On Monday 10 Nov 2003 6:59 pm, Richard Urwin wrote: > 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. > > > > > > 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. The M$ware may be able to do conversion if the > > source and destination don't have matching CHS? I use DFSee > > myself, used to use Partition Magic, never Ghost or Drive Image. > > The big problem with dd is that when it's finished the destination > drive will be identical to the source drive. If, like most people, > you've bought a bigger disk, then that's hard luck. The partition > table will show it as the same size as the old disk. I don't know > where the actual full size of the disk is calculated so you might > be able to add new partitions later, or you may not. > Hmm - I have actually only used around half of this drive, saving the rest for later :-) I wonder if it would be sensible, then, to create one large partition in the remaining space, which can be deleted and allocated as necessary, later?
Anne -- Registered Linux User No.293302 Have you visited http://twiki.mdklinuxfaq.org yet?
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