Getting Started
This quick start guide will show you how to run Relax-and-Recover from the git checkout and create a bootable USB backup.
Start by cloning the Relax-and-Recover sources from GitHub:
git clone https://github.com/rear/rear.git
Move into the rear/ directory:
cd rear/
Prepare your USB media. Change /dev/sdb to the correct device in your situation. Relax-and-Recover will ‘own’ the device in this example.
This will destroy all data on that device.
sudo usr/sbin/rear format /dev/sdb
Relax-and-recover asks you to confirm that you want to format the device:
Yes
The device has been labeled REAR-000 by the ‘format’ workflow.
Now edit the ‘etc/rear/local.conf’ configuration file:
cat > etc/rear/local.conf <<EOF
### write the rescue initramfs to USB and update the USB bootloader
OUTPUT=USB
### create a backup using the internal NETFS method, using 'tar'
BACKUP=NETFS
### write both rescue image and backup to the device labeled REAR-000
BACKUP_URL=usb:///dev/disk/by-label/REAR-000
EOF
Now you are ready to create a rescue image. We want verbose output.
sudo usr/sbin/rear -v mkrescue
The output I get is:
Relax-and-Recover 1.13.0 / $Date$
Using log file: /home/jeroen/tmp/quickstart/rear/var/log/rear/rear-fireflash.log
Creating disk layout
Creating root filesystem layout
WARNING: To login as root via ssh you need to setup an authorized_keys file in /root/.ssh
Copying files and directories
Copying binaries and libraries
Copying kernel modules
Creating initramfs
Writing MBR to /dev/sdb
Copying resulting files to usb location
You might want to check the log file for possible errors or see what Relax-and-Recover is doing.
Now reboot your system and try to boot from the USB device.
If that worked, you can dive into the advanced Relax-and-Recover options and start creating full backups. If your USB device has enough space, initiate a backup using:
sudo usr/sbin/rear -v mkbackup
That is it. Your hard disk can now safely fail.