Re: same debian, new hardware?
Quoting Krzys Majewski (majewski@cs.ubc.ca):
> > > 3) Make binary images of the old hard drives, automagically paste these
> > > onto the new hard drive. Unfortunately I'm pretty sure this is impossible.
> >
> > You mention SCSI in the old box, but don't say what's the hardware
> > in the new box. If IDE, you could install the new disk in the old
> > machine, partition it (think about that, of course), mount it on
> > /mnt and copy the files onto it with
> > cd old-directory-root
> > find -xdev | cpio -damp /mnt
> >
> > Then create a boot floppy, rdev the kernel to the future correct
> > device, put the new disk in the new machine, boot it with the floppy
> > and run lilo.
>
> OK, that sounds good. I think my new drive will be IDE, but why does it
> matter? I was under the impression that the whole point of SCSI was
> to allow easy addition of devices...the old machine was sort of
> a hand-me-down, I didn't buy the scsi controller, which is my excuse
> for not knowing a whole lot about how it works..
Yes. SCSI does allow for easy connection of devices. But it takes
a little more care when setting up the booting strategy because the
PC BIOS was designed long before SCSI disks were used in PCs, or
even having four IDE drives.
> By the way, I don't suppose a similar procedure will work for moving the
> Windows partition, or does anyone know?
I think not. There are people who clone disks with *precisely* the
same hardware (in the same slots etc.). I've not even managed it
with functionally the same hardware.
> > > 4) Physically install the old hard drives in the new machine.
> >
> > Make a boot floppy, move the drives, boot with the floppy,
> > copy in the same way as above, rdev the floppy (or a copy),
> > boot again, this time into the new drive, run lilo.
> >
>
> OK this sounds just like the previous step, except putting the old drives
> in the new machine rather than putting the new drive in the old machine,
> copying, and then putting it back in the new machine, am I right?
Yes. But the old machine may (or may not; I can't remember the size)
handle a new IDE drive, whereas the new machine won't, I assume,
contain a SCSI card. OK, moving that may be straightforward. OTOH
it may produce a resource conflict if the new machine is well
endowed. I can't predict.
> On the subject of drives, is my existing scsi setup a valuable thing to have or should
> should I just dump the whole thing in the lane and never look back?
> Someone told me scsi is "faster" than non-scsi, can I capitalize on this
> somehow?
It all depends. IDE has become very fast, but the latest variants
require good cabling to perform to spec. SCSI has always been a
bit of a pain with cabling and termination, but it's great for adding
external drives like jaz, CD-RW, etc.
Cheers,
--
Email: d.wright@open.ac.uk Tel: +44 1908 653 739 Fax: +44 1908 655 151
Snail: David Wright, Earth Science Dept., Milton Keynes, England, MK7 6AA
Disclaimer: These addresses are only for reaching me, and do not signify
official stationery. Views expressed here are either my own or plagiarised.
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