Skip to main content

Can you back up linux desktop distro

Thread needs solution
Beginner
Posts: 3
Comments: 4

I currently own TI 2014. Will it or newer versions of true image back up a linux desktop distro?

 

Thanks in advance

0 Users found this helpful

ATI doesn't support Linux. I believe another product, Acronis Backup, supports various Linux distributions.

The simple answer is 'Yes' but unless you have the Linux distro installed as a dual-boot OS alongside Windows with ATIH 2014 (or later) installed, you will need to create and use the Acronis bootable Rescue Media and boot the Linux computer using that media in order to do the backup.

Please note that any Acronis backup may be a little larger than the used data size shown by Linux itself, this is because Acronis has limited support for how it works with EXT2/3/4 file systems and may resort to using sector-by-sector mode if it considers any file system errors are present. 

There is a known issue with EXT4 file systems that triggers sector-by-sector mode which Acronis have acknowledged but which is not fixed in any current version as far as I am aware.

Beginner
Posts: 3
Comments: 4

 

Does anyone know??

f you use a different Acronis product than true image, does the size issue of backup still occur?

 

The Acronis Backup 12 User Guide Web Help information shows that this business product is intended to be used on a number of different Linux platforms, but I have no idea whether this has the same known issue with backup size as for the True Image product.

Agent for Linux

Linux with kernel from 2.6.9 to 4.5 and glibc 2.3.4 or later

Various x86 and x86_64 Linux distributions, including:

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.x, 5.x, 6.x, 7.0, 7.1, 7.2

Ubuntu 9.10, 10.04, 10.10, 11.04, 11.10, 12.04, 12.10, 13.04, 13.10, 14.04, 14.10, 15.04, 15.10, 16.04

Fedora 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 and 11

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 – supported on file systems, except for Btrfs

Debian 4, 5, 6, 7.0, 7.2, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6, 7.7, 8.0, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5

CentOS 5.x, 6.x, 7, and 7.1

Oracle Linux 5.x, 6.x, 7.0, 7.1, and 7.2 – both Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel and Red Hat Compatible Kernel

CloudLinux 5.x, 6.x, 7, and 7.1

ClearOS 5.x, 6.x, 7, and 7.1

Before installing the product on a system that does not use RPM Package Manager, such as an Ubuntu system, you need to install this manager manually; for example, by running the following command (as the root user): apt-get install rpm

Steve Smith wrote:

The simple answer is 'Yes' but unless you have the Linux distro installed as a dual-boot OS alongside Windows with ATIH 2014 (or later) installed, you will need to create and use the Acronis bootable Rescue Media and boot the Linux computer using that media in order to do the backup.

Please note that any Acronis backup may be a little larger than the used data size shown by Linux itself, this is because Acronis has limited support for how it works with EXT2/3/4 file systems and may resort to using sector-by-sector mode if it considers any file system errors are present. 

There is a known issue with EXT4 file systems that triggers sector-by-sector mode which Acronis have acknowledged but which is not fixed in any current version as far as I am aware.

Hi Steve!

Is this still all true for the ATI2020 bootable Rescue media, or has the situation evolved since your post 3 years ago?

I plan to (as I already do exclusively for reasons mentioned in other threads) continue to only use the ATI2020 boot media, so I'm guessing it doesn't matter that I may or may not dual-boot Win7Pro32bit (until I'm confident I don't need it for anything) alongside definitely running Linux Mint 32bit.  This'll be my first time running Linux, so I know zero about it's file systems, but it sounds like as of 3 years ago I would want to avoid EXT4.

The EXT4 issue has been fixed in ATI 2020 and no longer uses sector by sector mode for these partitions. Many Linux distro’s have started to drop support for 32-bit systems and only provide 64-bit versions for their main products. 

Thanks Steve, my good luck that ATI2020 fixed the EXT4 issue in time for me to try Linux!

Hopefully until I have time to get a new PC, I'll still be able to find a 32bitLinux distro that supports this old 2004 one-core dinosaur.

I have used Peppermint for some very old computers that I have been prepping for passing on as a 'starter' working system.  I originally had it on a DVD from an old Linux magazine but it can be downloaded easily from the link given, and works fine on old hardware with low memory etc.

(Darn forum notification not working for me again.)

Thanks very much for the heads up about the trend of distros dropping 32bit versions.  I just spent some time googling distros for old machines, and Peppermint did look like a great choice for me.

(I also posted on the Mint forum asking whether they're committed to a 32bit version [since I didn't google any indication they aren't, and since I've played with it a bit and I liked it's ease of use.)

The 32bit situation is very interesting.  It looks like 32-bit Linux distros which are, like both Peppermint and Mint, based upon a LTS release of Ubuntu (18.04 "Bionic Beaver"), have 5 years of support to end in 2023.

Maybe I'll just try a Chrome OS like Neverware CloudReady; after all this computer will only be used when my main one goes down to help me troubleshoot it.