BTRFS backup

abourke · 12-03-2014, 08:18 AM

Hi

I have been using the snapper utility to manage BTRFS snapshots. I create a config for root and home then can freely snapshot most of my disk.

However, the boot partition is not a BTRFS filesystem. So I cant snapshot/restore it.

So, my question is how do I go about backing up/restoring the boot partition?

I have seen a few guides online about installing zfs on linux. That would be one solution. Has anyone got any other ideas?

Regards
Aubrey.

jpollard · 12-03-2014, 10:14 AM

/boot is rather small.

I just use tar.

abourke · 12-03-2014, 10:35 AM

Ok,

Will a tar backup/restore work while the boot partition is mounted?

Or must I load a Live-CD to do this first?

Regards
Aubrey.

jpollard · 12-03-2014, 02:26 PM

The /boot filesystem is rather static. Nothing changes unless you are performing an update.

Once the update is completed, it can backed up using tar (which works with any filesystem).

Now using dump can work, but you need to make sure the filesystem has been flushed to disk - which is easiest done by dismounting it.

The only thing neither tar or dump does is backup the boot block. Restoring that requires reinstalling the boot (either grub, lilo, or whatever you use). It is also easiest to do using a recovery disk.