Linux / Unix Command: restore

Command Library

NAME

restore - restore files or file systems from backups made with dump

SYNOPSIS

restore -C [-cklMvVy [-b blocksize ] ] [-D filesystem ] [-f file ] [-F script ] [-L limit ] [-s fileno ] [-T directory ]
restore -i [-achklmMNuvVy [-A file ] ] [-b blocksize ] [-f file ] [-F script ] [-Q file ] [-s fileno ] [-T directory ]
restore -P file [-achklmMNuvVy [-A file ] ] [-b blocksize ] [-f file ] [-F script ] [-s fileno ] [-T directory ] [-X filelist ] [file ...]
restore -R [-cklMNuvVy [-b blocksize ] ] [-f file ] [-F script ] [-s fileno ] [-T directory ]
restore -r [-cklMNuvVy [-b blocksize ] ] [-f file ] [-F script ] [-s fileno ] [-T directory ]
restore -t [-chklMNuvVy [-A file ] ] [-b blocksize ] [-f file ] [-F script ] [-Q file ] [-s fileno ] [-T directory ] [-X filelist ] [file ...]
restore -x [-achklmMNuvVy [-A file ] ] [-b blocksize ] [-f file ] [-F script ] [-Q file ] [-s fileno ] [-T directory ] [-X filelist ] [file ...]

(The BSD 4.3 option syntax is implemented for backward compatibility but is not documented here.)

DESCRIPTION

The restore command performs the inverse function of dump(8). A full backup of a file system may be restored and subsequent incremental backups layered on top of it. Single files and directory subtrees may be restored from full or partial backups. Restore works across a network; to do this see the -f flag described below. Other arguments to the command are file or directory names specifying the files that are to be restored. Unless the -h flag is specified (see below), the appearance of a directory name refers to the files and (recursively) subdirectories of that directory.

Exactly one of the following flags is required:

-C

This mode allows comparison of files from a dump. Restore reads the backup and compares its contents with files present on the disk. It first changes its working directory to the root of the filesystem that was dumped and compares the tape with the files in its new current directory. See also the -L flag described below.

-i

This mode allows interactive restoration of files from a dump. After reading in the directory information from the dump, restore provides a shell like interface that allows the user to move around the directory tree selecting files to be extracted. The available commands are given below; for those commands that require an argument, the default is the current directory.

add [arg ]

The current directory or specified argument is added to the list of files to be extracted. If a directory is specified, then it and all its descendents are added to the extraction list (unless the -h flag is specified on the command line). Files that are on the extraction list are prepended with a ``*'' when they are listed by ls

cd arg

Change the current working directory to the specified argument.

delete [arg ]

The current directory or specified argument is deleted from the list of files to be extracted. If a directory is specified, then it and all its descendents are deleted from the extraction list (unless the -h flag is specified on the command line). The most expedient way to extract most of the files from a directory is to add the directory to the extraction list and then delete those files that are not needed.

extract

All files on the extraction list are extracted from the dump. Restore will ask which volume the user wishes to mount. The fastest way to extract a few files is to start with the last volume and work towards the first volume.

help

List a summary of the available commands.

ls [arg ]

List the current or specified directory. Entries that are directories are appended with a ``*'' Entries that have been marked for extraction are prepended with a ``*''. If the verbose flag is set, the inode number of each entry is also listed.

pwd

Print the full pathname of the current working directory.

quit

Restore immediately exits, even if the extraction list is not empty.

setmodes

All directories that have been added to the extraction list have their owner, modes, and times set; nothing is extracted from the dump. This is useful for cleaning up after a restore has been prematurely aborted.

verbose

The sense of the -v flag is toggled. When set, the verbose flag causes the ls command to list the inode numbers of all entries. It also causes restore to print out information about each file as it is extracted.

-P file

Restore creates a new Quick File Access file file from an existing dump file without restoring its contents.

-R

Restore requests a particular tape of a multi-volume set on which to restart a full restore (see the -r flag below). This is useful if the restore has been interrupted.

-r

Restore (rebuild) a file system. The target file system should be made pristine with mke2fs(8), mounted, and the user cdNs'd into the pristine file system before starting the restoration of the initial level 0 backup. If the level 0 restores successfully, the -r flag may be used to restore any necessary incremental backups on top of the level 0. The -r flag precludes an interactive file extraction and can be detrimental to one's health (not to mention the disk) if not used carefully. An example:

mke2fs /dev/sda1
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
cd /mnt

restore rf /dev/st0

Note that restore leaves a file restoresymtable in the root directory to pass information between incremental restore passes. This file should be removed when the last incremental has been restored.

Restore in conjunction with mke2fs(8) and dump(8), may be used to modify file system parameters such as size or block size.

-t

The names of the specified files are listed if they occur on the backup. If no file argument is given, the root directory is listed, which results in the entire content of the backup being listed, unless the -h flag has been specified. Note that the -t flag replaces the function of the old dumpdir(8) program. See also the -X option below.

-x

The named files are read from the given media. If a named file matches a directory whose contents are on the backup and the -h flag is not specified, the directory is recursively extracted. The owner, modification time, and mode are restored (if possible). If no file argument is given, the root directory is extracted, which results in the entire content of the backup being extracted, unless the -h flag has been specified. See also the -X option below.

The following additional options may be specified:

-a

In -i or -x mode, restore does ask the user for the volume number on which the files to be extracted are supposed to be (in order to minimise the time be reading only the interesting volumes). The -a option disables this behaviour and reads all the volumes starting with 1. This option is useful when the operator does not know on which volume the files to be extracted are and/or when he prefers the longer unattended mode rather than the shorter interactive mode.

-A archive_file

Read the table of contents from archive_file instead of the media. This option can be used in combination with the -t, -i, or -x options, making it possible to check whether files are on the media without having to mount the media.

-b blocksize

The number of kilobytes per dump record. If the -b option is not specified, restore tries to determine the media block size dynamically.

-c

Normally, restore will try to determine dynamically whether the dump was made from an old (pre-4.4) or new format file system. The -c flag disables this check, and only allows reading a dump in the old format.

-D filesystem

The -D flag allows the user to specify the filesystem name when using restore with the -C option to check the backup.

-f file

Read the backup from file file may be a special device file like /dev/st0 (a tape drive), /dev/sda1 (a disk drive), an ordinary file, or `- ' (the standard input). If the name of the file is of the form ``host:file '' or ``user@host:file'' restore reads from the named file on the remote host using rmt(8).

-F script

Run script at the beginning of each tape. The device name and the current volume number are passed on the command line. The script must return 0 if restore should continue without asking the user to change the tape, 1 if restore should continue but ask the user to change the tape. Any other exit code will cause restore to abort. For security reasons, restore reverts back to the real user ID and the real group ID before running the script.

-h

Extract the actual directory, rather than the files that it references. This prevents hierarchical restoration of complete subtrees from the dump.

-k

Use Kerberos authentication when contacting the remote tape server. (Only available if this options was enabled when restore was compiled.)

-l

When doing remote restores, assume the remote file is a regular file (instead of a tape device). If you're restoring a remote compressed file, you will need to specify this option or restore will fail to access it correctly.

-L limit

The -L flag allows the user to specify a maximal number of miscompares when using restore with the -C option to check the backup. If this limit is reached, restore will abort with an error message. A value of 0 (the default value) disables the check.

-m

Extract by inode numbers rather than by file name. This is useful if only a few files are being extracted, and one wants to avoid regenerating the complete pathname to the file.

-M

Enables the multi-volume feature (for reading dumps made using the -M option of dump). The name specified with -f is treated as a prefix and restore tries to read in sequence from 001, 002 etc.

-N

The -N flag causes restore to perform a full execution as requested by one of -i, -R, -r, -t or -x command without actually writing any file on disk.

-Q file

Use the file file in order to read tape position as stored using the dump Quick File Access mode, in one of -i, -x or -t mode.

It is recommended to set up the st driver to return logical tape positions rather than physical before calling dump/restore with parameter Q. Since not all tape devices support physical tape positions those tape devices return an error during dump/restore when the st driver is set to the default physical setting. Please see the st man page, option MTSETDRVBUFFER, or the mt man page, on how to set the driver to return logical tape positions.

Before calling restore with parameter Q, always make sure the st driver is set to return the same type of tape position used during the call to dump. Otherwise restore may be confused.

This option can be used when restoring from local or remote tapes (see above) or from local or remote files.

-s fileno

Read from the specified fileno on a multi-file tape. File numbering starts at 1.

-T directory

The -T flag allows the user to specify a directory to use for the storage of temporary files. The default value is /tmp. This flag is most useful when restoring files after having booted from a floppy. There might be little or no space on the floppy filesystem, but another source of space might exist.

-u

When creating certain types of files, restore may generate a warning diagnostic if they already exist in the target directory. To prevent this, the -u (unlink) flag causes restore to remove old entries before attempting to create new ones.

-v

Normally restore does its work silently. The -v (verbose) flag causes it to type the name of each file it treats preceded by its file type.

-V

Enables reading multi-volume non-tape mediums like CDROMs.

-X filelist

Read list of files to be listed or extracted from the text file filelist in addition to those specified on the command line. This can be used in conjunction with the -t or -x commands. The file filelist should contain file names separated by newlines. filelist may be an ordinary file or `- ' (the standard input).

-y

Do not ask the user whether to abort the restore in the event of an error. Always try to skip over the bad block(s) and continue.

SEE ALSO

dump(8), mount(8), mke2fs(8), rmt(8)

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Important: Use the man command (% man) to see how a command is used on your particular computer.

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