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 -- Alan Chandler http://www.chandlerfamily.org.uk -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
