Re: Cloning machine
> I have a Debian based machine I need to clone; actually I have 32 so I don't
> want go through the install that many times for identical configurations.
> I figured it should be pretty easy using dd but I'm running into some
> problems I need help with.
>
> Any ideas on:
> 1) how to make the copy I have now work?
> 2) a process other than dd that may be faster?
I've done the same (albeit only for 6 machines). I'm not aware of any faster method
then dd, but you might specify larger block-size. I did:
dd if=/dev/hda of=/dev/hdc bs=10k
However, you have to make sure that disks are the same, and of the same geometry.
In my case Linux didn't recognize the correct LBA parameters for hdc, therefore
I specified the geometry explicitly in lilo.conf (append="hdc=x,y,z", with appropriate
number of cylinders, heads and sectors). Also, I copied in single user mode and
afterwards checked the partitions (linux, swap, and non-linux):
e2fsck -c -y /dev/hdc2
e2fsck -c -y /dev/hdc4
badblocks -s -v /dev/hdc3 128520
badblocks -s -v /dev/hdc1 2048256
Finally, I mounted the to-be root partition of the second disk, and edited a couple of
files, to make it boot-ready (/etc/hostname, /etc/init.d/network, ...).
-Igor Mozetic
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