Backup complete LE installation

1st Official Post

    Hello everyone,

    I have installed LE on the SSDof my NUC i7.

    I know that there is an Backup function integrated in LE, but that is not what I am searching for.

    I want to make a backup image from the hole LE installation?

    What do you use or what do you think would be the best?


    Is there a way to do this from remote (over the network)?


    greets

    Over

    • Official Post

    The Backup function does it normally.

    Create Backup, save to extern box.

    Install LE fresh (takes less then 1min), import Backup. That is the easy methode.

    You can ofc do it via Clonezilla too but usually an complete Disk image is unnecessary as the LE install is done in under 1min.

    Hi CvH,

    thanks for the fast feedback.

    Do the create backup in LE also "store" the System settings?

    At the moment a have the problem that the current installation (LE 7.0) didn't make the Backup. It is headless and i am connect to it via VNC. It runs the last to years, without any problems. But i dint made a backup or update.

    On my LE Server are running some important Services. OSCAM is the most important.

    Now i want to update to the newest version to use Docker with it.

    But if something goes wrong during the backup or after the backup, I want to have the possibility to go back to the exact same installation as it is running now.

    So all Services could run again till i found a solution for the problems which could possible occur.

    This means now i have to options:

    1. Bring LE to make the backup.

    2. Stop the Server for a few Minutes and make a backup with Clonezilla.

    I made a manuel update to the newest Version. Now LE didnt start correctly.

    The screen is black, only a mouse pointer appears.

    I can connect to the shared folder via File Explorer. I also can connect via VNC and HDMI.

    Oscam also runs, but TVH stopped.

    I will make a new installation on the nuc.

    I create a boot stick with the LE Tool.

    But when i boot from the stick LE starts but i cant choose to install LE on the NUC´s SSD.

    What do i miss?

    Hi,

    now i have done a new installation.

    After boot from USB i always pressed enter, but i had to wait and do nothing till the installer started.

    Now i will setup everything and then i want to backup the installation.

    Back to my first question.

    With the Libreelec backup, will also the Docker installation (including container) will be backuped?

    Personally, I have never had much luck with the backup program.

    I used to run my nuc from usb, & cloned the usb, to another usb using clonezilla. This worked very well.

    So, I suppose if you get a bootable version of clonezilla, you could do this.

    Quote from bubblegum57

    Personally, I have never had much luck with the backup program.

    I used to run my nuc from usb, & cloned the usb, to another usb using clonezilla. This worked very well.

    So, I suppose if you get a bootable version of clonezilla, you could do this.

    bubblegum57

    It's an old thread but a living conversation...

    1. Can you kindly give me instructions on how to clone the LE SD card as .img on PC disk (or USB stick) via Clonezilla, on Windows?

    I am more interested in a shrunk image, which Win32DiskImager doesn't do- produces a 7.44 GB .img on my PC HD !

    2. Also, is there a way to clone the LE image after installtointernal to the eMMC on an S905 box?

    With cloning you deal with one .img as opposed to doing it twice with backup + original .img.

    • Official Post

    1) If you know CloneZilla, following the defaults of that program should be easy enough and sufficient for a one-stop full backup. Create a full image of your SSD onto your backup device of choice: a big enough USB stick or a external HDD/SSD, or something directly to a file server in your network.

    2) That is where the LibreELEC Backup/Restore tool comes into play. There is no way IMO that a PC SSD image will directly work on a S905 box. Although miracles can happen, I guess.

    This is what I did on my windows pc, download Yumi YUMI - Multiboot USB Creator | USB Pen Drive Linux then follow the instruction to create the clonezilla boot option, gparted is another useful program.

    Then boot this from your pc, insert original usb stick, (source) insert, another usb stick, (target) at least the same size or bigger than the source.

    As Klojum says, just follow the default settings, just make sure you select the correct source & target. This will make an exact clone of the source, it won't reduce the size.

    I do not know how to clone eMMC, but if you do, I'd be interested to know how.

    Quote from bubblegum57

    This is what I did on my windows pc, download Yumi YUMI - Multiboot USB Creator | USB Pen Drive Linux then follow the instruction to create the clonezilla boot option, gparted is another useful program.

    Then boot this from your pc, insert original usb stick, (source) insert, another usb stick, (target) at least the same size or bigger than the source.

    As Klojum says, just follow the default settings, just make sure you select the correct source & target. This will make an exact clone of the source, it won't reduce the size.

    I do not know how to clone eMMC, but if you do, I'd be interested to know how.

    bubblegum57

    Klojum

    1. So what I understand is that the Clonezilla backup process above doesn't solve my real issue: backing up *only* the used portions of the original SD card with the LE distro+ add-ons+ settings?

    Otherwise Win32DiskImager is far easier to use.

    With the LE backup tool I need only one USB stick; with Clonezilla 3- bootable USB + source + target. And effort.

    2. Another way: Will the usual LE backup also include any custom splash images from /flash?

    Will LE backup contain all custom items? That is, whatever customization I do they will be LE backed up and simply be restorable on top of the respective original LE .img build that is burned via, say, Win32DiskImager, on the SD card?

    What I used to do, was create a clone of my usb stick, which I ran my Libreelec installation from. That way, when I messed up my libreelec usb, I just popped in my cloned usb, & I was back up & running. Obviously, it was only as good as the last clone.

    you could create an image, rather than a clone, from clonezilla, & possibly with some advanced options, or googling, create a compressed image.

    • Official Post
    Quote from shippy

    1. So what I understand is that the Clonezilla backup process above doesn't solve my real issue: backing up *only* the used portions of the original SD card with the LE distro+ add-ons+ settings?

    CloneZilla does not do incremental backups as far as I know. Also an incremental backup image covering one or more partitions I something I've never seen.

    Quote from shippy

    2. Another way: Will the usual LE backup also include any custom splash images from /flash?

    No. The LE Backup/Restore is nothing more but a tar command, archiving a couple of folders in the /storage partition.