[Announce] BackupMenu - OS backup & restore | New version - Feb 12th(v1.1.1)
 

What is BackupMenu?
BackupMenu is an application for your N900 which creates an "image" of your OS, which you can later restore, bringing all the programs, settings and configuration to the -exact- way it was when you made the backup. This does not backup your MyDocs or SD card - It backs up -to- those disks.
Unlike the Nokia backup utility, this does not require internet access to restore, and does not download anything during the restore process.
Also, for those who like to tinker, BackupMenu V2 provides an excellent method for reading and writing RootFS images.
Pictures:
http://robbiethe1st.afraid.org/Backu...653-small.jpeg
http://robbiethe1st.afraid.org/Backu...656-small.jpeg

Can I use Multiboot with BackupMenu?
Sort of. I do not support it, but I know it's been done with a little bit of custom configuration.
In addition, mido.fayad has produced custom packages with the needed changes located [url=http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=67866]Here[/b]. That's also the place to ask questions and make suggestions about multiboot; I don't use or approve of it(For reasons I've explained in detail elsewhere).

Can I use uBoot with BackupMenu?
Yes, I believe so. It's not integrated into uBoot, per se, but it shouldn't cause any conflicts.

A couple of other users have been working on making an integrated launcher module for uBoot, and there's a tutorial here: http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p=1072789&postcount=915

Can I restore my old BackupMenu images from v0.3x?
No. They are incompatible, and while it would be possible to make a way to flash them, the whole reason I switched to this new method is that I was told by various knowledgable people - like Stskeeps - that restoring images the old way is dangerous and can cause corruption in the NAND. So, no, you are going to have to make -new- images. Sorry.

Can I restore my BackupMenu images through the Nokia Flasher?
Not currently. This is a planned feature, but not in the current version. It -is- possible to convert a BackupMenu image to a Nokia Flasher rootfs image, but it requires a Linux PC with mtd-utils.
Once you have that, the process is as follows(Note, based on this, from Stskeeps:
Note 1:
NOTE: different versions of mtd-utils sometimes make corrupt images. I find "mtd-utils_20090606-1_amd64.deb" worked for me.

Flashing instructions:
Flashing with BackupMenu installed isn't a problem:
1. Power off and unplug your n900
1. Download and ready the flasher - run your command such that it says "Cannot find suitable device - waiting".
3. Plug your n900's usb cable in. The device will now boot, then automatically flash. You do -not- need to press the U key.

Upgrade instructions(for 0.3x):
1. type "sudo gainroot", then "rm /etc/bootmenu.d/BackupMenu.item"
2. follow the install instructions below.

Install instructions:
1. Enable extras-devel
2. Install "backupmenu"
3. Reboot with the keyboard out to display BackupMenu. Reboot with the keyboard IN to -not- display BackupMenu.
4. Backup images will be stored as .tar (or .tar.gz) files inside *drive*/systemBackups/

You can also get the latest here:
http://robbiethe1st.afraid.org/BackupMenu/
Look for the .deb package with the highest version.
Install it by downloading it to your N900, opening up a terminal and:
Latest version: 1.1
Other:
Here's a rootfs image from my N900 with BackupMenu 0.50-3 installed: flashable_rootfs_v0.56-1-20101109.img. This image can be flashed with the Nokia flasher, significantly reducing restore time if you have a "bricked" system.

Password Protection
As of v0.65, BackupMenu has password protection support.
To enable the password lock, run "touch /usr/share/backupmenu/lock-enable.txt" as root. Backupmenu will now ask for your root password.
If you want backupmenu to have a different password, simply add the DES-encrypted password(in the same format as /etc/passwd) to lock-enable.txt. Make sure there is [i]nothing[/b] else in the file; if it's not /exactly/ 13 characters in length it will ignore it.

Notes:
Version 0.56 is the latest -tested, working- version.
Version 0.60 has just been released and -may- have bugs.
Version 0.61 may not launch for some people if /usr/bin/tar is a symlink.
Version 0.62 should work right.
Licence: GPL V3

Suggestions and test results welcome!
Donate link: https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_donateCC_LG.gif
-Rob

Re: [Testers needed] BackupMenu V2 - OS backup & restore
 

wow good work bud.

Anyhow, does this V2 works with the v1 backup files? I backed up with v1 and haven't try flashing it yet. So I'm hoping this thing is much safer than previous method and still compatible with v1 back up files.

Let me know.
Maxxi

Re: [Testers needed] BackupMenu V2 - OS backup & restore
 

Updated. Answer: no, and for good reason(read my edit).

Re: [Testers needed] BackupMenu V2 - OS backup & restore
 

Oh ffs!! o.O omg. My beautiful backup!! What can I do to restore it back safely? I got over 1G of apps and customisations!. Also my saved files

Re: [Testers needed] BackupMenu V2 - OS backup & restore
 

I guessed i'm screwed

Re: [Testers needed] BackupMenu V2 - OS backup & restore
 

Well, you can -try- to restore it the old way, but you may end up with an unbootable device that needs a reflash.

Or, you can try to mount the images. The optfs is just a EXT2 image; it can be mounted easily on any linux system with a couple commands(mount -o loopback..... for a start)
The RootFS is a bit harder; I haven't done it myself. But, your customizations should mostly be in the OptFS, so...

Re: [Testers needed] BackupMenu V2 - OS backup & restore
 

where is Angry bird package file stored? I was so closed to finishing it and last night i flashed my device and did a back up. Oh No!!!

Re: [Testers needed] BackupMenu V2 - OS backup & restore
 

Guess I have to start from scratch.

Re: [Testers needed] BackupMenu V2 - OS backup & restore
 

How can multiboot-0.2.5 and backmenu V2 coexist?
Is this possible?

Re: [Testers needed] BackupMenu V2 - OS backup & restore
 

I've actually just got that working this morning.

I've made a patch with the changes required for multiboot (against 0.2.10 rather than 0.2.5, so may need some adjustments). It adds a new ITEM_SCRIPT parameter for the .item files, and stops the multiboot script from unmounting all the filesystems before running the script.

You also need to add a symlink for /bin/evkey in /usr/sbin (or edit the BackupMenu scripts to change the location). You can then add a multiboot entry with a ITEM_SCRIPT line pointing to the BackupMenu script.

Re: [Testers needed] BackupMenu V2 - OS backup & restore
 

Will this backup everything? As in, will it save my custom icons, desktop command codes and widgets, QBW code, angry birds scores, email settings, backgrounds and home screens etc etc?

Re: [Testers needed] BackupMenu V2 - OS backup & restore
 

It's a complete rootfs and optfs backup.

Yes.

Re: [Testers needed] BackupMenu V2 - OS backup & restore
 

And it's as simple as reboot with keyboard open, restore backup, and every single thing is back to how it was?

Will this work with 1.3?

Re: [Testers needed] BackupMenu V2 - OS backup & restore
 

Hello Robbie,
after I backed up with this latest method I rebooted and found my n900 completely messed up. This happened also last time I did it, with your previous version (the tar one). To be clear, I didn't try any reboot.
Now I'm restoring with your first version, the img one, which works for me by flashing the rootfs and restoring the optfs.
Do you have any hint why the simple action of backup in some way damages the filesystem? This sounds me quite strange, but it's what is happening to me.

Re: [Testers needed] BackupMenu V2 - OS backup & restore
 

Thanks for testing. Lets see what went wrong here:

First, a sanity check: Is the outer border of the BackupMenu window -blue- or -orange-? Also, the new one should be v0.45.
My first thought is that /etc/bootmenu.d/BackupMenuLauncher.item was not removed from your test of my earlier alphas, and it "took precedence", potentially resulting in a problem.
Make sure that both BackupMenu and BackupMenuLauncher in /usr/share/backupmenu/ are infact the same version as the ones in the package I released, and that "backupmenu.item"(all lowercase) exists in /etc/bootmenu.d/ and is the only file there.

Second thing to try is installing a framebuffer kernel and watching where it dies on.
Stock: http://mohammadag.xceleo.org/public/...e-fb-omap1.bin
power40: http://mohammadag.xceleo.org/public/...ebuffer-kernel
Flash one of those to your N900 with "flasher-3.5 -k ./zImage..... -f -R", then watch it boots. Note that it slightly interferes with the graphics of BackupMenu, but its -more or less- legible even with it on.

Let me know how things work out - I'm under pressure to get this fixed and out there replacing my old version, due to that one using DD to write directly to the NAND flash of the rootfs, which, I have been told, is dangerous and should never be done. So... Yea.

Re: [Testers needed] BackupMenu V2 - OS backup & restore
 

Well, it was 0.45, I erased the previous version. And, my device was messed up just after the backup, without ever trying to restore.
As regards the framebuffer kernel, I'll do after making a full backup with your first version, which, although deprecated, is the only one which worked reliably for me, I mean flashing from another machine.

Re: [Testers needed] BackupMenu V2 - OS backup & restore
 

Hm, that's weird. By "messed up", do you mean it wouldn't boot, or something else?
Also, would you mind checking if it does it upon install(i.e. conflict with something else), or upon actually making a backup(still not sure how that could happen..)

Thanks again for your help.

Re: [Testers needed] BackupMenu V2 - OS backup & restore
 

I renamed the old /etc/bootmenu.d/backupmenu.item.
Then reinstalled the new 0.45 backupmenu, through untarring. No problem. Made a backup of both rootfs and optfs on the sd card. Noticed that the backup of the optfs was much smaller than the img (of course: the img includes the whole 2 gigabytes while the tar includes only the real files).

Then rebooted. When it woke up, it had a banner flashing once in a minute or the so saying the email client wasn't working, apmefo menu disappeared and the apps menu was lacking a great part of its icons.
So at least part of the /home partition was altered. Don't know if rootfs was in a trouble too.

Is it possible that the backup operation leaves the filesystem open and when shutting up it's left in an unconsistent state? But why on the optfs, while the tar file was written on the sd card?

I didn't go deeper in the issue because I needed the device, and went to restore a fortnight old backup made with your first method (img), which *is* reliable in my hands when flashing through another machine.

I don't know. Maybe it was a coincidence, and other peoples' reports can enlighten the issue. But... same thing happened when I tried your previous version, the one with tar, and two coincidences in a row are disturbing.

Re: [Testers needed] BackupMenu V2 - OS backup & restore
 

Ok, that's something at least. Let me see...
While it does "sync" and poweroff properly, I didn't add a line to umount the optfs/rootfs after backup.
on the -restore- side, it does have it, though.

I'll add that modification and see if it fixes it.
In the meantime, would you mind trying to restore your previous images? That should work fine. Just backing up might cause a problem.

Edit: Updated version posted in first post as well as: http://robbiethe1st.afraid.org/Backu...0101019.tar.gz

Re: [Testers needed] BackupMenu V2 - OS backup & restore
 

Well I gave it a test tonight, albeit only the backup functionality, and all seems to be working. I missed the bit about deleting the original BackupMenu.item within /etc/bootmenu.d as the new version is backupmenu.item (all lower case), and so the one in extras-devel was being launched instead at first. Once I figured that out though then all went swimmingly. The new method is much faster than the old one although my rootfs tar is slightly bigger than the img. Maybe the tar's could be gzipped as well?

I'll test out restoring a bit later, if I am brave enough.. ;-)

Re: [Testers needed] BackupMenu V2 - OS backup & restore
 

hi robbie,

first of all thanks for this great app.

i wanted to know if this new version is stable or should i stick to the one in extras repo and is this version only for testing?
cause this one works with tar-gnu and the first one with .img?
whats the difference?

i have noticed that creating a backup with this version goes way faster than the first version, is it because of tar? and how do i know if everything is backdup? in the first version my optfs backup was 2g and with this version its 546 mb? is it becuase of the tar?
sorry i am a noob!

and i might be wrong but i think ur second line in the explaination shouldn't be backupmenu-n900 but bootmenu-n900???

thanks in advance

Re: [Testers needed] BackupMenu V2 - OS backup & restore
 

Now, that would make sense as to why I had another BackupMenu.item within /etc/bootmenu.d - actually though, it doesn't make much difference, because apt-getting the extras-devel version of backupmenu-n900 installs bootmenu-n900 anyway and there aren't any other files it generates.

It does back up everything though - the size of the tar depends on how much free space you've got in /home. As for it being stable, I'm not too sure, but the backup worked fine for me?

I do have a question about mtd-utils for Robbie; can we not simply download the maemo version that titan uploaded to the repository at http://maemo.org/packages/view/mtd-utils/ ? It does require liblzo2-2 which took some finding, but its deb can be downloaded from here and it seems to work fine (at least, I could create a rootfs image from the tarball, but of course I had to write to /home/user/rootfs and to /home/user/MyDocs/base.ubi.img which was then ubinize'd to /home/user/MyDocs/rootfs.img)

Re: [Testers needed] BackupMenu V2 - OS backup & restore
 

I suppose I should have thought about it and made my file "BackupMenu.item" instead of "backupmenu.item" so it'd overwrite and force this version instead... But I wasn't thinking.
As its just a one-line launcher in this version, I'll make my next release with two copies of that file, so it'd overwrite. At least, until I get it built for extras-devel to replace the old version.

The one in the repo works fine on 50-80% of N900s. On the others, it will backup properly, but not restore due to bad blocks on the rootfs NAND. The problem is, that version uses DD to make a byte-for-byte image, which ignores bad blocks, and OneNAND flash doesn't "hide" bad blocks, unlike MMC/SD/harddisks do.
This version copies all the files using tar, then restores those as files. Because it works in files, bad blocks aren't an issue, and you can edit the resulting images if you want(say copy files out or apply a patch before restoring).

Yea, that's what it's supposed to be. It'd work anyway, though, provided you deleted the "/etc/bootmenu.d/BackupMenu.item" file.
Yup, just make sure you can flash that rootfs image and it'll work.
(I had an odd version of mtd-utils on my desktop. It'd make images, say it was done. The images were the right size, I'd flash it... And it wouldn't mount on the N900).

I figured, though, that you'd probably have your N900 "bricked" due to a failed backup, and want to use your desktop to make the image and flash it. If you have the foresight to make the image first, that's always a good thing.

Now, eventually, I intend to both A, have an option to gzip the image, and B, an option to make a flashable image right there from BackupMenu. A would make the images smaller, but take longer. B would be useful, but take an extra 256mb of space.

Re: [Testers needed] BackupMenu V2 - OS backup & restore
 

Actually the image ends up around ~150mb, but I think those options would be great. Thanks for all the hard work so far, this is a really brilliant tool!

Re: [Testers needed] BackupMenu V2 - OS backup & restore
 

Note: Until I make sure that safe, unzipped .tar images can be backed up and restored safely, I'm not going to add those options and make things -more- complex. So, test things. Make a backup, then try to restore. If it -doesn't- work right, it either won't boot, or you won't have your apps.

Re: [Testers needed] BackupMenu V2 - OS backup & restore
 

hi robbie

thanks for ur reply

as u know i am a noob

so i just wanted to know how it works i understand whats the meaning of this app but now i want to know how that proces of restoring goes with tar file backup.

if i choose to restore a backup what will happen next?
do i need to type something afterwards in the xterminal to untar the backup or will the app do that part as well??

thanks in advance and i am sorry for my amature english.

waiting for ur reply

Re: [Testers needed] BackupMenu V2 - OS backup & restore
 

Ok, so I gave this a proper stress test last night and it worked flawlessly, barring one small thing but I doubt that's anything BackupMenu can help with - I may be mistaken though!

I backed up both rootfs and optfs using the latest Backup Menu, and created an image on the device using ubinize as described. I also exported my contacts and used the built-in backup utility to copy my communications, bookmarks etc and copied the whole MyDocs directory to PC via USB.

I then flashed the latest FIASCO image, and a modified eMMC image (with larger values for the ext3 and swap partition to make /home up to 10.5GiB and swap to 1.5GiB, leaving a MyDocs of around 18GiB). Had several issues when doing this but none related to Backup Menu so I'll leave them out (mostly me being a muppet :D )

After this I flashed the rootfs image I created via the -r flag, rebooted with the keyboard out to launch Backup Menu, restored the optfs tar, enabled USB host mode, copied MyDocs back and rebooted.. resulting in my system almost exactly as it was before, only with a bigger /home partition and swap. Brilliant!

The only thing missing was the power kernel, as this had been wiped when I flashed the FIASCO. However it was still installed as it had been present on rootfs/optfs, so I couldn't reinstall it. To fix this I removed it through FapMan and could then reinstall kernel-power, which then came back to life after a reboot. Is there any way Backup Menu could backup the kernel too, or is this impossible? :)

Thanks again for all the work Robbie, it's really an excellent utility. Oh, two more very minor points - upon reboot with the keyboard out, the ramdisk text gets mangled with whatever other text is on the left as they're on the same line, and FSCK still doesn't work. Neither of these matter a jot to me though :)

Re: [Testers needed] BackupMenu V2 - OS backup & restore
 

Hm, that's nice. Kernel wise, someone told me that it's not stored in the rootfs or emmc - It's in its own special 2MB partition. This also contains all bootloader stuff, which is why that needs to be flashed when switching to Nitdroid.
I'm not sure how I'd fix this, aside from manually loading the power kernel if it exists on disk, then flashing it internally if asked... But I think that would be more trouble than its worth, especially considering you aren't supposed to have to flash a fiasco image before restoring your backup.

FSCK, yea, its on the fix list.
And yea, there's a couple of odd lines of text. Problem is, I tried adding spacing before those lines... and for some odd reason, it wouldn't work. I'm still not sure why - the same spacing worked fine on all other lines.

BTW, would you mind posting a complete tutorial on how you got it all to work? Complete with modified eMMC image?


@Ali:
BackupMenu both creates and uses .tar images. You should be able to backup your system to your SD card or eMMC, then go right ahead and restore from those images. You should not need to mess with anything.
Note however that it's still slightly experimental, so if things don't work out right, you -may- have to mess with it. But that -shouldn't- happen.


Thanks,

-Rob

Re: [Testers needed] BackupMenu V2 - OS backup & restore
 

yeah I wouldn't mind a copy of that emmc image either.

@rob: been testing the new version, backup file is alot smaller,
now that your using your new method, and when i restored a backup to another device it worked flawlessly unlike the last version where it would give me errors and result in a unbootable device.
which is good to keep my second n900 up to date which all the changes i make to my primary device.

Thank you for your continued work on this. you save me hours of work restoring my n900 every time i reflash.

Re: [Testers needed] BackupMenu V2 - OS backup & restore
 

I'll certainly try to write up the steps required when I get chance (maybe tomorrow but if not at the weekend), missing out where I messed up due to my own stupidity though :o like thinking the eMMC wasn't flashing as it paused at 20%, and cancelling it - not a good idea, for anyone wanting to try it..

As for the image, I'd gladly post it but it is over 200Mb big, so it's probably easier just to show a screengrab of the bytes I changed (see attached). I can't take credit for this idea as it was DrWilken who came up with it - see this post. I just found that it's in fact possible to go over 9999 for the partition. Do please note that the filesize must remain unchanged, I simply shifted the 0D 0A bytes along, removing one 09 byte in the process, which is only a tab anyway and not needed.

Re: [Testers needed] BackupMenu V2 - OS backup & restore
 

Oh by the way, is the console mode coming back into this new version? I think ubinize could be called from within it, which would save the stage of rebooting back to maemo for making a flashable image from the rootfs tar (if you haven't got a linux PC, that is).

Re: [Testers needed] BackupMenu V2 - OS backup & restore
 

Yes and no.
First, the advantage/disadvantage of this new version is its running entirely off of a ramdisk. Therefor, the rootfs and optfs can be safely wiped with no issues(previous version didn't - I'm still not sure -how-/why it worked...).
This means that any applications I want, I have to load into the ramdisk first, along with all libraries they need. This is the issue with FSCK currently; I'm missing one library.

On top of this, the other problem is that I'm trying to make it -only- depending on the RootFS - which means I have to copy any optified files I need to the RootFS during install.

Neither of these are too much of an issue, but they both have to be worked around.

Secondly, the console I had didn't really work right. I can bring it back right now... But it won't "remember" directories, so you have to use absolute paths all the time.
I'd -like- to find some sort of terminal application(or end up with just SSH), that does everything the way it should be, and not grabbing each keystroke, and running the command inside a pair of ``'s.

Re: [Testers needed] BackupMenu V2 - OS backup & restore
 

Yeah, I think it's much better to use the ramdisk and also to only depend on rootfs. The libraries issue will also crop up if you integrate ubinize into BackupMenu, as it depends on liblzo2_2. However, once that's done (if ever) then console mode probably won't be needed anyway - I kind of liked the one in the old BackupMenu though, even with all its nuances :) I had also forgotten about SSH - though when I try to launch it (through the s option, which still exists) it tells me that it's not installed, even though it is?

Just one final really minor feature point - would it be possible to alter the brightness of the display, as 50 is quite battery draining? I think 20-25 would be better :)

Re: [Testers needed] BackupMenu V2 - OS backup & restore
 

Thanks Robbie! Works like a charm on my device :)

Any change to pack this up and distribute via repos?

Re: [Testers needed] BackupMenu V2 - OS backup & restore
 

Oh no this sounds like terrible news for me.

My N900 got bricked with a faulty usb port so opportunity to reflash or backup. Nokia are going to provide me with a new N900. When I get the N900 I was going to use Backup Menu to restore my files to the new N900.

Now that this new version is incompatible with the old version it seems I will be unable to restore. So my only option would be the Nokia backup and restore. However, I have not used that since like February so contacts, conboy notes, etc will be far far out of date.

Is the old version still available for download at all? So I can use that to restore and then switch to the new version for back up and restores going forward.

Re: [Testers needed] BackupMenu V2 - OS backup & restore
 

Yes, the old one's still in the repo. In fact, you won't ever -lose- it, because you can -always- get old versions from the repo. Just remember that its version 3.x you need.
Also, you don't need it. You should flash the RootFS image you have via the Nokia flasher, then boot your N900(which will have the version of BackupMenu you had when you made the image) into BackupMenu, and restore the Optfs.
If you -can't- get the rootfs to flash properly, then you have a problem, the same problem that caused me to change.

Also, erm... To be fair, the only difference between the "old" backupmenu and the "new" one is that it's running in a ramdisk. All the old code(aside from console, which I took out because it was too -big- to read through when debugging) is still there. And the old key-commands still work. The menu-option text lines are just commented out.
However, none of the other options -work-, because of missing files.

Also, I don't think ssh or anything that relied on the USB Network actually worked; I copied that code from RescueMenu and didn't understand quite how to make it all work.

Re: [Testers needed] BackupMenu V2 - OS backup & restore
 

Ok, I added a couple more libraries, and I -think- I fixed FSCK. Also, lowered the brightness to 40/255.

Re: [Testers needed] BackupMenu V2 - OS backup & restore
 

Why does the latest .tar.gz include two .item files:
etc/bootmenu.d/BackupMenu.item
etc/bootmenu.d/backupmenu.item

Re: [Testers needed] BackupMenu V2 - OS backup & restore
 

Because this way it replaces all previous instances of BackupMenu, preventing any conflicts. This way, if you have BackupMenu installed from the repo, -this- version will overwrite it and it will work right.
Only one of them is needed, and they are identical, one-line launcher scripts.
Edit, FSCK not quite fixed. Needs "libcom_err.so.2.1" this time.

Re: [Testers needed] BackupMenu V2 - OS backup & restore
 

Hi. Em, help.

Is there any reason in the world for the restore procedure to say that the checksums don't match?

I tried a restore today (weird, weird stuff happens to me, with GSM modem being taken offline) and the rootfs said the checksums don't match. Optfs apparently was fine.

Is there any reason (other than a bad block on flash) this wold happen? It's _possible_ that I used a mismatched version, my backup was on the 19th and you changed versions on the 18th or 19th, so I'm not sure what version they were.

So, I guess questions:
a) If mismatching versions between BackupMenu and images, is it possible to get a checksum error and end up with an unbootable device?

b) Does a bad block do that?

c) How do I check rootfs for bad blocks? The menu includes a "fsck all partitions" but it takes way too little to be a "surface" check. Finished in 3 seconds tops.

Hepl!

(what do you know, a sense of humor with an unbootable device)

ETA: It booted.

Re-flashed rootfs to default. Restored optfs with BackupMenu.