Kindle backup

knc1 · 08-18-2017, 06:08 PM

For touch screen Kindles, create a complete system's backup.
This does not include the USB storage area, which the user can backup over the USB cable to their PC.

Install:
Un-archive the attached compressed archive to the top level of visible USB storage.
Be sure your archive handling tool is set to re-create the directory structure.
There will be two directories (folders) added to the top of visible USB storage; 'unjail' and 'esys'.
The 'unjail' directory will contain the mkbackup.sh script.
The 'esys' directory (tree) will contain three of the GNU CoreUtils applications required.

'unjail' because this script is part of the new serial jail breaking procedure.
'esys' because that is our long established ARMel add-in tree.

No KUAL button (yet).
The script has to be run from the command line for this version.

The progress report given when run from the command line:

Spoiler:

That script will create a directory (folder) in the top level of USB storage 'backups'.
The contents will be similar to this:

Spoiler:

The manual, command line, command to create a compressed archive:

Spoiler:

Connect the Kindle to your PC with the USB cable (after turning off USBnetworking if your using the cable for that).
From the top level of visible USB storage, copy the backups.tar.gz file to somewhere safe.
You can then delete from the Kindle both the archive file you just moved and the Kindle:\backups
directory (folder) tree.

Changes:

backup-0.3
Now handles the older (larger) kernel format.
Tested on: KT, fw: 5.3.7.3 and the PW3 below.
backup-0.2
Extracts, tests and reports on uImage files.
Tested on: PW3-4GB, fw: 5.8.7.0.1
backup
I would like to forget I wrote this one.

knc1 · 08-20-2017, 04:59 PM

And the backup script is ready.
Operation from the command line only for now.

Maybe a KUAL button for it in the near future (unless I lose interest in this project).

knc1 · 08-21-2017, 05:46 PM

backup-0.3

Now can extract the larger kernels of the early touch screen devices.
Tested on: KT running 5.3.7.3 firmware (current as of this writing).
Tested on: PW3-4GB running 5.8.7.0.1 firmware (most recent JB'able version).

PoP · 08-23-2017, 01:36 PM

Very useful

Thank you!

SSH log when run from the command line on my PW3 v5.8.7:

Spoiler:

Code:

[root@kindle root]# /mnt/us/unjail/mkbackup.sh

Copying partitioned area prefix.
33554432 bytes (32.0MB) copied, 3.888989 seconds, 8.2MB/s

Copying diag kernel block.
8388608 bytes (8.0MB) copied, 0.880231 seconds, 9.1MB/s

Copying main kernel block.
8388608 bytes (8.0MB) copied, 1.520744 seconds, 5.3MB/s

Extracting diagnostic uImage. 
2635032 bytes (2.5MB) copied, 0.163199 seconds, 15.4MB/s
Image Name:   Linux-3.0.35-lab126
Created:      Tue Sep 13 05:45:05 2016
Image Type:   ARM Linux Kernel Image (uncompressed)
Data Size:    2634968 Bytes = 2573.21 kB = 2.51 MB
Load Address: 80008000
Entry Point:  80008000

Extracting main uImage. 
2912456 bytes (2.8MB) copied, 0.195622 seconds, 14.2MB/s
Image Name:   Linux-3.0.35-lab126
Created:      Fri Nov 25 10:45:16 2016
Image Type:   ARM Linux Kernel Image (uncompressed)
Data Size:    2912392 Bytes = 2844.13 kB = 2.78 MB
Load Address: 80008000
Entry Point:  80008000

Copying main partition(2min).
471859200 bytes (450.0MB) copied, 148.702120 seconds, 3.0MB/s

Copying diag partition.
67108864 bytes (64.0MB) copied, 26.516923 seconds, 2.4MB/s

Copying local partition.
67108864 bytes (64.0MB) copied, 21.005913 seconds, 3.0MB/s

Copying boot0 partition.
2097152 bytes (2.0MB) copied, 2.982592 seconds, 686.7KB/s

Copying boot1 partition.
2097152 bytes (2.0MB) copied, 0.246512 seconds, 8.1MB/s
[root@kindle us]# ls -lh /mnt/us/backups
-rwxrwxrwx    1 root     root        2.0M Aug 23 12:52 boot0.bin
-rwxrwxrwx    1 root     root        2.0M Aug 23 12:52 boot1.bin
-rwxrwxrwx    1 root     root        2.5M Aug 23 12:49 diag-uImage
-rwxrwxrwx    1 root     root        8.0M Aug 23 12:49 diagkern.bin
-rwxrwxrwx    1 root     root       64.0M Aug 23 12:52 diagsys.bin
-rwxrwxrwx    1 root     root       64.0M Aug 23 12:52 localsys.bin
-rwxrwxrwx    1 root     root       13.6K Aug 23 12:49 main-config.gz
-rwxrwxrwx    1 root     root        2.8M Aug 23 12:49 main-uImage
-rwxrwxrwx    1 root     root        8.0M Aug 23 12:49 mainkern.bin
-rwxrwxrwx    1 root     root      450.0M Aug 23 12:52 mainsys.bin
-rwxrwxrwx    1 root     root       32.0M Aug 23 12:49 prefix.bin
[root@kindle us]# cd /mnt/us
[root@kindle us]# tar -czf backups.tar.gz backups
[root@kindle us]#

knc1 · 08-23-2017, 05:37 PM

You are welcome.

There are a few more changes to come, nothing really major.
A KUAL button, copying the version files so you know what firmware versions the file represent . . . .
Just finishing touches.

doctoralvarez · 09-27-2017, 03:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by knc1

You are welcome.

There are a few more changes to come, nothing really major.
A KUAL button, copying the version files so you know what firmware versions the file represent . . . .
Just finishing touches.

Hello, excuse me, any update on that KUAL button option?

in advance

knc1 · 09-27-2017, 08:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by doctoralvarez

Hello, excuse me, any update on that KUAL button option?

in advance

Nothing yet.
I keep getting distracted by other things, like "life demands".

nasser · 09-27-2017, 11:57 AM

knc1,
I don't have enough free space on my PW1...

So, any way to do this directly from/to a PC, via ssh?

knc1 · 09-27-2017, 12:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nasser

knc1,
I don't have enough free space on my PW1...

So, any way to do this directly from/to a PC, via ssh?

Not as currently written.

I presume ::
You have USBnetworking package installed.
And a way to connect to the Kindle while messing around with the ssh client packages installed there.

While the main business of that package is putting an ssh server on the Kindle, it also includes some ssh related client applications.
sshfs for one.

You would also need the sshfs server (part of the openssh set of programs) installed on your PC.
If you are running Linux or MacOSx, they are probably there as part of the default install.
If you are running Windows, you will have to install them.
(Which might be difficult, because that would effectively give you more than a single "seat" on the common, single-seat, Windows.
And MicroSoft discourages anyone having more than one seat on Windows without paying for it.)

That requirement met and -
Then use sshfs client on the Kindle to mount a directory exported from the PC somewhere under /mnt/us/*

Now that part, I don't recall anyone playing around with that other than NiLuJe, geekmaster and twobob.
So searching the forum for guidance might give few results.

With that part working -
Then I could modify the script to accept an argument giving an alternate path to the current /mnt/us/documents.

= = = =

I don't recall if we have a working NFS Kindle client, or a working CIFS (Samba) Kindle client.
I do recall there was some work done on them by twobob.

All Windows versions support CIFS (a.k.a: Windows file sharing).
And MS has an NFS server for Windows as part of, or an add-in to, their Unix support stuff.

There was also some work done on getting NBD client working on the Kindles.
That one I don't recall the status of.
But give up all hope of Windows ever supporting NBD servers.

And then there is USB/IP -
Which I don't recall anyone working on that one.
It tunnels USB i/o messages over any IP based network to/from a remote USB device.
I think that open WRT was the leader in that project.

rnb86 · 11-07-2018, 07:16 PM

Thank you for a great tool !!!

arooni · 01-29-2019, 04:44 PM

did i do something stupid? probably:

dd: invalid number 'LANG='en_US.utf8''
mkimage: Can't read /mnt/us/backups: No such device

dd: invalid number 'LC_ALL='en_US.utf8''
mkimage: Can't read /mnt/us/backups: No such device

dd: invalid number 'LOGNAME='root''
mkimage: Can't read /mnt/us/backups: No such device

dd: invalid number 'OLDPWD='/var/tmp/root''
mkimage: Can't read /mnt/us/backups: No such device

dd: invalid number 'OPTIND='1''
mkimage: Can't read /mnt/us/backups: No such device

dd: invalid number 'PAGER='/bin/more'
mkimage: Can't read /mnt/us/backups: No such device

dd: invalid number 'PATH='/mnt/us/esys/bin:/mnt/us/esys/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin''
mkimage: Can't read /mnt/us/backups: No such device

dd: invalid number 'PPID='888''
mkimage: Can't read /mnt/us/backups: No such device

dd: invalid number 'PS1='[u@h'
mkimage: Can't open /mnt/us/backups': No such file or directory

dd: invalid number 'PS2='>'
mkimage: Can't read /mnt/us/backups: No such device

dd: invalid number 'PS4='+'
mkimage: Can't read /mnt/us/backups: No such device

dd: invalid number 'PWD='/mnt/us''
mkimage: Can't read /mnt/us/backups: No such device

dd: invalid number 'SHELL='/bin/sh''
mkimage: Can't read /mnt/us/backups: No such device

# and a bunch more of these these.

whats' weird is i do have a /mnt/us/backups; and ran mntroot rw after ssh'ing in

j.p.s · 01-29-2019, 05:08 PM

What command did you type?

sumpin · 01-29-2019, 06:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arooni

did i do something stupid? probably:

dd: invalid number 'LANG='en_US.utf8''
mkimage: Can't read /mnt/us/backups: No such device

# and a bunch more of these these.

whats' weird is i do have a /mnt/us/backups; and ran mntroot rw after ssh'ing in

That's going to be because the script does not support the PW4.
The script doesn't check that the kernel blocks exist so the getSize function parses your shell environment.

knc1 · 01-29-2019, 07:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arooni

did i do something stupid? probably:
- - - -
whats' weird is i do have a /mnt/us/backups; and ran mntroot rw after ssh'ing in

Did you ssh in over the USB cable or over Wifi?
Yes, it makes a difference, and those messages look like you ssh'd in over Wifi while the USB cable was still connected, holding the user storage partition externally exported (making it (and /mnt/us/*everything*) unreachable).

Note the 'root' in the mntroot command.
That means the 'root' file system.
But that also is limited to a single file system, the permissions do not cross file system boundaries.
Translation:
/mnt/us is on a different partition / backing store / file system than the / file system.
They are not even the same type of file system (ext3 vs fat32).

PS: Read note posted above - this utility was not intended to work with the 'Androidized' file structures used by the PW4 and KOA2.

Note that this add-in have been posted for over 18 months with only 200 downloads by the millions who own Kindles.
So updating this unused utility for the two newest models is really far, far, far down my list of things to waste my life on.

parkerlreed · 02-21-2019, 08:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by knc1

Not as currently written.

I presume ::
You have USBnetworking package installed.
And a way to connect to the Kindle while messing around with the ssh client packages installed there.

While the main business of that package is putting an ssh server on the Kindle, it also includes some ssh related client applications.
sshfs for one.

You would also need the sshfs server (part of the openssh set of programs) installed on your PC.
If you are running Linux or MacOSx, they are probably there as part of the default install.
If you are running Windows, you will have to install them.
(Which might be difficult, because that would effectively give you more than a single "seat" on the common, single-seat, Windows.
And MicroSoft discourages anyone having more than one seat on Windows without paying for it.)

That requirement met and -
Then use sshfs client on the Kindle to mount a directory exported from the PC somewhere under /mnt/us/*

Now that part, I don't recall anyone playing around with that other than NiLuJe, geekmaster and twobob.
So searching the forum for guidance might give few results.

With that part working -
Then I could modify the script to accept an argument giving an alternate path to the current /mnt/us/documents.

= = = =

I don't recall if we have a working NFS Kindle client, or a working CIFS (Samba) Kindle client.
I do recall there was some work done on them by twobob.

All Windows versions support CIFS (a.k.a: Windows file sharing).
And MS has an NFS server for Windows as part of, or an add-in to, their Unix support stuff.

There was also some work done on getting NBD client working on the Kindles.
That one I don't recall the status of.
But give up all hope of Windows ever supporting NBD servers.

And then there is USB/IP -
Which I don't recall anyone working on that one.
It tunnels USB i/o messages over any IP based network to/from a remote USB device.
I think that open WRT was the leader in that project.

Speaking of nbd, has anybody gotten the ndb module/server running on a Kindle? I want to mess with the fb0 device from my desktop....

01-29-2019, 04:44 PM	#11
arooni Addict Posts: 315 Karma: 26 Join Date: Jul 2012 Device: Kindle Paperwhite 4 (2018)	did i do something stupid? probably: dd: invalid number 'LANG='en_US.utf8'' mkimage: Can't read /mnt/us/backups: No such device dd: invalid number 'LC_ALL='en_US.utf8'' mkimage: Can't read /mnt/us/backups: No such device dd: invalid number 'LOGNAME='root'' mkimage: Can't read /mnt/us/backups: No such device dd: invalid number 'OLDPWD='/var/tmp/root'' mkimage: Can't read /mnt/us/backups: No such device dd: invalid number 'OPTIND='1'' mkimage: Can't read /mnt/us/backups: No such device dd: invalid number 'PAGER='/bin/more' mkimage: Can't read /mnt/us/backups: No such device dd: invalid number 'PATH='/mnt/us/esys/bin:/mnt/us/esys/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin'' mkimage: Can't read /mnt/us/backups: No such device dd: invalid number 'PPID='888'' mkimage: Can't read /mnt/us/backups: No such device dd: invalid number 'PS1='[u@h' mkimage: Can't open /mnt/us/backups': No such file or directory dd: invalid number 'PS2='>' mkimage: Can't read /mnt/us/backups: No such device dd: invalid number 'PS4='+' mkimage: Can't read /mnt/us/backups: No such device dd: invalid number 'PWD='/mnt/us'' mkimage: Can't read /mnt/us/backups: No such device dd: invalid number 'SHELL='/bin/sh'' mkimage: Can't read /mnt/us/backups: No such device # and a bunch more of these these. whats' weird is i do have a /mnt/us/backups; and ran mntroot rw after ssh'ing in Last edited by arooni; 01-29-2019 at 04:46 PM.

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08-20-2017, 04:59 PM	#2
knc1 Going Viral Posts: 17,212 Karma: 18210809 Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Central Texas Device: No K1, PW2, KV, KOA	And the backup script is ready. Operation from the command line only for now. Maybe a KUAL button for it in the near future (unless I lose interest in this project).

08-21-2017, 05:46 PM	#3
knc1 Going Viral Posts: 17,212 Karma: 18210809 Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Central Texas Device: No K1, PW2, KV, KOA	backup-0.3 Now can extract the larger kernels of the early touch screen devices. Tested on: KT running 5.3.7.3 firmware (current as of this writing). Tested on: PW3-4GB running 5.8.7.0.1 firmware (most recent JB'able version).

08-23-2017, 05:37 PM	#5
knc1 Going Viral Posts: 17,212 Karma: 18210809 Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Central Texas Device: No K1, PW2, KV, KOA	You are welcome. There are a few more changes to come, nothing really major. A KUAL button, copying the version files so you know what firmware versions the file represent . . . . Just finishing touches.

09-27-2017, 11:57 AM	#8
nasser Evangelist Posts: 475 Karma: 445678 Join Date: Feb 2010 Device: Too many..	knc1, I don't have enough free space on my PW1... So, any way to do this directly from/to a PC, via ssh?

11-07-2018, 07:16 PM	#10
rnb86 Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2018 Device: Kindle PW3	Thank you for a great tool !!!

01-29-2019, 05:08 PM	#12
j.p.s Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,278 Karma: 98804578 Join Date: Apr 2011 Device: pb360	What command did you type?

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