Backing up the /hack directory and all sub directories

gwgw45 · 12-03-2004, 04:46 PM

For some reason (probably dying HDD that I am planning to replace) I lost my hack directory completely. Is there anyway I can back it up for the future. Also, are there any other files or directiries I should back up?

Thanks all
G.

dommac2000 · 12-03-2004, 04:52 PM

Have a look at showthread.php?threadid=159558 (sorry can't post full URL)

gwgw45 · 12-03-2004, 04:59 PM

Thanks a lot Douggie, unfortunately I can't find the thread in question:-(

G.

dommac2000 · 12-03-2004, 05:01 PM

Try h t t p : / / w w w . tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?threadid=159558

scgf · 12-03-2004, 05:32 PM

What I do is use an ftp application to drag from the TiVo a copy of the /var/hack directory. I then store it on my Mac's hard drive.

Not sure how I would reinstate it if I lost network access to the TiVo though. At least I wouldn't lose all my hacks once I had restored net access.

gwgw45 · 12-03-2004, 06:40 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by dommac2000
Try h t t p : / / w w w . tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?threadid=159558

Thanks Dougie (notice just one g this time) :-)

gwgw45 · 12-03-2004, 06:41 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by scgf
What I do is use an ftp application to drag from the TiVo a copy of the /var/hack directory. I then store it on my Mac's hard drive.

Not sure how I would reinstate it if I lost network access to the TiVo though. At least I wouldn't lose all my hacks once I had restored net access.

What command line do you use for this?

Thanks
G.

gwgw45 · 12-03-2004, 06:43 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by scgf
What I do is use an ftp application to drag from the TiVo a copy of the /var/hack directory. I then store it on my Mac's hard drive.

Not sure how I would reinstate it if I lost network access to the TiVo though. At least I wouldn't lose all my hacks once I had restored net access.

Would you mind telling me what the command line was that you used?

Thanks
G

6022tivo · 12-03-2004, 06:53 PM

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb...hreadid=159558

Is the thread.

The problem with the FTP method you use to drag the hack folder to the PC is that you will lose all the permissions on the files if you restored them (the chmod thingies).

I have not got my method to hand, but I run the gzip command or what even, it creates a compressed file of the hack folder including the permissions, then I ftp it to my pc. If any problems, ftp the gzip file back then expand it, all permissions intact.

scgf · 12-04-2004, 04:50 AM

I hadn't thought of the permissions. I have just checked my backup and it looks like the permissions are intact - maybe because I use Mac OS X which is a Unix operating system.

So, if you don't use a Mac, ignore my advice!

gwgw45 - all I did was drag the /var/hack folder from the ftp gui window onto my Mac desktop.

Strange, isn't it, that the TiVo is essentially a Mac (at least in that it uses PPC architecture) and uses Unix, like the Mac, yet all the hacking we do has to be done on a PC using an alien architecture and using an Linux OS compiled for Intel. I suppose it has to do with the sheer numbers of PCs around.

gwgw45 · 12-04-2004, 05:34 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by 6022tivo
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb...hreadid=159558

Is the thread.

The problem with the FTP method you use to drag the hack folder to the PC is that you will lose all the permissions on the files if you restored them (the chmod thingies).

I have not got my method to hand, but I run the gzip command or what even, it creates a compressed file of the hack folder including the permissions, then I ftp it to my pc. If any problems, ftp the gzip file back then expand it, all permissions intact.

Thanks, whatn you say makes a lot os sense! If you were to come across your method I would be delighted to see it:-)

Cheers
GWGW45

6022tivo · 12-04-2004, 05:18 PM

TO BACKUP

tar -cvh hack | gzip > hack.tar.gz

from the /var directory..
This created a 2.5MB file in the var directory which I ftp'd to my PC.

Now if all fails I can ftp the file back to /var and then run

gzip -d hack.tar.gz
cpio -H tar -i < hack.tar

from the /var directory and all should be back to normal after a restart??

gwgw45 · 12-04-2004, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by 6022tivo
TO BACKUP

tar -cvh hack | gzip > hack.tar.gz

from the /var directory..
This created a 2.5MB file in the var directory which I ftp'd to my PC.

Now if all fails I can ftp the file back to /var and then run

gzip -d hack.tar.gz
cpio -H tar -i < hack.tar

from the /var directory and all should be back to normal after a restart??

Thank you so much, really, really appreciated!

GWGW45

ericd121 · 04-02-2005, 06:36 AM

I'm using
0 05 * * 1 tar -cvh hack | gzip > hack.tar.gz
in my TiVos' crontabs (to back up the hack dir) and checking today, I've found the hack.tar.gz file, dated last Monday, is empty on both TiVos.

I haven't a clue what's happening; does anyone else?

crontab is in /var/hack/etc and is running the delmanual command without a hitch.

Is this one of those Read Only - Permissions - type things?

[Edit]
I just ran the command manually, and it does appear the TiVo need to be set to Read/Write

[Double Edit]
It appears I was looking in the wrong dir...
The file is present and correct in the /var dir and not in the /var/hack dir which was the one being backed up...

6022tivo · 04-02-2005, 01:16 PM

Hello

I hadn't thought of adding it to cron..

I back it up in case the var directory is cleared, like tivo does when having a paddy. But I ftp it to the pc as the backup file would be deleted also when var is cleared.

Can the backup file be saved to anywhere, or are all the other locations read only??

Can it be backed up via cron to a PC?? Shared drive etc??.

bobones · 04-02-2005, 02:17 PM

You could create a scheduled job under windows (control panel) that downloads the backup file using ftp. For example:

c:\backup\tivobak.bat

Code:

ftp -s:tivo.ftp tivo

c:\backup\tivo.ftp

Code:

bin
cd /var
get tivobak.tgz

6022tivo · 04-02-2005, 02:41 PM

Fantastic......

Now have edited cron to include the backup, have used your time Eric of 0 05 * * 1
Is this 5 past midnight every Monday????? if not please let me know and I will change it?

Also have a script running everytime my PC boots to backup data folders to a network standalone hard drive, have just added what you said bobbones, cheers.

Had to alter the ftp script and added a couple of blank lines as it requires you to press enter twice to bypass the login password that is not needed, also added QUIT at the end to release back to the bat file.

Thanks again, now a happier bunny, cheers Phil.

CarlWalters · 04-03-2005, 06:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobones

You could create a scheduled job under windows (control panel) that downloads the backup file using ftp. For example:

c:\backup\tivobak.bat

Code:

ftp -s:tivo.ftp tivo

c:\backup\tivo.ftp

Code:

bin
cd /var
get tivobak.tgz

Excellent

I've now done this so that I should have an automated backup of /var/hack once per week. I had to download tar from
here and I made a couple of changes to the two script files. First to supress the ftp login and then to quit at the end so my files look like

Code:

@echo off  
rem file to get the TiVo /var/hack backup file which is /var/hack.tar.gz  
rem /var/hack.tar.gz is created automatically once per week (on Monday)
rem using the cron crontab entry  
rem # m  h dom mon dow command  
rem 0 05 * * 1 tar -cvh /var/hack | gzip > /var/hack.tar.gz&  
ftp -n -s:tivo.ftp tivo

Code:

bin
cd /var
get hack.tar.gz
quit

Restorer · 04-03-2005, 08:00 AM

Can someone please tell me what is tar, where can I get it and which directory does it go in? When I try to run 6022's command line (tar -cvh hack | gzip > hack.tar.gz) I get "tar:command not found" although it does create an (empty) hack.tar.gz file.

dommac2000 · 04-03-2005, 11:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Restorer

Can someone please tell me what is tar, where can I get it and which directory does it go in? When I try to run 6022's command line (tar -cvh hack | gzip > hack.tar.gz) I get "tar:command not found" although it does create an (empty) hack.tar.gz file.

Tar is an archiver. CarlWalters posted the link in the previous post - http://tivo.samba.org/download/mbm/bin/

The tar program should go somewhere in your path (usually /var/hack/bin) and made executable.

Restorer · 04-03-2005, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dommac2000

CarlWalters posted the link in the previous post - http://tivo.samba.org/download/mbm/bin/

Ah, missed that. Thanks for the gen. Working fine. Now I gotta find out about this cron thing.

lcsneil · 04-03-2005, 02:25 PM

Well I tried all that and when I ran

tar -cvh hack | gzip > hack.tar.gz

It reports back segmentation fault and terminates. (Also says that if I dont put any parameters either).

Anyone any ideas (have set tar permission to 755 btw)

Neil

6022tivo · 04-03-2005, 03:27 PM

Are you running it from the var directory and have you called your hack directory hack??

Permissions probably have to be set.

lcsneil · 04-03-2005, 03:38 PM

Running it from var directory

I do indeed have a directory called /var/hack - which runs loads of stuff and the TAR in var/hack/bin is set to permissions 755

(for info var/hack is set to 755 as well)

Neil

ericd121 · 04-04-2005, 06:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 6022tivo

Now have edited cron to include the backup, have used your time Eric of 0 05 * * 1
Is this 5 past midnight every Monday????? if not please let me know and I will change it?

Close, it's 5:00am every Monday.

5 past midnight would be
05 0 * * 1

I put this comment in crontab to remind me.

# m h dom mon dow command
# m=minute h=hour dom=dayofmonth mon=month dow=dayofweek
# dayofweek is the day number of the week where
# 0 (or 7) are Sunday, 1 Monday, 5 is Friday, 6 Saturday.

6022tivo · 04-04-2005, 07:34 AM

Fantastic advice eric, I will add this into my crontab file.

I am glad I rewrote a module for tivoweb so I could easily edit the crontab file and save it with the browser. So have added..

I will also post the link below which makes it wasy to create the values for the kick off times..

http://www.clockwatchers.com/cron_tool.html

ericd121 · 04-04-2005, 04:20 PM

To Carl (or anyone else willing to answer) A couple of questions.

Question 1

I see from your comment
rem 0 05 * * 1 tar -cvh /var/hack | gzip > /var/hack.tar.gz&
that you have backgrounded the backup.

Is this necessary (he asked, not really sure what backgrounding is, or does

)?

Question 2

I have two TiVos (lucky me

).

Do you think I should set up two Windows Scheduled Tasks, or one with this adaption of your code

Code:

@echo off  
ftp -n -s:tivo.ftp tivo1
ftp -n -s:tivo.ftp tivo2

Code:

bin
cd /var
get hack.tar.gz
quit

Ooh! I thought of a third question.

Question 3

Where does hack.tar.gz end up on the PC?

6022tivo · 04-04-2005, 04:26 PM

Re Q1, Same as you fella??. Backgrounding??

Maybe someone will pop along and answer..

Q2 The one should be ok..
"I have two TiVos" ohhhh get you!!

Q3 Ends up in the same directory as the FTP script.

misterbleepy · 04-04-2005, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 6022tivo

Q3 Ends up in the same directory as the FTP script.

You could use:

lcd <desired pc directory name>

to change to a different directory on the PC before downloading the file
(lcd=local change directory)

lcsneil · 04-05-2005, 01:47 PM

No one have any ideas why I get Segmentation fault then??

Neil