Disk imaging program?

[NoOp]

On 06/24/2014 04:13 PM, John Hupp wrote:
> On 6/24/2014 3:58 PM, compdoc wrote:
>>> Clonezilla doesn't know how to span to DVD's.
>> I use clonezilla with linux and windows, but I save to a network share or
>> local drive. If I had to backup to DVDs, I'd kill myself.
>>
> 
> I wouldn't backup to DVD's on a regular basis myself, but for a one-off 
> emergency rescue/factory restore sort of purpose, it still seems to me 
> like the cheapest media to give away with a newly set up computer.
> 

Mondo Rescue?
<https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BackupYourSystem>
<http://www.cyberciti.biz/open-source/linux-based-disk-cloning-imaging-software/>
<http://www.mondorescue.org/>

(Note: I've not used it)

BTW: you can also use gparted to 'copy' a disk or partition & it
effectively does the same as dd.

<http://gparted.org/display-doc.php?name=help-manual>
I've used this on multiple occasions (albeit not to dvd) & it has always
worked well for me.

Keep in mind that if you are attempting to make it 'easy' for the user
to do a complete restore of an Ubuntu system from DVD's, you're likely
to piss off the user in the end. First off, a user is likely to have at
least a 100GiB or larger system. Calculate the number of DVD's and time
required to 100% restore even that amount to a drive and I think you'll
find that "giving" the user a 500GiB or larger USB hard drive (not
stick) will be cheaper in the long run. You can get a toshiba 500GiB
drive for about $50. Compare the cost of storing that much data on DVD's...

Try this first:

o Backup *your* entire system to DVD's (use Mondo Rescue etc) and then
restore it from those DVD's. See how many DVD's and how much time it
takes to do this. Be sure to also note the amount of time spent backing
up to the DVD's. Now, make a change to the system, rinse, repeat.

o Then do the same with an equivalent USB hard drive (they are much
cheaper than DVD's these days), and see how long that takes you. Make a
change to the system and use grsync or similar to back up the changes to
the USB hard drive. Compare.

Note: It doesn't even have to be a USB hard drive - I use a set of old
120GiB IDE hard drives connected via a USB converter to my laptop -
works just fine, for me.

When doing the above, don't forget to calculate the cost for your, and
your user's time in both the backup and restore process...

I'd advise rethinking your strategy & determine if backing up to DVD's
is really what you want to do.