Backing up your computer is an essential task that all of us should be performing on a regular basis. It doesn’t matter if you are running Windows, Linux or macOS, you can still have hardware or software failures that can cause data loss. Of course, you can do things like regular file backups but if your operating system has an issue or something gets corrupted, you will only be left with a backup of your files and not your programs, OS and its settings. This is where a system image backup can really help you out.
System image backups will make a point in time backup of your computer including the operating system, programs and personal files. One thing to keep in mind is that these types of backups are not the same as cloning a hard drive. If you are a Windows user, there are many backup programs you can use to accomplish this but if you happen to run Linux on your PC, you do not have as many options. In this article, we will be showing you how to create & restore Linux OS system image backups for free with the RedoRescuse software.
Creating a Linux OS System Image Backup
Our backup computer has a 60GB OS drive and a 100GB backup drive as seen in the image below. We will be creating our backup images on the 100GB drive and the drive will need to be partitioned and formatted before doing so.
You will first need to create a bootable flash drive or CDROM with the RedoRescue software ISO file that can be downloaded here.
Then you will need to boot your computer to the RedoRescue media and then press Enter to choose Redo Rescue.
Now you should be able to use your mouse and can click on the Backup button to begin the OS system image backup process.
You will then need to choose a source drive which is the drive that contains the Linux operating system. So, we will select the 60GB drive and click the Next button.
We will then be shown the partitions on the OS system drive, and they should all be selected by default. Then we will click the Next button again.
Next, we will choose our 100GB drive for the destination location. You can click on the Select button to choose a backup folder and even create a new one if necessary.
We will then name our backup image OS Backup. You can also add a note\description if desired.
Once you click the Next button, the backup process will begin and you will be able to see the status as it is happening.
Once the backup is complete, you will see a message telling you so along with the amount of time it took to complete the backup.
Restoring a Linux OS System Image Backup
If you encounter a situation where you need to restore your system image backup, the process is very similar to the one used to create the backup image.
The image below shows the backup image files on our backup drive. As you can see, there are several files with the name of the backup job at the beginning.
Once again, you will need to boot to the RedoResuce media but this time you will click on the Restore button rather than the Backup button. This time, we will select the 100GB drive that contains our backup image.
Then we will browse to the folder that contains the backup image.
Next, we will choose the target drive to restore the image to. This will be the hard drive that currently has the operating system installed on it.
Next, RedoRescue should select all the partitions to be restored by default.
Once you click the Next button, you will be warned that all the data on the OS drive will be overwritten by the backup. One thing that is critical to realize is that your computer will be restored to the date and time that the backup was made. So, anything that has been changed, added or installed since that backup was made will be overwritten. If you agree with this, you can then click the Yes, I’m sure button.
You will then be able to watch the restore process as it goes along.
Once the restore is complete, we will click the OK button to go back to the main screen.
We will then click on the Exit button and then restart the computer to load up the operating system that has now been restored.
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