On Monday 10 Nov 2003 6:24 am, Felix Miata wrote: > Anne Wilson wrote: > > On Monday 10 Nov 2003 5:23 am, Michael Noble wrote: > > > It has been a while since I last dd a disk drive (it is best to > > > make them the same type and size). Assuming that the old disk > > > is /dev/hda and the new disk is /dev/hdb the following command > > > should work: > > > > > > dd if=/dev/hda of=/dev/hdb > > > > I've heard people recommend this before, but I'm not sure why > > this is better than cp -a ? I do remember that the last time I > > tried to copy a whole directory to a new partition I had some > > problems before I got it right, so I want to be clear before I > > start. > > AFAIK, cp can only copy files from a mounted partition to a mounted > partition. dd can copy anything anywhere that there exist sectors > to read & write. The example above should copy the MBR and > partition tables, as well as all files on all partitions. > That sounds good. But how do I handle the various partitions? Do I partition the new drive first? And format them?
> > > Then make the new disk /dev/hda and the system should boot. As > > > I said it has been a while and may have the basic command a > > > little off. But the original (noisy) drive will still be in > > > working order. > > > > > > If you have it, I have also heard that the latest Norton Ghost > > > will also work. > > > > This is really a much better way, but I don't have the latest > > Norton Ghost. My Drive Image is not the latest, either. Is > > there not a linux tool that tackles it in a similar way, rather > > than just copying files? > > dd is probably all anyone on Linux needs, but doesn't have menus > and a pretty face. I can live with that, providing I know just what is going to happen. As always, documentation is the life-saver for me. Anne -- Registered Linux User No.293302 Have you visited http://twiki.mdklinuxfaq.org yet?
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