Mini 9 w/Ubuntu - restore from USB

You can use a program like ImgBurn (google it) to create an ISO file from the DVD, but I'm quite sure you wouldn't be able to boot from that.

Try this link:

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/

or just Google bootable usb linux and you'll find similar info.

Thanks for your help tung, only what I need is the location of a Dell factory ISO file, one which when loaded onto a USB will be able to restore my Mini to it's factory configuration.  

There are hundreds of hits if I google what you suggest but none that have the specific Dell file I am looking for. All the links I found have since had the URL changed or moved.  It's like trying to hit a moving target. :emotion-6:

I appreciate your help though.

Two questions for you, Barry:

1) To use the ISO file, you will need to mount it like a virtual CD or DVD. How will you do this?

2) If you need a Dell factory ISO file, and you have the Dell Ubuntu DVD that came with your mini, why not create the ISO from the DVD?

tung,

1) i found a utility called something like unetbootin which can run on Windows.  I installed it on my desktop and tried it with an ISO for the stock hardy on a USB stick, it worked fine getting hardy installed from the USB stick on my mini. 

2) I could try this method, I am a little wary of using utilities I have never heard of but I'll investigate.

thanks

2) If you need a Dell factory ISO file, and you have the Dell Ubuntu DVD that came with your mini, why not create the ISO from the DVD?

I'm in the same situation, looking for an .iso image for system restore purposes.   Burning/mounting is not the problem, finding the disk image is.

I found this on another forum (sorry, I don't remember where exactly), I made a copy on my PC because it worked perfectly :

Re: Reinstall Ubuntu via USB
Postby John Kiniston on Thu Feb 19, 2009 9:24 pm
OK, I just did this.

I used a .iso of the Dell Ubuntu Restore cd, A copy of Ubuntu 8.10 to write the .iso and a 8GB thumb drive (You only need 2GB however)

Boot ubuntu or your linux of choice, Get your .iso onto that machine.

sudo root

mount your iso:

mkdir /mnt/iso
mount -o loop /path/to/Ubuntu_Restore.iso /mnt/iso

Format your thumb drive and mount it:
mkfs.vfat -I /dev/sdb
mkdir /mnt/thumb
mount /dev/sdb /mnt/thumb

copy the contents of your .iso to the thumbdrive
cp -r /mnt/iso /mnt/thumb

edit the config file so that it will load the image
cd /mnt/thumb
mv isolinux.cfg syslinux.cfg
nano syslinux.cfg
change the last line where it says boot=cd to boot=usb
cd /
umount /mnt/thumb
syslinux -s /dev/sdb

and then reboot and tell your Mini to boot off the thumb drive, It should then allow you to restore Ubuntu onto your sytem.

• When you change the line with boot=usb, you can remove the keyword "quiet" and "splash", that way you will see exactly what is happening in the restoration process.
• You can simply copy the files from the DVD to the USB key, you don't need any special software.
• Be sure to use the "mkfs.vfat -I /dev/sdb" command line. The reason why it's not working for many people, is because the /dev/sdb is split into 4 partition (that is if you key is formated with Windows Explorer or another software making unwanted stuff). Just make sure the /dev/sdb is readable (not /dev/sdb1).

Steve, I have looked and looked for a factory Dell ISO and also even gone through the Dell support phone number process.  They gave up in the end and simply said that I had to get a USB DVD drive.  I did get a factory restore DVD from Dell and I borrowed a USB DVD drive to restore from it.  It worked quite painlessly. However I don't want to buy one, just restore using a memory stick!!  Is that too much to ask?  

I did also try to restore from a Ubuntu Hardy ISO and that also worked although some of the peripherals/stuff did not (WIFI for one).  I am resigned to not being able to do this.  Good luck to you if you can find a way.

Barry

I did get a factory restore DVD from Dell

Did you order it, pay for it and have them ship it to you?  Or did you download it from somewhere?  How can we find a copy?

Can you rip an .iso image of it and post it somewhere?

-Steve

I found it here:

http://linux.dell.com/wiki/index.php/Ubuntu_8.04

All you need to do is upgrade everything if you want the 8.10

PG

I was able to do a clean restore from both a DVD(and a Mad Dog USB DVD burner drive) and a USB flash drive using Nezerak's post

for mounting the ISO image onto my stick then booting, & it works great.

BTW It's only a minimally customized version & not the "exact" image that Dell delivered with my Mini 9(Which I did make an image of since mine didn't come with one either).

I have the "My Tech Team support, and am waiting for a Dell Ubuntu DVD to be delivered. I just finished putting a 128GB SSD drive in mine, I hope it doesn't use anymore juice, I don't think it should.

To avoid confusion I'm JC, I use my fiances' Dell thing, as I didn't want to create a new one when it switched over. She goes by Pixiegirl19, so please help her if she posts something. She is quite computer literate, but has trouble with some things. If you see PG at the end, you'll know I posted & not her.

Sorry for any confusion, I should be home by weeks end...

Steve,

The DVD came with my Netbook (which was BTW refurbished).  I don't know how to rip an ISO image (if I knew that I wouldn't have written this post :emotion-1:)

I will gladly do that if it's not too difficult, I don't want to download anything to do it though.  I can only load the DVD on a Windows box of course as I no longer have the borrowed DVD reader.  What programs can make an ISO out of a DVD installer?  

Barry

You don't need an actual ISO file. The ISO format is a file format that encodes files in a single file. DVD burning software usually understand this file format and all, but here, what you want, is to put the files that are on the Dell Restore DVD that comes with the computer, on your USB key... nothing more or less. Like I wrote in my earlier post, you can simply copy paste the file from the DVD to the USB key. If you are on windows, then it will work with Windows Explorer.

The tricky part is to format the USB key the good way... So I'll try to simplify my previous post, I'll assume you have a working mini9 with linux running on it, and a windows machine, since that seems to be your setup :

• Boot the mini 9 with ubuntu
  • Open a the "Terminal" application (found in the start menu of ubuntu, the Ubuntu icon in the upper task bar).
  • Plug your USB key into the mini 9
  • type the following line in the "Terminal" application (this will require the root password, that is, the password of the administrator):
    
    • sudo mkfs.vfat -I /dev/sdb
    • sudo apt-get install syslinux
    • syslinux -s /dev/sdb

Now your USB key should be correctly formated to receive the Dell Restore DVD data.

• Boot your Windows machine
  • Insert the Mini 9 Restore DVD into your Windows machine
  • Insert the USB key that you formated in the mini 9
  • Open Windows Explorer, select all the files from the DVD, do "Copy" (from the Edit menu, or from the contextual menu that you can bring up with the mouse right click). NOTE: there is a file, like a square that will not be copied... it doesn't matter, it's not a file that is required for the restore to actually work.
  • "Paste" the files on the USB key (again : from the Edit menu, or from the contextual menu that you can bring up with the mouse right click)
  • Now, on the USB key :
    • copy and rename the isolinux.cfg file to syslinux.cfg
    • copy and rename the isolinux.bin file to syslinux.bin
    • You need to change the boot option in the syslinux.cfg file (last line). This is what the syslinux.cfg file looks like after editing it (you can edit the file with Windows Notepad found in the start menu :
      • • DEFAULT vesamenu.c32
          PROMPT 0
          ALLOWOPTIONS 0
          
          MENU TITLE Dell System Restore DVD
          MENU BACKGROUND logo.png
          
          MENU COLOR disabled * #ff000000 * *
          MENU COLOR hotsel * #ff000000 * *
          MENU COLOR unsel * #ff000000 * none
          MENU COLOR pwdheader * #ff000000 * none
          MENU COLOR pwdentry * #ff000000 * none
          
          LABEL a
            MENU LABEL Welcome to the Dell Mini Restore DVD.
            MENU DISABLE
          LABEL b
            MENU LABEL This tool will erase all data on your system
            MENU DISABLE
          LABEL c
            MENU LABEL and return your system to the factory defaults.
            MENU DISABLE
          LABEL d
            MENU LABEL
            MENU DISABLE
          LABEL e
            MENU LABEL Press "Enter" to continue.
            MENU DISABLE
          LABEL f
            MENU LABEL
            MENU DISABLE
          
          LABEL restore
            MENU LABEL Start Dell Mini Restore
            MENU PASSWD proceed
            MENU PASSPROMPT "Type 'proceed' to restore to factory defaults:
            MENU DEFAULT
            KERNEL vmlinuz
            APPEND initrd=initrd0.img boot=usb

You are all set now, just shutdown the mini 9, plug in the USB key, and boot. When you see the Dell Logo, press 0, and you should see a menu, choose the "boot from USB" item. (second from top if I remember correctly).

I successfully these those steps from the restore DVD Dell provided me when I bought my mini 9. I had a hard time finding the way to do it. If you have any trouble doing it yourself, please post again here.

So I'll try to simplify my previous post, I'll assume you have a working mini9 with linux running on it, and a windows machine, since that seems to be your setup :

Maybe I can add something to this. My case is

1. A dead Mini 9
2. No external DVD drive
3. A PC running Windows Vista, with network access
4. A 4 GB pen drive

Given this setup, here's where I started: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/FromUSBStick

If you scroll down the page, you will see a paragraph relating to "Unetbootin". This is a Windows 2k/XP/Vista utility that will format a USB pendrive and put whatever .iso you want on it.

Here's What I Did

1. I made an .iso file of the "Ubuntu 8.04+ LTS DVD" that came with my Mini9. I used an application called "Power ISO", but you can use whatever you have lying around (i.e. Nero etc.), and saved it to my Windows hard disk
2. I plugged my USB pen drive into my Windows PC and started Unetbootin, told it to make a bootable image by using the .iso I had just created.
3. I unplugged the pendrive from the Win PC and plugged into the Mini9.
4. Fired up the Mini9, held the "0" key down, which allowed me to choose "USB storage" as the boot device"
5. ....and it didn't WORK! AAAARGH! :emotion-12:
6. But, thanks to the above post, I opened the syslinux.cfg on the pendrive with Windows notepad, and pasted the commands into the file (from the line DEFAULT vesamenu.c32... down to APPEND initrd=initrd0.img boot=usb)
7. Unplugged from Windows, plugged into Dell mini9.... SUCCESS!

So... you don't really need a linux box to make the USB drive bootable. You can make do with just windows. Yes, it's a kludge, but it works.

Ta,

L.

Was this using the ISO link above and if so was it a proper mini 9 install (original dell media for the mini 9) I only ask as the limited space on the mini 9 Id like to have ubuntu there but trimmed as much as dell permits so there is no bloat and I have as much space as it allows.

I tried that -- made ISO image of DVD and used Unetbootin to put it on a USB stick and booted the Mini from USB stick.  It gets to this point:

will mount root from /dev/sdb

and then it hangs. I rebooted after that and found that the image was not restored. What can I do at this point to restore the factory-installed image?