[arch-general] blk_update_request: I/O error, dev sda

[Thore Bödecker]

On 31.05.21 22:10, Morten Bo Johansen via arch-general wrote:
> OK, I will heed your advice. Too bad, I just installed Arch a
> couple of months ago and I have set up a really nice system. Now,
> I have to go through it all again ;(

For a quick and dirty disaster-recovery backup you could try dumping
a list of your installed packages, rsync'ing /etc/ along with some
config files from your home directory to a flashdrive.

Otherwise I would encourage you to take a look at borg [1] for a
long-term backup solution with compression and deduplication and a
server-delta mode similar to rsync for improved performance on slower
links (if your backup storage is offsite).

You might also want to dump your partition table / lvm / btrfs layout
and bootloader entries/configs.

While the drive is not completely wrecked yet, you could use the
chance to gather as much as is possible. At least this would give some
sort of reference on "how did I do that last time?" things and ease +
speed up your install on the next drive.

Once you have done that, you could also try migrating your
installation from this drive if it is not dead once the new one
arrived.
Simply install the new one in the internal slot and use some sort of
external usb3.0<->sata adapter or enclosure.
Then boot archiso, partition + format + mount your new drive, mount
your old drive in a separate structure (e.g. /mnt2 as root) and then
rsync your data. I would suggest `rsync -phaxsPHAXS` for parameters
which has served me well for this kind of purpose, you need to repeat
that for each *filesystem* (due to -x which I strongly recommend
though) beneath the root (i.e. repeat for /boot, /home, ...).
Afterwards make sure to correct the filesystem UUIDs in your
/etc/fstab, reinstall the boot loader, correct the filesystem UUIDs in
your boot loader entries, unmount everything cleanly, reboot and
enjoy.

If you have further questions on this procedure, feel free to ask.

Cheers

[1] https://borgbackup.readthedocs.io/en/stable/

-- 
Thore "foxxx0" Bödecker

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