What dd command do i use to convert a 1TB image file back to files/directories?

computersavvy · 11-28-2020, 07:08 PM

If you can access the files in the image then attempting to do a restore with dd instead of copying them back would be a lot of wasted time and drive space as well as headaches. I wager you have considerably less space used by the files than the 1 TB in the image.

ondoho · 11-29-2020, 01:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blooperx3

the source (fat) hdd says "fuse" filesystem.

This sentence does not make sense (to me).
I don't think you can work on fuse filesystems with dd.

Quote:

i copied this hdd using following command: for sure

Code:

sudo dd if=/dev/sdx bs=8M of=/filepath/directory.name

The hdd was 1TB and the image created was 1TB.

In any case, your command copied the whole physical hard drive. Nothing to do with filesystems AT ALL.
You have an exact copy of the whole hard drive as a 1TB file.

Quote:

Originally Posted by blooperx3

If I write it back to disk, what dd command would I use?

Code:

sudo dd if=/filepath/directory.name of=/dev/sdy

You can use any bs.

blooperx3 · 12-05-2020, 05:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ondoho

This sentence does not make sense (to me).
I don't think you can work on fuse filesystems with dd.

In any case, your command copied the whole physical hard drive. Nothing to do with filesystems AT ALL.
You have an exact copy of the whole hard drive as a 1TB file.

Code:

sudo dd if=/filepath/directory.name of=/dev/sdy

You can use any bs.

Thanks for the command. If I want to write it to a specific 'empty' partition on the target hdd, would adding a number to "sdy" work?
Appreciate the help.

blooperx3 · 12-05-2020, 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by computersavvy

If you can access the files in the image then attempting to do a restore with dd instead of copying them back would be a lot of wasted time and drive space as well as headaches. I wager you have considerably less space used by the files than the 1 TB in the image.

No, almost a full 1TB.

blooperx3 · 12-05-2020, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michaelk

Missed your last post.

You can't use the dd command to restore the files and if you do not want to over write the drive then as suggested mount the filesystem image file and copy the files.

How would i mount the 1TB (filesystem) image?

teckk · 12-05-2020, 05:52 PM

Quote:

How would i mount the 1TB (filesystem) image?

See:

Code:

man mount

The man pages are also online.
https://linux.die.net/man/8/mount

You can mount an .iso loopback

teckk · 12-05-2020, 05:59 PM

Also,

If you want to make a pdf/text from a man page for easier reading

Code:

man -t mount | ps2pdf - output.pdf
man -P cat mount > output.txt

You can also grep a man page

Code:

man mount | grep -- 'loop'

or

Code:

man mount | grep -A 10 'LOOP'

ondoho · 12-06-2020, 03:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blooperx3

I want to write it to a specific 'empty' partition on the target hdd, would adding a number to "sdy" work?

Um.
Aren't we going in circles now?
Yes, the answer is yes, but it might not give the desired result.

Anyhow, I think I'm out.

rnturn · 12-06-2020, 11:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blooperx3

I know it should be the opposite of the command i used to create it, but that was a long time ago and i do not know which command was used.

Wouldn't you mount the image file using the loopback option (mentioned earlier/above) and restore files from the image using regular file/directory tree commands (`rsync', for example)?

Code:

$ sudo mount <image-file> /mnt -o ro -o loop
$ ls /mnt/*

If this reveals the files you're looking for, you're all set to use `rsync', `cp', or whatever else tool you prefer. I doubt `dd' is the tool to be using for the restores.

I can only recall one instance where I've used `dd' in a backup/restore situation and that involved Oracle raw data partitions and magtape---not regular filesystems.

HTH...