Notices

OK, symlinking instead of copying is ok, but still, it doesn't explain why it got FCKD so badly,l and why it wasn't fixed yet (not demanding anything).

/Estel

where should we report bugs? doesn't this qualify as a bug?
(i've been on multiboot, uboot, bootmenu, backupmenu recently. pretty confusing for me. hehe)

/home/user/ isn't deleted during full reflash (only when flashing eMMC vanilla), but it's backuped by backupmenu, when doing OptFS backup.

Could it be optional, 3th option to choose (like rootfs, optfs, or both), as, it's backuping many unnecessary things?

In my case, it's 2/3 of backup size, and I would be very happy backuping everything *except* /home/user/, same for restoring (eMMC reflash is hardly a threat).

Of course, it would be still possible to choose OptFS + rootFS + user.

/Estel

Hi! Backupmenu still not have *correct* bootmenu entry. Can somebody write it for compatibility with Bootmenu?

Format is really simple. Use this example file for /etc/bootmenu.d/backupmenu.item
I'd like to release new version of bootmenu (with fixed path for evkey) but I'm not sure if backupmenu will be working if it does not provide correct bootmenu item file.

Hi there,


My N900 has passed away recently because of the USB port classic issue. Otherwise it is working very well, but apparently it cannot be fixed easily.

Therefore I purchased an other used N900. It is slightly more used than mine but the USB port is working, so I would like to use it as my main phone.

The question has probably already been asked here, but is it possible to do a backup with my old N900 and use it to flash the new one, just like some kind of ghost image? It would be so much easier than reinstalling the maaaany apps and tweaks I installed on the old device.

Thanks in advance for your replies!

just from the top of my head:
- use backupmenu to create a backup on the faulty n900
- either boot faulty n900 and transfer backup to new one
- or if on sd card jusdt put the sd card into the new one
- boot new one and restore backup

So it is just that simple? Great! I will give it a try soon.

I expect it to be a little bit more difficult with my device though, as I think I changed the partitions sizes on the faulty N900 to increase the space available for apps. Maybe I've done some other tweaks that may not be saved with Backupmenu... And I do not remember any of the procedures. I will have to spend some time on the forums to figure it out I guess.

Just be sure to flash same kernel as used in backup, BEFORE restoring the latter. Of course, adjusting partition's layout before seems sane too.

/Estel

well, as i indicated: it's just a procedure that seems reasonable. i didn't test it myself.
as for partitions -- i may be mistaken, but doesn't bm just backup the files, not the partitions? if so, then you may of course get in trouble if your enlarged partition contains more data then a normal sized partition can hold, but that's the only caveat i see here.

but except for the kernel which is flashed to its own partition, everything should be available as normal files. so, just as matter of caution, you may do an rsync as root.

and rsync may well serve your purpose anyway -- after all, you get an information about differences between source and destination.
and if you flash the new n900 to vanilla state, rsync its contents to your host computer and rsync the faulty n900's contenst to your host, too (different folder, of course), you can easily diff both folders and identify any changes you made.

for the kernel, there should be the package data somewhere and you can also check with
uname -a
to see which kernel you flashed

As I've done this already, I'll share that yes, this works. Of note, you do want to make sure that both devices are using the same kernel, as Estel_ noted. You can do that by installing the latest on both, reverting both to stock, or just version checking with uname.

You'll want both setup with fully charged batteries. It takes about 20 minutes to backup the full device and 20 to restore, and all of it is solid-state IO, which is a battery drainer.