Ubuntu
coreutils package

bootable cd of operating system

Asked by David Jones

how can I make a bootable cd of my system as it is? I have the programs I want installed and all other software i wish to have and should anything ever happen to my system i wish to simply insert a cd and reinstall it as it is now.

  David
  in TN

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Ubuntu coreutils Edit question
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actionparsnip
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mycae (mycae) said : 		#1

You can get partway there using the terminal commands with:

dpkg --get-selections

and

dpkg --set-selections

as discussed here:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=169062

but this won't store anything other than software in the repositories.

Also terminal based:
If you need to create a direct image of your hard drive, you can use the "dd" command. If you have a separate home partition, you can even just to this to your root partition to get an exact clone.
http://elevenislouder.blogspot.com/2010/10/manual-backups-in-linux-dd.html

Perhaps others have better suggestions.

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Best actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#2

You can use partimage and make an image of the partition or drive, you can then easily restore the image if necessary. You will need to make on another drive or network storagein a live cd desktop so that the partition wil be unmounted.

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Ralph Corderoy (ralph-inputplus) said : 		#3

Sounds like you're after a backup program that creates a set of CD/DVDs, the first of which is bootable and, when booted, will want to restore the backup to hard disk. Such programs do exist, avoiding the need to do the manual steps given above. http://mondorescue.org/about.shtml is one example. If you find one you like that works well please make a note of it here for those that come afterwards.

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Ralph Corderoy (ralph-inputplus) said : 		#4

The Ubuntu package is "mondo", with "mondo-doc" providing documentation.

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David Jones (dj) said : 		#5

Thanks actionparsnip, that solved my question.