Backup for OS OVM6

Quote from NsinghP

Last couple of times that I have run either the "dd" or "dd full disk" command on my server it has proceded to backup the entire capacity of my System Disk. (I'm not sure, but it may have something to do with how the disk is partitioned. If the entire disk is one partition then it makes sense to me that both "dd" and "dd full disk" will backup the entire capacity of the disk. OMV Gurus here will know more on this.) Here are the screenshots from my use of "dd" command just now: (It took my system 9 Minutes to backup 32Gb boot Pen drive)

And here is the screen shot of "dd full disk" method: ( It took my system 10 Minutes, and this time it wrote 31Gb as opposed to 29Gb of "dd' Method)

Thanks. If I understand you correct "DD" or "DD full disk" does the same,... so now I wonder why the options (DD and DD full disk).
Some maths:
if 30gb takes 9 mins. then 90gb will take 27 mins. then in my case of a 500gb disk capacity it will take about 5.5 times 27 mins = 148.5 mins = 2 hrs 25.5 min. in theory.
My conclusion will then be... better off getting a smaller OMV OS boot disk capacity

Quote from Netfreak

f I understand you correct "DD" or "DD full disk" does the same,... so now I wonder why the options (DD and DD full disk).

I am not sure if both the methods do the same, but to me it looks like there isn't much difference. However, clearly there is some difference as each one is writing different amount of data and "dd full disk" taking slightly longer than the other to write that increased amount of data. And yes smaller boot drive is the way to go. I stopped using 128gb m.2 drive to boot on my system and instead now I am using 32gb pen drive as it is easier for me to clone the pen drive on my windows system using BalenaEtcher and it will be faster to deploy the clone in case of boot drive failure.

Quote from NsinghP

I am not sure if both the methods do the same, but to me it looks like there isn't much difference. However, clearly there is some difference as each one is writing different amount of data and "dd full disk" taking slightly longer than the other to write that increased amount of data. And yes smaller boot drive is the way to go. I stopped using 128gb m.2 drive to boot on my system and instead now I am using 32gb pen drive as it is easier for me to clone the pen drive on my windows system using BalenaEtcher and it will be faster to deploy the clone in case of boot drive failure.

Understandable... I plan to do the same also but I needed to do the following test:
I did a reinstall test on a different HDD-cage (set of HDDs) and used a 250gb laptop hdd after setting it up and installing all of the plugins i need to work with I did a backup and with DD option it took 1 hr 40 mins. to complete

Quote from ryecoaaron

And no output again. I'm not psychic and need output to help.

sudo fdisk -l
shows me all of my attached disks and scrolls down very fast...

Quote from ryecoaaron

You don't have putty and can login via ssh to cut & paste?

No I don't and don't know anything about it either... will have to learn that too in time... Sorry I can't be of any further help and I fully understand u can't either without what you are asking for.
Thanks

Quote from ryecoaaron

You have to try. It is easy.

Download putty - https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/

run putty

enter root@YOUR_OMV_HOSTNAME

type root password that you setup when you installed.

Now, it is just like you are sitting at a keyboard and monitor plugged into the host.

Display More

Thanks - I will definitely give that a shot... opening up my horizon - learning slowly but surely

Quote from Netfreak

Thanks - I will definitely give that a shot... opening up my horizon - learning slowly but surely

Quote from Netfreak

Thanks - I will definitely give that a shot... opening up my horizon - learning slowly but surely

You may also, want to try the "WeTTY" plugin on OMV, it will allow you to SSH through your browser.

Quote from ryecoaaron

With putty and wetty, you can cut & paste the output instead of screen shots.

From your screenshots, it sure seems like /dev/sda is your boot drive and /dev/sda1 is 232 GB. Where are you getting 8GB from?

OMV documentation - OS boot SYS disk requirement capacity.
"Minimum Hardware requirements

Openmediavault/Debian will run on I386, AMD64, and select ARM platforms with 1GB of ram or less, but performance expectations should be adjusted accordingly. The system boot drive should have a minimum of 8GB capacity."

I take for granted that that can go as high as 8GB. And that's the ONLY part I want to backup

Quote from NsinghP

You may also, want to try the "WeTTY" plugin on OMV, it will allow you to SSH through your browser.

Wetty is my first plugin installed and enables.
Thanks

Quote from Netfreak

I take for granted that that can go as high as 8GB. And that's the ONLY part I want to backup

Your root partition is NOT 8Gb.

According to what you posted above:

It's 231.9G. Every DD that you do, will be always that size.

Quote from Soma

Your root partition is NOT 8Gb.

According to what you posted above:

It's 231.9G. Every DD that you do, will be always that size.

My boot disk used is a 500gb laptop HDD and I want to backup ONLY the OMV OS config section of that boot disk and not the entire 500gb boot disk.
I take for granted that OS can get to be as high as 8gb even if it goes up to 16 gb then that's the ONLY part of the boot disk I want to backup...
DD option is not doing that and have no clue why not

Quote from Netfreak

My boot disk used is a 500gb laptop HDD and I want to backup ONLY the OMV OS config section of that boot disk and not the entire 500gb boot disk.
I take for granted that OS can get to be as high as 8gb even if it goes up to 16 gb then that's the ONLY part of the boot disk I want to backup...
DD option is not doing that and have no clue why not

I think what Soma is trying to tell you is that since your boot partition size is 231.9GB you will always get a backup of that size with 'dd" method. And I assume with "dd full disk" your backup will be 500gb.

Quote from NsinghP

I think what Soma is trying to tell you is that since your boot partition size is 231.9GB you will always get a backup of that size with 'dd" method. And I assume with "dd full disk" your backup will be 500gb.

We have gone thru that already earlier on in this thread... We are trying to figure out why the DD option is not doing what it is meant to do, as I understand, to back up ONLY the OS sys and not the entire boot disk (as I understand). BUT I will to settle to my conclusion to get a smaller size boot disk which will make backup time relatively shorter. Thanks