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Frequent asked questions about raspiBackup. Every new user of raspiBackup should read all questions and answers.

raspiBackup FAQ

Overview


0) Where does raspiBackup come from?

1) Does it work to create a backup from a running system? Shouldn't the system be stopped first?

2) How can I restore a backup?

3) What will be saved and restored by raspiBackup?

4) Which Linux methods can be used to create backups?

5) Can the backup created by raspiBackup be used to restore the backup manually?

6) Can a backup be restored on a smaller or larger SD card than the original SD card?

7) How can I control the partitioning of the target SD card?

8) On which devices can raspiBackup save the backup?

9) There is some data on my system which raspiBackup doesn't save. How can I include this data in the backup?

10) Which eMailClients are supported by raspiBackup?

11) My mailProgram is not supported by raspiBackup. How can I now get eMails from raspiBackup?

12) Ich have a question about raspiBackup. How do I get an answer?

13) I found a bug in raspiBackup. How can I report the bug and when do I get a fix?

14) Do I get any notification if there is a new version available?

15) How can I revert to the previous raspiBackup version if I detect the new version doesn't work as expected when I upgraded?

16) I have a 32GB SD card but need only 8GB. The dd backup uses 32GB instead of 8GB.

17) How can I check whether rsync backup uses hardlinks and backup space is saved?

18) Which services should be stopped before starting the backup and started again afterwards?

19) Which format should be used on the backup partition?

20) I have issues to save my backups on Synology. How can I fix them?

21) The bootpartition doesn't change. Why is the bootpartition nevertheless saved in every backup again?

22) Different ways to configure raspiBackup

23) I want to see the backup or restore progress. Is there any option to enable a progress bar?

24) raspiBackup reports an error ACL_TYPE_ACCESS, Operation not supported when using rsync backuptype

25) Error dev/... has unsupported feature(s): metadata_csum E2FSCK: Get a newer version of e2fsck

26) Why do I get ??? RBK0160E: Target /dev/sda withxx GiB is smaller than backup source with yy GiB even the SD cards have the same size ?

27) I have a tar or rsync backup and want to create a dd backup

28) Why are file changes lost when a restored backup is rebooted?

29) I get the message rsync: chown "(file-path)" failed: Operation not permitted (1). How do I get rid of this message?

30) I like raspiBackup and want to donate for the development and support. How can I donate?

31) I get an error message from raspiBackup. How can I get rid of it?

32) After upgrade to v0.6.3.2 I get errormessage RBK0021E: Backupprogram of type tar terminated with RC 1 or RBK0021E: Backupprogram of type rsync terminated with RC 23.h

33) I use a Cubieboard, Banana Pi, Odroid, Hummingboard or Beagle Board. Does raspiBackup support this Hardware?

34) I want to restore my 16GB dd backup but get an error message the SD card is too small. Why?

35) I want to move the Rootfilesystem on a USB disk. Can raspiBackup do this for me during restore?

36) What do the returncodes (RC) raspiBackup terminates with stand for?

37) The eMail subject sometimes has leading smileys. What do they stand for?

38) Where can I ask questions and get help for Linux questions and problems which are not directly related to raspiBackup?

39) Where do I find the debug log of raspiBackup?

40) How can I update my local configuration with new options introduced in a new version after upgrade?

41) Where do I find the debug log when raspiBackup terminates?

42) Where can /boot and /root partition reside (SD card and SSD or disk)

43) How do I find all pages documenting raspiBackup or pages where special topics are explained?

44) Why does the restored image fail to start?

45) How can I temporarily enable or disable options?

46) Why is it not recommended to use the baclkup type dd?

47) Where do I get help if I have a questions or -issues for and with Linux which are not related to raspiBackup?

48) Can I restore a backup to an active system?

49) My backup which I restored to a SD card doesn't start. Why not?

50) My backup takes incredible long. What may be the root cause?

51) How are the progress bar statistics calculated ?

52) How can I download and execute a testversion or a temporary fix from github?

53) What's a raspiBackup snapshot?

54) How can I access the contents of the boot partition in the backup?

55) Why do I have duplicate PARTUUIDs on my system?

56) How can raspiBackup be started automatically on an unsupported System?


 

Details

0) Where does raspiBackup comes from?

I run three Raspberries at home. Two of them run 7/24 all the time as LAN servers. It's common practice to backup a server on a regular base just in case there are any failures. In particular the SD card of the Raspberry tends to fail after some time. That's why I wrote a small script which creates a dd backup. Then support for tar was added because the dd backup saves the whole SD card all the time even there is only a subset of the space used. tar just saves the used data. Finally rsync backup was added which uses hardlinks and saves backupspace and backuptime becaus it's an incremental backup. raspiBackup helped me multiple times to revover from a broken SD card so I thought the script may also be helpful for other people running Raspberries and decided to publish raspiBackup. Read also 10 years raspiBackup.

1) Does it work to create a backup from a running system? Shouldn't the system be stopped first?

The most reliable backup is a backup from a stopped system. Unfortunately this cannot be done on a regular base with cron automatically. If you stop all active services as mysql, samba, nfs, seafile, Owncloud, Webserver and all other active services before starting the backup in order to keep all the data consistent the backup can be used to restore the system. If these services are not stopped there is a high probability the backup will become inconsistent. Parameter -a and -o help to achieve this. See also FAQ 18. As an alternative a sample wrapper script can be used and extended.

2) How can I restore a backup?

raspiBackup can restore all created backups (See this page for details). raspiBackup runs on Linux only. Windows user can use windisk32imager to restore a dd backup. For all other backup types a Linux system is required.

Fortunately your Raspberry can be used to restore the backup with raspiBackup. Install a Linux OS (e.g. raspbian) on a second SD card, start it and install raspiBackup.  Now connect an external SD card reader and the drive with the backup and use raspiBackup to restore the backup to the external SD card. Shutdown the system, insert the external SD card with the restored backup and start your Raspberry again.

3) What will be saved and restored by raspiBackup?

raspiBackup can save two partitionens via tar or rsync in the normal backup mode: The boot and the rootpartition of the SD card. If the rootpartition was moved to an external partition this external partition is also saved.The dd backup will save the whole SD card but no external root partition will be saved.

An unlimited number of partitions on the SD card will be saved in the partition oriented mode. Additional external partitions will not be saved in this mode. If a restore with win32diskimager should be possible you can use the dd backup in the normal backup mode.

4) Which Linux methods can be used to create backups?

You can use dd, tar and rsync to backup the data. dd and tar backups can be zipped also. See the following page for pros and cons of the different backup methods.

5) Can the backup created by raspiBackup be used to restore the backup manually?

That was a requirement for raspiBackup: It should be possible to restore the backup with Linux means only.

raspiBackup creates readable files of the output of the Linux commands sfdisk, blkid and fdisk of the SD card. This allows to restore the partition layout of the original SD card with Linux means. Then the partition backups can be restored into these partition using the corresponding linux backup tools.

6) Can a backup be restored on a smaller or larger SD card than the original SD card?

If you use a dd backup this will work for a lrger SD card. But you have to use a Linux tool to expand the second partition if you want to use the whole space.

This works perfectly for smaller and larger SD cards if backup mode tar or rsync and the normal backup mode is used. The root partition size is either truncated if the SD card is smaller than the original SD card or expanded to use the whole SD card size if it's larger. But the used space on the backup SD card has to be smaller than the restore SD card size. Otherwise the restore will fail.

Option -0 (zero) allows to use the existing partitioning of the target SD card for restore. That way you have full control about the size the partitions should have on the restored SD card. So it's possible to restore partition oriented backups also on a smaller SD card.

There is no way to restore a dd backupon a smaller SD card. The inmage has to be shrinked first. See this link how to get it done. Or use pishrink.

A partition oriented backup can be restored on a smaller SD card by formatting all partitions on the SD card first and then restore the backup with option -0.

7) How can I control the partitioning of the target SD card?

There exist two options which give you full control of the way the new SD card is partitioned. Option -1 (one) forces raspiBackup to create the same partitioning on the target SD card even the partitions are smaller or larger than the size of the target SD card. Option -0 (zero) disables partitioning by raspBackup. This allows to create the partitioning and formating on the target SD card upfront and these paritions are used as is by raspiBackup during restore.

8) On which devices can raspiBackup save the backup?

In general on every device which can be mounted on Linux:

  • External USB Stick
  • External USB disk
  • Synology
  • cifs/samba networking disk
  • nfs networking disk
  • sshfs networking disk
  • webdav networking disk
  • ftpfs networking disk

9) There is some data on my system which raspiBackup doesn't save. How can I include this data in the backup?

Use one of the following approaches:

a) Use a wrapper script  (see here) and write your own code which is executed before and after raspiBackup and saves additional data

b) Use extension points which are called before and after the backup function to save the data. There exist two sample extensions (see here) which report the CPU temperature before and after a backup run and the used memory. An eMailExtension can be used to plug in your own eMailClient.

10) Which eMailClients are supported by raspiBackup?

exim4, postfix and nullmailer, sendEmail, ssmtp and msmtp are supported. The eMailExtension plugpoint can be used to plugin every other eMailClient (Details see here).

11) My mailProgram is not supported by raspiBackup. How can I now get eMails from raspiBackup?

Use the eMalExtension plugpoint to write a small extension which will be used to send the emails from raspiBackup. The existing extensionsamples include one sample code for the mailx eMailClient.

12) Ich have a question about or issue with raspiBackup. How do I get help?

Please note: I'm talking about raspBackup questions - no Linuxquestions or -issues. For them please read FAQ38 and FAQ47.

There exist following communication channels:

1) Open an issue in github if you have an issue or a question. That's my preference because an issue tracking system is very helpful. You have to register in github first. Don't worry about this. github access is for free.

2) At the bottom of every webpage you can create comments but please ask questions only. No problem report. To eliminate spam the comments are checked manually and that's why it usually takes one day until the comment is published and will be answered. Unfortunately there is no longer a notification eMail sent when an update happens on your comment because of GDPR. You have to check for updates manually now.

3) Ask your question on Facebook. No problem report. You have to register on Facebook first.

See also this note

Note: Any other commincation pathes are silently ignored.

 

13) I found a bug in raspiBackup. How can I report the bug and when do I get a fix?

Every software can have bugs and raspiBackup is no exception. Please report the issue on this website in a comment, in github or in Facebook. See here for details.

 

14) Do I get any notification if there is a new version available?

raspiBackup checks in every invocation whether there exist a new version. A message will be written and the notification eMail will have a smiley ;-) in it's mail title. Now you can check on this page what's new in the new version and update raspiBackup with parameter -U.

 

15) How can I revert to the previous raspiBackup version if I detect the new version doesn't work as expected when I upgraded?

raspiBackup creates a backup copy every time an upgrade is done with parameter -U. Option -V can be used to revert to a previous version. A list of all saved raspiBackup versions will be presented and the version to restore can be selected.

 

16) I have a 32GB SD card but need only 8GB. The dd backup uses 32GB instead of 8GB.

dd backup backups the whole SD card. There is a configuration parameter

DEFAULT_DD_BACKUP_SAVE_USED_PARTITIONS_ONLY which causes raspiBackup to save only the space used by defined partitions. So you just have to resize the 32GB partition to 8GB with gparted or other repartitiontools and the backup will only use 8GB. Current partiton sizes can be checked with lsblk command.

Or you use raspiBackupWrapper script and have pishrink reduce the size of the dd backup created by raspiBackup to it's minimum possible.

 

17) How can I check whether rsync backup uses hardlinks and backup space is saved?

Hardlinks are used by raspiBackup with rsync if a local attached USB stick or a local attached USB disk formatted with ext3/ext4 or a remote disk mounted via nfs is used. Samba and sshfs don't support hardlinks.

Note: A windows file explorer will ignore hardlinks and reports a wrong effective disk usage. A Linux system has to be used to check the disk usage.

Command sudo du -sh * displays the used backup space and sudo du -shl * displays how much space would be used if no hardlinks are used (That's what windows reports)

Example:

root@raspberrypi:/media/nas-backup/raspberrypi# du -sh *
4,5G raspberrypi-rsync-backup-20160822-184617
4,5M raspberrypi-rsync-backup-20160822-190436
5,2M raspberrypi-rsync-backup-20160822-195250
5,7M raspberrypi-rsync-backup-20160822-201610

root@raspberrypi:/media/nas-backup/raspberrypi# du -shl *
4,7G raspberrypi-rsync-backup-20160822-184617
4,7G raspberrypi-rsync-backup-20160822-190436
4,7G raspberrypi-rsync-backup-20160822-195250
4,7G raspberrypi-rsync-backup-20160822-201610

How hardlinks work is described in detail on this page.

 

18) Which services should be stopped before starting the backup and started again afterwards?

All services which keep any states in databases or in memory or on filesystemhave to be stopped. Otherwise inconsistent data may be saved and when the backup is restored the backup is unusable. raspiBackup offers option -o to stop services before starting the backup and option -a to start the services afterwards. For convenience you can define the services to start/stop also with the installer which will add the services in the configuration file. Please note the installer only offers system services to start/stop. Applications which are not started as a system service have to be started/stopped manually with options -a and -o.

At least following services should be stopped with option -o:

Service Stop command
nfs systemctl stop nfs-kernel-serv er
Samba systemctl stop samba
Pilight systemctl stop pilight
Cups systemctl stop cups
Minidlna systemctl stop minidlna
Apache systemctl stop apache2
Wordpress systemctl stop wordpress
nginx systemctl stop nginx
seafile systemctl stop seafile
Owncloud see Apache
mysql systemctl stop mysql
FHEM systemctl stop fhem
iobroker systemctl stop iobroker
cron systemctl stop cron

 

To start the services again use option -a and use the reverse service sequence used with -o. If you are dead certain you don't need to stop and start services use ":" as parameter for option -a and -o.

The installer makes sure the seleted systemd controlled services are stopped ans started in seuqence. Unfortunately systemd doesn't make sure the configured service dependecies are respected.

 

Example for -o:

-o "systemctlstoppilight && systemctlstopsamba && systemctlstopnfs-kernel-server"

Example for -a:

-a "systemctlstartnfs-kernel-server && systemctlstartsamba && systemctl start pilight"

The configuration file may have following contents:

DEFAULT_STOPSERVICES="systemctlstopnfs-kernel-server && systemctlstoppilight && systemctl stop samba"

rsp

DEFAULT_STARTSERVICES="systemctlstartsamba&& systemctlstartpilight && systemctlstartnfs-kernel-server"

Note: All commands are executed as root. There is no sudo required.

Option --systemstatusturns on the creation of a list of started services and open files before starting the backup.

If for some reasons you want no service to stop or start use a colon as command in option -a and -o, i.e. -a : -o :
 

19) Which format should be used on the backup partition?

In general every filesystem can be used which can be mounted on LInux. But there are following constraints:

- rsync backup uses hardlinks which are supported with ext3/4. Only changed files are copied during backup and hardlinks are used to reuse the previouse saved files. If an ext4 filesystem is exported via samba there is no support for hardlinks. NFS is an alternative. If no hardlinks are supported rsync cannot be used.

- FAT32 can store files with max 4GB only. A dd backup will become as large as the SD card is (Configuration option DEFAULT_DD_BACKUP_SAVE_USED_PARTITIONS_ONLY can reduce the size) and is in general larger than 4GB. It's similar for tar backups which become larger than 4GB quite quickly. An alternative may be NTFS on windows.

General suggestion: Use ext3/4 if possible. On Linux use NFS for remote drives and on windows use NTFS for exported samba network drives. Use FAT32 only if you are sure the backup files will not become larger than 4GB.

WARNING: Don't use NTFS when you want to use rsync ! The backup seems to be OK but is NOT OK! The Linux file ownership cannot be stored correctly in the NTFS filesystem. See also here for filesystems to use. Use tar instead or use ext2/3/4 as filesystem on your backuppartition.

20) I have issues to save my backups on Synology. How can I fix them?

There are various raspiBackup users who successfully save their backups on Synology via nfs. Unfortunately I don't have a Synology and cannot help much on this. But there exists a dedicated page for Synology where raspiBackup users told me what they configured on their Synology in order to save their backups successfully.

21) The bootpartition doesn't change. Why is the bootpartition nevertheless saved in every backup again?

In about 98% situations this is true. But a firmware update can change the bootpartition. There is a configuration parameter DEFAULT_LINK_BOOTPARTITIONFILES which causes raspiBackup to link the bootpartition backups with hardlinks if they are supported. That way every backup is 60MB smaller. But the bootpartition is nevertheless saved all the time to check whether there are changes to the previous backup and then replaced with a hardlink. This option is useful only if you use a very small backup device.

 

22) Different ways to configure raspiBackup

raspiBackup looks up different places to retrieve its options. The priority goes from low to high:

1) /usr/local/etc/raspiBackup.conf

2) ./.raspiBackup.conf (current directory)

3) ~/.raspiBackup.conf (home directory)

4) Configuration file specified with option -f

5) Invocation options

 

23) I want to see the backup or restore progress. Is there any option to enable a progress bar?

Option -g enables a progress bar for dd, tar and rsync. Should be used only when raspiBackup is manually invoked.

24) raspiBackup reports  an error ACL_TYPE_ACCESS, Operation not supported when using rsync backuptype

The errormessage looks like

??? RBK0024E: Backup tool rsync received an error
rsync: set_acl: sys_acl_set_file(media/pi, ACL_TYPE_ACCESS): Operation not supported (95)
 
Root cause is that nfs version 4 doesn't support Posix ACLs used by rsync. They are not needed in 99% of all backups. In /etc/mke2fs.conf following statement
default_mntopts = acl,user_xattr
enables ACLs when a partition is mounted which also affects the backup path /backup of raspiBackup. Therefore rsync tries to save ACL data which is not supported.
 
Note: Synology doesn't support ACLs even if NFS v3 is used as of 5/13/22.
Note: Following command finds all files with ACLs: sudo getfacl -Rs / The command will take time.
 
Solution (Select one of the following alternatives):

1) Add following line DEFAULT_RSYNC_BACKUP_OPTIONS="-aHx --delete" (no uppercase A) in /usr/local/etc/raspiBackup.conf which will cause rsync to exclude ACLs in the backup.

2) Use tar instaed of rsync

3) Use a local attached device formatted with ext4

4) Use nfs version 2 or nfs version 3. Read this article for details. This option does NOT work with a Synology.

5) Use raspiBackupWrapper.sh which includes code using a loop device to mount an image formatted with ext4 and thus supports ACLs (See this page for details) (For experienced users only)

In Bullseye Debian enabled persistent journaling and now there exists /var/log/journal with ACLs on the system. Everybody using release 0.6.6 or below has to upgrade to release 0.6.6.1 or use the workaround described here.

 

25) Error dev/... has unsupported feature(s): metadata_csum E2FSCK: Get a newer version of e2fsck

Solution:
Edit /etc/mke2fs.conf and change both ext4 options and remove metadata_csum. Now  restore the backup with raspiBackup.
 
26) Why do I get ??? RBK0160E: Target /dev/sda withxx GiB is smaller than backup source with yy GiB even the SD cards have the same size ?
SD Karten which have the same size (e.g. 16GB) do have a different number of free bytes. Command sudo fdisk -l /dev/mmcblk0
lists the true free space

sudo fdisk -l /dev/mmcblk0

Disk /dev/mmcblk0: 15.5 GB, 15548284928 bytes

Another card with the same size of 16GB delivers for example
Disk /dev/mmcblk0: 15.9 GB, 15931539456 bytes
So you can copy the first image to the second SD card but not vice versa.
 
Solution:
1) Use a larger SD card
2) Squeeze the source image. pishrink is a nice tool for this.
3) Create the backup with parameter DEFAULT_DD_BACKUP_SAVE_sudo losetup -f -backup.img sudo mount /dev/loop0 /mntUSED_PARTITIONS_ONLY (See also FAQ16)
4) Before creating a backup reduce the size of the root partition withgpartedfor some hundred MB or even 1 GB.
 
27) I have a tar or rsync backup and want to create a dd backup
There exists a script raspiBackupRestore2Image.sh which can be found here. It's creating a dd backup from a tar or rsync backup.
 
28) Why are file changes lost when a restored backup is rebooted?
In that case unfortunately the SD card has bad blocks where the Linux filesystem persists all file changes (superblock). This superblock is kept in memory so there is no way to detects this issue at runtime.
 
Solution:
The backup has to be restored again on a new error free SD card.
 
29) I get the message rsync: chown "(file-path)" failed: Operation not permitted (1). How do I get rid of this message?
Kurt got this issue, found the solution and shared it. DougieLawson described here the solution.
 
Just edit /etc/fstab from
192.168.2.203:/data/raspi /media/nas nfs defaults 0 0
to
192.168.2.203:/data/raspi /media/nas nfs defaults,noatime,noauto,x-systemd.automount 0 0
 
BastiFanta found another reason for the message:
"I had to use option no_root_squash on the NFS share. See here for details"
 
30) I like raspiBackup and want to donate for the development and support. How can I donate?
Just click here to get more details.
 
31) I get an error message from raspiBackup. How can I get rid of it?
There exists a dedicated page with the most common error messages of raspiBackup on this page.
 
32) After upgrade to v0.6.3.2 I get errormessage RBK0021E: Backupprogram of type tar terminated with RC 1 or RBK0021E: Backupprogram of type rsync terminated with  RC 23.
 
These errors were ignored in previous releases. But given the fact this will inconsistent backups there errors are not ignored any more.

There exist following options to get rid of the error:
 
1) Stop the application which uses the modified file. Either use the installer to select the service to stop (M3->C6) (only poassible if it's a system service) or update DEFAULT_STOPSERVICES and DEFAULT_STARTSERVICES to stop and that the application.
Tip: Option --systemstatus lists the active system services in the debug log with their open files. This will help to locate the service which modifies files during the backup.
 
2) Use option DEFAULT_EXCLUDE_LIST to exclude the files which are modified during the backup. Warning: Make sure these files are not important and not required by any applications. Otherwise the restored application will not start. Carefully test whether the restored application starts successfully without the excluded files.
 
3) Following command helps to identify which files were changed, deleted or created during the backup. Just execute the command in another window when the backup is started.
 
inotifywait -m -e delete -e create -e move -e modify -e attrib <directory>
You may have to add option -r to include also all subdirectories in the watch.
 
33) I use a Cubieboard, Banana Pi, Odroid, Hummingboard or Beagle Board. Does raspiBackup support this Hardware?
In general it should work and users already use raspiBackup on their non Raspberry hardware. But raspiBackup is supported RaspbianOS and Raspberry HW only. But just try it out. If it works be happy. But don't ask for support if it fails.
 

34) I want to restore my 16GB dd backup but get an error message the SD card is too small. Why?

SD cards are sold with a size e.g. 16GB but the real size usually is either a bit smaller or a bit larger. The dd backup has exactly the size of the SD card and if the target SD card has some less bytes it's impossible to restore the dd backup. That's why you should reduce the size of the last partition for some amount alle the time. See also FAQ16. You should use pishrink to reduce the size of the dd image before restoring it with raspiBackup.
 

35) I want to move the Rootfilesystem on a USB disk. Can raspiBackup do this for me during restore?

If you use backup type tar or rsync this works. Just use option -R when you restore the backup.
 

36) What do the returncodes (RC) raspiBackup terminates with stand for?

101 - Programming error occured
102 - Linux command returned error
103 - raspiBackup was terminated with CTRL C
104 - An extension returned an error
105 - During stop of services an error occured
106 - During start of services an error occured
107 - An option parameter is invalid
108 - Missing files
109 - Backup program dd, tar or rsync got an error
110 - Impossible to create a link to a file
111 - Collection of partition information failed
112 - Creation of partition layout failed during restore
114 - dd image creation failed
115 - Missing required partition
116 - Restore aborted by user
117 - Restore program dd, tar or rsync got an erro

118 - Device missing/incorrect
119 - Unable to create a directory
120 - Missing Linux tools
121 - Unable to find a valid boot partition

 

37) The eMail subject sometimes has leading smileys. What do they stand for?

;-)  There is a new release of raspiBackup available. Upgrade should be done with option -U and can be reverted with option -V. 
:-D  There is a beta of next raspiBackup release available. Beta testers are welcome and can install the beta with option -U and revert with option -V.
O.o  raspiBackup wrote a warning message.
 :-(  Current raspiBackup release has a serious bug is considered deprecated. It's stronlgy recommended to upgrade to the latest release with option -U.

 

38) Where can I ask questions and get help for Linux questions and problems which are not directly related to raspiBackup?

raspiBackup was written to help Linux beginners to have a convenient way to create backups of their Raspberry.  But nevertheless you have to have some Linux knowledge. A lot of issues with raspiBackup are just Linux issues and not raspiBackup issues. It's not possible to help on these issues on this website. There exist foren with a big community. I suggest to visit  Raspberry.org and ask for help. Don't hesitate to link me to your post and I'll jump in. My nick is @framp in this forum.

 

39)  Where do I find the debug log of raspiBackup?

raspiBackup creates a debug log raspiBackup.log and messages in raspiBackup.msg in /tmp directory during the backup run and finally copies the logs into the backup directory if the backup was successful. If for some reasons the backup fails the logs are copied into the home directory of the caller. If the scheduled backup run fails the home directory is /root. You can use Option -L to change the default target of the log and msg output.

The logs of a restore are stored in the homedirectoy of the caller and have the extension logr and msgr.

 

40) How can I update my local configuration with new options introduced in a new version after upgrade?

In general there are new options introduced in a new version. It's possible to add them manually. But it's much more convenient to use a helper script which creates a new configuration file with all the latest options and merges your local options. Merge conflicts have to be solved manually. You find details for the script on this page.

 

41) Where do I find the debug log when raspiBackup terminates?

The Debuglog is raspiBackup.log for a Backup and raspiBackup.logr for a Restore.

  • If raspiBackup finishes successfully the debug logfile will be in the backupdirectory
  • If raspiBackup finishes unsuccessfully the debug log will be in the home directory of the caller.
    • If raspiBackup was started on the console the debug log will be either in /home/<user> or /root
    • If raspiBackup was started scheduled via cron or systemd the debug log will be in /root.
  • If raspiBackup fails unexpectedly or was killed the debug log will be in /tmp
  • The debug log of a restore will be either in /home/<user> or /root

 

42) Where can /boot and /root partition reside (SD card and SSD or disk)

raspiBackup supports following configurations but only /boot and /root partitions are saved. gesichert werden. Additional partitions are ignored.

1) /boot and /root on SD card

2) /boot on SD card and /root on SSD or disk

3) /boot and /root on SSD or disk

 

43) How do I find all pages documenting raspiBackup or pages where special topics are explained?

In the raspiBackup menu on the right side you find links to the most important pages about raspiBackup. If you want to get a list of all pages about raspiBackup klick on the last link in the menu called List of all pages about raspiBackup . If you are interested in special topics use the search capability on hte top right side and insert the topic you're interested in.

 

44) Why does the restored image fail to start?

That's a question asked a lot of time. In about 80% of the cases it's caused by a defective SD card.

 

45) How can I temporarily enable or disable options?

A lot of options can be used to turn something on or off. In general you define everything once in the configuration file and that's it. If you want to turn an option off or on in a single call append + (on) or - (off) to the option. Example: You have enable zipping of a dd backup. You turn it off temporarily with option  -z- .

 

46) Why is it not recommended to use the baclkup type dd?

Please read this article.

 

47) Where do I get help if I have a questions or -issues for and with Linux which are not related to raspiBackup?

From time to time there pop up Linux issues or questions when configuring or running raspiBackup. I will not answer them in any raspiBackup contact channels. Otherwise I'm busy 7/24. I support raspiBackup but I'm not willing to support Linux and thus all such kind of questions will be rejected by pointing to this FAQ47.

There exists an English Raspberry forum and there you will get help for general Linux questions or -issues. If you speak German I suggest to visit the German Raspberry Forum. See also FAQ38.

 

48) Can I restore a backup to an active system?

It's possible but you will get a system which will be unreliable and most of the time not boot. YThat's why raspiBackup rejects this kind of request. You have to connect an USB card reader to your Raspberry and restore the backup to the external SD card.

 

49) My backup which I restored to a SD card doesn't start.  Why not?

In 99.9% of all cases it's a bad SD card which causes this issue. Just use another, better a brand new SD card and the issue will be gone. You also can use option -C to check the SD card for bad blocks when you restore the backup. But keep in mind the restore will take a long time now. Please also read this article about issues with a dd backup.

 

50) My backup or restore takes incredible long. What may be the root cause?

The backup and restore time depends on the amount of data to save and the speed of the backup partition. If your backup partition is mounted via a network protocol (nfs or Samba) it even will take loger. If you use rsync the first backup will take long because it's a full backup. All next backups will be incremental backups and usually faster.

It may happen the backup or restore does not terminate or will take extremly long. That's usually because there are backup errors. In general it's either read- oder write errors reported by the Linux backup tool used (dd, tar or rsync). If you use rsync it may because ACLs cannot be saved because either authorization is missing or ACLs are not supported on the backup partition. ACLs are not supported if your backup partition is connected via nfs or samba. See FAQ24 for details.

Check whether mount option sync is used and use async instead.

Option --timestamps should be used to get an idea in which step raspiBackup spends so much time. Next the debug log will help to nail it down further.

 

51) How are the progress bar statistics calculated ?

raspiBackup does not do any calculations. Instead the available options of the backup tools are used. For dd option status=progress and for rsync option info=progress2 is used. tar does not have a progress option and thus the Linux tool pv is used to pipe through the tar data. For details about the statistic calculation check the documentation of the tool options and pv.

 

52) How can I download and execute a testversion or a temporary fix from github?

You have to use following script im github. Invoke it with

curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/framps/raspiBackup/master/scripts/raspiBackupDownloadFromGit.sh | sudo bash -s -- <branchname>

<branchname> has to be the git branch name where you want to download raspibackup.sh. Then invoke this raspiBackup version in the following way:

sudo ./raspiBackup.sh <options>

 

53) What's a raspiBackup snapshot?

raspiBackup snapshots are backups with two special properties:

1) They are not included in the backup recycle and thus have to be deleted manually in the backup directory

2)They have a description which is inlcuded in the backup directory name which allows to identify a snapshot and the reason why it was created.

 

A snapshot will be created with option -M and is very helpful when you setup a new system or change an existing system. Create a snapshot at any major installation or update steps. In case something goes wrong you can revert to any previous snapshot and start over. The description helps you to identify the snapshot you want to revert to.

 

54) How can I access the contents of the boot partition in the backup?

raspiBackup stores the boot partition in an image file. Execute following commands on a Raspberry to access the contents of the boot partition in your backup directory:

sudo losetup -f <hostname>-backup.img

sudo mount /dev/loop0 /mnt

 

55) Why do I have duplicate PARTUUIDs on my system?

During restore of a backup the PARTUUID of the original system is used for partitions. Iy ou mount this restore system on the original system  you will see the PARTUUIDs twice and you usually will get issues when you boot the original system. For these cases there exists option -updateUUIDs for restore to generadte a different PARTUUID during restore.Starting with release 0.6.9 the PARTUUID is updated all the time. If you still want to keep the PARTUUID turn it off with option --updateUUIDs-.

 

56) How can raspiBackup be started automatically on an unsupported System?

Just update /etc/systemd/system/raspiBackup.service:

Modify line ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/raspiBackup.sh into

ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/raspiBackup.sh --unsupportedEnvironment.

 

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