How Can I Be Sure that Bacula Really Saves and Restores All Files?
It is really quite simple, but took me a while to figure out how to “prove” it. First make a Bacula Rescue disk, see the Disaster Recovery Using Bacula chapter of this manual. Second, you run a full backup of all your files on all partitions. Third, you run an Verify InitCatalog Job on the same FileSet, which effectively makes a record of all the files on your system. Fourth, you run a Verify Catalog job and assure yourself that nothing has changed (well, between an InitCatalog and Catalog one doesn’t expect anything). Then do the unthinkable, write zeros on your MBR (master boot record) wiping out your hard disk. Now, restore your whole system using your Bacula Rescue disk and the Full backup you made, and finally re-run the Verify Catalog job. You will see that with the exception of the directory modification and access dates and the files changed during the boot, your system is identical to what it was before you wiped your hard disk. Alternatively you could do the wiping and restor
