Clonezilla Backup and restore

[riyan]

Hi,

I have been trying to backup my server and restore the image to a new same capacity hard disk.But i am getting error when restoring.my server configurations are as follows

Hp Proliant DL380 G5
intel xeon quad core
4GB RAM
2 146 GB gard disk ( RAID 1+0 configured)
O/S SLES 10 SP3

this is how i tried to restore the image

I raplaced the new HD (didnt do any modification existing RAID configuration )
Booted with clonezilla live CD
selected restore disk
selected to create the partition from image

But when it started to restore i am getting following error

the partition table in this disk is illegal/invalid : /dev/sdb
does this partition table file fit this disk :/home/partimag/2010-02-01-14-img /sdb-pt.sf?
is this disk too small : /dev/sdb?

ERROR: cant have a partition outside the disk

can somebody please suggest what i am doing wrong? I am having a time with this now

do i have to configure RAID again i plugged new disks to the server?

Thanks,
Riyan.

[riyan]

Any suggestions guys.Please let me know if any one using any different way or a tool for the Suse Linux image backup.

Thanks,
Rifdhy.

[gogalthorp]

I'm confused you have raid across 2 drives but you are restoring one?? Is the raid still on (hardware raid??)? I thought the raid 1+0 requires 4 drives (mirrored and striped) So I don't really have any idea what you are doing.

[riyan]

Hi gogalthorp,

yes.this is hardware raid across 2 disks's.so one disk is mirrored to second disk.And the OS also showing only one disk capacity.

Thanks,
Rifdhy.

[gogalthorp]

So you removed one disk now you want to restore a partition image. But I guess that you still have raid turned on, right? And it looks like clonezilla wants to add the partitions rather then over write them. Most likely it is getting confused about the raid. Ok I'm pulling a blank on this. I think I would have backed files rather then partitions on a raid setup since you never know exactly what hardware you may need to restore to. But it is a little late for that. So why are you going through this exercise? If one of the drives failed just replace it with a blank and the raid should rebuild it. That is what raid 1 is for.

[riyan]

No.Actually what i am trying to do is

1. take an image backup to my USB HD
2.raplace the 2 HD'd with another 2 new HD's
3.Then restore the image to new HD.

I can simply change one HD.But we need to keep an image backup in case of a total server fainloure or anything.Thats why i am trying to restore in a two new HD.Hope you got my problem.Sorry for English.

Thanks,
Riyan.

[gogalthorp]

So this is an experiment.
From what I understand you are trying to restore to only one drive. Rather then a partition image backup do first a file backup of the full system then just a differential for the daily. It will be a faster backup since you will not be imaging the full system each time. Also you can restore it to any new system even change file systems say from ext3 to ext4 and different raid controllers or no raid. Much more flexible.

Raid is very much black magic. When it works it is great but it adds a complex new layer to things. It's main purpose is to provide redundancy. So you do need a backup and restore. I don't know why your partition restore is not working but with raid it does not surprising me.

[riyan]

I think linux dd also will help to create an image of the disk.is it possible to get an image to external USB disk and do a bartemetal restore to new HD?
If you know any how to please share with me.

Thanks

[gogalthorp]

Yes it will but it will not be a compressed image.

read the instructions. At the command line

info dd
or
man dd

dd is one of those commands that you need to think 3 times before pressing enter.

It will do exactly what you tell it to. Which may not be what you meant.

[riyan]

hmm yeah it sound bit risky..do you know any other tools to clone hard disk's?