Draft System Update Documentation

I have created some draft update documentation on the EmonPi Wiki for users starting with a new SD Card.

Comments and edits very welcome :grinning:.

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Thanks @borpin

Just reading it, since I’m interested. I’m a bit puzzled by some things, so here’s some hopefully constructive comments.

Before you close down your current installation (you will get a small gap in your data), try and create a backup file using the EmonCMS backup module installed on many systems and available from the Web interface.

To me it would be clearer to say something like ‘available from the Setup menu on the web display’.

If this fails, it is possible to install the backup module and run it manually (todo) but the USB route is a better one.

I have no idea what ‘the USB route’ is, so this needs describing before recommending it.

To use the USB route, plug the old SD card (using an adapter) into a USB slot on the EmonPi, EmonBase or just a Pi and restore the data from there. This can also be used where there has been a corruption of the SD Card.

I don’t understand this at all. ‘an adapter’ is the thing that SanDisk supply that converts a microSD to a full SD card, yes? What does this have to do with USB?
To plug the old SD card into a USB slot on the emon-system, presumably the system has to be running. But how can it since I’ve taken the SD card out? Presumably I need to format a new card and put that in first, but the instructions don’t say that.

I don’t understand ‘restore the data from there’. This is in a paragraph about making a backup, so what has restoration got to do with it? Do you mean copy the data from the old card to the [implied] new card somehow? If so, you need to explain exactly how to do that copy.

Then we go on to ‘Initial Boot’, which seems to be all about waiting for updates. I don’t understand why there would be any updates if I’ve just installed an up-to-date image on a new card?

Then ’ Restoring your system’ starts by saying ‘If the earlier backup was successful, this is the easiest route to restore your system’. So now I’m expecting that it will describe that method, then an alternative not so easy method that is needed for some reason in some circumstances, then some advice about what to do if the backup didn’t work. But there’s none of that, just how to restore the backup.

Maybe it would be better if it read: ‘If the earlier backup was successful, you can restore your data in the new system as follows:’, then the instructions, then ‘If the backup didn’t work or you had any other problem, please ask on the forum’.

The reason it is stated in that way is that for older setups, it may not be located in exactly the same place. I don’t have an older system so this was a neutral statement about wher ethe module may be found.

I’ve amended that paragraph.

Firstly because Raspbian release updates all the time.

Secondly, the EmonSD image is not updated every time a semantic version is released, so this brings it up to the latest (stable) release.

It does

Navigate to Backup & import backup file

That is all there is to it.

It also links to the USB method alluded to earlier.

I’ll admit the paragraph needs reordering - It is not as clear as it could be wrt the different restore processes.

Cheers