Single Puppy Copy-OS

[N97]

An ORIGINAL version 1st shutdown has occured, generating a save-file.
Format a new stick with a 64Mb fat32 boot partition, right-click on this partition, marking 'manage flags' as boot.
The second partition is a 4Gb ext3 OS partition.
Leave a small buffer of 2Mb before & after each partition.

The boot partition is a COPY of Folders boot & EFI, files grldr, grub.cfg, initrd.gz, and vmlinuz. (include 'isolinux' files if they exist)
The OS partition contains a COPY of fdrv, zdrv, and other'drv' files, fsckme.flg*, the puppy sfs, splash.png, and the save-file.
*-fsckme.flg needs edit to point to the 2nd partition and filesystem (example: sda2,ext3,/vpup64save-N97.3fs)
You can then put all your personal stuff in a 3rd partition. (usually ext3 for linux) A 32Gb Stick or chip is about 25Gb.
Test the new stick with a shutdown, remove original stick. insert new stick, and boot up.

Now for a neat twist...
Once you have this done you can keep a copy of these partitions in a sepate folder in a different usb stick/micro sd chip.
Since the 'new stick' above is the actual 'remaster' copy, this can be used to make a backup COPY.

A master folder 'OScopy' is made. Inside are 2 folders.
One folder is LOAD that has the stuff in the 1st (boot) partition
2nd folder is PUP that contains all the stuff in the 2nd partition (OS), including the save file.
A reminder to delete the save folder in PUP, and COPY from the existing puppy occasionally, keeping everything up to date.

So, the new stick, and COPY are in fact a remaster of the original puppy. Your tweaks are the remaster preserved in these copies.
And they're portable.

N97 aka 8Geee

[bigpup]

NOT have a plain BOOT flag, instead 'BOOT,esf'.

Should be boot, esp

The flag boot is for old legacy bios and esp is for UEFI bios.

Never had an issue, with both boot flags, on the boot partition.

Both tell the bios boot process, that this is the location of the boot loader, to use, for continuing the boot process.

[N97]

original post editted and cleaned up. Thanks bigpup.

[JusGellin]

@N97
This is fantastic!

Interestingly I was just starting to do a similar thing for backups for my laptops.
So it makes me want to compare with how you did it.

I was doing this for KLV_vmHost_rc4 which is a virt-manager host and having a BookwormPup64_10.0.10_nkb as an installed virtual machine.
Like you I made a backup folder and on mine I placed folders called P1 and P2 for the partitions.

All I had to do was copy the laptops' boot partition to P1 and the root partition to P2.
I tested using the backups to reinstall and they work fine.

I have a couple of questions for how you did yours.

Leave a small buffer of 2Mb before & after each partition

Why did you do this?

Now for a neat twist...
Once you have this done you can keep a copy of these partitions in a separate folder in a different usb stick/micro sd chip.
Since the 'new stick' above is the actual 'remaster' copy, this can be used to make a backup COPY.

What was your reasoning to make a copy of the original on another bootable USB stick first before making the backup COPY?
I directly made the backup copy from the internal drive on the laptop.

When copying to a new USB stick,

*-fsckme.flg needs edit to point to the 2nd partition and filesystem (example: sda2,ext3,/vpup64save-N97.3fs)

Doing it this way, does that replace correcting grub.cfg to point to the USB stick?

I think these ways are good for backing up.

Thanks

[N97]

Most file systems do not allow mashing together the partitions... in fact Gparted by default puts a 1Mb buffer before the first partition. Long ago Windows established the buffer between partitions in case of slight overflow (less than 512 bytes) Recommended was/is 2Mb before/after the partitions. Lets call it a good habit.

The First copy is proof that the system is copied correctly. When done making the partition copies, the Original is shtdown and the copy is booted . Successful copy boots, errors do not.
The 2nd copy is made as an off-stick copy in case of stick fail or partial fail. The 3rd partition in the first copy, can house the folders as explained for ease of updating. BUT that 2nd copy needs the update JIC of OS/Stick fail.

If fsckme.flg (a flag file) points to the wrong place, the OS partition and save-file will not be found. This is THE boot-up file system check, and journaled data might be recalled, thus preserving the integrity of the OS. The file system must match the partition file system for the same reason. And the exact path to the save file is also needed. NOTE THE COMMAS WITHOUT SPACES.

Finally, that last question depends upn which grub, and what version. In VoidPuppy64, it does not, Grub looks at the 1st partition, fsckme looks at the 2nd partition.

Thanks for asking
N97