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In this article, we are going to make a bootable USB key that run PING (Partition Image is Not Ghost). It is a free partition backup/restore tool, which is just perfect to backup the SSD drive. Takes very little space and does not prevent using the USB key to store data & backup.
PING (Partition Image is Not Ghost) is an excellent tool, it can makes compressed backup and omit empty sectors. It also supports most common filesystems (NTFS, FAT, EXT2...). My 1.5GB Windows XP went down to 600MB. See http://ping.windowsdream.com/ for an overview of the features.
Requirement:
- a flash drive (thereafter refered to as the USB key) with about 50MB of free space.
(not tested, but it should work with an SD card or an external drive).
- PING-2.01.iso
=> can be downloaded from http://ping.windowsdream.com/ping/download.html.
=> tested with this version, but any version should work
- syslinux
=> can be downloaded from http://syslinux.zytor.com/download.php
=> for windows, choose a .zip distrib. At the time of the writting, the latest version was:
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/b … x-3.62.zip
Step 1: installing PING
First, on the USB key, create a boot\syslinux directory at the root.
Copy the content of the PING-2.01.iso into that directory (mount it with daemon-tools or similar tool, or extract its content with WinRAR).
Rename the file boot\syslinux\ISOLINUX.CFG to boot\syslinux\syslinux.CFG.
Step 2: make the USB key bootable
Syslinux is a tool to make a drive (and therefore USB key) boot on a linux distribution, DOS... Since PING is a linux live CD, we are going to use syslinux to boot it.
First, you need to extract the content of the syslinux-X.Y.zip archive.
Copy the binary found in win32\syslinux.exe in the boot\syslinux directory of your USB key.
Using the command-line shell (cmd.exe), cd into the boot\syslinux directory, and run the following command, replacing DRIVELETTER by the actual drive letter of your USB key.
syslinux.exe -ma DRIVELETTER
My USB key DRIVELETTER was I:, so I typed the following command in cmd.exe (I:\> is the prompt, so don't type it):
C:\>i:
I:\>cd boot\syslinux
I:\boot\syslinux>syslinux -ma i:
This will activate the partition and rewrite the MBR to make the USB key bootable. It will not erase files present on your USB key, and create an hidden file ldlinux.sys at the root of your USB key.
Your done. You now have a bootable USB key that will run PING.
The content of your USB key should look like this:
I:\>dir /S /A
Volume in drive I has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 0000-0000
Directory of I:\
22/03/2008 22:19 11?493 ldlinux.sys
22/03/2008 22:20 <DIR> boot
1 File(s) 11?493 bytes
Directory of I:\boot
22/03/2008 22:20 <DIR> .
22/03/2008 22:20 <DIR> ..
22/03/2008 22:20 <DIR> syslinux
0 File(s) 0 bytes
Directory of I:\boot\syslinux
22/03/2008 22:20 <DIR> .
22/03/2008 22:20 <DIR> ..
05/03/2008 18:50 4?388?936 KERNEL
05/03/2008 18:48 15?807?826 INITRD.GZ
05/03/2008 16:53 2?048 BOOT.CAT
05/03/2008 16:53 11?691 ISOLINUX.BIN
15/01/2008 11:48 207 syslinux.CFG
01/03/2008 15:28 24?576 syslinux.exe
6 File(s) 20?235?284 bytes
You can now boot on the USB key using the usual procedure. Follow the indication that will be displayed and read them carefully (the UI is a bit weird, but you get used to it). One final note: create the directory where you want to store the backup on the USB key before running PING.
Backing up my Windows XP partition with about 1.5GB of data took about 30mn with bzip2 compression enabled (same time on both my USB key and my SD card) and restoration about 20mn. The partition backup takes about 600MB.
Notes: I a noob with linux, I just put this together by reading the documentation.
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elyon wrote:
Your done. You now have a bootable USB key that will run PING.
The content of your USB key should look like this:
Thanks very much elyon for taking the time to outline all the steps to make a PING USB key!
I was able to get this far with your instructions. I have a bootable USB key that runs PING.
elyon wrote:
You can now boot on the USB key using the usual procedure. Follow the indication that will be displayed and read them carefully (the UI is a bit weird, but you get used to it). One final note: create the directory where you want to store the backup on the USB key before running PING.
I did create a directory to store my backup before I booted with the USB key.
However I got stuck on the following screen:
Choose the partition where to store the backup:
() sda1 (FAT16) (recycler, The Bat etc.....)
() hdc1 (W95 FAT32) (Windows, Docs.. etc..)
I only had those two choices. I assume that the first one is my USB key, but I'm not sure.
I chose it but I couldn't go any further, it brought me back to the same screen again.
I was hoping to key in the directory where I want to store the backup, but never got that opportunity.
It seems like I'm really close to getting this to work.
Any ideas what I have to do to make this work?
BTW, I'm booting off an SD disk that I put inside a USB adapter.
TIA
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Well on my second attempt I've gotten a little further, but still no success.
This time I placed my SD card into the SD slot and booted from it.
I got to a screen that said:
Actions and Available images for restoration:
Choose 1. Blank_Local_Admin_Passwrd (for a zip archive)
2. Create_New_Image (for a Ghost-like backup)
I chose the first option and a screen of Linux commands went by quickly and I was left at a screen that said System halted. (I had chosen to shut down when everything was finished).
After I booted up again I checked my SD card and nothing had been written to it.
Any ideas what I am doing wrong?
TIA
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OK I'm making remarkable progress, but I'm still not quite there. 
I now chose 2. Create_New_Image instead of 1. Blank_Local... and I have reached the
Save Partition to Image File screen. Hurray!
But I'm worried. Here's what it says cuurently:
size of partition 3.72G
available space for image 1.7G
.
.
data copied 124M / 2.08G
6%
estimated time to completion ~ one hour.
So why am I worried?
Because it says available space for image is 1.7G (I'm using a 2G SD card)
and it says 124M of 2.08G has been copied so far.
I'm worried that it will run out of disk space after an hour or so and abort.
I chose 2nd level compression to get the most space out of my SD card.
There's about 3G of apps on my SSD currently.
Do you think I can squeeze the image onto my 2G SD card?
TIA
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Success! I think.
I now have the following files in my backup folder:
Bios 512 bytes
hdc 32K
hdc1.000 661M
hdc1.001 337M
hdc1.first_sectors 10K
So the three questions I have now are:
1. Does the above sound like the backup image files were made successfully?
2. What will I have to do if I want to restore the backup image to my EeePc c: drive?
3. Is it safe to continue using the SD card to store data to it? It still has close to 1G left.
Thanks!
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Yes, your image seems to be correct (I have the same set of files).
I was thinking about making a tutorial "how to use ping" (the UI is not so intuitive and you really need to read carefully what is being said).
I'm dumping short answers here so that other don't need to figure them out by themselves:
How to backup your system with ping:
PING use the old style text UI.
When faced with choice, you need to press space to select a choice, and use the up/down arrow to navigate through the options. You can switch through the control using TAB as usual. Press return to click the ok button.
Screen:
The first screen ask you weither you want to restore or if you want to backup, and if so, what do you want to backup. So choose the drive you want to backup.
Screen:
Choose the partition where to store the backup:
() sda1 (FAT16) (recycler, The Bat etc.....)
() hdc1 (W95 FAT32) (Windows, Docs.. etc..)
[my guess is that you forgot to select a option by pressing space there]
hdc1 is the SSD drive. The name in braced (Windows, Docs...) indicates the top-level directories present on that drive.
sd* drives are either SD card or USB key/drive. You need to figure out which is which from the name of the top-level directories (the easiest is off course to just plug one).
Screen:
From memory, after that screen, your are asked the name of the top-level directory where you want the backup to be stored. This directory must exist. You can just hit enter, meaning you don't want to centralize all backup in a single directory.
Screen:
After that, another screen ask for the name of the backup. This is basically the name of the directory that will be created in the directory previously defined where the backup files will be stored.
Screen:
Actions and Available images for restoration:
Choose 1. Blank_Local_Admin_Passwrd (for a zip archive)
2. Create_New_Image (for a Ghost-like backup)
Since we have a windows distribution, choose option 2. (option 1 I guess is for use when you have lost your linux root password).
Screen:
Then you have a serie of question on what compression to use... Some depends on the filesystem. Just follow the indication there.
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How to restore a backup to a partition:
Boot the USB drive containg PING with the flash drive (SD card, USB key, USB drive) you used to store backup plugged-in.
New screen:
Press Enter when you arrive at the command-line prompt as indicated.
New screens:
Skip through the initial screen (I choose shutdown, but it does not seem to completly shutdown the system anyway).
New screen:
Indicate that you want to restore from a local/disk partition
New screen:
Press space to select the first option "Choose this if you want to a RESTORATION", then press return.
New screen:
Choose the partition where the backup is stored (e.g. should be either the SD card or a USB drive).
(*) sda1 (FAT16 < 32M) (soft, boot, backup1, ball)
( ) sdb1 (W95 FAT32) (backup1, eeepc, windows-moved)
( ) hdc1 (W95 FAT32) (windows, Documents and Settings, Prog...)
=> I select the first option since the backup are stored backup1/ of my USB key.
New screen:
Enter a root directory containing you data:
=> Type in the path of the directory that contains the backup. In my case, I just type in backup1.
New screen:
Actions and available images restoration:
=> You are proposed a list of choice. Choose the name of your backup:
beforeoffice
Blank_Local_Admin_Passwd
Create_New_Image
=> I choose beforeoffice which is the name of my backup.
New screen:
BIOS settings have been recorded on your image. Do you want them to be restored ?
=> I answer NO (I'd rather play myself with the BIOS).
Your're done. After confirming this, you following through the restoration progress screen (very similar to the backup screen).
Concerning your other question:
- Yes it is safe to use the card to store other data. But this increases the likehood of a misshap that will accidently delete/corrupt your backup . Behind able to store additional data, the backup software and data on the backup support, is I think be one of the great advantage of this backup solution: it has very little space overhead, so you can easily always carry a backup with you.
Baptiste.
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Nice article for us , It really a good topic to discuss!
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elyon wrote:
How to restore a backup to a partition:
Boot the USB drive containg PING with the flash drive (SD card, USB key, USB drive) you used to store backup plugged-in.
.
.
.
New screen:
Enter a root directory containing you data:
=> Type in the path of the directory that contains the backup. In my case, I just type in backup1.
This part was never clear with me. They don't want a full path with drive do they?
When I tried d:\Eeebak or e:\Eeebak during the backup, it wasn't accepted.
Thanks for these great instructions for Restore! When I get brave enough, I'll delete my original install (WinXP) and experiment, knowing I can restore back to my original now.
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elyon wrote:
Yes, your image seems to be correct (I have the same set of files).
Thanks that's good to hear!
elyon wrote:
I was thinking about making a tutorial "how to use ping" (the UI is not so intuitive and you really need to read carefully what is being said).
That would be really nice of you. Even though your first post had most of the info needed to do this, you can see by the number of posts that I made, I had quite a few difficulties understanding what to do.
Yes most of my difficulties arose when I was trying to use PING.
elyon wrote:
I'm dumping short answers here so that other don't need to figure them out by themselves:
How to backup your system with ping:
When faced with choice, you need to press space to select a choice, and use the up/down arrow to navigate through the options. You can switch through the control using TAB as usual. Press return to click the ok button.
This was one of the many mistakes I made. I didn't know I had to use the Space bar to select an item.
I saw an item was highlighted and assumed it was selected.
elyon wrote:
Screen:
From memory, after that screen, your are asked the name of the top-level directory where you want the backup to be stored. This directory must exist. You can just hit enter, meaning you don't want to centralize all backup in a single directory.
This is one part that wasn't clear in PING. They don't state the language required for the directory.
I didn't know if it was e:\Eeebak or Eeebak. (they didn't give an example).
elyon wrote:
Screen:
After that, another screen ask for the name of the backup. This is basically the name of the directory that will be created in the directory previously defined where the backup files will be stored.
Now this also gave me problems. I had assumed that they would store my backup in the 'top-level directory' that they had just asked for. That's where I wanted it to be stored. I thought they were asking for a name of a file now.
What they were really asking for now was the sub-directory of the top-level directory where the files are to be stored. They are calling it "name of the backup", but it is really "name of the sub-directory".
What they don't tell you is that if you want your backup to be stored in the top-level directory you just gave them, you should NOT give them a 'name of the backup'. That 'name' will just create a second directory.
elyon wrote:
Screen:
Actions and Available images for restoration:
Choose 1. Blank_Local_Admin_Passwrd (for a zip archive)
2. Create_New_Image (for a Ghost-like backup)
Since we have a windows distribution, choose option 2. (option 1 I guess is for use when you have lost your linux root password).
Again this choice was not obvious at all. I interpreted it to mean, if you want your backup zipped, choose option one, otherwise choose option two. Since I was limited in space I chose one.
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I have some simple questions about using PING to restore your WinXP image.
Do you need to format your c: drive before you run PING to do the restore?
If so how do you format c:?
If you boot using Syslinux, can you format c: in preparation for PING?
How would you do this format, if it is possible?
TIA
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Thanks for the write up. I followed your directions and it worked out great. I had used PING before but on CD instead of USB. I couldn't figure out how to do it from the PING directions. It is nice having it all on my USB drive.
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Thanks for the guide -- very useful!
I only had trouble with one bit: the USB stick didn't boot the first time I tried, having formatted with the standard built-in WinXP tool. Next I tried with the HP tool (the one that comes in the USB_multiboot_8 thing) using NTFS and this didn't work either. It was only when I tried using FAT32 with the non-HP option in multiboot_8 that I got it to work. Not sure why I had these probs but it all worked beautifully in the end!
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Amazing post mate, very well described and put together. I am testing this on my EeePC atm. Heres hoping for the best!
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Seemingly mine doesn't want to make a backup. It just restarts the computer after it analyzes the disk.
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Well, I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but it just keeps restarting. I've tried two different USB keys now. A 1gb and a 2gb, and they both just restart without creating a backup.
This is the error I think I'm getting.
cannot open file/device: /mnt/dos/brian/brian/hdc1_0.spl.zp in treat file()
Last edited by Brian10161 (2008-06-19 12:05:59 pm)
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I am having problems too getting backups to various USB drives with PING. I have one success with a 1 gig Kingston Data Traveler mini, and two failures with Lexar JD Secure II (2 gig) and a Sandisk Titanium Cruzer 2 gig. Unfortunatley i have to use a lerger drive since the image is greater than 2 gig. I may have to go with Acronis 10. It seems a little more forgiving
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Have you tried reformatting the drives to FAT32? Casper said that worked better. I didn't need to do any formatting but mine was probably already FAT32.
Mine didn't do a backup once because I typed the name of the folder in wrong. It didn't give me any error messages, it just went really fast with nothing added to the drive. My backups take around 40 minutes to do.
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Thanks, interesting article! Can I use a external Hard Drive instead of the USB drive to do the same job?
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