Re: What's an easy way to replace a drive?

From: Jerry McAllister (jerrymc_at_clunix.cl.msu.edu)
Date: 03/24/05

  • Next message: Peter Risdon: "Re: mot de passe root"
    To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
    Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 14:11:19 -0500 (EST)
    
    

    >
    > Gary Smithe writes:
    >
    > > May not be the best answer, but if the drive's data is still intact
    > > (i.e. readable) and the replacement will be identical, maybe try DD or
    > > similar from a bootable "rescue" cd, like freesbie? If not that, then
    > > you may be able to copy the data between the 2 drives using same said
    > > bootable CD after creating the partitions.
    >
    > Is it possible to dd the entire contents of one drive into a single file
    > on another drive (assuming the latter drive is big enough)? If so, I
    > could save time by just copying the drive wholesale to a huge file on
    > another drive, replacing it, then copying everything back. Not sure if
    > "whole drive" would include content outside the FS, though (?).

    Whatever piece you dd will be copied whole including boot sector
    and slice/partition table if you dd a slice or a partition instead of
    just the files. So, yes you could do it, but...

    The problem with dd-ing a partition or slice is that when you put it
    back, what was on the old drive would then overwrite the new including
    the slice and partition tables and boot sector, etc. It is likely that
    the new/rebuilt disk would be slightly different than the old so you
    really want to slice/partition/newfs it from scratch.

    I would recommend using dump(8) to copy each of the filesystems to a file.
    Then create new slices & partitions, newfs them and restore(8) the contents
    back. It is safer and just as efficient.

    ////jerry

    >
    > --
    > Anthony
    >
    > _______________________________________________
    > freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list
    > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions
    > To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe@freebsd.org"
    >

    _______________________________________________
    freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list
    http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions
    To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe@freebsd.org"


  • Next message: Peter Risdon: "Re: mot de passe root"

    Relevant Pages

    • Re: I dont see anything to answer my q
      ... The ones that come with FreeBSD will handle fat and fat32 ... successfully a number of times is Partition Magic. ... What the BSD UNIX world calls a disk slice, ... clear while using the terms slice and primary partition. ...
      (freebsd-questions)
    • Re: Downloads
      ... There was one unused partition. ... (used unconsistently with the rest of FreeBSD). ... division of the disk is called a slice. ...
      (freebsd-questions)
    • RE: problem while installing FreeBSD
      ... You will actually need "volume magic" instead of partition magic I believe. ... > disk, it boots to dos and when I reboot without removing ... >> I thought FreeBSD may take care of this file system or it ... It will not resize the NTFS slice for you. ...
      (freebsd-questions)
    • Re: Shrink a Slice? FreeBSD 7.1
      ... What I want to do is to shrink the slice /dev/ad0s1g ... /dev/ad0s1g is a partition, not a slice. ... then build a partition on each slice of the USB using bsdlabel. ... take the system down and run the dumps. ...
      (freebsd-questions)
    • Re: Id like some help
      ... You now need to decide how to divide the hard disk and if you will be ... you have to have a slice dedicated to FreeBSD. ... the MS primary partition are essentially the same and are compatible. ...
      (freebsd-questions)