Re: backing up a drive

2006-04-05 Thread Michelle Konzack
Sorry, for the late reponse...

You have:   Windows 98
proprietary software

What you can do is easy:

1)  Install the new Hardrive with a new Windows 98
and make it bootable (make sure it works)

2)  stop your computer and attach the old Harddisk to 
the secoindary IDE-Controller

3)  start a Linux-Live-CD and mount allt wo drives with "vfat".

4)  erase all files on the new drive.

5)  copy all files recursiv from the old HDD to the new one

6)  Stop your computer and remove the old HDD

7)  Restart the Computer and look what hapnen...


Please note, I have done this several times in the last 6 years
and it was always working.

Greetings
Michelle Konzack
Systemadministrator
Tamay Dogan Network
Debian GNU/Linux Consultant


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Re: backing up a drive

2006-03-27 Thread John Fleming
The dd can be from a live cdrom or from a small partition on the box 
reserved just for this purpose.  The latter is no good in the case of a 
dead disk but is convenient otherwise.


What about mirrordir?  Assuming equal partitions on 2 disks, say from a 
prior dd run, how does the result of


mirrordir --strict-locking / /mnt/backup

compare with appropriately using dd?  (/dev/hdb1 is mounted on /mnt/backup)

Seems like mirrordir makes a nice backup option too?  Thanks any comments - 
John




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Re: backing up a drive

2006-03-27 Thread Robert Brockway

On Tue, 21 Mar 2006, Doofus wrote:


Only do this in single user mode though, right? Or better still, on a


Make sure that the MS-Window system is not active in any way (through a 
virtual system or whatever).


The dd can be from a live cdrom or from a small partition on the box 
reserved just for this purpose.  The latter is no good in the case of a 
dead disk but is convenient otherwise.


Rob

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Re: backing up a drive

2006-03-21 Thread Chris Lale

Micha Feigin wrote:


I want to make an exact backup of a hard drive (copy one drive to another). It
contains a program who's copy protection checks changes to the system so unless
I can restore it exactly the program will stop running (it's a veterinary
clinic software so I don't think that there is a free alternative)

Thanks
 

You can clone a hard disc providing that the new disc is at least as big 
as the one you wish to clone. See 
http://newbiedoc.berlios.de/wiki/Cloning_a_hard_disc



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Re: backing up a drive

2006-03-21 Thread Mike McCarty

Mike Smith wrote:

I'd prefer you not to top post.


Hmm... Doesn't the hard drive's MBR have the disk size on it?


Yes, but the MBR is not part of any partition. Using dd on
/hda1 uses the partition, not the physical disc.


(I know that's the case with floppy disks - I made Windows think a
1.44mbfloppy was
33.6 mb once. The power of a hex editor ;-) )


You edited the BR, not the MBR, as a floppy doesn't have an MBR.


On 3/21/06, Mike McCarty <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:


Philippe De Ryck wrote:


Well, according to me a dd of a live system is a really bad idea. The
safest way is just boot with a live linux CD (knoppix for instance) and
dump the partitions from the HDD. Do NOT dump a mounted partition.


This was my thought on the matter as well, use Knoppix or Kanotix, or
other LiveCD. Um, I believe mounting Read Only would be ok.

[snip]


Mike
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Re: backing up a drive

2006-03-21 Thread Mike Smith
Hmm... Doesn't the hard drive's MBR have the disk size on it?
(I know that's the case with floppy disks - I made Windows think a 1.44mb floppy was 33.6 mb once. The power of a hex editor ;-) ) 
On 3/21/06, Mike McCarty <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Philippe De Ryck wrote:> Well, according to me a dd of a live system is a really bad idea. The> safest way is just boot with a live linux CD (knoppix for instance) and
> dump the partitions from the HDD. Do NOT dump a mounted partition.This was my thought on the matter as well, use Knoppix or Kanotix, orother LiveCD. Um, I believe mounting Read Only would be ok.
[snip]Mike--p="p=%c%s%c;main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}";main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}This message made from 100% recycled bits.You have found the bank of Larn.I can explain it for you, but I can't understand it for you.
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Re: backing up a drive

2006-03-21 Thread Duncan Anderson
On Tuesday, 21 March 2006 14:40, John Fleming wrote:
> >> > A pointer: take a dump of the entire drive (dd if=/dev/hda) and not
> >> > just
> >> > partition.
>
> Please tell this newbie additional info that's probably obvious to everyone
> else - What all should be stopped while dd is doing it's thing, IOW stop
> mail server and anything else that might be actively trying to change files
> during the dd?  What all comes to mind - mail, cron, Apache...others??
>
> What's the worst thing that might happen if active services are NOT
> stopped - a jumbled mail message or could the whole filesystem end up
> unusable in this case??
>
> Thanks - John

Dumping the root file system should probably be done in "system maintenance 
mode", otherwise know an runlevel 1, or single user mode. At the boot prompt, 
you can type "linux single" if you are using LILO. In GRUB the same thing 
should be possible, except that I haven't tried it.

Another way of doing it is to run "init 1" from a root prompt, but you may 
need to run ps to see if any services are still running.

cheers
Duncan


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Re: backing up a drive

2006-03-21 Thread Mike McCarty

Philippe De Ryck wrote:

Well, according to me a dd of a live system is a really bad idea. The
safest way is just boot with a live linux CD (knoppix for instance) and
dump the partitions from the HDD. Do NOT dump a mounted partition.


This was my thought on the matter as well, use Knoppix or Kanotix, or
other LiveCD. Um, I believe mounting Read Only would be ok.

[snip]

Mike
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I speak only for myself, and I am unanimous in that!


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Re: backing up a drive

2006-03-21 Thread Mike McCarty

Micha Feigin wrote:

I want to make an exact backup of a hard drive (copy one drive to another). It
contains a program who's copy protection checks changes to the system so unless
I can restore it exactly the program will stop running (it's a veterinary
clinic software so I don't think that there is a free alternative)


I recommend you contact the vendor of the software and explain
your situation, then request that they provide a solution.
You *pay* for the use of that software. They *should* have a
means to handle your oh-so-common case. If they don't, then
there is a problem. I would consider changing vendors.

I've been on the other side of that issue, having written and
supported hospital, pharmacy, and printing software, and I've always
provided a way to run on a temporary basis after a necessary
re-install or reload from backup. Any programmer worth his
salt is going to understand your need, but the corporate
structure may not.

Yes, I know that changing software would be a major problem,
but so is not being able to get back up and running in an
hour or two after a hard disc crash.

Mike
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Re: backing up a drive

2006-03-21 Thread Doofus
Dmitri Minaev wrote:

>On 3/21/06, Robert Brockway <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>  
>
>>>There may be a way around this limitation or to fix it after
>>>performing dd.
>>>  
>>>
>>Following a reimaging from dd the options to expand the filesystem are:
>>1. Resize the filesystem using suitable tools if possible.
>>or
>>2. Take the data off using a tool like dump, xfsdump (for xfs), cpio or
>>tar and remake the filesystem before restoring.
>>
>>
>
>Or send the dd output to a file instead of a partition. Then you can
>use the free space on the target partition for other files.
>

Surley Dmitri's method here is best because `dd if=
of=`

for example:  `dd if=/dev/hda of=/disk2/backup1.img`

will not only give a bit-for-bit copy of the entire drive that's easily
rewritten onto to the original media, but is also a simple (and
portable) file, so you don't need to worry about finding an identical
disk to do the initial disk dump onto.

Only do this in single user mode though, right? Or better still, on a
cold system running from a pair of rescue floppies or a debian installer CD.


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Re: backing up a drive

2006-03-21 Thread Philippe De Ryck
On Tue, 2006-03-21 at 07:40 -0500, John Fleming wrote:
> >> > A pointer: take a dump of the entire drive (dd if=/dev/hda) and not 
> >> > just
> >> > partition.
> 
> Please tell this newbie additional info that's probably obvious to everyone 
> else - What all should be stopped while dd is doing it's thing, IOW stop 
> mail server and anything else that might be actively trying to change files 
> during the dd?  What all comes to mind - mail, cron, Apache...others??
> 
> What's the worst thing that might happen if active services are NOT 
> stopped - a jumbled mail message or could the whole filesystem end up 
> unusable in this case??
> 
> Thanks - John
> 

Well, according to me a dd of a live system is a really bad idea. The
safest way is just boot with a live linux CD (knoppix for instance) and
dump the partitions from the HDD. Do NOT dump a mounted partition.
Access the partition directly using the device (/dev/hda1 for instance).

This way you'll have a consistent dump of your partition. 

I do not know what would happen if you dump a live system, but I don't
think much good can come from it.

Philippe De Ryck


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Re: backing up a drive

2006-03-21 Thread John Fleming
> A pointer: take a dump of the entire drive (dd if=/dev/hda) and not 
> just

> partition.


Please tell this newbie additional info that's probably obvious to everyone 
else - What all should be stopped while dd is doing it's thing, IOW stop 
mail server and anything else that might be actively trying to change files 
during the dd?  What all comes to mind - mail, cron, Apache...others??


What's the worst thing that might happen if active services are NOT 
stopped - a jumbled mail message or could the whole filesystem end up 
unusable in this case??


Thanks - John


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Re: backing up a drive

2006-03-21 Thread Philippe De Ryck
On Tue, 2006-03-21 at 00:17 -0500, Robert Brockway wrote:
> On Mon, 20 Mar 2006, Philippe De Ryck wrote:
> 
> > A pointer: take a dump of the entire drive (dd if=/dev/hda) and not just
> > partition. I've had some systems that wouldn't accept the restored
> > version (PC wouldn't boot anymore due to no OS found) unless the whole
> > disk was restored.
> 
> I've done this plenty of times over the years.  You just need to rerun a 
> boot loader following the partition restore.  Lilo does well for this.
> 
> The bootloader can be run from a local Linux partition or from a live 
> cdrom as is preferred by the admin.  Think about disaster recovery which 
> ever way you go (eg, the entire disk is toast).
> 
> Rob
> 

Well, I'll elaborate on the situation I encountered. I didn't look into
it very much, because when the problem occurred I didn't have the time
to do so. Since it was a Windows-only system, there was no lilo
installed.

If I restored only hda1 the PC wouldn't boot. I tried a lot of options:
I tried to restore the MBR using lilo, to no avail. I tried restoring
the MBR using the WindowsXP repair console (or whatever that thing is
called) using fixmbr and fixboot, all to no avail. The system didn't
recognize the operating system. In the repair console however, I could
"connect" to the installation and everything was where it was supposed
to be.

This is where I gave up (It cost me way more time than I had to spare).

If anyone can elaborate on this that would be great. I believe the
hardware has been decomissioned a few weeks ago, so I would be able to
run some tests (in the future, because the schedule is packed right
now). Any suggestions welcome!

Philippe De Ryck

PS: if this should be in a new thread, feel free to reply in a new one!


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Re: backing up a drive

2006-03-20 Thread Paul Johnson
On Monday 20 March 2006 14:24, Star King of the Grape Trees wrote:
> Micha Feigin wrote:
> >I want to make an exact backup of a hard drive (copy one drive to
> > another). It contains a program who's copy protection checks changes to
> > the system so unless I can restore it exactly the program will stop
> > running (it's a veterinary clinic software so I don't think that there is
> > a free alternative)
> >
> >Thanks
>
> Sometimes that is not enough. Some programs also check things such as
> CPU ID, and other serial numbers.
>
> "dd" or "cat" is probably sufficient, but you will get a file that is
> the SAME size as the HDD.
>
> So, I would get another HDD that is *exactly* equal or larger, and use
> the actual hard disc as the destination file. (ie, /dev/hdd)
>
> (Could someone else please confirm this?)

That perfectly describes dd's usage.

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Re: backing up a drive

2006-03-20 Thread Paul Johnson
On Monday 20 March 2006 13:32, Micha Feigin wrote:
> I want to make an exact backup of a hard drive (copy one drive to another).
> It contains a program who's copy protection checks changes to the system so
> unless I can restore it exactly the program will stop running (it's a
> veterinary clinic software so I don't think that there is a free
> alternative)

dd if= of= will make a bit-for-bit copy of 
the original media.

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Re: backing up a drive

2006-03-20 Thread Robert Brockway

On Mon, 20 Mar 2006, Philippe De Ryck wrote:


A pointer: take a dump of the entire drive (dd if=/dev/hda) and not just
partition. I've had some systems that wouldn't accept the restored
version (PC wouldn't boot anymore due to no OS found) unless the whole
disk was restored.


I've done this plenty of times over the years.  You just need to rerun a 
boot loader following the partition restore.  Lilo does well for this.


The bootloader can be run from a local Linux partition or from a live 
cdrom as is preferred by the admin.  Think about disaster recovery which 
ever way you go (eg, the entire disk is toast).


Rob

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Re: backing up a drive

2006-03-20 Thread Dmitri Minaev
On 3/21/06, Robert Brockway <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > There may be a way around this limitation or to fix it after
> > performing dd.
> Following a reimaging from dd the options to expand the filesystem are:
> 1. Resize the filesystem using suitable tools if possible.
> or
> 2. Take the data off using a tool like dump, xfsdump (for xfs), cpio or
> tar and remake the filesystem before restoring.

Or send the dd output to a file instead of a partition. Then you can
use the free space on the target partition for other files.

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Re: backing up a drive

2006-03-20 Thread Robert Brockway

On Mon, 20 Mar 2006, Monique Y. Mudama wrote:


I seem to recall that it doesn't.  I believe that dd will cause the
partition to think it's the size of the original partition.  So it
"works," but you can only use as much space as the original hard drive
had.


That's right.  It does work in so far as the original filesystem is 
restored and all it costs you is a little wasted space.  For most people a 
small price to get their system back working, at least in the short term.



There may be a way around this limitation or to fix it after
performing dd.


Following a reimaging from dd the options to expand the filesystem are:

1. Resize the filesystem using suitable tools if possible.

or

2. Take the data off using a tool like dump, xfsdump (for xfs), cpio or 
tar and remake the filesystem before restoring.  Of course if any of these 
work then use them instead of dd in the first instance.  dd is really only 
useful for backups where other tools may not work well (eg, to backup an 
NTFS file system from Linux when you fear making a new NTFS filesystem may 
be difficult in the future).


dd takes up more space (since it backs up the filesystem rather than the 
files), is very rigid and does not allow for anything except a full 
backup.


Rob

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Re: backing up a drive

2006-03-20 Thread Monique Y. Mudama
On 2006-03-20, Micha Feigin penned:
> On Mon, 20 Mar 2006 15:46:15 -0600 Mark Petersen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> wrote:
>
>> 
>> There's a few ways to do this, such as 'dd if=/dev/hda of=/dev/hdc' 
>
> Will this work if the drives are not of the same size? (I want to
> backup the drive so that I can restore it later if there is a
> problem)
>

I seem to recall that it doesn't.  I believe that dd will cause the
partition to think it's the size of the original partition.  So it
"works," but you can only use as much space as the original hard drive
had.

There may be a way around this limitation or to fix it after
performing dd.

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Re: backing up a drive

2006-03-20 Thread John Hasler
Micha Feigin writes:
> Will [dd] work if the drives are not of the same size?

It will work as long as the destination drive is as large or larger than
the source.

> I want to backup the drive so that I can restore it later if there is a
> problem

You could copy the disk to a file.

> Like I said, there is no one to talk to, and it seems that they made some
> changes to the file format (without changing the major version BTW) so
> the last version doesn't work with her files.

Sounds like a vendor to get away from as soon as possible.
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Re: backing up a drive

2006-03-20 Thread Philippe De Ryck
On Tue, 2006-03-21 at 09:24 +1100, Star King of the Grape Trees wrote:
> Micha Feigin wrote:
> 
> >I want to make an exact backup of a hard drive (copy one drive to another). 
> >It
> >contains a program who's copy protection checks changes to the system so 
> >unless
> >I can restore it exactly the program will stop running (it's a veterinary
> >clinic software so I don't think that there is a free alternative)
> >
> >Thanks
> >
> >
> >  
> >
> Sometimes that is not enough. Some programs also check things such as 
> CPU ID, and other serial numbers.
> 
> "dd" or "cat" is probably sufficient, but you will get a file that is 
> the SAME size as the HDD.
> 
> So, I would get another HDD that is *exactly* equal or larger, and use 
> the actual hard disc as the destination file. (ie, /dev/hdd)
> 
> (Could someone else please confirm this?)
> 

I use system images *a lot* and the easiest way for me is to boot the
source-pc with a knoppix-disk and then use "dd if=/dev/hdX | netcat ..."
to transfer the image to another machine running linux. The file is
received on that machine by "netcat ... > hda.img". This works perfectly
(at least if you restore to the same machine).

I believe it would give the same result if you do it directly to the
disk as suggested. Of course, you can use knoppix to partition the disk
and make it a file. That's easier to store (bzip2 it and put it on a DVD
for instance).

If you're unsure, find a spare machine, install windows98 and try to
backup and restore it (backup it, delete some files in windows and
restore the partition to verify that everything works and is there).
This way you're quite sure your backup will work on the actual system. 

A pointer: take a dump of the entire drive (dd if=/dev/hda) and not just
partition. I've had some systems that wouldn't accept the restored
version (PC wouldn't boot anymore due to no OS found) unless the whole
disk was restored.

Good luck

Philippe De Ryck


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Re: backing up a drive

2006-03-20 Thread Star King of the Grape Trees

Micha Feigin wrote:


On Mon, 20 Mar 2006 15:46:15 -0600
Mark Petersen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

 


At 03:32 PM 3/20/2006, you wrote:
   


I want to make an exact backup of a hard drive (copy one drive to another). It 
... ... I have an extra hard disk so I thought to
use that. The new one is larger then the one installed.

Ok, how about just zanking that HDD out, LABELLING IT (You don't want to 
accidently wipe that program, do you?), putting the new one in, install 
the new OS, put the HDD in as a slave, copy the data and stuff over, 
then keeping it out again as a backup?


If anything goes wrong, yank out the new hdd in, and put the old one 
back in.



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Re: backing up a drive

2006-03-20 Thread John Hasler
Micha Feigin writes:
> I want to make an exact backup of a hard drive (copy one drive to
> another).

Use dd.
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Re: backing up a drive

2006-03-20 Thread Star King of the Grape Trees

Micha Feigin wrote:


I want to make an exact backup of a hard drive (copy one drive to another). It
contains a program who's copy protection checks changes to the system so unless
I can restore it exactly the program will stop running (it's a veterinary
clinic software so I don't think that there is a free alternative)

Thanks


 

Sometimes that is not enough. Some programs also check things such as 
CPU ID, and other serial numbers.


"dd" or "cat" is probably sufficient, but you will get a file that is 
the SAME size as the HDD.


So, I would get another HDD that is *exactly* equal or larger, and use 
the actual hard disc as the destination file. (ie, /dev/hdd)


(Could someone else please confirm this?)


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Re: backing up a drive

2006-03-20 Thread Micha Feigin
On Mon, 20 Mar 2006 15:46:15 -0600
Mark Petersen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> At 03:32 PM 3/20/2006, you wrote:
> >I want to make an exact backup of a hard drive (copy one drive to another). 
> >It
> >contains a program who's copy protection checks changes to the 
> >system so unless
> >I can restore it exactly the program will stop running (it's a veterinary
> >clinic software so I don't think that there is a free alternative)
> 
> There's a few ways to do this, such as 'dd if=/dev/hda of=/dev/hdc' 

Will this work if the drives are not of the same size? (I want to backup the
drive so that I can restore it later if there is a problem)

> but are you sure it doesn't check the physical HD serial number or 

I'm not sure, it's for my veterenarian and there is no more support for the
program, they want her to upgrade to the next program and she doesn't want to
spend the money. The problem is that the machine is running windows 98 (not se)
and doesn't recognize the new cdrw. I want to make sure I can restore
everything before I make any damage. I have an extra hard disk so I thought to
use that. The new one is larger then the one installed.

> anything else that will keep this from working?  Why can't you 
> discuss ahead of time and get a key re-issued if things change too much? 
> 

Like I said, there is no one to talk to, and it seems that they made some
changes to the file format (without changing the major version BTW) so the last
version doesn't work with her files.

>  
>  +++
>  This Mail Was Scanned By Mail-seCure System
>  at the Tel-Aviv University CC.
> 
> 

 
 +++
 This Mail Was Scanned By Mail-seCure System
 at the Tel-Aviv University CC.


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backing up a drive

2006-03-20 Thread Micha Feigin
I want to make an exact backup of a hard drive (copy one drive to another). It
contains a program who's copy protection checks changes to the system so unless
I can restore it exactly the program will stop running (it's a veterinary
clinic software so I don't think that there is a free alternative)

Thanks


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