zfsonusb

ZFSonUSB is a shell script that helps you import and export a ZFS pool that resides on external disks

Note that when you export (unmount) your ZFS pool, zfsonusb will also power-off the disks so that you can safely unplug your USB cable from your PC.

The most important thing, is to have already created the pool using the name of the attached /dev/disk/by-id/ USB external Disks. So instead of using the common name of the partition e.g. sda1, you should refer to your pool with the name which contains the serial number of the drive. This serial number will not change no matter what machine the drive is connected to and it will always be the same as the serial number on the paper label affixed to the drive.

Installing

To install ZFSonUSB, just run the following commands in a terminal

# Move you prompt to your home folder
$ cd

# Clone this repository
$ git clone https://github.com/synergops/.zfsonusb.git

# Copy the conf file to your home folder
$ cp .zfsonusb/.zfsonusb.conf .
$ cp .zfsonusb/.rsync-home-excludes.txt .

# Copy the executable in to your system binaries
$ sudo cp .zfsonusb/zfsonusb /usr/bin/zfsonusb

How to use ZFS on USB

After the installation you can use it in terminal

zfsonusb {import|export|list|backup|help}


Options:
  import   : Import the ZFS pool and mount datasets
  export   : Unmount the ZFS pool and power off external disks
  list     : List available disks in /dev/disk/by-id
  backup   : Backup your home folder to the ZFS pool
  help     : Show this help message

Once you install it, you need to initialize the conf with the appropriate settings

Steps to use the script for the first time:

1. List available disks in /dev/disk/by-id:

   zfsonusb list
   

2. After identifying the disks, edit the .zfsonusb.conf file to include under the DISKS array the disk paths that correspond to the pool you have previously created.

   Example .zfsonusb.conf:

   ZFS_POOL_NAME="zones"
   DISKS=(
     "/dev/disk/by-id/usb-ST9XXXXXXXXXXX-0:0-part1"
     "/dev/disk/by-id/usb-TOSHIBA_XXXXXXXXXXXXX-0:1-part1"
   )
   

   Set the BACKUP_SOURCE and BACKUP_DESTINATION in the .zfsonusb.conf file to the desired values.

   Edit the .rsync-home-excludes.txt file to exclude the files and directories that you do not want to backup. All lines starting with a # are ignored by rsync, i.e. those directories will be backed up. The syntax doesn't support comments at the end of a line yet. At the start there is a section with directories that are probably not worth backing up. Uncomment those lines to exclude them as well.

3. After configuring the .zfsonusb.conf file, you can:

   • Import your ZFS pool: zfsonusb import
   • Backup your home folder to the ZFS pool: zfsonusb backup
   • Export your ZFS pool and power off disks: zfsonusb export

Contributions

If you have found this tool useful and saved you time, any donations are welcomed: