Hi...Can anybody help me ?!?!? I am a Windows expert but when it comes to Linux, I am lost ! Even my DOS skills aren't helping me! Here is my problem. I have a music server that is using a Linux OS. I am trying to upgrade the hard drive to a larger one. I have cloned the hard drive under Windows XP. The software sees all 3 partitions and it matches the original drive perfectly. The clone software tells me that if the new drive needs to be a bootable drive (which it does) then I need to boot my computer with a Linux boot disk and login as ROOT (whatever that means). Then it says if using ASPLOADER to type in /SBIN/ASPLDR or if using LILO as a loader type in /SBIN/LILO or if using a different loader to follow the main pages of the loader. My question is do I need to have a computer with Linux installed and running or can I aquire Linux boot disk to do this ? I spent the last 5 hours on downloading crap and trying to get this to work. Does anybody know where I can this type of boot disk where I can just load it and type in a few commands and make my new hard drive a bootable drive? I would prefer a CDROM. Also, is it possible to make a bootable Linux CDROM under Windows XP such as a .ISO ?

Thanks !!

To obtain a just download a copy of Ubuntu 7.10 (http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download), this is also a live disk. It will boot your computer straight to a GUI. So basically you need to put your image onto the new HD, then boot the computer with the live disk, open a terminal up (Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal) then type sudo su, then type fdisk -l (it is a lower case L)that should give you a listing of all the partitions on the hard drives. Then type mount -t ext3 /dev/hda* (use the partitions listed in the fdisk -l) /mnt make sure you then can see the root directory (ie /bin /root /etc and so on, if you don't see it use umount /mnt) then type chroot /mnt then type grub-install /dev/hda (do not include the partition number). This will then install grub onto the MBR of the primary partition. Reboot your box and sit back and wait, it should boot straight into Linux.

Good luck,
Mechdave

You can get a SMALL Linux bootable Live-CD to boot into Linux.
See http://distrowatch.com/ for possible choices eg SystemRescue, or even Damn Small Linux.

From there you will be able to follow the instructions to fix the boot problem, which is probably the bootloader, MBR, etc.
You will need to determine what your original system used, eg Lilo, Grub, etc.
As for root, it is an superuser login to allow you to do administration stuff, like reconfig your system.
Usually when booting from CD the distro will give you the password or root privileges.

Good luck.

Hello guys and thank you for answering my question. I will try it out tonight when I get home from work and post my outcome.

Thanks, again . .
Mike

Hi Dave...OK, I got ubuntu and booted my computer with the CDROM. I got into the terminal and I see the 3 partitions with fdisk -l. They are /dev/hda1 (Linux) (has the * for boot)....Secound is /dev/hda2 (Linus swap / Solaris)...and the 3rd is /dev/hda3 (Linus)....Now, I type in mount -t ext3 /dev/hda1 /mnt and it says according to mtab, it is already mounted but I don't see /bin/root/etc at the prompt ? So I typed unmount \mnt and it says bash: unmount: command not found ??? SO then I typed chroot /mnt and i get to a red prompt....I then typed in grub-install /dev/hda and I get error "Not Found or Not a Block device"??/?

HERE IS A SCREEN SHOT

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo su
root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/hdb: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x27db6167

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdb1 * 1 574 4610623+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdb2 575 607 265072+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/hdb3 608 19457 151412625 83 Linux
root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# mount -t ext3 /dev/hdb1 /mnt
mount: /dev/hdb1 already mounted or /mnt busy
mount: according to mtab, /dev/hdb1 is already mounted on /mnt
root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# unmount /mnt
bash: unmount: command not found
root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# chroot /mnt
ubuntu / # grub-install /dev/hdb
/dev/hdb: Not found or not a block device.
ubuntu / #


Please help !!

Thanks so much !!

Mike

Here is a link for Booting tips.

Here is a screen shot:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo su
root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/hdb: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x27db6167

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdb1 * 1 574 4610623+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdb2 575 607 265072+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/hdb3 608 19457 151412625 83 Linux
root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# mount -t ext3 /dev/hdb1 /mnt
mount: /dev/hdb1 already mounted or /mnt busy
mount: according to mtab, /dev/hdb1 is already mounted on /mnt
root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# unmount /mnt
bash: unmount: command not found
root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# chroot /mnt
ubuntu / # grub-install /dev/hdb
/dev/hdb: Not found or not a block device.
ubuntu / #

firstly the unmount command is spelt
umount

2) if you have a live cd...you can use it to put a bootloader onto the mbr....but you have not said what was the old bootloader?

3) you have hdb....so your drive is slave on primary controller.
Does hda exist as a hard drive?

leaping ahead ....if you only have one drive its this

boot cd then open a shell....forget all that mount crap

but if hda exists as is detected by bios as first bootable drive then its

now in both instances only if grub was your previous bootloader...grub will detect its grub files and give a message that it succeeds.

but if you were not using grub please tell us what you were using and do not follow my advice.

4) if hda is to be removed...when you jumper hdb as the new master....you reboot with the live cd and change the /boot/grub/menu and the /etc/fstab

5) IF you remember you were using lilo or something else but want to use grub...you can still do it...but you will need to advise

Just as an additional remark:

I suggest to download a Knoppix Linux CD/DVD and burn it to a CD/DVD disk. Knoppix is Live CD intended to be a maintenance system.

Even though I don't use Knoppix as the main Linux system for day-to-day work, it has been a great help quite often as a rescue disk to amend problems on other installations and it has an amazing amount of support for different hardware.

As a rescue disk it can be run as root. On a commanline prompt simply type 'su' and it will give you root access even without a password (custom passwords on a burned CD wouldn't work anyway, and most people don't like README files, so for that reason root password has been omitted by knoppix a few years ago).

If you only need Linux as a music server and don't want to work on it, and as such don't need to settle for any specific distribution, than you can also install Knoppix to the hard disk as your default Linux.

Even if you handle this current problem in any other way, Knoppix can be handy to have around.


Hope this helps,
Regards,
SIMP

PS: I'm not a Knoppix sales man, I actually use Fedora, but I have found it very usefull in the past

Debian User

yes but knoppix automounts partitions in readonly mode.

as a demo or replacement distro its excellent.

as a live rescue cd I prefer rescuecd or RIP

Hey, thanks guys, gonna give it a shot tonight. I got another quick question. Is there cloning software that is available for ubuntu ? I have fully installed it on one of my computers and I like it. If I take my Linux music servers drive and add it to my ubuntu computer and reclone it, it should work and make it a bootable drive ? correct ?


Thanks,
Mike

OH, sorry, I have been saying that is /hda but the drive I want to make bootable is actually /hdb, the second HD that is installed so disreguard everyting I typed with /hda... Also, I have been typing UNMOUNT instead of UMOUNT, I will try typing the correct command tonight, when I get home

Holy %$%#^$^, YOU ROCK AUS9 !!!! I did exactly what you said and it works !!!!Thanks so much !!!!!!

Mike

Holy @%^#&($&# !!!!!! It Freaking Works !!!...thanks So Much Aus9 !!! I Did Exactly What You Said And Bingo !! Also, Thank You To Everyone Else Who Took The The Time Out To Help Me !!

Mike

Don't give up too early! And don't give bad advice.

Knoppix mounts read-only for your safety, but nothing prevents you from remounting in writeable mode. Right-clicking on the device icon gives among others the option to open a settings dialog.

When running any other kind of rescue CD and you're dropped into a shell you will find that in most cases (for safety reasons) all devices are mounted read-only. There is reason behind this!

Even so, you still can remount any device where the writeable option makes sense. Use the 'remount' option in conjunction with 'mount'.

Somethings like this is used to remount root to make it writeable (change filesystem type to your needs):

Remount definition: Attempt to remount an already-mounted file system. This is commonly used to change the mount flags for a file system, especially to make a readonly file system writeable. It does not change device or mount point.

If you don't like to read man pages on the shell, go and see http://linux.die.net/man/8/mount

Hope this helps,
Regards,
SIMP