Nokia N900 Full Backup
 

Can someone explain to me how I can do a full full full backup of my n900? With my old n series I used to just use the Nokia Tool in PC Suite, but that doesn't work with this phone.

I like to keep a safe backup of everything on my PC incase anything were to happen. (touchwood!)

Re: Nokia N900 Full Backup
 

if you are willing to use the terminal then you can use rsync.
after becoming root and adding the devel repository you can get it with apt-get install rsync
then you could use:
rsync -avHl --exclude-from=/media/mmc1/sync_exclude / /media/mmc1/backup
where the sdcard is mounted a mmc1
sync_exclude would contain:
/sys
/proc
/media
/mnt
/home/user/MyDocs
/home/

that saved my *** a couple of times...

Re: Nokia N900 Full Backup
 

And is there a more user friendly way of doing this?

Re: Nokia N900 Full Backup
 

isn't there a backup function among the preinstalled apps? never used it though...

Re: Nokia N900 Full Backup
 

Yes there is. Never used it either so not sure if it is a full back up. And I think it backs up to the phone so you may need to use a SDHC card - save to SDHC card and back up from there. Not sure if you can save to PC.

Re: Nokia N900 Full Backup
 

I have used the backup app on the n900 but I am not sure that it backs everything up. It looks like it only backs up settings.

Re: Nokia N900 Full Backup
 

The built in backup application is pretty handy. Once messed my N900 up and had to reflash it, used the restore.

Restores:
- calendar
- repos in program manager
- contacts
- settings (wifi, whatever)
...

It does not restore the programms, but offers you to reinstall them from repositories, if available. You can also restore programs later if you need to add the repository they come from.

It did a pretty good job. The only thing I noticed was that merged contacts were unmerged again.

Best regards,
Corwin

Re: Nokia N900 Full Backup
 

@ corwin:
hm, better than nothing, i guess.

Re: Nokia N900 Full Backup
 

Just not to be misunderstood:
It dies not restore the programs but it does redownload and install them (you are asked if you want that and can check / uncheck them one by one.

So I think it is a pretty good solution, actually.

Night :)
Corwin

Re: Nokia N900 Full Backup
 

I don't think it backup application specific settings though.

Re: Nokia N900 Full Backup
 

I assume the filesystem on /media/mmc1 needs to support hard and symbolic links and special files?

Can the /dev tree be backed up that way?

I thought there are problems trying to back up or restore a root filesystem that is booted and running.

Re: Nokia N900 Full Backup
 

For some kinds of users, that is about as friendly as it gets.

Re: Nokia N900 Full Backup
 

I'd just prefer to be able to do a full, almost mirror of the entire device. Hope this becomes a possibilty soon. :(

Re: Nokia N900 Full Backup
 

yes of course it has to support links and so on. fat won't suffice.
and yes /dev can be backed up. in my expierience restoring the whole system with rsync in that way alsways worked...

Re: Nokia N900 Full Backup
 

Let me think - I had gPodder installed before and reinstalled it after the reflash and restore. I think It knew my podcasts.

Probably one of the Topdogs here can explain if and why.

Regards,
Corwin

Re: Nokia N900 Full Backup
 

Because reflashing doesn't affect the 32gb internal memory card....?

Re: Nokia N900 Full Backup
 

OK, so if you are only reflashing the rootfs and the apps stay optified in the eMMC, after reinstalling you should have all steeings, right?

The question remains, though, wether it restores application settings or not (in case you also flash the eMMC image).

Re: Nokia N900 Full Backup
 

Application settings usually are kept in "/home/usrname/.appname" -->> on the 32GB Memory.
Consequently, they wont gest lost in the reflashing process.

Re: Nokia N900 Full Backup
 

Speaking of backups, is there anyway to back up just SMS and Email on the device?

Better yet, is there anyway to export/archive SMS (whole conversations) in a text file?

Just got the device as a gift for XMAS and i would love to use it as my one and only device but I can't do that unless SMS can be archived (need it for work)

Re: Nokia N900 Full Backup
 

I managed to back everything up, now I am just wondering how I would go about restoring it, specifically the command I would use to copy the backup files to where they need to be?

Re: Nokia N900 Full Backup
 

Basically you could rsync your backup folder with your old source folder (the backed up folder) which is "/" I guess.

Re: Nokia N900 Full Backup
 

I did a full rsync of my N900 OS partition "/" but i dont think you can rsync it back when you totally screwed up your N900 because you prob need pc-connectivity installed on the phone to use ssh or other types to connect to your root.

When you plug it in your usb port you only see the Flash Card and the 27Gb part of the 32GB HDD witch can be used for storage and installs, but not the / (OS part). Prob a hidden partition that can be accessed by using the pc-connectivity apps and simply adding network location "ssh" type and entering your phone IP (with pc-connectivity that is 192.168.2.15) and you CAN access the / "Root" of your device.

Re: Nokia N900 Full Backup
 

What is it with some people? You get a complex device like N900 while having no clue how partitions differ from storage devices. At least you don't end up comparing it to the iPhone. So that's good enough. 32GB is the total volume of the onboard storage device. But it's partitioned. The user partition has something like 27-28 GB size and this is the partition not influenced by flashing. The other partitions are.

Re: Nokia N900 Full Backup
 

You reply to a posting which is over 2.5 years old, blaming someone who tried to help or at least tried to contribute?