Re: [BackupPC-users] double boot Linux/Windows PC

[<cba...@us...>]

Rene van Paassen writes:

> I am trying to figure out whether it is possible to safely back up both
> the windows and linux data files of a PC that uses double boot, and is
> rebooted now and then. We are trying to used rsyncd
> 
> If the PC is running Linux, and BackupPC tries a back-up, we want the
> linux data files to be backed up
> 
> If later the PC is running WinX, we want the windows data file to be
> backed up
> 
> Specifying the same rsync share is not an option, because then the data
> from one os overwrites the data from the other os.
> 
> Specifying two shares in conf.pl, one for windows and one for Linux, and
> specifying only one share in rsyncd.conf, does not work because the
> back-up will abort with an error.
> 
> My only remaining idea is specifying two shares in the rsyncd.conf, and
> having the "other" one (e.g. the windows share when under Linux), point
> to an empty directory. Can this work? It seems quite risky, if ever
> someone puts a file there, the other os's backup is hosed.

An interesting puzzle.  I don't think the two-share idea works since
a full backup in linux mode would still save the empty directory.
If you were in linux mode for a long period, all the WinXX backups
would expire.

Here are some choices:

 - probably the cleanest solution (at least from a backup perspective)
   is to use different host names for the PC and linux boots.  You would
   then create two clients in BackupPC, and that way the backups are
   completely separate.

 - use different modules (share names) for WinXX and linux.  Create
   two clients in BackupPC.  Use $Conf{ClientNameAlias} so that both
   clients point to the same host name.  Put the corresponding share
   names in the per-PC config.pl file.  When in WinXX mode, the WinXX
   client will backup fine, but the linux client will fail every time
   (invalid share name).  And when in linux mode the WinXX client will
   fail.  The main drawback with this approach is there will always be
   one failing machine displayed as an error on the main web page, and
   it will retry every $Conf{WakeupSchedule}.

 - Damian proposed mounting the windows partition under linux, allowing
   you to backup both datasets when booted as linux.  In this case
   I would guess you would not explicitly backup when in WinXX mode.
   This works if you are mostly in linux mode.

Craig