copying linux to another drive?

95se · 10-17-2002, 01:44 PM

I just got a new drive (40 gig 7200rpm), so I partitioned it 39.5 gigs ext2, .3 gig swap. I want to move my linux (all the files from my current partition) from my current drive hda5 to my new drive hdb1. I don't want to reinstall linux on my new drive, it would be pointless, and I would have to reinstall all my drivers, kde3 and all that crap. Does anyone know of an easy way of doing this??

Mara · 10-17-2002, 02:14 PM

You can copy all the files. They you need to modify fstab and install LILO (after making modifucations in lilo.conf). If you have doubts (or you'd like to read a more detailed text), post again.

markus1982 · 10-17-2002, 03:55 PM

I'd use dump and restore to do the filesystem backup ... after that you have of course modify /etc/fstab, grub.conf / lilo.conf and reinstall the bootloader ...

95se · 10-17-2002, 05:31 PM

okay.. I'm just going to do what I originally planned on, making a cp script. Quick Q? - what flag is there to copy hidden files?
k, the only problem is I have to mount it (/hdb) so I have to cp all the directories form the root except /hdb. Well, I odn't have many directories there any way
cp -pR xxxx /hdb
sound good? Well im gonna try :P

mark_umr · 01-07-2003, 12:36 AM

Did this ever work out for you? How'd you end up doing it?

I'm about to do the same for a friend tomorrow. He has linux on a bigger partition now, and we are moving to a smaller one. I'm not sure yet if dump is an option because I'm not sure where we'd be able to dump to. Hopefully he has enough extra space on his current larger partition to hold the dump and the current install, and then we can restore to the smaller partition (which I'm also hoping is large enough for his current install, I suspect it is but we haven't checked yet).

Obviously files in /proc and /tmp do not need to be copied, but I assume virtually everything else can be, even logs since they'll just be continued later or overwritten.

moses · 01-07-2003, 09:44 AM

I don't know if you've already done this, but just use tar:
as root:

Code:

cd /src_dir
tar --exclude /dest_dir -cf - . |(cd /dest_dir; tar xf -)

man tar, you can exclude whatever dirs you need to, and
/proc should be excluded (though created after you are done)

Aussie · 01-07-2003, 09:13 PM

I did this just before xmas (moved my install from two old drives to one new drive), have a look here to see how I did it.