0

How can I restore my Debian system with a tar-backup of the whole "/"-folder (all files und folders)?

Must I create an ISO or what?

7
  • Why so many dislikes? Are beginners here not welcome?
    – fkin
    May 20, 2015 at 18:55
  • You need to add more details, and do a little more research first, such as what specific problem you need to address restoring the backup, etc. If you're simply looking for instructions on how to restore a backup, this is likely the wrong place to do it.
    – IceMage
    May 20, 2015 at 18:55
  • That's why I ask here. I haven't find something useful by searching on Google.
    – fkin
    May 20, 2015 at 18:58
  • 4
    Server Fault is for questions about managing information technology systems in a business environment. So no, beginners that simply ask others how to do things without trying them are not welcome here.
    – user143703
    May 20, 2015 at 18:59
  • 1
    Restore it under what conditions? A total drive failure, the loss of some files? The corruption of something? Details matter!
    – Zoredache
    May 20, 2015 at 19:03

3 Answers 3

2

If someone gave me a tar archive of a completely failed system and asked me to restore it I would probably do things about like this.

  • Get working hardware
  • Boot working hardware off SystemRescueCd
  • Extract the /etc/fstab from the tar to get an idea of the correct filesystem setup
  • Partition, format, etc the drives and mount them somewhere, maybe /target
  • Extract the tar archive to my mountpoint (ie /target)
  • Re-setup whatever bootloader was being previously used. Details would depend on bootloader being used (eg grub, grub2, lilo, ...).
  • Possibly correct the /etc/fstab, and other related files that may be referencing filesystems by UUID. It all depends on if LVM, RAID, FDE, or something else was in use.

This is far from the only way though. I could probably come up with a dozen different ways that may be better or worse depending on the specific circumstances.

1

Sounds like you need to boot into a recovery disk, or Debian live CD (https://www.debian.org/CD/http-ftp/#stable), etc. and then restore, but are you certain something less drastic cant be done?

Not sure what you are fixing.

0

It depends.

If you are already booted into the system and need to untar the root filesystem. First create a directory that isn't included in the original filesystem. Move the tarball to that directory and just extract it.

If your filesystem is toast, then you'll need to boot into a live CD, mount the hard drive (/dev/sdb or whatever it might be), and then extract the tarball to that mounted location.

If any of the system changed, like grub or drivers, then things get a little bit more complicated. Additional information will help us tremendously in helping you out.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .