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INDI Library v2.0.6 is Released (02 Feb 2024)

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How to properly backup PI4?

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Replied by nou on topic How to properly backup PI4?

Small mistake gzip accept only -1 as fastest compression not -0
3 years 3 weeks ago #67910

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So, I got two USB sticks, booted from one, inserted the second one.
Launched SD Card Copier.
Now I have two drives in the list but they have exactly the same names!
Duh...
How do I tell which one is which?

Thanks!
-- Max S
ZWO AM5. RST-135. AZ-GTI. HEQ5. iOptron SkyTracker.
TPO RC6. FRA400. Rokinon 135 and other lenses.
ZWO ASI2600MC. D5500 modified with UVIR clip-in filter.
ZWO ASI120MM Mini x 2. ZWO 30F4 guider. Orion 50mm guider.
ZWO EAF x 2.
3 years 3 weeks ago #68040

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You should not use two identical drives.....they need to be different....and why two USB drives..?? Why not back up from the SD card...?
3 years 3 weeks ago #68056

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Replied by hades on topic How to properly backup PI4?

I am also using two USB sticks, first contains stable version, the second contains recent version. Sometimes it happens that the recent version is unstable, so I can switch to the proven stable one. Both USB sticks are the same 32GB, so every backup takes 32 GB on my hard drives. And this is too much. I will need to try solution from "nou". Thank you
3 years 2 weeks ago #68567

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Update.
I found that Acronis True Image (which I use to backup my things on Windows computers) is able to backup/restore RPI cards/drives properly.
So, if you have a mostly empty 256Gb drive, it will create a much smaller backup (12Gb in my case).
Annoying things:
-- I hate the interface and behavior (backup naming, etc.)
-- Upon a restore it insists on rebooting your computer. Otherwise the restore is broken.

In the times of Ubuntu Mate, a free version of Paragon Backup worked great but with Buster it doesn't work for some reason (doesn't backup the boot partition).
-- Max S
ZWO AM5. RST-135. AZ-GTI. HEQ5. iOptron SkyTracker.
TPO RC6. FRA400. Rokinon 135 and other lenses.
ZWO ASI2600MC. D5500 modified with UVIR clip-in filter.
ZWO ASI120MM Mini x 2. ZWO 30F4 guider. Orion 50mm guider.
ZWO EAF x 2.
Last edit: 2 years 9 months ago by maxthebuilder.
2 years 9 months ago #72605

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@Max
why go to all that trouble, when there is a built in SD card copy function built into Buster, in the menu, just put a second SD card or a USB drive into the PI and copy….you get an identical copy as a back up…..simples…. :)
2 years 9 months ago #72608

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Yes, I know... And I know it works.
It's just something I am not used to.
Different paradigm.
I agree - it's easier.
Will try to switch : )
-- Max S
ZWO AM5. RST-135. AZ-GTI. HEQ5. iOptron SkyTracker.
TPO RC6. FRA400. Rokinon 135 and other lenses.
ZWO ASI2600MC. D5500 modified with UVIR clip-in filter.
ZWO ASI120MM Mini x 2. ZWO 30F4 guider. Orion 50mm guider.
ZWO EAF x 2.
2 years 9 months ago #72620

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If use the SD Card Copier to alternate between two drives I need to be sure the "New Partition UUIDs" option is selected, right?
-- Max S
ZWO AM5. RST-135. AZ-GTI. HEQ5. iOptron SkyTracker.
TPO RC6. FRA400. Rokinon 135 and other lenses.
ZWO ASI2600MC. D5500 modified with UVIR clip-in filter.
ZWO ASI120MM Mini x 2. ZWO 30F4 guider. Orion 50mm guider.
ZWO EAF x 2.
2 years 9 months ago #72670

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Sorry, me again.
Something strange happened.

Yesterday I received a new M.2 NVMe 120Gb card.
Burned a good SM backup on it (under Windows).
Put it into RPI.
Booted. It booted fine.

Used CD Card Copier to copy 120gb m.2 to 64gb USB3 stick.
It worked and I could boot from 64gb stick as well.
So that was my backup of 120gb.

Put 120gb back into RPI. Did beta system updates.
It went well and I decided to copy the updated drive to 64gb backup drive.

It didn't work and still doesn't work. Formatted/reformatted. Changed UUID (at least tried to).
SD Card Copier just doesn't go past the "copying partition 1 of 2" step.

Any ideas?
-- Max S
ZWO AM5. RST-135. AZ-GTI. HEQ5. iOptron SkyTracker.
TPO RC6. FRA400. Rokinon 135 and other lenses.
ZWO ASI2600MC. D5500 modified with UVIR clip-in filter.
ZWO ASI120MM Mini x 2. ZWO 30F4 guider. Orion 50mm guider.
ZWO EAF x 2.
2 years 9 months ago #72671

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Continuing talking to myself..
I just don't understand.
I can SD Card Copy to any other media I tried but not to this particular 64gb USB stick.
I could but only once.
It's really weird since if I restore a backup to this stick (in Windows environment) it boots/works just fine on RPI.
So the stick is fine but for some reason Raspbian can't handle it properly when it comes to SD Card Copy.
Confused.
-- Max S
ZWO AM5. RST-135. AZ-GTI. HEQ5. iOptron SkyTracker.
TPO RC6. FRA400. Rokinon 135 and other lenses.
ZWO ASI2600MC. D5500 modified with UVIR clip-in filter.
ZWO ASI120MM Mini x 2. ZWO 30F4 guider. Orion 50mm guider.
ZWO EAF x 2.
2 years 9 months ago #72680

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It all boiled down to UUID's.
No matter if "New Partition UUIDs" option is selected or not, the cloned drive has the same UUID as the source drive.
Or I am doing something really stupid...

-- source drive is attached. boot.
-- insert a _fresh_ USB drive (never was connected before) to RPI
-- run SD Card Copy with New Partition UUIDs selected
-- resulting copy has same UUID's as the source

: (
-- Max S
ZWO AM5. RST-135. AZ-GTI. HEQ5. iOptron SkyTracker.
TPO RC6. FRA400. Rokinon 135 and other lenses.
ZWO ASI2600MC. D5500 modified with UVIR clip-in filter.
ZWO ASI120MM Mini x 2. ZWO 30F4 guider. Orion 50mm guider.
ZWO EAF x 2.
2 years 9 months ago #72710

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After talking to myself a lot, I am giving up on fast/large drives and sticking to SD's for now.
Maybe I am an idiot but SD Card Copy doesn't work for me.
I can back up fine but only once to a fresh USB device.
Second time it doesn't work because of the UUID conflict.

SD's are slow but fast enough to run the system and easy to backup with win32diskimager.
-- Max S
ZWO AM5. RST-135. AZ-GTI. HEQ5. iOptron SkyTracker.
TPO RC6. FRA400. Rokinon 135 and other lenses.
ZWO ASI2600MC. D5500 modified with UVIR clip-in filter.
ZWO ASI120MM Mini x 2. ZWO 30F4 guider. Orion 50mm guider.
ZWO EAF x 2.
Last edit: 2 years 9 months ago by maxthebuilder.
2 years 9 months ago #72711

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