File to file network backup (Not a tutorial yet)

[itsl3v1s]

Hello guys,

I was thinking about using FOG to backup user files. Let me try to explain: The computer comes to me, I do a backup of the files (oftenly removing the HD and doing it physically in my dock) and reinstall the system deploying an image with FOG. If I could use FOG to backup the files through network, it would be great. But I guess the best way to do it would be booting to a Live Linux with a startup script or something… what do you guys think? Could I do it over IPXE (TFTP?)?

[george1421]

Software like FOG and Clonezilla do backups based on the block level. They image the entire drive, block by block. For what you want to back up, you really need a file level backup so that you can restore the files post imaging instead of the entire disk (as you would with FOG).

Now you could pxe boot a live image of linux (i.e. puppy linux) and copy off the user files to a nfs share, then image the system, then pxe boot again using a live linux and copy them back.

I can tell you that when we migrate users at our office, we use USMT to copy their profile and files to a network share. Clone the system and then at the end use USMT to copy the files back to the new system. This is then all done in the windows realm.

[Wayne Workman]

@itsl3v1s FOG now has what’s called postinitscripts which run before the imaging process. You can script mounting the local drives one at a time and looking for /mnt/users and copy that off to somewhere.

This of course wouldn’t work for encrypted files or bitlocker’d systems, but neither would any other method either.

[itsl3v1s]

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I’ll be looking into both and the one which comes to be more viable, I’ll be testing and if succeed, posting here.

[Junkhacker]

it’s worth mentioning that when moving files between linux and windows systems, file permissions are NOT preserved. just something to keep in mind

[Wayne Workman]

@Junkhacker I did not know this…