burning and converting

Backing up Some Directories to DVD

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Start with I give the syntax to create the iso image backup.iso

$ mkisofs -o backup.iso -r -J /home/andrew

Now say that I really don’t want to include the sub-directory /home/andrew/source in this image and I also want to add a few more directories but I would like to map them to the DVD in a slightly different structure:

# mkisofs -o backup.iso -r -J \
-x /home/andrew/source \
-graft-points "my_files/=/home/andrew" "configuration_files/=/etc" \
"cron_files/=/var/spool/cron/crontabs"

Now I would like to add a volume label to the DVD so that my system will identify it by a recognisable label, in this case the backup date. I will also add my own name here as the publisher of this DVD:

# mkisofs -o backup.iso -r -J -V "Backup `date +"%d %B %Y"`" \
-x /home/andrew/source -publisher "Andrew Strong" \
-graft-points “my_files/=/home/andrew” “configuration_files/=/etc” \
“cron_files/=/var/spool/cron/crontabs”

The final addition to the mkisofs syntax is designed to hide the directory RR_MOVED from sight, a directory created when Rock Ridge has to move a lot of files around in deep directory structures. But in a bonus for you, Gentle Reader, I also add the growisofs command to burn the iso image to DVD in a single command:

# growisofs -dvd-compat -speed=1 -Z /dev/dvd \
-r -J -hide-rr-moved -V "Backup `date +"%d %B %Y"`" \
-x /home/andrew/source -publisher "Andrew Strong" \
-graft-points "my_files/=/home/andrew" "configuration_files/=/etc" \
"cron_files/=/var/spool/cron/crontabs"

growisofs is of course a frontend for mkisofs and thus uses the same commands. And there you have it, a backup DVD that is readable on both Linux and Windows. The many, many other options available in mkisofs I will leave you, Gentle Reader, to explore on your own. Again I wish you all the best with your burning and remember: keep it legal!

This entry was posted in burning and converting, cdrecord, Linux, SSH.

Making Copies of Your Favourite Linux

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DVD to the HDD and convert it to iso:

$ dd if=/dev/dvd of=my_distro.iso bs=2048

Mount ISO to extract files

# mount -o ro,loop -t iso9660 my_distro.iso /mnt/tmp (mount an ISO)
# umount /mnt/tmp (unmount an ISO)

Burn the iso image to a fresh DVD

$ growisofs -dvd-compat -Z /dev/dvd=file.iso

This entry was posted in burning and converting, Linux.

Burning and converting

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Burnig and Creating images,copies …..

creating an iso image of afile

1. mkisofs -J -v -o zend.iso /home/installation/Zend-Studio-5.5/
2. dd if=/dev/hdx of=/dev/hdy
3. dd if=/dev/hdx of=/path/to/image
4. dd if=/dev/hdx | gzip > /path/to/image.gz

and Related topics

# dd –help

For more options check dd man page

full hard disk copy

dd if=/dev/hdx of=/dev/hdy
dd if=/dev/hdx of=/path/to/image
dd if=/dev/hdx | gzip > /path/to/image.gz

Hdx could be hda, hdb etc. In the second example gzip is used to compress the image if it is really just a backup.

Restore Backup of hard disk copy

dd if=/path/to/image of=/dev/hdx

gzip -dc /path/to/image.gz | dd of=/dev/hdx

MBR backup

In order to backup only the first few bytes containing the MBR and the partition table you can use dd as well.

dd if=/dev/hdx of=/path/to/image count=1 bs=512

MBR restore

dd if=/path/to/image of=/dev/hdx

Add “count=1 bs=446” to exclude the partition table from being written to disk. You can manually restore the table.

Linux / Unix Command: dd
Command Library
NAME
dd – convert and copy a file
SYNOPSIS
dd [OPTION]…
DESCRIPTION

Copy a file, converting and formatting according to the options.

bs=BYTES
force ibs=BYTES and obs=BYTES
cbs=BYTES
convert BYTES bytes at a time
conv=KEYWORDS
convert the file as per the comma separated keyword list
count=BLOCKS
copy only BLOCKS input blocks
ibs=BYTES
read BYTES bytes at a time
if=FILE
read from FILE instead of stdin
obs=BYTES
write BYTES bytes at a time
of=FILE
write to FILE instead of stdout
seek=BLOCKS
skip BLOCKS obs-sized blocks at start of output
skip=BLOCKS
skip BLOCKS ibs-sized blocks at start of input
–help
display this help and exit
–version
output version information and exit

Burning Audio CDs using cdrecord

Burning audio CDs using cdrecord is a piece of cake, too. Just follow these steps:

  1. Create your audio tracks and store them as uncompressed, 16-bit stereo .wav files.
  2. Name the audio files in a manner that will cause them to be listed in the desired track order when listed alphabetically, such as 01.wav, 02.wav, 03.wav, etc.
  3. Change into the directory containing the wave files and make sure there are not any wave files you do not want included in the CD.
  4. With a blank CD in your burner, issue the following command:

    cdrecord -v -pad speed=1 dev=0,0,0 -dao -audio -swab *.wav

    Again, you may need to adjust your dev parameter as mentioned earlier.

Writing an ISO to a CD-ROM using cdrecord

Assuming that all you want to do is create a CD based on the ISO 9660 file system standard, you can quickly burn the CD using the following command:

cdrecord -v dev=2,0,0 speed=16 -data /home/ubuntu.iso

src.iso is the source filename of the ISO you are burning to the CD-ROM.

This entry was posted in burning and converting.