[mythtv-users] Restore backup?

[Daryl McDonald]

Yes, I'm a total newb, and yes I have been reading the other thread,
and if I understand correctly, I'm probably OK the way I am now, and
I'll be even better if I sync the db backup file with Ubuntu one.
would running "mythconverge_backup.pl --verbose" be an" in terminal
exercise" only that would verify a good backup without restoring
(assuming a 0 error report)? Thanks to all for the input, Daryl

On Mon, Jan 6, 2014 at 4:26 PM, Jay Ashworth <jra at baylink.com> wrote:
> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "faginbagin" <mythtv at hbuus.com>
>
>> >> On Sun, Jan 5, 2014 at 1:56 PM, Daryl McDonald
>> > Apparently I have both types of backups, from MythTV that I must have
>> > set up some time ago, and others from Mythbuntu that I set up recently
>> > in response to that thread. Is it necessary to actually perform the
>> > restoration of a backup or is seeing it's 19.whatever MB size
>> > confirmation enough thast I would have something to work with should
>> > I need it?
>>
>> One question: Why?
>>
>> If you've been recording or adding media content to your MythTV
>> system, the database is going to grow. If you restore an older backup,
>> you will have lost the info about any recordings made since that
>> backup was made. So, if the database is growing because you are
>> actually using MythTV, that's what you want and you will only shoot
>> yourself in the foot if you restore an older backup.
>
> Well, it sounds like I'd better throw an oar in the water here, since
> we discussed this on a separate thread that Daryl may be reading.
>
> The answer is this, Daryl:
>
> Yes, you should trial-restore that backup -- BUT YOU CAN'T DO IT ON
> YOUR PRODUCTION MACHINE.
>
> (Were those capital letters enough warning, ev'ryone? :-)
>
> If you do it on your production machine, you will--as is suggested
> here--trash your system, since you'll have lots of recording files
> about which your database will no longer have data.
>
> And yet, you can't trust any backup until you've proven that it can
> be restored.
>
> My reaction here is to suggest that it sounds to me, from your
> choice of questions and language, as if you are not expecially
> adept in Linux and MySQL technical operations.
>
> Because of that, it will be difficult for you to set up a system to
> test restore your backups.
>
> In that case, your best bet is just to check up on the files occasionally,
> and make sure that each one is larger than the previous one, and that
> they're getting made on whatever schedule has been set up for your
> system (by whomever set it up).  And hope they're clean, which they
> usually are.
>
> By "usually", I mean that if they have a reasonable size, and it
> gets bigger every week, then your odds of being able to restore it are
> 98% or better; them is, as we say, gambling odds.
>
> Please ask clarifying questions if necessary before doing anything fatal.
>
> Cheers,
> -- jra
> --
> Jay R. Ashworth                  Baylink                       jra at baylink.com
> Designer                     The Things I Think                       RFC 2100
> Ashworth & Associates     http://baylink.pitas.com         2000 Land Rover DII
> St Petersburg FL USA               #natog                      +1 727 647 1274
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