On Tue, 2008-09-30 at 10:11 -0700, Robert Robert wrote:
> Dear All,
> I was wondering how I could make a clone or image of my computer hard
> disk that contains debian OS. I want to do this in order to make an
> exact copy to another clean pc with no os at all. What complete free
> software can I use for this ? Is there a manual some where on the net
> about this ?
> thanks
>

Tarring you install works fast and simple:

> # tar cvjfp /mnt/usb/stage4.tar.bz2 / -X stage4.excl

stage4.excl (adapt for Debian)
> /etc/ssh/ssh_host_*
> /home/*
> /mnt/*
> /media/*
> /lost+found
> /proc/*
> /sys/*
> /tmp/*
> /usr/portage/distfiles/*
> /var/tmp/*

I used to do this a lot with Gentoo.


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Aniruddha





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On Tue, 2008-09-30 at 14:18 -0400, David Clymer wrote:
> On Tue, Sep 30, 2008 at 1:11 PM, Robert Robert <robertrobert93@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > Dear All,
> > I was wondering how I could make a clone or image of my computer hard disk
> > that contains debian OS. I want to do this in order to make an exact copy to
> > another clean pc with no os at all. What complete free software can I use
> > for this ? Is there a manual some where on the net about this ?
>
> I highly recommend Clonezilla-live. it makes cloning to/from any sort
> of storage very simple. You can clone to an attached usb drive, to a
> network drive via nfs, samba, or ssh. (http://www.clonezilla.org/)
>

Clonezilla uses partimage which I haven't found too reliable. I still
prefer to tar /. It works perfectly every time.


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Aniruddha





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On Tue, 2008-09-30 at 23:14 +0200, Hans Ekbrand wrote:
> On Tue, Sep 30, 2008 at 09:49:08PM +0200, Aniruddha wrote:
> > On Tue, 2008-09-30 at 14:18 -0400, David Clymer wrote:
> > > On Tue, Sep 30, 2008 at 1:11 PM, Robert Robert <robertrobert93@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > > > Dear All,
> > > > I was wondering how I could make a clone or image of my computer hard disk
> > > > that contains debian OS. I want to do this in order to make an exact copy to
> > > > another clean pc with no os at all. What complete free software can I use
> > > > for this ? Is there a manual some where on the net about this ?
> > >
> > > I highly recommend Clonezilla-live. it makes cloning to/from any sort
> > > of storage very simple. You can clone to an attached usb drive, to a
> > > network drive via nfs, samba, or ssh. (http://www.clonezilla.org/)
> > >
> >
> > Clonezilla uses partimage which I haven't found too reliable. I still
> > prefer to tar /. It works perfectly every time.
>
> To tar / will not
>
> - partition the disk
> - make a partition bootable
> - put the right files on the right partitions unless the partitions are
> - created manually
> - mounted at the correct mountpoints.
>
> The OP mentioned a "clean pc with no os at all", which sounds much
> like an unpartitioned disk, on which tar / will not work at all (since
> there is no partitions and no filesystem to untar to).

-Boot livecd
-Run cfdisk
-Format partitions
-Unpack tar
-Chroot
-Adjust config files
-Run grub-install

This takes about 30 minutes. Alternatively if one really want to do bare
metal recovery; image products from Paragon and Acronis are the best
choice.


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Aniruddha





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On Tue, 2008-09-30 at 21:49 +0200, Aniruddha wrote:
> On Tue, 2008-09-30 at 14:18 -0400, David Clymer wrote:
> > On Tue, Sep 30, 2008 at 1:11 PM, Robert Robert <robertrobert93@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > > Dear All,
> > > I was wondering how I could make a clone or image of my computer hard disk
> > > that contains debian OS. I want to do this in order to make an exact copy to
> > > another clean pc with no os at all. What complete free software can I use
> > > for this ? Is there a manual some where on the net about this ?
> >
> > I highly recommend Clonezilla-live. it makes cloning to/from any sort
> > of storage very simple. You can clone to an attached usb drive, to a
> > network drive via nfs, samba, or ssh. (http://www.clonezilla.org/)
> >
>
> Clonezilla uses partimage which I haven't found too reliable. I still
> prefer to tar /. It works perfectly every time.

Clonezilla allows you to pick the method you want it to use. One of
those methods is partimage. Others are dd, ntfsclone, and partclone.

-davidc

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On Tue, 2008-09-30 at 22:22 -0400, David Clymer wrote:
> > Clonezilla uses partimage which I haven't found too reliable. I still
> > prefer to tar /. It works perfectly every time.
>
> Clonezilla allows you to pick the method you want it to use. One of
> those methods is partimage. Others are dd, ntfsclone, and partclone.
>
> -davidc
>

That sounds good! I'll remember clonezilla if I need it in the near
future.


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Aniruddha





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On Tue, Sep 30, 2008 at 10:11:09AM -0700, Robert Robert wrote:
> Dear All,
> I was wondering how I could make a clone or image of my computer hard disk
> that contains debian OS. I want to do this in order to make an exact copy
> to another clean pc with no os at all. What complete free software can I
> use for this ? Is there a manual some where on the net about this ?
> thanks

I use dump/restore for this.

To create the image, issue the command

dump -0 -v -f image.dmp /

from the directory where you want the image to be written.

To write the image you first have to prepare a partition, mount it
somewhere and cd to there. Then you just do:

restore -r -f image.dmp

You then can take care of grub with dd, if required.

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~ Ralph Wiggum


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