Re: Creating a bootable (non-UEFI) backup copy of a bootable (non-UEFI) Debian hard disk
Nov 3, 2018, 5:22 AM by pascal@plouf.fr.eu.org:
> Copying files is not enough.
> 1) You must properly install GRUB on the backup disk :
>
> grub-install --boot-directory=/backup-boot-partition-mount-point \
> /dev/backup-disk
>
> 2) The partitions on the backup disk have different UUIDs but config files such as /etc/fstab, /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/resume and /boot/grub/grub.cfg reference UUIDs of the original disk partitions and must be adjusted.
>
The problem I have with grub is that there is a lot of contradictory information on the net as to how to use it. For example, here [1] it is said that just running grub-install is not enough. Fiddling with disk UUIDs in different files every time I do a backup also does not sound like fun. Is there a way to avoid this? What if the backup HD partition UUIDs are changed to be the same as the source HD UUIDs?
I guess my issue comes down to this: What is a (preferably easy) way to properly backup a working Debian HD to a backup drive, so the system would boot from the backup drive and function normally, including the user data and all installed packages?
"dd if=/dev/sdsource of=/dev/sdbackup" comes mind but it did not work for me. Though my HDs are the same model they are manufactured in different months so maybe they have different firmware or whatever.
Thanks
[1] - https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/108725/how-to-make-a-bootable-hdd-with-grub2 <https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/108725/how-to-make-a-bootable-hdd-with-grub2>
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