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jenom

- jenom
- Posts: 29
- Joined: Mon Aug 18, 2014 4:18 pm

## What refracta does ?

Mon Aug 18, 2014 4:26 pm

I am new at this, please be patient with my silly questions.
Have a debian live 8 jessie installed and want to save all my hard work, specially to have wifi and skype's sound working.
Refracta seems like a tool I might be able to use, but before I would start, have some basic questions:
1)Does it create an USB bootable ISO image?
2)Does it save ISO in the same linux partition?
3)Can the system saved directly to an USB?
4)Is the USB bootable after ?
3)What is a compression rate, how is the ISO size compared to operating system size?
My plan is to save system to a 1 GB USB memory, of course, I will need to thin down my system first, remove all the large and easy to re-install apps, like libreoffice, gimp,iceweasel, icedove,etc...
Thanks!
meandean

- meandean
- Posts: 392
- Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2011 5:16 am

## Re: What refracta does ?

Mon Aug 18, 2014 8:50 pm

It sounds like you are referring to the refracta snapshot application for the most part. Yes it creates a bootable iso image. Yes you can write that image to a usb stick. Yes the iso is normally saved to the same partition.The image size really depends on the types of data you include but often the iso iamge is about a 1/3 of your installed system size. You will need a lot of free space for the tool to work, enough space for the whole system to be copied to a folder.
Hope this helps!
jenom

- jenom
- Posts: 29
- Joined: Mon Aug 18, 2014 4:18 pm

## Re: What refracta does ?

Mon Aug 18, 2014 8:59 pm

thanks for the very useful info, sounds like my plan is do-able refracta
I have a 20 Gb partition for linux, 3.3 gb used,so it should be enough workspace
I am going to start thin it down to try to make 1 GB ISO
Thanks again !
meandean

- meandean
- Posts: 392
- Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2011 5:16 am

## Re: What refracta does ?

Mon Aug 18, 2014 9:11 pm

3.3gb used on a 20gb partition....sounds like you are good to go as is
thwak

- thwak
- Posts: 174
- Joined: Tue Nov 20, 2012 3:58 am

## Re: What refracta does ?

Tue Aug 19, 2014 2:04 am

jenom, refracta provides separate tools to accomplish different tasks.
refractasnapshot: generates an up-to-the-minute iso imagefile of your customized system
refracta2usb: installs + a bootloader + live init + content of your iso imagefile to pendrive
meandean

- meandean
- Posts: 392
- Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2011 5:16 am

## Re: What refracta does ?

Tue Aug 19, 2014 2:29 am

> thwak wrote:refracta2usb: installs + a bootloader + live init + content of your iso imagefile to pendrive

true but the iso image that snapshot creates is a bootable hybrid iso image and can be wrote to a usb drive too
jenom

- jenom
- Posts: 29
- Joined: Mon Aug 18, 2014 4:18 pm

## Re: What refracta does ?

Tue Aug 19, 2014 1:12 pm

installed first refracta2usb
run it from terminal as root as command: "refracta2usb" ......it told me the dev number of the USB plugged in............what is the correct command line to do something more?
next installed refracta.base +refracta.gui and executed it from the GUI menu
it run about 10 min and created a 27 MB ISO file.....not what I was waiting for
started reading instructions, first line: "close all application", --how far this closing has to go?
all desktop applications ? all taskbar application ? tasks ? services ? disconnect internet ?
the more I read, more confusing things get, edit this, exclude that, etc...
Is there a single line command I can type to create an ISO image ? (to the USB or hard drive )
Thanks!
meandean

- meandean
- Posts: 392
- Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2011 5:16 am

## Re: What refracta does ?

Tue Aug 19, 2014 2:22 pm

> next installed refracta.base +refracta.gui and executed it from the GUI menu

Did you mean refractasnapshot base and refractasnapshot gui?

> started reading instructions, first line: "close all application", --how far this closing has to go?
> all desktop applications ? all taskbar application ? tasks ? services ? disconnect internet ?

Just the applications you are using, as far as I know, because apps sometimes create temporary data that can cause problems.

> the more I read, more confusing things get, edit this, exclude that, etc...

Yea, I like simple tools too butl it is rather hard to create a tool that works in many cases without some complexity as well.

> Is there a single line command I can type to create an ISO image ? (to the USB or hard drive )

I do have a script that you can run. But the refractasnapshot tool is the better tool and the better choice. It checks for this and that, tells ou this and that, and tries to make sure everything is kosher before hitting the homerun. But if you want my script let me know. It doesn't attempt to save you from yourself, it just plows on doing what it does. That being said, even refractasnapshot may have a command line version you can run that dispenses with any frills.
I suspect fsmithred will be along to help you out in a bit. He is a good guy, better at explaining things, and the developer/maintainer of the refracta tools. He will get you sorted.
jenom

- jenom
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- Joined: Mon Aug 18, 2014 4:18 pm

## Re: What refracta does ?

Tue Aug 19, 2014 2:52 pm

yes, I installed " refractasnapshot base and refractasnapshot gui"
when I look at this whole idea of saving an OS, I think, it maybe better, if it would be done from another running system....so it could be saved in its permanent (non-running) condition
Yes, I would like to receive your script, can you explain a little bit what it does ?
Thanks!
meandean

- meandean
- Posts: 392
- Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2011 5:16 am

## Re: What refracta does ?

Tue Aug 19, 2014 3:50 pm

My script was the basis of the snapshot tool. It copies your running system and creates a live image from it.
Are you comfortable using the command line? If so, you can run the following commands (in blue) one at a time and at the end you should have a live image of your system.
first su to root
download the script wget pages.suddenlink.net/meandean/makelive
change the permissions of the script so you can run it chmod 755 makelive
move the script to a good location on the system mv makelive /usr/local/sbin/
then, if you are ready, run the script makelive
That should be it. It should end by saying that You can find the live image in the /home/makelive/ folder.
If this doesn't work then I wonder if changes to debian 8 could be causing the problem
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