Using a Linux Live CD to clone XP - Page 4


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Thread: Using a Linux Live CD to clone XP

  1. #46
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    You have not described the way you clone the disk but I increasingly come to the conclusion that you are cloning the whole disk. That will be consistent with getting repeatedly the error of "No Space Left on the Device".

    If you have a source disk bigger than a target disk you must clone partition by partition.

    To explain I paste the hard disk information you reported in Post #43 below
    Code:
    "Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80000000000 bytes
    255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9726 cylinders
    Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
    
    Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
    /dev/sda1 1 6 48163+ de Dell Utility
    /dev/sda2 * 7 3830 30716280 7 HPFS/NTFS
    
    Disk /dev/sdb: 40.0 GB, 40000000000 bytes
    255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4863 cylinders
    Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
    
    Disk /dev/sdb doesn't contain a valid partition table"
    It is very simple. If you clone the large source sda, which has 9726 cylinders, into a small target sdb which has 4863 cylinders dd will start from the 1 cylinder and run it to the end of the 9726 cylinder but finds the target has "No Space Left on the Device" after successfully clone the first 4863 cylinder over. You are effectively pouring gasoline from a 10-gallon container into a 5-gallon container. Of course it cannot work.

    The resulting target disk cannot be read either because in its partition table, which was cloned as the very first sector, it is stated there are 9726 cylinders (because it is from the partition table of sda) whereas the physical number of cylinders of sdb is only 4836. Would this not cause the system to report "Disk /dev/sdb doesn't contain a valid partition table"? Any operating system on receiving such disk will not know what to do and so is forced to treat it as a raw disk (empty) if it is asked to make use this disk.

    The whole process isn't complicated at all and you can reason it out.

    To get successful result you should partition sdb by duplicate the partition boundary, to the exact cylinder number, of sda1 and sda2 onto sdb1 and sdb2 using cfdisk program, write the partition table and reboot the machine.

    When you clone sda1 then dd can start from cylinder 1 and terminate at cylinder 6 because that is the starting and finishing point of both sda1 and sdb1. Similarly you do the same for sda2. The information will be read from cylinder 7 to 7830 of sda and transferred to the exact position in sdb. You should realise by now the scheme has to produce a mirror image of sda onto sdb and that is the reason why the cloned XP must boot because nothing has been altered.

    All operating systems including XP do not check the spare hard disk capacity. On the first boot-up of xp it will detect the recorded hard disk ID no longer matches the cloned disk. As XP permit an upgrade of the hard disk it will amend the record and demand a reboot to finalize the change. XP will behave normally after the first reboot.
    Last edited by saikee; 06-29-2007 at 08:05 PM.
    Linux user started Jun 2004 - No. 361921
    Using a Linux live CD to clone XP
    To install Linux and keep Windows MBR untouched
    Adding extra Linux & Doing it in a lazy way
    A Grub menu booting 100+ systems & A "Howto" to install and boot 145 systems
    Just cloning tips Just booting tips A collection of booting tips

    Judge asked Linux "You are being charged murdering Windoze by stabbing its heart with a weapon, what was it?" Replied Linux "A Live CD"

  2. #47
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    Hi Guys, newbie chatting:
    Using Ubuntu, now up to 6.06 but have a partition problem..
    This looks like a good thread....may I?
    The HDD has no other OS and was 120G - I set up the home space and swap-file (abt 700MB as they recommend), leaving 56G spare which I hoped to format FAT32 so it could be shared with a Win98SE-PC which I use for photos and other stuff. What appears in gparted is it claims the 56G is unused and not accessible - so I've looked for a way to format it, but it's not obvious and I'm wary that I could destroy the whole installation.
    - Any photos I have saved appear in the main partition under /home . . . .

    So sorry if this is vague but this current PC (here) is a Compaq running Win2000, so I can'r run the Ubuntu set-up and just type what I see.
    When I first installed Ubuntu 5.10 - all my files were in the /home partition - indeed I don't think I realised there was a swap-partition, yet I expect it was there, as I just let Ubuntu do whatever it liked. It was a blank HDD.

    The great thing
    The great thing about Ubuntu - IMHO- is that "in time, everyone will use it" - so by getting you experts to check it out, the non-computer types ((the mainstream)) will just use it out of the box and since Gnome looks close to "Windows" - who will care?.....but you guys can check-out what Ubuntu are up to and prevent any silly departures from standard practice.

    Dell is now shipping with Ubuntu and this has to be good news, but I wonder how it will work, since Dell has some Hardware Quirks (so I understand), so that users can't up-date (sorry mess-up) their PC without buying Dell-approved parts....will we get to understand the subtle difference between a PC and a Dell? Is it the IRQ's etc?
    I wonder....this is a Compac Deskpro EN and it thinks my keyboard is a US-english so I have to remember to use 'at' sign instead of 'quote' -rather confusing, but easy enough. Compaq also have some user no-go issues compared with a standard PC-clone....er, I understand.

    Bye-

    P.S. thanks for all the stuff on backing-up an instalation Saikee - great idea since HDD's are "probably@ the most unreliable part of a PC, being mechanical and subject to very tight precision. It's a pity I can't upgrade the Mbd without MS giving me their permission....grrrrr.

  3. #48
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    jl_harry12,

    If you have hard disk space and find no operating system can use it then the most likely reason would be all 4 primary partitions ( or 3 plus one extended partition) have been used up. In such a case your hard disk space is a "dead space".

    Ubuntu and Fedora families like to take over the entire disk, or whatever left behind, and use separate partitions for /boot, /home etc to install the Linux. Thus it is possible that you have no more primary partition left or the end of the extended partition has been blocked by another primary.

    You need to plan ahead with number of partitions. It is worth to remember

    (a) Only a MS system need to reside in a primary partition because its MBR searches only an "active" primary partition to boot.

    (b) Linux never needs a partition "active" or "bootable" so all its partitions can be logical.

    (c) You can keep growing in the number of logical partitions inside an extended partition, 59 for a Pata disk and 11 for a Sata but the trend is to stick with the latter.

    (d) Apart from swap you can put any Linux in "one" partition which is a lot easier to boot, resize, move, maintain and ultimately migrate.

    (e) You can reorganize all the partitions for a Linux but if you move the /boot you may need to restore the MBR of the boot loader.

    For advice can you post here the output of
    Code:
    fdisk -l
    Linux user started Jun 2004 - No. 361921
    Using a Linux live CD to clone XP
    To install Linux and keep Windows MBR untouched
    Adding extra Linux & Doing it in a lazy way
    A Grub menu booting 100+ systems & A "Howto" to install and boot 145 systems
    Just cloning tips Just booting tips A collection of booting tips

    Judge asked Linux "You are being charged murdering Windoze by stabbing its heart with a weapon, what was it?" Replied Linux "A Live CD"

  4. #49
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    Jun 2007
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    11
    Again saikee, thanks for all the tips and advice. I totally understand why the last test did not work being that I was trying to copy the entire image. Going into this I knew absolutely nothing about any of this stuff, but now on Monday I feel confident that I can get this working. I totally understand the need now for all the partitions to be copied over and in the exact order as shown on the source drive in order for windows not to complain. I'll be trying this first thing at work on Monday. The only thing I'm worried about is the whole "No Space Left on Device" error I was getting even back when I was DDing just a partition rather than the entire drive. Well anyways I'll give it a shot how you explained it in the last two posts of yours and I'll post back with the results!

  5. #50
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    Hi Saikee, typing in fdisk|-|l (where | [pipe] is a space) results in a non-event, I tried other variations and this was the best response:
    (Ubuntu is trying to help me)
    Usage: fdisk [-b SSZ] [-u] DISK Change partition table
    fdisk -l [-b SSZ] [-u] DISK List partition table(s)
    fdisk -s PARTITION Give partition size(s) in blocks
    fdisk -v Give fdisk version
    Here DISK is something like /dev/hdb or /dev/sda
    and PARTITION is something like /dev/hda7
    -u: give Start and End in sector (instead of cylinder) units
    -b 2048: (for certain MO disks) use 2048-byte sectors
    (ends here with some user-name mumbo)
    -so I think you were directing me to item 2, but either I'm not typing it correctly or the spaces are wrong- or I should not be in Terminal - oddly it didn't ask for my root password, but I'd only just logged-on.
    [[This reply using Ubunntu6.06/Firefox. On my old 400MHzPC with just 256k and a HDD that is dedicated to Linux - this is the very one with the "unusabale" 56G.]]

    -My understanding is that I have formatted correctly the swap file (abt 700MB) and the main ubuntu (/home) file (abt 50G)....making two partitions....so something was not obvious to me 'cause I left the other 56G unusable! - but that would only be the third partition, unless Ubuntu has sub-divided the /home partition.......let me check in gparted.....(goes away) . ... .
    sorry this has not been found... found Device Manager though (required permission)-and it shows the HDD as IDE device master
    *Maxtor6y120L0
    *Volume
    *Volume(swap)
    */home
    */
    (this confirms the 120G, I think)....* represents an icon for the drive.
    When these are highlighted in turn the Right-hand window shows details like Blockdotdevice Blockdorisunderscorevolume - but it's a very long list and I can't see anything really obvious. + I can't copy it either it seems.
    Sorry about the Fdisk and my inability to find gparted.
    Is the command-line not the same for Ubuntu as you are used to, or is it my interpretation....perhaps?.
    Last edited by jl_harry12; 07-01-2007 at 03:21 PM.

  6. #51
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    In Ubuntu you have to
    Code:
    sudo fdisk -l
    Just copy and paste the command in the web onto your terminal.

    Ubuntu restricts ordinary users using system commands by not obeying them. It is an irritation. You can activate the root user account by
    Code:
    sudo su
    and while in root type
    Code:
    passwd
    and supply a password twice. Thereafter in future you can work as root formally by command
    Code:
    su
    and forget prefixing every system command with "sudo"
    Linux user started Jun 2004 - No. 361921
    Using a Linux live CD to clone XP
    To install Linux and keep Windows MBR untouched
    Adding extra Linux & Doing it in a lazy way
    A Grub menu booting 100+ systems & A "Howto" to install and boot 145 systems
    Just cloning tips Just booting tips A collection of booting tips

    Judge asked Linux "You are being charged murdering Windoze by stabbing its heart with a weapon, what was it?" Replied Linux "A Live CD"

  7. #52
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    I am cloning a 500Gb Sata and this is the speed
    Code:
    root@slax:~# fdisk -l
    
    Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
    255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
    Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
    
       Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
    /dev/sda1   *           1       12158    97659103+   7  HPFS/NTFS
    /dev/sda2           12159       36473   195310237+   7  HPFS/NTFS
    /dev/sda3           36474       48755    98655165    5  Extended
    /dev/sda4           48756       60801    96759495   83  Linux
    /dev/sda5           36474       36595      979933+  82  Linux swap
    /dev/sda6           36596       37811     9767488+  83  Linux
    /dev/sda7           37812       39027     9767488+  83  Linux
    /dev/sda8           39028       40243     9767488+  83  Linux
    /dev/sda9           40244       41459     9767488+  83  Linux
    /dev/sda10          41460       42675     9767488+  83  Linux
    /dev/sda11          42676       43891     9767488+  83  Linux
    /dev/sda12          43892       45107     9767488+  83  Linux
    /dev/sda13          45108       46323     9767488+  83  Linux
    /dev/sda14          46324       47539     9767488+  83  Linux
    /dev/sda15          47540       48755     9767488+  83  Linux
    
    Disk /dev/sdb: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
    255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
    Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
    
       Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
    /dev/sdb1               1       12158    97659103+  83  Linux
    /dev/sdb2           12159       60801   390724897+   5  Extended
    /dev/sdb5           12159       60801   390724866    c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)
    
    Disk /dev/sdc: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
    255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
    Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
    
       Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
    /dev/sdc1               1       15808   126977728+  15  Unknown
    /dev/sdc2           15809       29184   107442720   15  Unknown
    /dev/sdc3           29185       42560   107442720   15  Unknown
    /dev/sdc4           42561       60801   146520832+   5  Extended
    /dev/sdc5           42561       43776     9767488+  83  Linux
    /dev/sdc6           43777       44992     9767488+  83  Linux
    /dev/sdc7           44993       46208     9767488+  83  Linux
    /dev/sdc8           46209       47424     9767488+  83  Linux
    /dev/sdc9           47425       48640     9767488+  83  Linux
    /dev/sdc10          48641       49856     9767488+  83  Linux
    /dev/sdc11          49857       51072     9767488+  83  Linux
    /dev/sdc12          51073       53504    19535008+  83  Linux
    /dev/sdc13          53505       55936    19535008+  83  Linux
    /dev/sdc14          55937       58368    19535008+  83  Linux
    /dev/sdc15          58369       60801    19543041   83  Linux
    root@slax:~# date
    Sun Jul  1 17:00:02 GMT 2007
    root@slax:~# dd if=/dev/sdc of=/dev/sdb bs=32768
    date
    15262080+1 records in
    15262080+1 records out
    500107862016 bytes (500 GB) copied, 7826.59 s, 63.9 MB/s
    root@slax:~# date
    Sun Jul  1 19:11:05 GMT 2007
    root@slax:~#
    2.17 hours for cloning a 500Gb hard disk with altogether 44 partitions but only 14 partitions filled with Linux. This is a specially arranged Sata disk which normally allows only 15 partitions by Linux. The source disk is a Western Digital while the target disk is from Samsung. Both disks got 60801 cyclinders so it is an exact match when clone the whole disk.

    63.9Mb/s is the fastest cloning speed I have seen. I am doing it on a Abit AW9D-Max mobo, with 975x chipset, an Intel E6700 CPU and 2Gb of ram, expecting it flies a bit. The software I used was Slax 6.0.0.

    I am using the distros inside the cloned disk to post the reply.
    Last edited by saikee; 07-01-2007 at 04:42 PM.
    Linux user started Jun 2004 - No. 361921
    Using a Linux live CD to clone XP
    To install Linux and keep Windows MBR untouched
    Adding extra Linux & Doing it in a lazy way
    A Grub menu booting 100+ systems & A "Howto" to install and boot 145 systems
    Just cloning tips Just booting tips A collection of booting tips

    Judge asked Linux "You are being charged murdering Windoze by stabbing its heart with a weapon, what was it?" Replied Linux "A Live CD"

  8. #53
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    Additional INFO

    It's possible I may have slightly confused the issue - as I'm not finding the details I reported earlier in gparted., it was some while ago, but today I tried to find what I did . . . . . . . . .
    The information came in Disk Manager
    Today, it shows a HDD 114.5G (=my 120G drive) having three partitions:
    Highlighting them in turn gives the details, the three are:-
    Partition 1
    Partition 5
    Swap partition
    Only Partition 5 (/dev/hda5)Filesystem "extended3"... is inacceible "Access path None" if I click on "changwe" it shows what looks like the whole file system and offers a new mount point - but I'm reluctant to click on one that's already working and my only other option is to "create new folder".

    This reply is after the one relating to attempting to "fdisk" followed by l-Llist (I'm guessing), why I cannot enter it correctly beats me.....bad fingers?

  9. #54
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    The "l" in the command "fdisk -l" is a small "L".

    This is the most useful command to any user wanting to know his/her hard disk because every partition in every hard disk will be displayed like the one in Post #52.

    When a disk starts to go bad some partitioning tools will gradually distance them away from the trouble disk by refusing to have anything to do with it. "fdisk" is Linux is the last one to abandon your disk and so it is your last line of defence.
    Last edited by saikee; 07-01-2007 at 04:39 PM.
    Linux user started Jun 2004 - No. 361921
    Using a Linux live CD to clone XP
    To install Linux and keep Windows MBR untouched
    Adding extra Linux & Doing it in a lazy way
    A Grub menu booting 100+ systems & A "Howto" to install and boot 145 systems
    Just cloning tips Just booting tips A collection of booting tips

    Judge asked Linux "You are being charged murdering Windoze by stabbing its heart with a weapon, what was it?" Replied Linux "A Live CD"

  10. #55
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    Let's say the curiosity has got the better of me when you guys want to clone a Vista partition only from a big disk into a smaller disk. So I investigated to see what the fuss was all about.

    Here is the setting of one of the PC I got. It has 150+ systems inside and Vista is in the hdc1 in a 500Gb Pata disk.

    To clone it I pulled out the original hda and inserted a spare disk of 300Gb. All my hard disks are in caddies which I can use internally or externally in any master or slave position. To replicate the reported difficulties I booted up the machine with a Ubuntu Live CD as this is the only that causing problems.

    First I always checked the geometry of each disk, before that I activated the root user account by "sudo su" ( at the later part I "sudo" every system command to show it can be done as another alternative to get root privilege in Ubuntu).

    Code:
    To run a command as administrator (user "root"), use "sudo <command>".
    See "man sudo_root" for details.
    
    ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo su
    root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# fdisk -l
    
    Disk /dev/hda: 300.0 GB, 300090728448 bytes
    255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 36483 cylinders
    Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
    
       Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
    /dev/hda1               1           7       56196   de  Dell Utility
    /dev/hda2   *           8        7295    58540860    7  HPFS/NTFS
    Warning: omitting partitions after #60.
    They will be deleted if you save this partition table.
    
    Disk /dev/hdc: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
    255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
    Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
    
       Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
    /dev/hdc1   *           1        3315    26623123+   7  HPFS/NTFS
    /dev/hdc2            3315        6354    24410767+  93  Amoeba
    /dev/hdc3            6354        9393    24410767+  93  Amoeba
    /dev/hdc4            9393       60801   412939342+   5  Extended
    /dev/hdc5            9393       10001     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc6           10001       10609     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc7           10609       11217     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc8           11217       11825     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc9           11825       12433     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc10          12433       13041     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc11          13041       13649     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc12          13649       14257     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc13          14257       14865     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc14          14865       15473     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc15          15473       16081     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc16          16081       16689     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc17          16689       17297     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc18          17297       17905     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc19          17905       18513     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc20          18513       19121     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc21          19121       19729     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc22          19729       20337     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc23          20337       20945     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc24          20945       21553     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc25          21553       22161     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc26          22161       22769     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc27          22769       23377     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc28          23377       23985     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc29          23985       24593     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc30          24593       25201     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc31          25201       25809     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc32          25809       26417     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc33          26417       27025     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc34          27025       27633     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc35          27633       28241     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc36          28241       28849     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc37          28849       29457     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc38          29457       30065     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc39          30065       30673     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc40          30673       31281     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc41          31281       31889     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc42          31889       32497     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc43          32497       33105     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc44          33105       33713     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc45          33713       34321     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc46          34321       34929     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc47          34929       35537     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc48          35537       36145     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc49          36145       36753     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc50          36753       37361     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc51          37361       37969     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc52          37969       38577     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc53          38577       39185     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc54          39185       39793     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc55          39793       40401     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc56          40401       41009     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc57          41009       41617     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc58          41617       42225     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc59          42225       42833     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc60          42833       43441     4883728+  83  Linux
    
    Disk /dev/sda: 203.9 GB, 203928109056 bytes
    255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 24792 cylinders
    Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
    
       Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
    /dev/sda1   *           1        5099    40957686    7  HPFS/NTFS
    /dev/sda2            5100        6315     9767520   93  Amoeba
    /dev/sda3            6316        6923     4883760   83  Linux
    /dev/sda4            6924       24792   143532742+   5  Extended
    /dev/sda5            6924        7531     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/sda6            7532        8139     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/sda7            8140        8747     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/sda8            8748        9355     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/sda9            9356        9963     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/sda10           9964       10571     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/sda11          10572       11179     4883728+  a9  NetBSD
    /dev/sda12          11180       11787     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/sda13  *       11788       12395     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/sda14          12396       23916    92542401   1c  Hidden W95 FAT32 (LBA)
    /dev/sda15          23917       24792     7036438+  83  Linux
    Warning: omitting partitions after #60.
    They will be deleted if you save this partition table.
    
    Disk /dev/hdd: 400.0 GB, 400088457216 bytes
    255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 48641 cylinders
    Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
    
       Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
    /dev/hdd1               1        3039    24410736   af  Unknown
    /dev/hdd2            3040        6078    24410704+  b5  Unknown
    Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
    /dev/hdd3            6078        9117    24410830+  b5  Unknown
    /dev/hdd4   *        9118       48641   317476530    5  Extended
    /dev/hdd5            9118        9725     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd6            9726       10333     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd7           10334       10941     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd8           10942       11549     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd9           11550       12157     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd10          12158       12765     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd11          12766       13373     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd12          13374       13981     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd13          13982       14589     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd14          14590       15197     4883728+  93  Amoeba
    /dev/hdd15          15198       15805     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd16          15806       16413     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd17          16414       17021     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd18          17022       17629     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd19          17630       18237     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd20          18238       18845     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd21          18846       19453     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd22          19454       20061     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd23          20062       20669     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd24          20670       21277     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd25          21278       21885     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd26          21886       22493     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd27          22494       23101     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd28          23102       23709     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd29          23710       24317     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd30          24318       24925     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd31          24926       25533     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd32          25534       26141     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd33          26142       26749     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd34          26750       27357     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd35          27358       27965     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd36          27966       28573     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd37          28574       29181     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd38          29182       29789     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd39          29790       30397     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd40          30398       31005     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd41          31006       31613     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd42          31614       32221     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd43          32222       32829     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd44          32830       33437     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd45          33438       34045     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd46          34046       34653     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd47          34654       35261     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd48          35262       35869     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd49          35870       36477     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd50          36478       37085     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd51          37086       37693     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd52          37694       38301     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd53          38302       38909     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd54          38910       39517     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd55          39518       40125     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd56          40126       40733     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd57          40734       41341     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd58          41342       41949     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd59          41950       42557     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdd60          42558       43165     4883728+  83  Linux
    root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu#
    I then used the cfdisk program in terminal mode "cfdisk /dev/hda" to delete the existing hda1 and hda2 and receated a new hda1 with 3315 cylinders, same size as hdc1.

    Here I actually ran into difficulty as I had resized Vista previously to a size less than a full unit of a cylinder and the sector size is now different even though the number of cylinders are identical in both hda1 and hdc1. Since hda1 is slightly larger I thought it would do.

    I then rebooted to have the partition table written formally.

    After the reboot here is the history of my cloning steps (marked blue).

    Code:
    ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l
    
    Disk /dev/hda: 300.0 GB, 300090728448 bytes
    255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 36483 cylinders
    Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
    
       Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
    /dev/hda1   *           1        3315    26627706    7  HPFS/NTFS
    Warning: omitting partitions after #60.
    They will be deleted if you save this partition table.
    
    Disk /dev/hdc: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
    255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
    Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
    
       Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
    /dev/hdc1   *           1        3315    26623123+   7  HPFS/NTFS
    /dev/hdc2            3315        6354    24410767+  93  Amoeba
    /dev/hdc3            6354        9393    24410767+  93  Amoeba
    /dev/hdc4            9393       60801   412939342+   5  Extended
    /dev/hdc5            9393       10001     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc6           10001       10609     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc7           10609       11217     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc8           11217       11825     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc9           11825       12433     4883728+  83  Linux
    /dev/hdc10          12433       13041     4883728+  83  Linux
    
    -------------output of fdisk -l truncated, for deatils see above-----------
    
    ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ date
    Sun Jul  1 21:28:59 UTC 2007
    ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ dd if=/dev/hdc1 of=/dev/hda1 bs=32768
    dd: opening `/dev/hdc1': Permission denied
    ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo dd if=/dev/hdc1 of=/dev/hda1 bs=32768
    date
    831972+1 records in
    831972+1 records out
    27262078464 bytes (27 GB) copied, 469.004 seconds, 58.1 MB/s
    ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ date
    Sun Jul  1 21:37:26 UTC 2007


    The 27 Gb Vista partition was cloned in 7.82 minutes.

    The block size 32768 times 831972 records gives 27,262,058 Mb which is the size of my Vista.

    The cloned copy has only one partition but its original copy has 63 partitions (Linux only lists up to the 60th as you can see from the warning messages above). I was sure of Vista would complain this time.

    Quite rightly on booting the cloned copy, by pulling out all other disks, Vista reported

    Windows fails to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem.
    (1) Insert installation disc and restart your computer.
    (2) Choose language settings, and then click "next"
    (3) Click " Repair your computer"
    Well I did exactly that (described as Task B7 in the last link of my signature) to get Vista MBR restored and am replying this thread in Vista. Vista did demand a reboot as I had stated earlier. I checked the copy and it is still marked "Windows is activated". There is no need for a re-activation.

    I hope you guys have a bit of more confidence in Linux now. Not bad for cloning a Vista system under 8 minutes using just a Linux Live CD. It is just one line of command with dd telling the computer what is the input device, the output device and the data transfer size.

    It is my experience if I clone Vista in a whole disk I wouldn't need to restore its MBR at all.
    Last edited by saikee; 07-01-2007 at 07:35 PM.
    Linux user started Jun 2004 - No. 361921
    Using a Linux live CD to clone XP
    To install Linux and keep Windows MBR untouched
    Adding extra Linux & Doing it in a lazy way
    A Grub menu booting 100+ systems & A "Howto" to install and boot 145 systems
    Just cloning tips Just booting tips A collection of booting tips

    Judge asked Linux "You are being charged murdering Windoze by stabbing its heart with a weapon, what was it?" Replied Linux "A Live CD"

  11. #56
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    London, U.K.
    Posts
    13
    Hi Saikee, reply to No. 54....
    I guessed that was lowercase L and tried it each way I could - I'm really susrprised if you suspect the drive may be faulty as it was brand-new about 2 years ago and has been treated gently and hardly used. When firing up Ubuntu.... it's fine and has given no cause for concern.....I'll try again and attempt to give you a listing.
    [[Incidently I tried that Part-magic (.iso ) download following their rules for Nero Express and now I'm the proud owner of a Live-boot CD ....I wondered as they suggested it would take 5mins to burn and mine was about half minute, but that's speed for u.]]
    - - - I'm wondering if I'm giving Ubuntu the right permission? - since I don't appear to have to say
    su
    - perhaps that's why it won't l=List?
    +Will try that angle too.
    Last edited by jl_harry12; 07-02-2007 at 10:28 AM.

  12. #57
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Newcastle upon Tyne
    Posts
    2,978
    jl_harry12 ,

    I am really surprised that you still report a problem of doing "fdisk -l".

    In Post #55 there are two boxes showing two different methods of getting root privilege in Ubuntu

    The first one I demonstrated with
    Code:
    ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo su
    root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# fdisk -l
    You can see the prompt changed immediately to the root user here.

    In the second I did
    Code:
    ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l
    They all work perfectly as the Post shows.

    Is my explanation in Post #51 not sufficient?

    I am not suspecting your drive going bad but just to show "fdisk-l" could only fail if the disk is not readable. Your problem here is Ubuntu needs to see the root privilege up front before releasing the content of "fdisk -l" to you, so supply the red bits.
    Linux user started Jun 2004 - No. 361921
    Using a Linux live CD to clone XP
    To install Linux and keep Windows MBR untouched
    Adding extra Linux & Doing it in a lazy way
    A Grub menu booting 100+ systems & A "Howto" to install and boot 145 systems
    Just cloning tips Just booting tips A collection of booting tips

    Judge asked Linux "You are being charged murdering Windoze by stabbing its heart with a weapon, what was it?" Replied Linux "A Live CD"

  13. #58
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Posts
    11
    Hey saikee, before I try this again, I was wondering if you think I should use the Skip argument to skip over the first two blocks so the old MBR does not DD over to the new drive. Also should I use the skip argument when doing the second DD (the second partition) so it skips over the first partition, or does it just start where the last partition ended?

    Example ( Learn the DD command: Post 14 ):


    "But, if you wish to partition the target first, and skip the MBR on both drives, you can still have a smaller target than source drive. Here is the command to skip the MBR, thereby keeping intact different disk geometries.

    dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb seek=1 skip=1 conv=notrunc,noerror."



    Any advice for using the skip (or seek I don't really know the difference) when DDing two partitions would be great!

    Thanks.
    Last edited by jonathansmith68; 07-02-2007 at 11:22 AM.

  14. #59
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Newcastle upon Tyne
    Posts
    2,978
    jonathansmith68 ,

    If you look at the 2nd boxed blue area of Post #55 you will see I did not need to use "skip" because I was dd a partition hdc1.

    The example you quoted is to dd the whole disk sda.

    I never tried the "skip" parameter but I would only use it if

    (1) The target sdb1 and sdb2 have been partition to the exact sizes as the source partitions sda1 and sda2, including the partition type numbers.

    (2) The whole 80Gb source disk sda is cloned into the 40Gb target disk sdb. dd is expected to abort the operation after passing the 40Gb mark but since the partition table in the 1st block isn't clone the transfer should be error free even dd report the target out of space.

    (3) Command I would use would be
    Code:
    dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb bs=32768
    That seems technically possible to me but I have never tried it this way.

    The approach I would do with Item (1) above satisfied would be
    Code:
    dd if=/dev/sda1 of=/dev/sdb1 bs=32768
    dd if=/dev/sda2 of=/dev/sdb2 bs=32768
    I recommend before you execute the dd command do a final check to ensure the sda is indeed the input or source disk with 80 Gb.
    Last edited by saikee; 07-02-2007 at 01:16 PM.
    Linux user started Jun 2004 - No. 361921
    Using a Linux live CD to clone XP
    To install Linux and keep Windows MBR untouched
    Adding extra Linux & Doing it in a lazy way
    A Grub menu booting 100+ systems & A "Howto" to install and boot 145 systems
    Just cloning tips Just booting tips A collection of booting tips

    Judge asked Linux "You are being charged murdering Windoze by stabbing its heart with a weapon, what was it?" Replied Linux "A Live CD"

  15. #60
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Posts
    11
    Awesome, I really appreciate with all the help you are giving me saikee. One last thing. I noticed in post #55 you specifically defined the Id on the newly partitioned hda, to 7, to match hdc. I looked through all the options in cfdisk a few times and did not find the options to change the Id?

    Edit: Nevermind, it appears that the Id is set by itself!

    I will be starting the DD process now using the DD commands stated in your last post.

    So far after doing a "fdisk -l" I get the following output:


    "Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80000000000 bytes
    255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9726 cylinders
    Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

    Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
    /dev/sda1 1 6 48163+ de Dell Utility
    /dev/sda2 * 7 3830 30716280 7 HPFS/NTFS

    Disk /dev/sdb: 40.0 GB, 40000000000 bytes
    255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4863 cylinders
    Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

    Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
    /dev/sdb1 1 6 48163+ de Dell Utility
    /dev/sdb2 * 7 3830 30716280 7 HPFS/NTFS"


    I will post my results!
    Last edited by jonathansmith68; 07-11-2007 at 03:36 PM.

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