On Thu, 14 Jan 2021 16:26:26 +0000 Alain D D Williams <a...@phcomp.co.uk> wrote:
> On Thu, Jan 14, 2021 at 04:41:50PM +0100, Jesper Dybdal wrote: > > I backup my Buster server simply as a (compressed, encrypted) cpio > > archive. > > > > Restoring it to a BIOS-based machine is simple: boot a rescue cd, > > partition the disk, restore all files, fix fstab if necessary, run > > update-grub and grub-install in a chroot environment. That works. > > > > But if the machine should some day die and I can only find/buy a > > UEFI-only machine to restore it to, how do I do that? And are > > there any precautions I should take in advance (on the BIOS system, > > before creating backups that may be needed on a future UEFI system) > > in order to make it easier to restore to a UEFI machine? > > > > (My knowledge of UEFI is almost non-existent, and my knowledge of > > grub is very limited.) > > If/when your machine dies I would suggest that the simplest thing is > for you to do a completely fresh Debian install (which will get EUFI, > etc, right) I wouldn't necessarily guarantee that, see my earlier post in the thread. Upgrading to buster killed booting to grub, and even a fresh installation didn't fix it. This has just given me an idea for when I have a couple of days spare: I could try a clean installation of stretch to my problem machine. If that fixes booting, I could leave /boot/efi untouched, and basically copy / and the rest of /boot from my problem buster installation, which I would previously have backed up. There are undoubtedly reasons why this might fail, but it's the first new idea I've had in months on this subject. -- Joe