Restoring a .img on Linux

[Output Flange]

I'm trying to help someone get out of a pickle.

They've got a Linux server (will need to check which version) that they've goosed, and need to restore from a .IMG file. That was a snapshot created by the Hetzner backup solution.

I'm assuming that I need to copy the .IMG file onto the server, but then how do I go about restoring from it? Internet suggests using Gnome.

Any guidance appreciated!

[somouk]

Gnome bootable image and using the disk tools to restore the img to the disk in the server is going to be the recommended approach.

Does the software not have a restore option?

[Output Flange]

It’s a hosted server, and the backup solution is an add-on to it. There’s no access to the backup server itself, just a web interface to create snapshots which then have to be downloaded by FTP.

I only have remote console access to the server - does that still work for Gnome? I can’t boot it from a USB, for example.

[somouk]

I suspect you are in trouble then. You can't restore the image to the disk you are on, you need a bootable image so you can mount the other disk and restore the img to it.

[buggalugs]

Does Hertzner not have the ability to restore their own backups? It’s kind of strange if they don’t.

[somouk]

If it’s just a web server hosting files I’d be tempted to just bust the IMG open, recover the files and restore them to a new web server.

[Output Flange]

somouk said:

If it’s just a web server hosting files I’d be tempted to just bust the IMG open, recover the files and restore them to a new web server.

Any suggestions on why to use to open the .img?

[buggalugs]

If it’s just a raw image you should be able to mount it as a normal filesystem using the loop option, specifying the img file rather than a block device as usual. Specific commands are on google.

I had an idea you could restore the image using netcat | dd if the rescue environment has networking. Or scp maybe.

[somouk]

Most disk management tools will be able to open an img, there will be some available with a quick google.