disk copy

[Mark Szidik]

> Marcel wrote:
> >I got two virutally the same PCs. I tried reinstalling one with Windows but
> its
> >being stubborn. Can somebody explain in detail how do I copy the stuff from
> one
> >functioning PC to the others harddrive?

If they have exactly the same HD's then this *should*[1] work and it
uses GNU/Linux! :-)


Put both of the drives in your favorite Linux box and use dd to copy one  
drive to the other.

hda = Linux system

hdSX = Win box drive to copy FROM

hdDX = Win box drive to copy TO

where X = partition number
where S = source drive position ie b,c,d
where D = destination drive position ie b,c,d

# dd if=/dev/hdSX of=/dev/hdDX


Disclaimer: use dd with extreme caution, be sure you know exactly where
you are copying from and to.

[1] - I have done this with Linux formatted partitions, not with vfat,
but it should work anyway.  DD does raw block by block copies, so the
filesystem shouldn't matter.  I don't know if it copies the boot block -
the MBR.  But that can be fixed with a DOS boot floppy and fdisk /mbr



Comments?




-Mark