[CentOS] bare-metal backup before update--options?

[Mike Burger]

Hi, Fred,

On 2019-02-11 10:04, Fred Smith wrote:
> Hi all!
> 
> I'm a "nervous nellie", I have not yet updated my 7.5 desktop to 7.6
> because (1) it has an Nvidia card, and (2) I've heard of problems
> upgrading on top of software RAID (using RAID1 with 2 drives).
> 
> I need to upgrade it to stay secure, and I want to do a bare-metal 
> backup
> first (so I can put it all back as it now is, in case it explodes in my
> face), so I'm trying to figure out the safest way to do that. Here are
> the choices as I see them, I'd appreciate comments/thoughts:
> 
> 1. boot from live DVD and manually reassemble the RAID array (how
> would I do that?)
> 2. degrade the array (with appropriate commands) so that it is running
> on just one drive, then boot a live DVD and use dd to back up that 
> drive.
> 3. Other choices you can suggest?
> 
> then after successfully getting a bare-metal backup, reboot it with the
> full RAID array and run the update.
> 
> Thanks in advance!

I've been a big fan of Mondo Rescue. http://www.mondorescue.org/

-- 
Mike Burger
http://www.bubbanfriends.org

"It's always suicide-mission this, save-the-planet that. No one ever 
just stops by to say 'hi' anymore." --Colonel Jack O'Neill, SG1