How to restore with rsync ?

[Cristishor201]

is a comand that I should use, or is within the installer ?

[framps]

Not sure I get your question. Just install and configure raspiBackup to use rsync. Then start raspiBackup and a backup will be created.

[Cristishor201]

I am not sure either how the process of restore a backup actually works. In other words I want to test and load my backup I just made.

[framps]

The process is described here.

[Cristishor201]

it's kinda confusing.. no examples, no default process. a bunch of options, which I don't know which to use. what do I do if I don't know if I want to use the -T option ?
the scenarios are even more confuseing. from where I should run the raspiBackup.sh ?
how does it looks backupdirectory ?

for you it's pretty simple how to do it, but for a newcomer it is not.

[Cristishor201]

sudo raspiBackup.sh -d /dev/sdf /remote/raspifix/disks/backup/rsync/raspberrypi/raspberrypi-rsync-backup-20141230-213032/ customised for my example get this error

--- RBK0009I: raspberrypi: raspiBackup.sh V0.6.9.1 - 2024-09-28 (be4ba6d) started at Fri 27 Dec 21:13:16 EET 2024. --- RBK0116I: Using config file /usr/local/etc/raspiBackup.conf. /dev/sda1 on /mnt/usbdrv type ext4 (rw,relatime) ??? RBK0274E: Restore device /dev/sda has mounted partitions. Note: Restore to the active system is not possible. --- RBK0033I: Please wait until cleanup has finished. ??? RBK0077E: Restore failed. Check previous error messages. --- RBK0010I: raspberrypi: raspiBackup.sh V0.6.9.1 - 2024-09-28 (be4ba6d) stopped at Fri 27 Dec 21:13:17 EET 2024 with rc 137. --- RBK0026I: Debug logfile saved in /home/pi/raspiBackup.logr.

wait a second. I can't restore active system, right ? I need to run raspiBackup.sh from another device, or install the raspberry on a usb drive, and run it from there...

[framps]

If you want to restore a backup you have to restore to a different device than the bootdevice. Anything else will create garbage and destroy your current running system. That's why raspiBackup writes RBK0274E to protect your running system.

If you want to use raspiBackup you have to have a basic understanding of Linux. Please check FAQ38.

There are a bunch of YT videos about raspiBackup available in English. There are also a couple of detailed HOWTOs available which describe step by step how to use raspiBackup. But they are written in German, French and Italian. Nobody wrote a HOWTO in English until now as far as I know. (For example this HOWTO in German).

[Cristishor201]

I managed to install another copy of raspberry os, on a second usb stick, and then change the boot order, and restoring the backup from there. :)
This way I tested also the recover process.
A giveaway for others, it's that with rsync backup the expected files are much smaller than they consume. Despite the fact that I use 64 GB size of primary of Raspberry OS, the backup was just 6 GB in size, mostly with what I may have in Downloads.
the dd backup strategy I didn't tried as it may not work on ext4 filetype storage.

[framps]

Great you managed to test the restore 👍

A dd backup will work on an ext4 filesystem also. BUT ... your backup will require 64GB instead of 6GB with rsync 😉