Hello Friends
In Debian Forums I found this interesting post
Where is mentioned this interesting tool:
Some thoughts?
Best to all
At first reading I thought this was a joke or a catch…..
Ok read the forum and still not sure why I would need it over just downloading a iso direct from the supplier and putting it on a usb.
Or am I missing something ?
Just looked it up and yes it looks very interesting. I never knew how to create an ISO of the current running system on my PC. I might try it as a way to backup my root partition.
I would like to perform a backup without using a standalone program. With an ISO, you could easily restore your system.
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So that is the difference with an factory version of say mint obtained direct. So if you install chrome that would be included in the egg version where the normal from the mint site does not include it ?
Thanks for the posting @Manuel_Jordan. My first impression is very good of the program.
I am not finished testing it yet, but I loaded the program and made my first ISO and installed it to a USB. My next step is to restore the ISO to see if it is a carbon copy of my system.
Yes @callpaul.eu, from the documentation and executing the program it appears to backup everything on your root partition. I saw the program picking up 19 uids and 29 gids which look to part of my system.
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Hold on. Some distros (eg MX) already have an app to make an iso of the running system.
If you have a builtin app , use it. I would trust that more than an imported app.
Yes, some people use that as a snapshot type of backup, instead of timeshift or systemback.
It is not difficult to make an iso file by hand at the CLI. You can use
- mkisofs
- genisoimage
- xorriso
Regardless of which program you use, there are parameters to be set if you want the resultant iso file to be bootable when written to a usb drive.
You can make an iso of a specified directory and it can be / ( ie the whole current system) , but you need somewhere to write the iso file that is not in the directory being iso’d.
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I use Timeshift for back outs of changes and Clonezilla for standalone backups. What caught my eye was the possibility of make a system restore-able backup without booting the system twice.
I did not know about the CLI commands nor systemback.
But yes, if I can create a standalone backup with commands already available, I would rather use that. It would be better then adding additional software to my system.
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@easyt50
Penguin-eggs may be a good program. We need to test it.
but
There are alternatives.
The catchy name tends to make you think it is the only kid on the block.
I checked… neither Mint nor LMDE have an iso-making tool built in
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Yes, the initial look at it sounds like it was very easy to use. I have run 2 tests on it and each time the USB boots to grub. Not what I wanted.
Systemback did not work after the install. systemback: command not found and not found in the menu. It had 4 errors during the install. I just notice it. dependency problems
Update Not compatible with Linux Mint
I don’t mind using CLI, but I usually need step by step instructions.
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Howard
Just looked it up and yes it looks very interesting. I never knew how to create an ISO of the current running system on my PC. I might try it as a way to backup my root partition.
I would like to perform a backup without using a standalone program. With an ISO, you could easily restore your system.
Agree for backups, it is the same as copy/paste a .vdi file from one host to other
Thanks for the posting @Manuel_Jordan
You’re welcome
My goal was share a tool to all … I think is good have a set of tools to accomplish the same goal, the primary and secondary.
Neville
instead of timeshift or systemback.
Both programs are GUI (if the links are correct) and it is ok
But if a backup is need it for a server environment? Full command
It is not difficult to make an iso file by hand at the CLI. You can use
- mkisofs
- genisoimage
- xorriso
Thanks for the mention of them too
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I might test it out when my new (2nd hand) Dell Optiplex arrives - I’ll probably install Trixie with a Desktop (probably Gnome 4x, but maybe MATE) and test out Penguin Eggs… I’ll post back here again my progress…
It’ll mostly be running headless as a JellyFin media streamer - I’ll probably disable the DM (login Display Manager) and only run MATE manually if / when I want it - i.e. login to TTY console and run “startx”…
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So penguin-eggs puts grub on the iso?
There has to be a bootloader… so it can boot from usb. Some of them use isolinux.
I think what you were thinking was something that would recover the filesystem from the .iso file… whether it was on usb or on disk.
I know how to do that. You use a loop mount. That lets you see the filesystem that is on the iso. You can then use rsync to copy the filesystem back to the root partition. Give me a couple of days and I will test it and write it out for you.
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The right link for systemback… the one @kovacslt uses … is
beware, there are other versions on Github… they are different
I dont think it is GUI?
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Hi Neville,
The folders that show on the USB are Boot, EFI, isolinux, live and a text file called “egg-of_linuxmint-zara …” which I am sure has nothing to do with the boot failure.
I feel like I have “eggs” on my face. Please don’t spend too much time on this. I use Clonezilla and I am happy how it performs.
Have a good day.
Howard
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I bet grub will be in the EFI folder
Na, dont feel like that.
I want to look at penguins-eggs
My gut feeling is why go to all the trouble of making an iso file. … if you want a backup copy of your running linux, use rsync to copy the root filesystem to another disk… eg a usb drive formatted to ext4. Nothing will be faster than rsync, because it does not compress. To do a recover, rsync the filesystem from the usb disk to the root filesystem. … I have done that many times, it is easy and fast.
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Great! I haven’t tried loop mount as backup so really interesting! If you could also add “how to rsync the root to USB and then recover the root from USB” so we would have both options in one tutorial.
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I forgot the filesystem inside the iso will be compressed… probably a squashfs. That is OK we can handle it… just another step.
I cant do this without testing… so give me a few days.
I have another antiX topic to finish first.
Edit.
I have been thinking… it may be simpler to boot the iso file from a usb drive as a live system, then simply copy its live filesystem to the damaged root filesystem. One may have to fiddle /etc/fstab and mzybe grub.cfg.
but
an even better solution is dont make an iso file in the first place … just copy the filesystem.
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No hurry! Next year is fine 
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Hello Neville
The right link for systemback
Thanks for the confirmation and thanks for the “Krisztián Kende / Systemback · GitLab” link
beware, there are other versions on Github… they are different
Understood
I dont think it is GUI?
About the “Krisztián Kende / Systemback · GitLab” link, yes it is CLI at first glance, there are no GUI figures
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Thanks for your input. I am going to give that method a try. I going to give up Penguins-Eggs and perform a back out of the software with TimeShift or just do a restore of the system. I have Clonezilla backup from the 17th.
I believe TimeShift uses rsync, but I don’t believe TimeShift could perform a full restore of the OS.
Update: Rsync would be fine if you could boot the OS, I was looking at the Egg since it was an ISO, it could restore a non-working OS.
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