Copying partitions and grub too

jobless_joe · 02-10-2005, 04:42 PM

I need to copy a whole hard drive to another hard drive (same hardware, os->hardware issues not a problem), but grub doesn't seem to be working. The computer I want to copy to a bunch of others has windows 98 and redhat 9 using grub to dualboot.

The problem is, when I try to copy the hard drive to another computer with norton ghost (it copies the mbr and bootsector, i think) it just comes up with a black screen that says "grub" at the top left (non-gui) what went wrong? and how does that whole "grub stage1, 2, and 3" work. What are they?

teckk · 02-10-2005, 06:45 PM

Here's some info.
http://www.rajeevnet.com/hacks_hints...s_cloning.html

jobless_joe · 02-10-2005, 08:55 PM

Good stuff..but in this scenario, do you still have to partition the drive before you run dd? That meaning, could I just have a brand new drive, and clone it with dd, with dd creating all the partitions for me? also, is there a reason ghost didnt work? and is there a switch for dd to copy JUST the mbr or the bootsector of a partition?

homey · 02-10-2005, 09:10 PM

jobless_joe,
If you are interested, I made a script for saving an entire hard drive ( with MBR and partition table ) ,
then another script for restoring that complete setup to a new drive.
I setup a drive with all operating systems and software. Primary Master /dev/hda
Then I install another drive , create a partition for saving my images onto. Secondary Master /dev/hdb1

Boot up with Knoppix cd , mount the partition where the scripts are saved and this is also where the images will be saved to.
mount /dev/hdb1 /mnt/hdb1
Now run the save script which you made executable.... ./save /dev/hda
After you have successfully save everything, swap out the Primary Master /dev/hda with a blank drive so you can run the restore script which you made executable.... ./restore /dev/hda

Save script

Code:

#!/bin/bash
##### This saves the MBR / Partition Table
##### and all partitions using partimage
##### example:  ./save /dev/hda

##############################################
#  Ensure that root is running the script.
#
WHOAMI=`/usr/bin/whoami`
if [ $WHOAMI != "root" ]; then
	echo
	echo "You must be root to run this!"
	echo
      exit 1
fi
##############################################

usage()
{
        echo "Usage: $0 /dev/hd#"
        exit 1;
}

test "$1" || usage

if ! [ -e $1 ]; then
    echo "$1 does not exist. Exiting."
    exit 1
fi

if [ -e $1 ]; then
   #Save the MBR with partition table
   mbrfile=`echo -e $1 | awk -F"/" '{print $3}'`;
   dd if=$1 of=/mnt/images/mbr_$mbrfile bs=512 count=1
   clear
   
   for i in `/sbin/sfdisk -l $1 | \
   grep -e "^[/dev]" | awk '{print $1}'`;
   
do
   a=`/sbin/sfdisk -s $i 2> /dev/null`
   test=$(($a + 0))
   stuff=`echo -e $i | sed -e 's/.\{8\}//'`;
   check=`sfdisk -c $1 $stuff`
   
if [ $check != 5 -a $check != 82 -a $test != 0 ];then

   part=`echo -e $i | awk -F"/" '{print $3}'`;
  #Save the partitions
  #use this method for GUI progress
  partimage save -c -b -d -z0 -f3 $i /mnt/images/$part
  
  #use this method for command line progress
  #partimage save -B=foo -c -b -d -z0 -f3 $i /mnt/images/$part
  clear
fi  
done
echo

else
    exit 1
fi

clear
echo "The save operation is complete"
echo "The images have been saved in /mnt/images/"
echo
exit 0
####End

Restore script

Code:

#!/bin/bash
##### This retores the MBR / Partition Table
##### and all partitions using partimage
##### example:  ./restore /dev/hda

##############################################
#  Ensure that root is running the script.
#
WHOAMI=`/usr/bin/whoami`
if [ $WHOAMI != "root" ]; then
	echo
	echo "You must be root to run this!"
	echo
      exit 1
fi
##############################################
usage()
{
        echo "Usage: $0 /dev/hd#"
        exit 1;
}

test "$1" || usage

if ! [ -e $1 ]; then
    echo "$1 does not exist. Exiting."
    exit 1
fi

if [ -e $1 ]; then
clear
echo
echo "********************************************************************"
echo "     Caution!!!     This program will erase your hard drive"
echo
echo -n "                Do you want to proceed (Y/N)?"
read answer
if test "$answer" != "Y" -a "$answer" != "y";
then exit 0;
fi
#
clear
   mbrfile=`echo -e $1 | awk -F"/" '{print $3}'`;
   #Erase the old boot sector
   dd if=/dev/zero of=$1 bs=512 count=1
   
   #Restore the MBR with partition table
   dd if=/mnt/images/mbr_$mbrfile of=$1 bs=512 count=1
   clear
   
   for i in `/sbin/sfdisk -l $1 | \
   grep -e "^[/dev]" | awk '{print $1}'`;
   
do
   a=`/sbin/sfdisk -s $i 2> /dev/null`
   test=$(($a + 0))
   stuff=`echo -e $i | sed -e 's/.\{8\}//'`;
   check=`sfdisk -c $1 $stuff`
   
if [ $check = 82 ];then
   #setup the swap partition 
   /sbin/mkswap $i
   
elif [ $check != 5 -a $check != 82 -a $test != 0 ];then

   part=`echo -e $i | awk -F"/" '{print $3}'`;
  #Restore the partitions
  #use this method for GUI progress
  partimage restore -b -f3 $i /mnt/images/$part.000
  
  #use this method for command line progress
  #partimage restore -B=foo -b -f3 $i /mnt/images/$part.000
  clear
fi
done
echo
else
    exit 1
fi

clear
echo "The restore operation is complete"
echo "The partitions have been restored from /mnt/images/"
echo
exit 0
####End