So long as your compiling a list of things to overcome to restore a MS Windows box you need to add the following:
You'd have to have an (exact?) copy of the original hardware onto which you wish to restore. I try to stay away from Windows so am no expert, but I believe that the OEMs are the ones that put the hardware drivers onto the box. Trying to restore one MS Windows system onto different hardware results in a system that won't run on the new hardware. On 04/11/2014 07:24:15 PM, L. A. Walsh wrote: > Kevin Korb wrote: > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 > > > > I come from the Linux world. If one of my computers were to simply > > evaporate into nothingness or have complete storage failure then > once > > the hardware problem is dealt with I would network boot > SystemRescueCD > > then restore my backups that I made with rsync. > > > > I understand that things are more complicated in Windows but if say > my > > laptop (it is the only computer I have that both boots and stores > > Windows) were similarly destroyed or blanked I would still network > > boot SystemRescueCD and restore my backups that I made with > ntfsclone. > > > > My hesitation with backing up a Windows system with rsync is that > > I have absolutely no idea to go from "I have a blank computer and > > a copy of all my files" to "I have a working computer with all my > > stuff". I might be asking for something as simple as "Install > > Windows, install Acrosync, restore everything including the Windows > > configuration from backups" or maybe some kind of rescue disc or > maybe > > some kind of custom WinPE disc. I don't know. I know just enough > > about Windows to figure out how to use what I know from Linux to > make > > things sorta work. > --- > I wouldn't suggest trying to restore windows w/rsync. It might be > possible, but first issue is that whatever media you rsync things to, > needs to support full NT security and be able to create arbitrary > users/acl's to fully replicate the source. > > Second issue is that MS deliberately uses things the location of > something on the disk as a "security option". I don't know what > software uses it, but I remember discussion about "media licenses" > (โ๐๐๐๐ก๐๐๐กโ) using the feature to prohibit any "copy" of them from > working: > only the original in its original 'licensed' location would work. > The > whole way NTFS is designs it's locking of files is very unlike how > it's > done on linux/unix. When it locks a file, it isn't, like in linux, > at > the inode level+offset; it's at a physical location on the disk that > gets locked... it's really primitive, (and is why one needs to often > reboot a system to replace binaries -- because the bytes on the disk > ARE > the file and they are locked -- vs. on linux, usually you have an > inode > that points to sectors where the file is, and by changing where the > inode points, you can change the content. > > That said, my primary concern would be the first issue (for me, not > using licensed content on windows, I've not run into the problem, so > that's mostly from memory about how it was implemented. VERY often, > when doing copies with rsync or cp -a from one sys to another, I'll > find > permissions or such won't get transferred "quite" the same way. > > I have used rsync from/to the same disk to restore & repair a broken > windows install -- the part that has problems is storing the extended > stuff and ACL's on a foreign media. > > (Also have to make sure on restore that rsync has all needed > rights&privileges. Cygwin takes care of alot of that -- removing > a file or such that in the windows command line, you'd have a pretty > hard time doing... or setting permissions on all the files in the > windows/system32 dir despite not "owning them" - under the posix > model, > ownership doesn't matter for 'root'.. so cygwin tries to emulate that > as > much as possible -- probably why I've seen cygwin listed as a > "security > hacking tool"...;-) (really!, letting a user control their own > system, > how absurd!).. > > > > -- > Please use reply-all for most replies to avoid omitting the mailing > list. > To unsubscribe or change options: https://lists.samba.org/mailman/ > listinfo/rsync > Before posting, read: http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart- > questions.html Karl <[email protected]> Free Software: "You don't pay back, you pay forward." -- Robert A. Heinlein -- Please use reply-all for most replies to avoid omitting the mailing list. To unsubscribe or change options: https://lists.samba.org/mailman/listinfo/rsync Before posting, read: http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
