How to backup a Hard disk to an image file using dd command

There are many backup solution out there such as Clonezilla and Redo Backup. Those two backup are awesome. They were built using Linux that were modified for Backup and Restore purposes. But actually, there is a simpler way to backup a hard disk, partition or even CDROM using dd command. dd does not have GUI and its only use command line only. But, dd is simpler and faster compared to those two backup applications. 

Here I want to show you how to create a hard disk image using dd command. With this image, we can then copy or move it to off site for security if you want to. OK lets get started. Here is the idea:

I have a hard disk which is known as /dev/sda. I will create an image of my hard disk using dd command. Open Terminal and check the disk or partitions on your computer. Use fdisk -l command.

sudo fdisk -l

And the command will returned the disks and partitions you have

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000a9ecd

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *        2048      206847      102400    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2          206848   204802047   102297600    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3       204802048   591883106   193540529+   7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda4       591884286   976771071   192443393    5  Extended
Partition 4 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/sda5       965029888   976771071     5870592   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6       591884288   965029887   186572800   83  Linux

The bold item is my hard disk. Its /dev/sda. Now I want to make image of that disk to an image file name: backup.img and stored in my home directory

dd if=/dev/sda of=~/backup.img

How to install VirtualBox on Deepin Linux 2013

This tutorial is going to show you how to install the latest version of VirtualBox on Linux Deepin 2013. VirtualBox is a virtualization application which lets us to run multiple operating system on a single host. Oracle VirtualBox is available for Ubuntu based Linux such as Deepin Linux via apt. So we can easily update to the latest version in the future. 

To install Oracle VirtualBox on Deepin Linux 2013, please follow these steps:

A. Add Oracle Virtualbox repository to Deepin Linux 2013.

Open Terminal and edit the sources.list file. 

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

Download Genymotion 2.1.1 for Ubuntu Linux

Genymotion is a special application that can be used to install and run Android OS on Linux Operating System. Using Genymotion, you will have Android run on your Ubuntu Linux. Here you can download the binary package of Genymotion for Ubuntu Linux. You can install Genymotion and then install Android on it. Its pretty simple. 

Download Genymotion 2.1.1 for Ubuntu Linux:

• Linux 32 bit
• Linux 64 bit

How to SSH Login without password on Ubuntu Server 13.10

SSH offers a secure connection to a remote server. But sometimes we need to login to remote server via SSH that does not ask for password. This task will be useful when we want to backup remote server via SSH using rsnapshot. So, on this tutorial, I am going to show you how to login to remote server via SSH without password. 

On this tutorial I am using two computer. The first one, local computer, called dhani-ubuntu (192.168.2.103) and the remote server called ubuntu-server (192.168.2.109). 

First, open Terminal and we need to generate public and private key using ssh-keygen. 

dhani@dhani-ubuntu:~$ ssh-keygen
Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/home/dhani/.ssh/id_rsa):
/home/dhani/.ssh/id_rsa already exists.
Overwrite (y/n)? y
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
Enter same passphrase again:
Your identification has been saved in /home/dhani/.ssh/id_rsa.
Your public key has been saved in /home/dhani/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.
The key fingerprint is:
61:6f:6e:5b:9c:c9:66:56:01:0d:44:0f:13:d1:67:e8 dhani@dhani-ubuntu
The key's randomart image is:
+--[ RSA 2048]----+
|           oX* . |
|             =+ o|
|        o    .oo |
|       . o    E. |
|        S o   .  |
|         o o +   |
|          o X    |
|         . *     |
|          .      |
+-----------------+

When you enter ssh-keygen command you will be asked to enter the passphrase. Since we want to login without password, do not enter any passphrase here. Simply press the Enter button twice and you will be done. 

How to backup local data to external drive using rsnapshot on Ubuntu Server 13.10

On my previous post, we've learned how to install rsnapshot on Ubuntu Server 13.10. Now, we will continue the tutorial to create a backup plan to an external drive in daily base using rsnapshot. This backup will be executed daily (once a day).

In this example I want to backup my local directory in /share and I want to save the data in my external drive which is mounted under /mnt/backup

First, make sure the external drive is mounted on the mount directory (/mnt/backup). 

sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/backup

Next we need to edit rsnapshot configuration file

sudo /etc/rsnapshot.conf

Now we need to edit some lines in the configuration file. First, specify the snapshot_root directory. This directory will be used to store all the backup. So, we need to change this to our mounted directory.

snapshot_root   /mnt/backup/

Next, we need to edit the backup interval. Since we want to backup in daily base only, we need to disable all other backup interval. See my example below.

#retain         hourly  6
retain          daily   7
#retain         weekly  4
#retain monthly 3

Install rsnapshot on Ubuntu Server 13.10

Rsnapshot is a powerful backup tool on Linux. It does not have graphical interface but basically its pretty easy to use and configure. First on this tutorial I will show you how to install rsnapshot on Ubuntu Server 13.10. This is the first step for the next tutorial of rsnapshot. 

To install rsnapshot on Ubuntu 13.10, simply use the following command

sudo apt-get install rsnapshot

Once finished, you can start using rsnapshot to backup your files locally or remotely. I will provide the next step of configuring rsnapshot on the next couple posts. 

How to install OwnCloud client on Ubuntu 13.10

OwnCloud is a new way to store and share our files online. Its more like Dropbox service. But, OwnCloud allows us to set up our own server and store our files to the server. The server can be in a local network or even in the internet cloud. On this tutorial I am going to show you how to install OwnCloud client on Ubuntu 13.10. OwnClound Client is the front end that is used by OwnCloud users to upload and download their files from/to the server.

How to install Infinity Conky on Ubuntu 13.10 with transparent background

I was impressed with this Infinity Conky. It looks awesome to me. If you like this too, this tutorial will guide you how to do it. 

First of all, we need to install Conky first. In Ubuntu Terminal, type this command to install Conky

sudo apt-get install conky conky-all
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:noobslab/noobslab-conky
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install infinity-conky

Infinity Conky on my Ubuntu 13.10 screenshot

Thanks to Noobslab with their tutorial on how to install and configure Conky on Ubuntu. I just installed Conky and add Infinity conky on my Ubuntu 13.10. Its an awesome conky style. Here is my Ubuntu 13.10 looks like

Infinity Conky has awesome design. It comes with a transparent background. The clock, WiFi and Disk status shown nicely on my desktop. Next time will post how to install this. 

How to install Vuze Torrent Client on Ubuntu 13.10

Vuze is a powerful, rich features torrent client for Linux and Windows. Compared to Transmission, Vuze has many benefits such as built in HD video player plugin and some other features. Vuze needs Java JRE to be installed on Ubuntu to work. So, before you attempting to install Vuze on Ubuntu 13.10, make sure you have installed Oracle Java (JRE) on Ubuntu 13.10.

CMatrix-text flowing animation on Terminal How to install on Ubuntu Server

Do you remember the Matrix movie? It has a nice green text flowing animation. Now you can have the same animation on your Ubuntu Terminal. Simply install a package called cmatrix. Cmatrix will show a nice text animation on your Terminal. Even Ubuntu Server edition can do this. 

To install cmatrix, simply use the following command

sudo apt-get install cmatrix

Once finished, you can start using it by invoking this command on Terminal

cmatrix

Now you will have a nice text animation looks like Matrix the movie. 

Why I cannot open Facebook page from my Ubuntu machine?

I still wondering why I cannot open or login to my Facebook account from my Ubuntu laptop? I tried to use both Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. Both browsers are the latest version. But still got no luck to open Facebook. There is no error message at all.

I am sure my internet connection works well. I can open any other website easily. If the problem is in the secure connection (https), why I still can open my Gmail account which also uses https? 

Any idea? 

Install and configure Samba on Ubuntu 13.10

This tutorial is going to show you how to install and configure Samba on Ubuntu 13.10. Samba is a Linux tool which help us to enable file sharing on Linux system with other environment such as Windows. We need to install and configure Samba in order to share a folder under Ubuntu and accessible from other computer. 

First, we need to install Samba. Open Terminal and type this command to install Samba

sudo apt-get install samba

Now we need to configure the smb.conf file before we can share a folder.

sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

Now find and uncomment the following items on the smb.conf. Simply delete the # symbol close to it. 

#security = user

So it will look like this

security = user

My Mac style Ubuntu 13.10 screenshots

I just turned my Ubuntu 13.10 looks into something like Mac OS X have. Its not perfect but I am pretty satisfied and comfortable with all this. Thanks to Noobslab team which provided all icons and Mac theme for Ubuntu. Here are some screenshots of my Mac Style Ubuntu 13.10.

My Ubuntu 13.10 desktop equipped with Mac theme and Docky

My Rhytmbox 

How to play MP3 on Ubuntu 13.10

By default, Ubuntu 13.10 cannot play MP3 audio files. We need extra packages installed in order to play MP3 and some other multimedia files. But don't worry, as long as you have a working internet connection, this problem can be solved in matter of seconds. 

All we need is to install ubuntu-restricted-extras package. This package will include all the packages needed to play multimedia files including a flash plugin support. To install ubuntu-restricted-extras simply execute this command on Terminal

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

Once finished, you will be able to play MP3 and YouTube videos using your web browser. 

Download Mac Wallpaper and Mac theme for Firefox

Its been a while from my last post on this blog. Now I am back to write on this blog again. Here I want to share some nice Mac Wallpaper collections and also a Mac theme for Mozilla Firefox. Mac theme and wallpapers are awesome and my next goal is to write a complete tutorial how to make your Ubuntu looks like Mac OS X. 

First, this Mac wallpapers could be a good stuff.