Rsync Heaven

In the last month I have had to rescue some pc data from family members computers. The PCs would not boot - they would die at the login screen. I grabbed my version of lavalite which I loaded onto a usb using UNETBOOTIN and voila - had a desktop where I could mount their NTFS drive, my external TB usb drive.

Once I mounted the drives all with clicks in xfce, I jumped to a command prompt and began to rsync the data they had under 'Document and Settings'

They had tons of photos, some home movies they ripped from their camcorder and lots and lots of ipod stuff. Total 68 GB.

Well Rsync worked like a champ: here is the command I ran
rsync -arvgzi --bwlimit=4096 --delete --itemize-changes "/media/HD/Document and Settings" /media/LACIE/backup/ > /home/ubuntu/rsync.txt

This command backed up all the files under Document and Settings and replicated them on my removable USB drive under a sub folder called backup and then it logged the files it backed up to a log file in my livecd ubuntu home folder.

I set the command to run at a bandwdith limit of 4096, which was about 4MB a sec, so I could also use Firefox and use their internet while the backup ran in the background.

After about half an hour, one of the kids needed to use the pc for homework so I showed her where her .DOCs were and she opened her assignment in OpenOffice and began to update it. After an hour the rsync was still going and she finished her assignment. She opened firefox and began to email herself the updated file so she could print it out at school.

After she finished, she asked me how she would chat. I showed her Pidgin and off she went, added her account and begain chatting. In between, she opened another instance of firefox and went to myspace and facebook and was there running off the livecd for another hour or so.

Once I had their data and she gave me back the keyboard I ran it thru CLAMAV and then restarted their pc and began reluctantly to install Windows XP Home Edition. After talking to the parents and her other sister, they had alot of video games that I was not sure would run under linux.

If anything this experience made me realize that even this 5th grader could get work and have fun on linux without windows. She realized everything looked different but she was able to learn how to bold, underline, click here, click there and got her work done and found time to have fun all off a live usb linux boot. Amazing.

They are now back on Windows XP Home Edition. They do not have their original install cds that came with the PC so I installed with an OEM disc and entered their key and activated Windows. Unfortunately they had Office 2003 which was preinstalled on the pc and now they can not find the software so I loaded OpenOffice and they were fine with that. I think it helped that the 5th grader was able to use it previously when she was using my livecd. They also had a bundled NERO install - again they did not have any of their original software so I loaded a fresh new install of InfraRecorder and they found it easier and faster than nero. I added 7 Zip for their compressing needs, I added defraggler and setup defrag schedules. I also added VLC and set it up to be their default player. Threw in firefox and added some extensions: Tab Mix Plus, Adblock Plus, Google Preview, URL Text. Added Foxit for PDF reading, Unlocker for unlocking files, and Antivir for Antivirus protection.

So in the end, they have their pc back with a Microsoft OS but they lost all of their bundled purchased software. It's funny cause they commented on how much faster the computer felt and I completely think it is cause all the apps they have on their system now run lighter and faster and they are free.

Although I could not convert them to Linux, I think I made them very aware of the value of free software which I think is a step in the right direction.