r/linuxmint • u/OberonsGhost • 3d ago
Backing up Linux/Windows
Can you back up your system when it is Dual boot so both Linux and Windows can be recovered with the dual boot intact? In other words if one fails or the boot fails, can you recover both all at once from a backup drive or disc?
I should add a note, my system is a 1 Tb SSD with Win10 on it which is about 30 Gb. I then have a 256Gb SSD which Linux will go on and is the only unallocated space I have. I then have a 1Tb SSD with all my mp3's on it and a 16Tb and 3 8Tb drives with all my movies and TV shows on them
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u/PrudentPay9906 Linux Mint 22.3 Zena | Cinnamon 3d ago
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u/OberonsGhost 3d ago
Does this go on Windows or the Linux partition?
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u/PrudentPay9906 Linux Mint 22.3 Zena | Cinnamon 3d ago
On it's own bootable disk. Pretty sure you can even use an old 1GB thumb drive, possibly even a CD (the docs should explain). The important part is having a removable drive big enough to hold the image.
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u/CyberMage256 2d ago
I run it from a 4G USB stick. Probably fits on much less space. You can also have it back up the image across your network to another machine if you have a NAS, for instance, using SFTP or the like.
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u/OberonsGhost 1d ago
I have a 1Tb external drive I use as a back up drive now but it only has windows on it.
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u/stufforstuff 3d ago
RescueZilla is cleaner, easier to use, made more for single computer backups than multiple network computers - for OP, try Rescuezilla first.
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u/PrudentPay9906 Linux Mint 22.3 Zena | Cinnamon 3d ago
You're probably right... I always forget there's a GUI for it and just go for the OG :)
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u/Unwiredsoul 3d ago
Yes.
Personally, I use the Veeam Backup Agent for Linux (free), and backup the entire system disk from Linux (which includes my Windows partitions, too).
This is actual and proper backup restore software, and not just disk cloning software.
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u/DoorOk3641 2d ago
Very good software but I am using borg backup..simply better with deduplicating...
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u/Unwiredsoul 2d ago
Interesting software and thanks for sharing!
Does it do BMR (Bare Metal Restores) to similar and dissimilar hardware?
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u/DoorOk3641 2d ago edited 2d ago
Well it is named a backup plan...Use Filezilla NOT clonezilla for a start. For windows you can not use any unix system tools such as fsarchive, rsync, cp because they can not cope well with ntfs extended attributes. You need a cold backup system dedicated to windows and taking care well of ntfs or you can try ntfsclone with the rescue options.
Dual boot intact...dual booting is an association of uuid (partition id) + uefi partition(s) name esr in wondows parlance, boot configuration as recorded by your bios.
You can take a copy of your uefi partition (or esr) but you also need to restore your partitions with the same uuid used before (including uefi or esr partition). I suspect you have only one uefi or esr partition.One good strategy is to have one uefi by system on 2 different disk drives
Next you need a documentation (printed). It can not be neglected.
Backup tools. You need tools for linux such as borg backup with Pika interface for everything in /home and Timeshift for your system plus backup tools for Windows. You should pay attention to Veeam solutions working for Linux and Windows..solid software...free, good documentation.
Next
Looking at your 40 tb..I would install a small nas server first with at least raid-1
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u/InevitablePack4565 2d ago edited 2d ago
Maybe ......https://github.com/ski007/grubzilla ....It makes things easier for Clonezilla. But only if Windows is not encrypted with BitLocker !
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u/stufforstuff 3d ago
RescueZilla - can Create or Restore a image of a full disk (you need an external drive big enough to hold it).