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Total backup.. (Ghost)

I need a program thats makes it possible to make a total backup of everything from the computer. Including, boot loader (grub). Is that possible?

I'm running Xubuntu on the computer right now, and I'm gonna install exactly the same files to another 45 computers.

I've found Ghost for Linux, but does it take a backup of the boot loader and then restore it?

Thanks.

The most basic command is "dd"--this will copy the entire disk, partition, etc.

If Ghost for Linux is like Ghost for Windows, then it can do the same thing.

The one downside of dd which is often discussed is that it is slow for large drives.

For 45 copies, I wonder if you can rent (or borrow) a drive duplicator??

Could look at things like gparted as well it will allow you to back up images of partitions. a bit faster than dd ing an entire drive..

but since you are looking at a solutinon for "deployment of multiple identical configurations' you may want to look at FAI

http://www.informatik.uni-koeln.de/fai/

Quote:

FAI is an automated installation tool to install or deploy Debian GNU/Linux and similar distributions on a Linux Cluster or a bunch of different hosts. It's similar but more flexible than other tools like kickstart for Red Hat, autoyast and alice for SuSE or Jumpstart for SUN Solaris.

You can take one or more virgin PCs, turn on the power and after a few minutes Linux is installed, configured and running on the whole cluster, without any interaction necessary. more...

Take a look at partimage.org

Opps when I mentioned gparted.. I meant partimage.. sorry bout that..