[NMLUG] Linux GHOST?

[Leila Potts]

I've successfully used dd (under FreeBSD) to do what you're trying to do. 
I had an incident a few years ago where I ran out of space on /usr, which
causes big problems as you can imagine.  On a larger HD I manually created
the partitions, obviously larger than the originals, and used dd to move
all my data to the new drive.  Worked without a hitch.

Leila

> I recently wanted to move my Linux system to a larger hard drive, with
> larger partitions, without a re-install. For backup I buy my HDDs in
> matched pairs so I can clone Disk A to Disk B using <dd> with no
> problem. But <dd> can't increase the partition size.
>
> For backing up my MS system I use Symantec Ghost 7.5 Corporate Edition
> on a single floppy and running on a floppy MS-DOS boot. Ghost allows
> me to change partition size (as long as it is to the larger). Ghost
> can also recognize and handle Linux Native FileSystem (ext2). So I
> cloned my 20Gb Linux HDD to a new 80Gb HDD, adjusting the partition
> table to my liking within Ghost.
>
> This works fine except for preserving the bootloader. Have a rescue
> boot floppy handy for first-time booting of the new drive, and then
> invoke <lilo> from the command line. Presto, everything is fixed.
>
> But Ghost will not reliably handle ext3 and the more exotic
> filesystems (my experiments have been inconclusive). Microsoft is
> trying to forget MS-DOS ever existed, and Symantec is trying to forget
> it's MS-DOS-based Ghost ever existed - they'd rather sell their GUI
> bloatware. At some point in the evolution of Linux my Ghost solution
> will no longer work.
>
> Which makes me ask, why the [expletive deleted] doesn't somebody write
> a Linux version of Ghost? Really. There are twenty different MP3
> player apps, but nothing to clone an HDD.
>
> Please don't refer me to programs that compress a partition or drive,
> which can then be uncompressed elsewhere. Or programs that copy to
> tape. I'm talking about a direct, live cloner with partition
> adjustment capability. Like Ghost.
>
> Gosh, Ghost (the original version) was written by New Zealanders.
> You'd think SOMEBODY in the world could transpose it to Linux.
>
> End rant. Thank you for your attention.
>
> Steve
> Stephen B. Browne
> sbrowne at ix.netcom.com
> "Ubi bene, ibi patria."
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