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Let me say I'm new to using Linux, but after some tinkering I've got the pc setup the way I want it, (advanced desktop and a few minor tweaks). As I can't help myself when it comes to messing around with the system, it is inevitable that I'm going to beak it in the not to distant future!
So how can I backup the system state and user data so that I can use the eee pc's recovery option then apply the backed up system state and user data?
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Haven't got mine yet, and haven't used Linux (bar messing around) for a couple of years, so my memory is poor. IIRC, the config files are in the /etc and /home/<user> directories, have a look through there.
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Well, there's this thread: http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?id=1687
But I discovered, rather too late, that this method would not give me a proper restore after a "Reset to factory".
All sorts of things didn't work properly (Camera, sound, generally very weird). Other poeple in other threads also had problems after a factory Restore, but their "solutions" (In bios Set OS Boot to "Finished" etc) didn't work for me.
Fortunately, I had another eee (Xmas present, but still in my posession), that I had customised but NOT hacked-to-bits (Like I had done mine)
I was able to get everything back to normal on mine like this:
My eee: Reset to factory, by Pressing F9 at boot.
On Santa's eee, I made a dd backup of the user partition to an external USB HDD like this
sudo dd if=/dev/sda2 of="/path/to/backup/good-sda2"
This took maybe 2-3 minutes.
then unmount ("Safely Remove") The USB HDD.
On my "bad", just restored-to-factory eee, I re-installed this backup like this:
Plug in the USB HDD, and wait for it to be recognised.
<CTRL><ALT><t> to get a terminal.
sudo dd if="/path/to/backup/good-sda2" of=/dev/sda2
This takes a bit longer (writing is slower than reading?).
Then I tried a shutdown, but it segfaulted. I was not too surprised, as I would have preferred
to have done the reinstall in single-user mode, but when I tried booting to this (quite complicated in itself, see
http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:installrescuemode ) I found there was no support for USB devices 
So I just held the power button down until it shut off.
Then rebooted, and everything was back to normal!
So, I strongly suggest you make a dd backup of your /dev/sda2 before you brick your eee.
I also made a backup of /dev/sda1 (The system partition) using dd, although I think I'd need an external CD drive and a live CD (like kubuntu) to be able to restore the system partition - you cannot write to it as it is mounted, and you cannot unmount it because that is where your system runs from.
One last comment: dd is VERY unforgiving. If you get your if's muddled with your of's, or the wrong partition numbers, you fill find yourself in deeeeep mess.
Hope this helps.
Edit: My external USB HDD is formatted as a LINUX (ext3) disk, not FAT32, but I do not think this is vital.
Last edited by tredegar (2007-12-24 12:26:20 pm)
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that sound promising, I'll try it out later today.... Thanks
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I have written here a guide based on tredegars notes above.
Near the bottom of the wiki page http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:removeunionfs is a section called "Backing up both partitions (full backup) using puppy linux flash drive", which I just added.
It is a very precise walkthrough to obtain a full backup, and includes restore instructions, hopefully suitable for those with little knowledge. I hope it is helpful for anyone who stumbles on this page!
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If you want your backup to be smaller try something like this.
"dd if=/dev/sda2 | gzip -c9 > /path/to/backup.gz"
and you can restore it something like.
"gunzip -c /path/to/backup.gz | dd of=/dev/sda2"
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Add it to the wiki entry?
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