Re: backing up an NTFS paritition using Linux tools
--- Benedict Verheyen <benedict.verheyen@sjki.be>
wrote:
> H. S. wrote:
> > My wife has a dual boot laptop with Windows XP and
> Debian Sid. Recently
> > it had to be send for repairs and I am in the
> process of reinstalling
> > everything.
> >
> > Since I do not have Norton Ghost, I am going to
> try using Linux tools to
> > install Windows XP on an NTFS partition and image
> it for future
> > installations.
> >
> > Here is my plan:
> > 1) Format the C: partition during installation of
> Win XP Home with SP1
> >
> > 2) After installation of Windows XP SP1, install
> SP2.
> >
> > 3) Install all other necessary program:
> anti-spyware, ghostscript, gv,
> > acroread, ghost (word to PDF convertor), gaim,
> ifranview, etc.
> >
> > 4) At this point I will have the installation of
> WinXP Sp2 and all
> > necessary software. But during all this activity,
> the disk would be full
> > of erased files. So defrag it now. Do the
> defragmentatino twice or even
> > thrice.
> >
> > 5) To further help gzip later on, boot into
> windows and run a small
> > program I made that just open a new file and keeps
> on writing 0x00 to it
> > till the disk is full. When the disk is full, stop
> writing to it and
> > erase that file. Now all the random data on the C:
> partition would be
> > all zeros. Good for gzip! Note: I can't just boot
> with a live CD and do:
> > $> dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda1/zero.bin
> > till disk is full since writing to NTFS from Linux
> is not advisable(hda1
> > is C: here).
> >
> > 6) Boot using either system rescue CD
> (http://sysresccd.org/) or Knoppix.
> >
> > 7) copy the image of the C: (hda1) drive to a
> separate parition I
> > already have(/dev/hda2):
> > $> mkdir image-disk
> > $> mount -t vfat /dev/hda2 image-disk
> > $> dd if=/dev/hda1 | gzip >
> /image-disk/c-image.img
> >
> > and then I burn that c-image.img to a DVD.
> >
> > To restore the image at a later stage, assuming
> the size of /dev/hda1
> > has not changed, I just do:
> > $> boot using a Live CD
> > $> mkdir image-disk
> > $> mount -t vfat /dev/hda2 image-disk
> > $> cat image-disk/c-image.img | gunzip -c |
> of=/dev/hda1
> >
> > where I have copied the c-image.img from a backup
> DVD to that /dev/hda2
> > partition.
> >
> > Comments?
> >
> > Q. How long should I expect step (7) above to take
> if /dev/hda1 is 14GB?
> > The laptop is Dell Inspiron 5160 with 512MB of
> ram. I know that using
> > bzip2 will be quite longer than using gzip.
> >
> > Q. If somebody has tried this option, how much
> compression ratio should
> > I expect?
> >
> > Q. Alternatives?
> >
> >
> > Thanks,
> > ->HS
> >
>
> You seem to have a nice plan. As for imageing
> software, there is always
> http://www.partimage.org/ but it's ntfs support is
> experimental.
>
> Haven't tried it with ntfs.
I have - with success... defrag as you suggested and
it works. Although it *is* experimental - so may not
work for you.
It's how I plan to rollout WindowsXP workstations in
the school I work in... Samba server. Testing has gone
very well indeed. Image onto network - install from
server via partimage's sister project
(http://www.sysresccd.org) and Bob's your aunty's
live-in lover.
--
Matt
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