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I do this quite frequently - except that in most cases I am |
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replacing an old drive with a new larger driver, but want |
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the existing partitions copied accross identically as if |
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nothing has changed. To complicate matters, I often have |
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more that one operating system installed on the disk. |
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|
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The basic appreach is really the same thing you would do if |
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your old drive failed completely and you were recovering from |
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backups - only this way you can make sure your backups are |
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completely up to date so that nothing is lost. |
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|
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The best method (IMHO) is as follows: |
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|
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Firstly, always make sure your backups are completely up |
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to date before you start plugging and unplugging hard drives. |
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Use 'fdisk -l' or similar to get the exact partitioning of the |
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old drive, and print a copy. |
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|
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Next connect and partition the new drive with identically sized |
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partitions to the original drive. Any extra space will be available for |
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new partitions - these can be created now or later. |
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|
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Now load all of the partitions with the content of the corresponding |
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original. If I am using dump to backup ext2/ext3 filesystems, I usually |
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just use restore at this point. |
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|
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Alternatively, boot your old system single user (so all filesystems |
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are read-only) and dd each old filsystem to the corresponding |
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new filesystem. |
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|
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Finally, move the new drive to its final address and remove the |
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original, boot using a floppy or CD, and use grub/lilo to update your |
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boot blocks. Then, of course, you chould run a filesystem check |
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on each of the filesystems just to make sure. |
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|
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This ensures that the information in the boot sector is correct |
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for the new drive. Two 120G drives will typically not have |
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*exactly* the same number of sectors, and usually will have |
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a different geometry. So long as the new drive has the same |
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or more, then you are ok and just need to make sure you copy |
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the original partition sizes exactly. If you have slightly less, |
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then at least one partition will be smaller and should be |
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formatted and copied file by file (although you could avoid |
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this by choosing to shrink the swap partition). |
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|
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The dd means I don't have to worry about what operating system |
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is in the partition, and there is no possibility that oversights |
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with rsync will have resulted in subtle changes that might go |
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un-noticed for a long time - such as forgetting to preserve |
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hard links (archive mode does not preserve everything..). |
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|
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When I need to change the size of one or more filesystems, then |
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I use dump/restore (for ext2/3 filesystem) or rsync for Unix |
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based systems. |
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|
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Regards, |
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DigbyT |
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|
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On Fri, Nov 11, 2005 at 02:50:22PM -0800, maxim wexler wrote: |
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> Hello everyone, |
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> |
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> Just received a new, unformatted SATA 120G HD with the |
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> intention of moving my entire gentoo OS over to it |
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> from a flaky 120G ATA drive(reiserfs). Hopefully, I |
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> can just boot up from the new drive as if nothing had |
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> changed. |
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> |
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> Can anybody recommend any tool(s) for the job? |
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> Gotchas? Does SATA prefer a certain fs? |
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> |
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> -mw |
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> |
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> |
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> |
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> __________________________________ |
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> Yahoo! FareChase: Search multiple travel sites in one click. |
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> http://farechase.yahoo.com |
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> -- |
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> gentoo-user@g.o mailing list |
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|
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-- |
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Digby R. S. Tarvin digbyt@××××××.com |
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http://www.digbyt.com |
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-- |
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