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Wednesday, 5 May 2021

What's the easiest way to backup your raspberry pi to an image? [Answered]

This is the simplest way to backup your pi.

Backup your raspberry pi

Backing up your raspberry pi is fairly straightforward. Here's my quick and easy guide. Script by Mark at projektor.co.uk

Requirements

Raspberry pi

USB drive for backup

Instructions

Assuming you have no other drives connected to your pi.

Insert a USB pen drive into your raspberry pi.

Issue the following command:

wget -c https://raw.githubusercontent.com/markcity/pibackup/a2fd2b9697a61a6e3f8c8b60546ac7a54abe8041/makeimage.sh;bash ./makeimage.sh

When completed you will have an image of your pi on the USB stick.

You can safely remove the USB stick.

Want to restore the image?

Use Win32DiskImager - download link https://sourceforge.net/projects/win32diskimager/

For reference, the script contains the following lines.

#create a variable today using the current date in the format Year-Month-Date
today=$(date +"%Y-%m-%d")
#set up a folder to map to the usb drive
sudo mkdir /media/usb
#make the new folder owned / writeable by the user
sudo chown -R pi:pi /media/usb
#map / mount the usb stick at the folder /media/usb
sudo mount /dev/sda1 /media/usb -o uid=pi,gid=pi
#just in case, give the raspberry pi ability to write to NTFS file format
sudo apt-get install ntfs-3g
#use dd command to backup the 'mmc' - SD card to a file
sudo dd if=/dev/mmcblk0 of=/media/usb/pi_img_${today}.img bs=1M
#unmount the USB card so it can be 
sudo umount /dev/sda1

Saturday, 24 April 2021

[SOLVED] Wordpress update failed

I recently tried to update the wordpress installation on useful.website and got the following message.

The update cannot be installed because we will be unable to copy some files. This is usually due to inconsistent file permissions.: wp-admin/includes/update-core.php Installation failed.

So here's how I resolved it. My installation is behind the useful.website VPN which protects the login from other countries (esp. China and Russia ) so once I was connected to vpn.useful.website I issued the following command.

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /path/to/wordpress

Breakdown of the command.

sudo - switch to superuser for this command

chown - give ownership to a folder

-R recurse - so give permission to all files ans folders inside

www-data:www-data - the user and group that apache web server is using when running wordpress

/path/to/wordpress - sometimes its /var/www/html or /var/www/my.website.name but its where all the word press files are

Hopefully this is useful for you. If you want to setup a VPN for protecting your wordpress site, please contact. VPN.team@projektor.co.uk

Thursday, 8 April 2021

How to download a windows 10 iso that fits onto a single layer DVD-R /RW

I use a dvd-rw to store the latest image of windows 10.

In the recent update the size of the iso file was too big to fit on a single layer disk and the recommendation was to write to dual layer.

However dual layer dvd-rw doesn't exist and I don't want to create more waste.

So here's the method I used ...

Rufus download method...
https://pureinfotech.com/download-older-iso-windows-10/

I used the option to download via browser.

Direct download link analysis:

March 2017 - just right

https://dsprodtsblobdub.blob.core.windows.net/dsts/1E70BD11-3D71-471A-AAF0-7675DA88F55F?sv=2015-12-11&sr=b&sig=kEit06nuF4h3R2pK71FILQkrqVZgALFXzDQns25fiMI%3D&st=2021-04-08T17%3A30%3A22Z&se=2021-04-10T17%3A35%3A22Z&sp=r&rscc=public%2C%20max-age%3D259200&rscd=attachment%3Bfilename%3D%22Win10_1703_N_English_x64.iso%22

July 2020 build (4.9GB - may just fit!)

https://software-download.microsoft.com/db/Win10_2004_EnglishInternational_x64.iso?t=aae57666-d259-403a-aa29-75cc3a78936b&e=1617975838&h=6466e7113d27bab35de9221b6cec2313

October 2020 build windows 10 International English
Verdict: too large for DVD-R/W

https://software-download.microsoft.com/db/Win10_20H2_EnglishInternational_x64.iso?t=79540047-6d75-461e-a7f5-a3f5bf358129&e=1617972815&h=8f5914aaff3c79046b62333bee14a461

Friday, 12 February 2021

How can I protect my family against COVID19

It would be great to say "one simple pill" would be a cure. It is not. However there is a significant factor. Here I present recent information I received that is backed up by observation of data and a way to eliminate one factor.

Here's the TLDR ( too long didn't read ) summary.

All detail is provided below.

1. The information

Firstly the information relating specifically to this disease was published in nature website recently. It relates to the Autumn 2020 surge and a main contributing factor.

2. The observation

There is a direct correlation between a drop in amount of UVB exposure and this happens when the sun is low in the sky.

3. The conclusion

When the UVB exposure drops below a certain level, we are at a significant increased risk of getting Covid. Why? Because UVB exposure allows our bodies to create vitamin D but only at certain times of the year. Unless you live around the equator.

Here's the info you need..

Nature article

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-81419-w

Where to buy vitamin D3

https://amzn.to/3qiNkoO

Images from the nature article

Where to buy vitamin D3

https://amzn.to/3qiNkoO

Monday, 5 October 2020

Windows 10: Is it safe to remove $Windows.~WS folder in C:\ drive [answered]

I recently saved over 3GB of disk space by safely removing the $Windows folder
Details below.

Here's a lovely windows 10 image from panos@unsplash. Thank you

$Windows.~WS folder in C:\ drive after Windows 10 Installation, Upgrade or Media Creation?

To delete, create the following batch file on your desktop and right click run as administrator.

@delete_WS.bat
@echo off
@echo "This will delete the folder C:\$Windows.~WS and C:\$Windows.~BT after an update to reclaim space. Windows 10 only."
@echo --------------------------------
@echo If you get message "The system cannot find the file specified" it means the folder is already deleted.
@echo --------------------------------
PAUSE
RD /S /Q "C:\$Windows.~WS"
RD /S /Q "C:\$Windows.~BT"
@echo --------------------------------
@echo All done
@echo --------------------------------
PAUSE NULL