An even easier solution would be to just buy a new HDD, and stick the original into a static bag. Why make it harder than it needs to be?
On 11/21/08, Robert <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Fri, 21 Nov 2008 14:14:19 +0000 > "John ." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> Hello misc, >> >> I want to install OpenBSD/amd64 on my laptop (a recent Toshiba amd >> turon with 3GB RAM) and ONLY have OpenBSD on it, but before I do this, >> I need to know how I can image the disk and restore it subsequently. >> It has vista on, and I may need to restore vista should I subsequently >> need to sell the laptop at some future date. >> >> The hard disk was partitioned and formatted at the manufacturers. The >> first primary partition is not visible as usable space - I think this >> if from where the OS was prepped. >> >> Has anyone had this scenario, if so, what did you use to image the >> data? Have you restored it since? >> >> thanks >> > > My tool of choice for this is: dd > > Just dd the whole drive to a file, compress it and store it somewhere. > > Depending on how easy it is to rip out the harddrive and if you have > another system around you can use for imaging that might be the fastest > way. > > Otherwise you can image over the network or to an external medium. > With usb-bootable systems i use a usbstick with openbsd to get a > working enviroment. On older systems a knoppix cd still comes in handy. > Over the network just redirect the output from dd over ssh. > > To restore the image just dd it back onto the drive. > > That's as simple as it gets and works also works for the "funny" > partitions with the factory-restore stuff. > > To answer your last questions: > Recently got a new Thinkpad, Vista license/media, XP preinstalled, no XP > key/media, thought an image might come in handy sometime, imaged as > described above, image-file is collecting dust scince then, don't > really expect to restore it anytime soon. > But an image produced this way can be restored and the system would be > "working" the same way it was at the time you made the image. > > (If you only have a NTFS drive around to store the image, > gparted+partimage would be another sollution.) > > > - Robert
