Restoring from image backup, how to refresh home folder

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BlackVeils

Restoring from image backup, how to refresh home folder

Post by BlackVeils »

i didnt want to post this in the serious support section, and waste poeple's time. i have merely been wondering how people deal with their systems being restored from a clone/image.

i have thought plenty and searched lots, i cant figure out how i would have a clean home folder to put my backup files into, if i ever needed to do this from an old clone/image.

the best i can think, if its even possible, is to go into recovery mode to manually delete Documents, Pictures etc, and certain program settings. but obviously lots wont be deleted. also i have an encrypted home.
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Ark987

Re: Restoring from image backup, how to refresh home folder

Post by Ark987 »

I have no idea about encrypted partitions, but usually I will do either:

As you mention, going from the terminal and remove unwanted settings folder. You can simply press CTRL+ALT+F1 from the login manager to get a text console login with the user account and do one 'mkdir' and a couple of 'mv'

Or rename your previous home folder into something else and let the system create a clean home folder for you, then you have to manually copy the data that you need from the renamed folder.
BlackVeils

Re: Restoring from image backup, how to refresh home folder

Post by BlackVeils »

its not a home partition.

I thought about that, but from what I've read, the home folder can't regenerate properly (?)

Edit:
i wouldnt be able to login as me, because i wouldnt want online storage services to run, but would need to login as me to unlock encrypted files.

if i login with Ctrl+Alt+F1, as me, would online storage services like Dropbox and SpiderOak run? if they would do nothing, then i think thats all which would be an issue, i could sort the rest from terminal login.
Ark987

Re: Restoring from image backup, how to refresh home folder

Post by Ark987 »

BlackVeils wrote:its not a home partition.

I thought about that, but from what I've read, the home folder can't regenerate properly (?)
It could happen, but as long as you deal with it from a live CD you could workaround this very easy by creating a sub-folder inside of your home folder and then move everything inside.

Please notice that I'm not considering anything about encryption, I've read that you need to keep the file .encfs6.xml if you use EncFS for example.
Also your PGP keys could be stored somewhere in within your sub-folder in your home directory


So you could have something like:

/home/myname/backup -> Old files goes in here including hidden ones (.filename)
/home/myname -> should contain only the ./backup and nothing else
BlackVeils wrote: Edit:
i wouldnt be able to login as me, because i wouldnt want online storage services to run, but would need to login as me to unlock encrypted files.

if i login with Ctrl+Alt+F1, as me, would online storage services like Dropbox and SpiderOak run? if they would do nothing, then i think thats all which would be an issue, i could sort the rest from terminal login.
It depends, if they are GUI programs they won't be executed if you login with Ctrl+Alt+F1. But if they are true services (linux daemons) most likely they will be already running even before you login.
BlackVeils

Re: Restoring from image backup, how to refresh home folder

Post by BlackVeils »

they are launched from /home/username/.config/autostart. just a regular startup program which can be added using the GUI as regular user.
Ark987

Re: Restoring from image backup, how to refresh home folder

Post by Ark987 »

BlackVeils wrote:they are launched from /home/username/.config/autostart. just a regular startup program which can be added using the GUI as regular user.
Then they won't get executed login from Ctrl+Alt+F1, the only thing that gets executed login from console is ~/.bashrc and/or ~/.bash_profile
http://www.joshstaiger.org/archives/200 ... le_vs.html

Basically you cannot execute any GUI application from a console like Ctrl+Alt+F1 because there is no X server running there.
BlackVeils

Post by BlackVeils »

that's what I was wondering just today.

thanks, this has been bothering me for a while.

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