On Wed, December 6, 2006 10:26 pm, Voytek Eymont wrote: > > On Wed, December 6, 2006 10:00 pm, Ben Buxton wrote: >> Voytek Eymont wrote: > >>> can I clone a running system ? >> >> Yes, you can. > > Ben, thanks for detailed info > > what I really meant to ask, was 'can I copy/clone a running systems whilst > it's in normal operation'; I gather the answer is 'no' >
Yes and no. If your system cannot be taken down then you can basically adjust my previous post such that the new drive is prepared on another system. You can dd to a file the first 100Mb for example then copy that file containing partition table & MBR and then dd on the target system. You'd have to prep the target system from a rescue/live CD. Problem being there is a problem with the difference between the running state and the shutdown state - eg lock files, pipes. A similar situation occurrs when you just pull the power plug on your system. In the case of attempting to clone you're racing against time with files that are being written/deleted on the source system. If you can shutdown as many non-critical applications as possible and frequently rsync you may reach an acceptable level of compromise, you can then shutdown the old system and turn on the new system and cross your fingers. -- ---<GRiP>--- Electronic Hobbyist, Former Arcadia BBS nut, Occasional nudist, Linux Guru, SLUG President, AUUG and Linux Australia member, Sydney Flashmobber, Tenpin Bowler, BMX rider, Walker, Raver & rave music lover, Big kid that refuses to grow up. I'd make a good family pet, take me home today! Some people actually read these things it seems. -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
