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List:       debian-user
Subject:    Re: Replacing boot drive: how to make a copy of it?
From:       Kaspar Fischer <fischerk () inf ! ethz ! ch>
Date:       2006-09-04 22:44:45
Message-ID: B0BDC3BA-0C26-46DD-A691-B91ADF845718 () inf ! ethz ! ch
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Marty, Alan, and Damon,

Thanks a lot for all your suggestions! The RAID route looks quite
good and I am going to try it.  I'll get back to the list as soon
as I have first results.

Regards,
Kaspar

On Sep 4, 2006, at 7:07 PM, Damon L. Chesser wrote:

> Damon L. Chesser wrote:
>> Alan Chandler wrote:
>>> On Sunday 03 September 2006 23:23, Marty wrote:
>>>
>>>> Marty wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Kaspar Fischer wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Hi list,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I need to replace my boot disk as it starts failing (with bad  
>>>>>> blocks).
>>>>>> What is the easiest way to obtain, on a new harddrive (at  
>>>>>> least as
>>>>>> large as the old one), an exact copy of the root file system and
>>>>>> swap partition?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Never touch a running system -- so my intention is to *copy* the
>>>>>> drive instead of installing a new Debian system.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Thanks and regards,
>>>>>> Kaspar
>>>>>>
>>>>> If for example you have two identical hard drives /dev/hda and
>>>>> /dev/hdb, with your root partition on /dev/hda, and you don't have
>>>>> any bad blocks on either drive, then you can make a perfect  
>>>>> sector-
>>>>> -by-sector mirror using "cp /dev/hda /dev/hdb"
>>>>>
>>>> Addendum: I posted in haste.  Having re-read your message, since  
>>>> your
>>>> case involves both bad blocks and non-identical drives, I would  
>>>> probably
>>>> opt for rsync as described below after manually setting up the  
>>>> partitions
>>>> on the target drive.
>>>
>>> One other suggestion.  If, before you make the copy you set up  
>>> the new drive as a single element of a raid 1 raid array, then  
>>> replace the failing disk and add the replacement in as the second  
>>> element to this array, you will then have a permanent hot standby  
>>> system.
>>>
>>> That is something I have just done, although I have a separate  
>>> boot partition, and you have to independently store the boot  
>>> block on to both drives (I use grub - which is very easy).
>>>
>>> There is some good articles on the web with step by step  
>>> instructions - I can't locate them right now, but a bit of  
>>> googling will find them
>>>
>>>
>> I have one such how to at www.damtek.com  the direct url is http:// 
>> www.damtek.com/2006/05/raid-and-boot-dir_07.html  I wrote is  
>> specifically for helping me learn RHEL, but it works for Debian  
>> AFAIK.  It will certainly walk you through duplication the grub  
>> MBR, so that you will boot even if you loose the HD that currently  
>> holds your MBR (assuming that /boot and your MBR are both on the  
>> same partition, ie NOT a dual boot system with windows on the  
>> first partition).  I hope that will help.
>
> Addendum:
>
> In the OP's case, just make sure you do not make the failing HD  
> part of a raid, you will loose all your data!  If you go this  
> route, like the above poster said, make the new HD a raid1, only  
> one member and then copy the old HD data onto it.  Just trying to  
> be extra careful with someone else's data and avoid any  
> misunderstanding.
>
> -- 
> Damon L. Chesser
> damon@damtek.com
> damon@okfairtax.org
>
>
> -- 
> To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-REQUEST@lists.debian.org with  
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