upgrading actually. If I install fresh linux8.0 then can I restore these folders. Will it keep intact the users and there settings.

Have you found the Linux Documentation Project yet?

See the Linux Complete Backup and Recovery HOWTO.

An upgrade should keep your settings. If not, you have the backup to play with.

depends on what files. The upgrade process from 8 to 9 is pretty painless and I recommend it. You _should_ be able to restore the /etc directory without problems, that will give you your usernames and passwords, and any service configs, like apache, sendmail, etc...

I backup my entire system using tar

I exclude some folders, I usually ftp a copy of the backup to another system. If needed any or all of the backup can be extracted to the system restoring files.

If you need to do a complete recovery on a new drive for instance, your boot loader may need to be installed after the recovery, the best way to do it would be a root/boot floppy that will have access to the backups, via cdroms, networking, whatever media you choose, and the tools needed to restore the system.

There are many ways to do it.

here is what I use for a complete backup..


#!/bin/sh
cd /
NAME=`date +%m-%d-%y`
tar -cv . --exclude ./mnt --exclude ./proc --exclude ./var/spool/squid --exclude ./tmp --exclude ./var/tmp | gzip -9 > /mnt/backup/sys1_backup_$NAME.tar.gz


You would create the excluded folders after restore.

I have not had to restore the system yet, but I can't see why this would not work. It might be a good idea to test it at some point. I just don't want to bring down the system to try it.

I do not really backup the partition info, just the files. I feel that with this system the disks are obsolete anyway, I can restore if needed with a new partitioning scheme that suits the disks I use at the time of restore.

Adding this to the backup script ahead of the tar command should do it if you want..

fdisk -l > /partinfo

i just backup my /home folder regularly using tar.

Thanks everyon for help.