NOTE: THIS IS NOT A RECOVERY PROCEDURE!
It is a backup/restore procedure only.
This works on my PC-T1, and I think it would also work on the PC-Z1.
Also, I believe with some modification, it would work on any linux system on any computer.
This procedure is a variation of a procedure I came across on the Ubuntu Forum [
Here], thanks to Heliode who came up with the idea, and to all the other users who tested and contributed.
Basically, this creates a tar archive that you can restore at a later time, such as if you have to do a recovery, and you want to get back all your customized settings, or if you messed up a configuration and can't figure out how to get it straightened out.
You have to be able to boot up to a working file system in order to use this procedure.
I have an 8GB MicroSD card that I keep my backups on.
The backup and restore scripts are also stored and run from there.
You could also use a USB stick if you wanted.
Whatever location you run backup.sh from is where the backup will be created.
The file size of my archive is about 755MB.
The archive manager will (slowly) open it later if you want to check it out.
First, create a backup script called backup.sh (or whatever you want) and copy this code into it:
#!/bin/bash
# back up the complete system
tar cvpzf backup.tgz --one-file-system --exclude=/proc/* --exclude=/lost+found/* --exclude=/mnt/* --exclude=/tmp/* --exclude=/sys/* /
Next, create a restore script called restore.sh (or whatever you want) and copy this code into it:
#!/bin/bash
# restore the complete system
tar xvpfz backup.tgz -C /
When you want to run one of these scripts, make sure you mount the MicroSD card first.
You need to be root to run these scripts, so open a terminal and enter:
sudo nautilus
This will open the file manager as root.
Navigate to the MicroSD card and double-click on backup.sh and run it.
This will create the backup.tgz in the directory you run it from.
Restore is the same procedure except you run restore.sh.
The archive preserves all the file permissions and symlinks so you don't have to worry about that.
I have done the complete procedure (backup and restore) and (recovery and restore) a couple times each just to test, and it worked perfectly each time.
It takes about 45 minutes to do the backup with no extra programs installed.
And remember, I won't be responsible if your NetWalker has a meltdown