[ale] linux harddrive upgrade utility (similar to MaxBlast, etc)?

Michael D. Hirsch mhirsch at nubridges.com
Tue Nov 12 10:15:09 EST 2002


On Tuesday 12 November 2002 07:42 am, Robert L. Harris wrote:
> I do this all the time
>
> Instll the new HD in the system, say it's /dev/hdb.
>
> Partition hdb  (Pretend 2 partitions, repeat if more)
> dd if=/vmlinuz of=/dev/fd0
> mkswap /dev/hdb2
> mkdir /tmp/mnt
> mount /dev/hdb1 /tmp/mnt
> cd /
> find . -mount -print | cpio -pdmu /tmp/mnt
>
> disconnect drive hda
> make drive hdb primary
> make the original hdb secondary (nice scratch space)
>
> Boot off the floppy
> execute lilo to install the boot block
>
> Works great on linux filesystems, usually windows also but I just
> re-install windows, it's cleaner.

And if you can remember the magic incantation, you can skip the boot from 
floppy part and just install the boot loader on hdb so that it will boot 
as hda later.  I can never recall the exact command, so I spend more time 
rtfming to remember how to do it.

I have a big desire to write a program that will automate this process.  At 
ZapMedia we had a script that did this, but only for a particular 
partitioning scheme.  I want to write a script that will duplicate the 
partitioning scheme on another drive, copy over all the files, install the 
boot loader.

I even have permisssion from my boss to make it an open source project--all 
I need is the time.  Anyone want to help?

Michael

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