[ale] backup/restore mail from USB external drive

[John Heim]

So we have a failing RAID5 array on our mail server.  I rsynced the mail to an external USB drive (formatted ext3, thanks) It looks like I am going to have to completely re-install. I want the outage to be as short as possible. I am thinking this:

1. Repeat the rsync with the system up so as to not inconvenience users.   There will be a lot of "file changed as we read it" kind of errors.
2. Shutdown the mail programs.
3. Run rsync again.  This time there shouldn't be any errors.
4. Install the new disks, reformat, re-install.
5. Copy the mail files back.

Any suggestions as to the most efficient way to do step #5? There would be no point in using rsync because the time it spends checking for changed files would be wasted.



an

-- 
John Heim
email: john at johnheim.com  skype: john.g.heim