I have a CB3 that uses a USB as the main drive and I’m looking to do a backup of the whole thing in case the drive fails and needs to be replaced. I want to be able to just plug in a new USB and go. Is there a way to do this easily? I saw something recently about using Rufus program to make an image. Is this the easiest? I’m not concerned about the actual programs since those get backed up separately. It’s more the operating system and robot configuration stuff that I want.
Have you tried the system backup option available on the touch panel? It backs up all the calibration and internal data from the robot.
If you still want more details and the whole computer back up I think the easiest is to plug the USB directly on the controller rather than on the touch panel. From there open a terminal (on the touch panel or remotely using SSH) and make a backup using Linux commands. But I have never tried a backup this way.
Hi @nnaylor
you might also want to use the ur-magic-file:
With this you can safe all the Programs that u have saved on ur UR.
I’m looking to do a full system backup, not just the calibration and internal data. Essentially I want to duplicate the thumb drive in case the original fails, so all I have to do it plug it in and copy any updated robot programs onto it.
Yeah, the “system backup” option from the Touch Panel does that. If you decompressed a .urb backup you’ll see that all the internal OS folder and files are also included. However, be aware this would be only in case that specific controller or computer goes faulty and you replace it for another one with the same robot. The robot-related files include the robot serial Nr and you can’t use these backups on a different robot.
Rather than make a copy of the flash card / usb drive I would recommend to use the magic files too.
Reason:
To make a backup of the flash card you have to shutdown the robot, open the electrical cabinet, remove the flash drive, make a copy (and increasing the risk scrapping the flash drive). (And everything backwards.)
Therefore it is more convenient and safe to use the 2 magic files for backing up your programs and backing up the system. Just insert a flash drive into the teach pendant and the files get automatically copied, in parallel to your running cobot. Do this regularly and you are safe.
Of course you need more time to restore the data in case your original flash drive gets damaged - but in reality how often this is the case? I think you save more time having the backup quickly done several times than restore it once.
Regards, Sven
As opposed to the other replies, I would not advice you to “just” use magic-files if you want a complete backup. You will lose settings such as network, time, languages and URCaps installed (essentially all settings related to PolyScope).
I have encountered many companies that require an additional USB with the complete copy of the operating system, and this is easiest done with Balena Etcher in my opinion.
- Do a backup with magic files before tampering with the system USB (just in case).
- Insert your system USB (make sure you do NOT format the drive or anything through Windows) and an empty USB (I recommend buying an empty, identical USB through a distributor or directly at UR, if you have that option).
- Use the Clone Drive feature in Balena Etcher and it will clone your USB.
cgs - The CB-series does not support the system backup feature.
efn, exactly what I was looking for! Thanks!
Ok, so I decided not to do the cloning thing. Part of it is because I don’t want to mess with the existing drive, and the other part is because I would need authorization to install the Balena Etcher software. Right now I created an image on a new USB stick using the image file provided in the download section of the support site. The included instructions call for copying a variety of files, shown below. However, when I do the copy, it can’t copy some of the files in the urcontrol folder. I’m assuming that because they’re in use by the robot when it is powered on.
I did use the magic file to copy all the config files, so I do have them. I just wanted them in the same structure as what is on the USB drive. Is there any way to copy these files? I am not familiar with linux and not really comfortable using it to copy system files.
The only files you need from the .urcontrol folders are:
calibration.conf
calibration.log
robot_calibration_summary.txt
urcontrol.conf
The rest of the files will be identical in a clean installation of PolyScope.
How do you access the clean installation of your PolyScope, though, if you’re not working with the Linux partition? You will need a program such as Linux Partition Reader by Paragon to access the USB. Then you can copy your backed up files to the fresh installation on the USB.
Right now all I have is an image on a USB stick created through Rufus and UR’s robot image. Now that I have the image and the files needed, I can proceed with something like the Linux Partition Reader to put the necessary files on it.