How to use 'dd' to produce 1-to1 copy of a flatfile to a raw file

ciforbg · 08-23-2013, 07:51 PM

Hello all,

I have an Oracle datafile (cooked) on a ext4 filesystem. I need to convert it to a raw file (don't ask me why please

) and that raw file needs to be a "healthy" copy, like the original so the DB would be able to recognize and use it.

Is there any chance to achieve the above using dd and if so, how exactly should be done in this particular case?

Thanks a lot in advance. Your ideas are most welcome!

Regards

jefro · 08-23-2013, 10:01 PM

dd might be used to copy a database on a raw device. The issue here is that on cooked, (using formatted as opposed to raw) dd would copy the file system and partition information on in the image. One can't easily strip that off. One could dd a raw to an image and mount it that way maybe to a formatted partition.

I may be wrong on this and hopefully someone will correct me but I think RMAN should be used. It shouldn't care about cooked or raw.

ciforbg · 08-24-2013, 05:47 AM

Hi Jefro,

I know how to do it with RMAN, I just was wondering if this is possible with dd. Thanks for your comment.