Making a bootable 1:1 copy of Xubuntu/Linux running from a USB-Stick?
 

Good morning!

At first excuse my not-so-perfect English; and since its my first post I hope I got the right sub Forum :)

Well, here's the problem:

I bought an desktop Acer Aspire M3200 a year ago. After a few months of playing games Windows (of course, just a matter of time I guess) completely crashed itself, so I decided to install Linux, which I had used in form of Mandriva a few years.

Since I only need a Browser, eMail, a Writer and a few other little software, I had no need for two fast HDDs, so I completely removed all Hard Drives from my machine, put in a 8-GB-USB-Stick and installed Mandriva via Live-CD on the stick - my machine supports "Booting from USB". Mandriva crashed itself several times (with updating and wrong X-configuration) and openSUSE ran pretty sloppy, so a friend of mine recommended me Xubuntu which is the perfect OS for me... simple and fast.

But since it only runs from a USB-Stick (often the whole day) I can wait until the stick reaches his life expectation and gets a lot of reading errors and stuff. Reinstalling on a new Stick via Live-CD is no big deal, but all my Settings would be gone.

So my question:

Is there actually a way of making a (1:1) bootable copy of a whole USB-Stick on which a OS is installed?

And if yes, does it has to be a stick of equal size? (A 2GB is too small for Xubuntu, I mean for copying it on a 16GB stick for example)

Is it possible to burn it even to a DVD?

Thanks in advance for advice :)

You can use Partedmagic to do what you want. That is copy and paste, or move partitions, or ghost a complete drive-it is excellent free software.

To move or copy an OS, the copy area must be free space =/larger than the original or a partition of the same type. I have used it to move an OS on the same disc and also on a USB stick. I have xubuntu 9.10, partedmagic and extra data on the same usb stick.

you running xubuntu/pmagic persistent vigi?

you can customize pmagic too
I did with 4.5 in thorshammer, also grml-magix
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...remble-751227/

and mini-pm is good for low-ram, no x environs
http://beefdrapes.partedmagic.com/

dd to copy
 

Hi,

Maybe you can try with "dd"
dd actually dumps the file/disk/system that you choose as input to a file.

I use dd for example to dump my master boot record like this:
dd if=/dev/hda of=mbr.dump bs=512 count=1

Not sure but I think that you can dump the whole usb disk like this:
dd if=/dev/sd??? of=usb.dump (specify a place with enough space to dump it, maybe on a network drive or something.)

You can then restore the dump to another usb disk with:
dd if=usb.dump of=/dev/sd???

kind regards,
Lieven

ps: you might be able to burn the dump to dvd but you probably can't boot it because of grub, ...

Hello there, and thanks for the fast replies.

@vigi
I looked up the internet for PartedMagic and will give it a try, if the dd-command (see a few lines further) refuses to work.

@linus72
Sorry for this question, but what does this mean? I'm not yet so much into the depths of Linux. I can only say I installed Xubuntu the normal ("standard") way, without any special options or settings before / while / after installing it.

@lievendp
I googled this command and found a very useful site and I will try it this week. Further it looks like it works without much problems or stuff needed. Of course I will keep you guys informed about the (hopefully good) results.

Thanks again!

@linus72
Quote:you running xubuntu/pmagic persistent vigi?
I think persistent mode is saving your data and setting?
----------------------------------------------------------
I have a 4GB usb stick divided into 3 fat32 partitions.
1: Parted Magic maintenance utility.
2: xubuntu 9.10 live edition simply for test and demonstration purposes for friends using windows.
You simple toggle the boot of 1 or 2 with fdisk.

3: Portable applications and data storage partition. I can plug this into any windows machine and a menu will load into the tray. I can then use my own Thunderbird email client off the stick, as well as other applications.

Hi there,

and sorry for this late reply - work is killing me these days. :eek:

To the topic! So far I didnt found the time yet to try at least one of the things you recommended me. Further I noticed my Xubuntu 9.04 starting to get sloppy. I noticed that because YouTube-Videos began suddenly to stutter, and sometimes the system isnt responding for a few seconds.

It can only be the stick, since its the slowest component.

So I decided to do it again the normal way - tomorrow I will buy a WD Velociraptor 74GB, attach it right into my machine and give Xubuntu a fresh, new and clean installation. Maybe my hardware (An Acer Aspire M3200) with such a HDD is a bit too great/fast/overdone for a simple Xubuntu, but there is nothing I hate more than a OS thats slow.

Nevertheless, after I gave Xubuntu new life on the Velociraptor, I will disconnect it, throw in the Xubuntu-Live-CD, plug in my Xubuntu-Stick, an empty stick and try the "dd"-command.

Since I then have nothing to lose. it WILL work! ;)