40 - REDO, a Bare Metal Backup and Recovery solution

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Redo is a linux Ubuntu-based OS which makes taking a hard disk image of your system and then later restoring it very easy.

It includes network/WiFi/netbook support and the Chrome browser and can use a persistent filesystem to remember your settings and updates.

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The grub4dos menu below can be used to boot the ISO of either version from a USB drive including 1.0.3 redobackup-livecd-1.0.3.iso (which does not require the manual steps of typing exit and does not need the floppy.allowed_drive_mask=0 parameter either).

menu.lst file contents:

title Start Redo Backup redobackup-livecd-1.0.3.iso\nType exit and press ENTER and repeat again if it does not boot

find --set-root --ignore-floppies /redobackup-livecd-1.0.3.iso

map --heads=0 --sectors-per-track=0 /redobackup-livecd-1.0.3.iso (0xff) || map --mem --heads=0 --sectors-per-track=0 /redobackup-livecd-1.0.3.iso (0xff)

map --hook

root (0xff)

kernel /casper/vmlinuz file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper vga=791 iso-scan/filename=/redobackup-livecd-1.0.3.iso splash --

initrd /casper/initrd.gz

title Redo Backup 1.0.3 Standard VGA\nType exit and press ENTER and repeat again if it does not boot

find --set-root --ignore-floppies /redobackup-livecd-1.0.3.iso

map --heads=0 --sectors-per-track=0 /redobackup-livecd-1.0.3.iso (0xff) || map --mem --heads=0 --sectors-per-track=0 /redobackup-livecd-1.0.3.iso (0xff)

map --hook

root (0xff)

kernel /casper/vmlinuz file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper vga=788 iso-scan/filename=/redobackup-livecd-1.0.3.iso splash --

initrd /casper/initrd.gz

title Redo Backup 1.0.3 Memory Test

find --set-root --ignore-floppies /redobackup-livecd-1.0.3.iso

map --heads=0 --sectors-per-track=0 /redobackup-livecd-1.0.3.iso (0xff) || map --mem --heads=0 --sectors-per-track=0 /redobackup-livecd-1.0.3.iso (0xff)

map --hook

root (0xff)

kernel /install/memtest

# optional

title Redo Backup 0.9.7

find --set-root --ignore-floppies /redobackup097.iso

uuid ()

map --heads=0 --sectors-per-track=0 /redobackup097.iso (0xff) || map --mem --heads=0 --sectors-per-track=0 /redobackup097.iso (0xff)

map --hook

chainloader (0xff)

IMPORTANT: version 0.9.x - If you get an (initramfs) error, type exit and press [Enter] and then type exit again and press [Enter] again. The boot process should then continue! This appears to be a bug in the compiled version of Ubuntu that has been used (poss. lupin support?).

If you need detailed instructions of how to make a bootable USB drive:

To make a USB boot pen or HDD

    1. Copy the iso files (0.9.7 and redobackup-livecd-1.0.3.iso) to a new folder on your hard disk (e.g. C:\Redo) and rename them to redobackup097.iso and redobackup-livecd-1.0.3.iso

    2. Make a menu.lst file in the same folder using Notepad, contents are as shown at the top of this page.

    3. Format your USB drive using RMPrepUSB (v2.1.605 or later) - FAT32 + HDD, set the '5 - Copy Files' source to the C:\Redo folder of your hard disk - click 6 Prepare Drive and wait for it to finish. The ISO files must be in the root of the USB drive - if you use a subfolder then you must change the paths in the menu to match.

    4. Run Install grub4dos and install a grub4dos MBR (answer='Yes') and allow it to copy the grldr file over by pressing [Enter] when prompted.

Your usb drive should contain these 4 files:

redobackup-livecd-1.0.3.iso

redobackup097.iso (optional)

grld

menu.lst

That's it - go try it (or press F11 in RMPrepUSB to run an emulator)!

IMPORTANT: Version 0.9.x - If you get an (initramfs) error, type exit and press [Enter] and then type exit and press [Enter] again. The boot process should then continue!

If you want a persistent filesystem, then use RMPrepUSB to create an ext2 file on the USB drive called casper-rw (of about 1GB or more) and then add the keyword persistent to the kernel parameters in the menu - e.g.

kernel /casper/vmlinuz file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper vga=788 persistent iso-scan/filename=/redobackup-livecd-1.0.3.iso splash --