[Tips] Recovery from USB Flashdisk

Guys,
If you having trouble to get Acer Aspire One (AAO) up and running during recovery process from USB flashdisk, try these tips I learned from experience.
I play alot with Linpus Linux inside my AOA-110 netbook, so things happened and I must reinstall Linpus, many times

if else failed to bring your AAO back, try:

1. Make sure the USB flash disk is at least 2 GB in size.
2. format the USB device first on your other computer, using FAT32 file system.

run the Acer Recovery DVD in that computer , to make your USB flashdisk bootable in the AAO.

3. if it failed to boot on AAO (blinking underscore sign, or, any error message during copy process from USB flashdisk to AAO)
try to switch from one USB port to two others. This usualy does the trick


I was using generic SD card 4 GB (USD. 9) and generic USB multi-card-reader (USD 4.), first time it runs smoothly, the second recovery process it causes eternal undescore sign blinking on AAO boot up screen, I then re-format the SD card using FAT 32.....running smoothly past AAO's boot up and recovery choices screen, but failed and freezes during file transfer to AAO (11 minutes ...and 4 minutes into the process, error mesaage and the progress indicator bar jumped to 100%). I then change the same SD card to another USB port, right away, no nagging - no problemo - run smooth till finished recovering, my AAO alive and well now

It seems the whole system is sensitive to voltage stability and byte read error during physical transfer of data from memory card to other memory card ie. USB flashdisk to AAO's SSD.

-snipey

 

I learned that you have to unplug all other devices to get this to work properly!

 

Hi I have seriously messed up my friends Acer aspire one running linpus by some how deleting the chil processes for xfdesktop2 and the only answer I get to solve this problem is to use the recovery via usb but my friend has a lot of pictures from traveling he does not want to lose, will this recovery delete all the pictures? and if so is there a way to save them to a usb stick first?

Cheers

 

load ubuntu into a 1gig usb stick and run ubuntu from the stick bhut do not install it

 

Hi All I just wanted to share that I had to recover and it went successfully.
I had read many bad experiences so I followed this thread tip.
I also was able to use Puppy Linux on a 512MB stick to access the file systems - it has a geat GUI mounter.

Here is the description of the 8G stick I used for the recovery. It was initially VFAT32 and had been used to transfer s/w.

From lsusb:
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 0781:5151 SanDisk Corp. Cruzer Micro 256/512MB Flash Drive

and from dmesg:
usb-storage: device scan complete
scsi 5:0:0:0: Direct-Access SanDisk Cruzer Micro 8.01 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS

[user@localhost ~]$ df -h /media/USBINSTALL/
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sdb1 7.4G 959M 6.1G 14% /media/USBINSTALL
[user@localhost ~]$

and mount
/dev/sdb1 on /media/USBINSTALL type ext2 (rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=hal)

The Acer guide directs you to boot a different PC using the supplied CD. I also placed the empty stick in a USB port.
the whole preparation took 11 minutes on a 3.2GHz em64T. I then used the stick to boot the AAO (F2 to change boot
sequence). The AAO went on to install the (1.0.9E) Linpus OS and put me back to the OutOfBox condition in about
25 minutes.

Of course then I had to spend several hours to bring the system back to the point before I broke it with v4l.

Just hoping to re-assure any nervous linuxees that recovery is not always painful as other posters report.
Dr. Skids.

 

USB Flashdisk Recovery Format

Can someone explain the AA1BACKUP USB format to me?

I made the backup/restore USB flashdrive from my AOA running linpus. My understanding is that the Unetbootin process reformats the USB Flashdrive to a unix format and then I can't read the files under Win XP. (The USB Flashdrive is considered unformatted under Win XP.)

I would like to be able to read the files on the flashdrive under Win XP on my desktop in addition to being able to use the stick for a restore. (The idea of getting Unetbootin to use the FAT32 format instead of reformating to some linux format appeals to me.)

 

This is like the "Stone Age", I bought an Acer with Linux and suddenly it halts and stops, message: no bootable device.
After several tries I booted with the recovery disk on an ASUS laptop, followed some rudimentary instructions and copied some unknown software into a 4 Gb USB flashdisk.
Moving back to the Acer Aspire unit, booting up with the USB flashdisk, there are no available partitions to choose from. So I am back again several times on the ASUS to see if the copying into the USB was done correctly without any better result. The Acer Aspire is dead... and for my part so is the Linux software. What I cannot understand is how a serious company like Acer, who claims they are a world leader in computer technology send something like this into the marketplace???
No manual to help you out, no automatic form of recovery and the recovery disk software itself is unstable as all these threads here show.. :x

 

Hi,
Does someone know how to make an SD MCC Card (Kingston 2Gb) bootable? Or is it much better safer less time consuming to actually go and buy a lil usb stick, which I dont own at the mo? :mrgreen:
Thx in advance and best from sunny barcelona

 

The AA1BACKUP requires a FAT32/msdos formatted stick of about 50% or more of the drive its backing up. In other words, for the
8 GB SSD model A110L, you want at least a 4GB stick.

The SD slots on the AOA are not bootable, so it is not possible to back up to them. You have to do it to a bootable USB stick.

I did this several times with a 4GB stick, and it is very nice. First, on the AOA or on another PC, you download the aa1backup
installer. What you get from macles* is NOT the program, but an installer. You put aa1backup in your computer. Make it executable
and run it. It in turn will download the required files from the internet, and put them in your stick.

If you are running windows, the procedure is similar, but I have no use for windows, so I speak only for Linux.

You will notice that the backup software in your stick is 5 to 7 MB (not GB) in size. There are several folders created, one of them is
called "backup" and will hold your backup. This USB stick will be bootable. Once created, you plug it into your AOA and reboot.
At the flash screen, you will see a message on the bottom that says "Press F12 for boot options." Press F12, and you have to be quick
about it, or else try again. You have about a second or two, that's all.

Now the AOA gives you the choice of booting from the hard drive or the USB. Select USB and boot. If you did it correctly, you will
see a lot of screen activity as the mini-linux in the stick loads. At the conclusion, say one minute, it will come up with BACKUP program.
The screen has two options, BACKUP and RESTORE. Since you stick is blank at this point, select BACKUP, and the program will
take a snapshot of your hard drive, and write it as a series of 1GB files to your BACKUP folder in the stick. If you have 3.5 GB to back up,
you end up with 3 files of 1gig, and one file of half gig. Fair enough.

The process optimizes hard drive space; it compresses the data about 2:1. This is a bit-for-bit process, not file by file. So it is better to
sort of defrag your hard drive first by making all empty space all zeroes. Simple on Linux; sounds like for windows you have to pay for
some software, as usual. It is not essential, but if your drive has stuff all over it, you may need a full 8 gb stick, but if cleaned up first, a 4gb
should do it. I can attest to that. But, in any case, an 8 GB stick will of course always back up an 8 GB drive.

OK, now your hard drive is copied to the stick. The hard drive could have had Linux, Windows or both. Ubuntu, Limpus, Win XP, or even
SCO unix. It does not care because it copies bit-for-bit.

Now your HDD is backed up, and you pull the usb, reboot normally. Say in two weeks you bolix your computer. Perhaps you did something
stupid, or maybe replaced the HDD with a new, blank one. Matters not at all. Stick in the usb stick, boot usb via F12, and select RESTORE.
Now the USB reloads your hard drive. Everything in the hard drive gets overwritten and it comes up the way it was two weeks ago. Everything,
including your bookmarks, spelling mistakes, child porn, everything. Windows if it was windows, Linux if Linux, and both if both.

Now, here is one discovery I made.

I was at the cafe demonstrating this. Friend of mine had an 8GB stick in his pocket with some pictures taken from his camera and an XP
computer. In other words, HIS 8GB stick had pictures from an Olympus camera that had been massage in his XP machine. He said "I
already have those pictures in my computer, so its okay to overwrite them." I looked at the 8gb stick, and saw all sorts of folders, etc. and
there was no operating system on it, so it was not bootable at that time.

So I ran aa1backup etc. and put it on the stick. Did a BACKUP of my 8 GB SDD in my A110L. When done, I ran a dd command on a couple
directories and trashed my AOA. It would not boot. From bios would say "Error....". OK! Now, I put the stick in, rebooted, F2, and
did a RESTORE. Bingo! now came back to life on the next boot.

But now here is the intersting part: looking at the stick I could see the backup folder with the 1GB backup files, etc., but guess what? ALL
his pictures and XP stuff was there too! So, the AA1 Backup program does not format or trash your stick!! Theoretically then, you could
use a small USB hard drive to do the backup in, and still use it for other stuff provided there is enough space to take your backup!
Fant-f***ing-stastic! Everyone at the table was delighted.

To show I put my money where my mouth is, I ordered TWO 320GB USB toshiba drives (usb powered, no brick). I intend to not only
backup the AOA 150 I have (160 GB), but my big desktop too. Some caveats to follow:

1. If you have the expansion card in the AOA, as far as I know it will not back it up. It only backups the first hard drive. Limpus
understand the expansion (union fs), but the Slax in the usb stick does not. Still, I suggest you pull the SD card doing it.

2. The device you are backing up should have a SATA drive. Macles* advises that non-sata (like IDE or EIDE or SCSI) may not work.

3. I see no reason you cannot take the backup 1 GB files from your BACKUP folder and put them elsewhere leaving the folder empty,
and then you can take another backup, provided you have enough space in your stick or external usb drive to do this. I have not played
with this feature, there may be a gotcha or two there, but I am sure I can figure it out.

4. If you take a small 8 gb backup, and you try to restore to a larger drive, you may end up with a partition of 8 GB and the rest
unpartitioned. Be careful here. I am not sure what will happen, but I predict it will not work.

5. Windows XP will allow you to change the hard drive, but if you backup XP in one machine, and put it into a different machine, it
will load up, but ask you to call Microsoft for activation. Its the microsoft way, not the fault of this software.

6. You cannot extract files from the backup folder. If you have a file called "thesis.doc", it is there allright, but not as a file but as a
totally disconnected, stateless jumble of bits which come together when the drive is restored. You cannot do incremental file-by-file
backups. But, like I said, you COULD, given a large backup drive, store stuff there, just not on the backup folder. Name it something
else. This would be the case if your USB drive was 320GB and you are just backing up a puny 8 GB solid state drive in the AOA110L.

7. Lastly, and this is important. When you restore to a dead computer, its hard drive can be used, new, full, empty. Matters not. If,
on the other hand, you buy into a Microsoft backup solution, or numerous other Linux ones, you need first to INSTALL Windows (or
linux) into the target computer. A lot of people do Windows backups and are dismayed, when the drive fails and they replace it,
that their computer will not even boot from the new drive and cannot extract the backups. If you do not have Windows restore disks,
I wish you luck. But with aa1backup, none of this is an issue: you can restore to bare metal, Windows, Linux etc.

 

I am sure that my stick is formatted to a linux format since windows thinks it is not formatted (but I would like it to be a windows recognised format).

I like the multiple backup to USB drive idea. Does this mean you could do the backup then just rename the directory to backup090115 for say backup from 15 Jan 09, then just run backup to the drive again for the next backup?

 

The stick you use to backup should be msdos/FAT32 formatted. It can be done by Linux or Windows. When you buy
a brand new stick, it will come formatted that way.

I have found that sticks formatted Linux ext2 do not work. I did not delve too much into this. The aa1backup system
DOES NOT format the stick. Normally and msdos filesystem would lose file permissions etc (metadata) when copying
Linux files. BUT, the aa1backup program does not copy files. It takes a bit-for-bit image and compresses and writes it
the backup folder as a series of 1GB files (the last one, of course, will be under one GB). These "files" are not in any
particular filesystem, they are pictures ... 1 GB mosaics of your hard drive, and upon restore they write your partition
table, directories, inodes, filemetadata whatever so your linux ownerships and permissions come back from the dead.

As for multiple backups to a large USB drive, I believe so. The CURRENT folder is called "backup", and you can
copy this to "backup032909" and then use the backupfolder for some other backup. Etc. You will do this manually
at the command line, or through a file manager like Thunar or Nautilus. Be careful you don't goof up and lose your
backup.

My only fear is that there may be a file somewhere else that has a map of the backup, and is NOT in the backup folder.
I have not looked into it, but when my 320 gb drives get here I am going to play with it. They were ordered tonight
from Amazon, coming to Alaska by slow china tea clipper, so reckon 2 weeks. If you have an external USB drive
that can fit several backups, by all means play with my idea and bask in the honors if you confirm it, or make it work.

But, I suggest you take a Usb stick and do just the one backup, so if your restore from the large usb gets goofed, you
can at least get your system back up and live to fight another day.

Like I said, if I've seen nothing here when I get my 320's ($72 at Amazon, $63 for the 250's), I will play with this.

 

That is exactly what I need before recovery my linpus. I have a black screen and I have my files there. I have the AAO recovery DVD but before recovery it I want to get my files back.
Could one explain how to do that for someone how knows little about all these things?
Does Unetbootin is helpful here?

Thanks