[nmglug] replicating disks without dd (WAS: Re: AMD 64 bit)

John Osmon josmon at rigozsaurus.com
Thu Aug 23 06:44:28 PDT 2012


I'm glad people are using dd and getting a good grip on its power.

However, for backup/restoration of disks like this, I'd rather use
clonezilla.  It is smart enough to know about filesystems, so it
doesn't have to touch *every* block on the disk -- so it has the 
possibility of being much faster.

Far be it from me to tell people that my vice-grip is better than
theirs -- but sometimes it's useful to know about other tools!



On Thu, Aug 23, 2012 at 07:20:04AM -0600, BrianO'Keefe wrote:
>    Thanks Rob. Maybe your response is to more than I am trying to do. The USB
>    drive is bootable and I'm just trying to get the Acer to boot form it. If
>    I can do that then I'll feel confident DDing my current int the laptop HD
>    onto the Acer HD (or the other 500GB drive I have). I've used dd several
>    times this way, dding my HD to a new and larger capacity USB drive and
>    then replacing the HD in my laptop with the new copied HD.
>    So I just want to experiment first so are you saying that my bootable USB
>    drive won't boot on the new Acer without some sort of futzing about?
>    I have powered down and powered up the modem and router as you suggest to
>    no avail. I'm going to check my settings from the old D-Link router and
>    see if they're different. I remember Cybermesa changed their IP addresses
>    a while back and maybe the router doesn't know that?
> 
>    Brian
> 
>    On 08/22/2012 11:34 PM, Rob Haag wrote:
> 
>      Did you move the MBR over as well? The easiest way to get the MBR to a
>      drive is with 'DD' (google), just be careful what you do with dd because
>      it will do exactly what you ask of it. I'm not sure if the boot flag is
>      important for a linux bootloader, but I always look if I'm having issues
>      with booting and it has never hurt having it set. Gparted is good, but
>      fdisk (command line) might be faster and easier to check the boot flag.
>      But, if I'm feeling lazy I'll google up a tutorial about migrating a HDD
>      using GParted, which is pretty user friendly. Theres tons of guides out
>      there, especially since using virtual machines and cloud computing has
>      become so trendy... thanks to cheap powerful hardware :)
>      Also, the router... right off the top of my head, it sounds like maybe
>      the new router didn't get a DHCP assignment from the modem. You may
>      already know this and have tried it but I would unplug both (mdm &
>      router), turn on the modem first and let it come up, then turn on the
>      router and see if that makes a connection.
>      Rob Haag
> 
>      On Thu, Aug 23, 2012 at 1:15 AM, BrianO'Keefe <[1]okeefe at cybermesa.com>
>      wrote:
> 
>        I got the acer today and just tried booting from my USB ubuntu drive
>        and I can't. I can set the boot order, which I did, but still no boot
>        from the USB drive.
>        The USB drive Ubuntu is a clone of my current HD, 10.04. Both machines
>        are AMD 64 bit
> 
>        Any ideas?
> 
>        Another question: I bought a new Cisco router after trying a Netgear
>        yesterday to replace my D-Link that is 8 years old. Neither one of the
>        new routers will talk to my Westelll d90, DSL modem that is about 8
>        years old too. Compatibility issues?
> 
>        Thanks in advance
> 
>        Brian
> 
>        On 08/18/2012 12:27 AM, Rob Haag wrote:
> 
>          I second what Andy says (if you can shell the extra dough), I
>          upgraded my workstation to a Core2 Quad and I love it. It performs
>          near what one of the i3-i5 does, probably for more electric but I am
>          very happy. I think a quad core AMD would be nice too, I'm sure...
>          especially when you run Linux, I imagine it has a better processor
>          scheduler :) In fact, the kernel just got a new one not too far back
>          and if I remember right 3.0 kernel is full-on taking advantage of
>          multi core processors.
>          Rob Haag
> 
>          On Fri, Aug 17, 2012 at 9:38 PM, Andrew Farnsworth
>          <[2]farnsaw at stonedoor.com> wrote:
> 
>            Look on the bottom of your Toshiba and see if there is a MS
>            Windows sticker with a code.  That is the license and it will tell
>            you if it is Windows XP or what.  if it is, you just need to find
>            media to do the wipe and install then either sell or gift it to
>            someone.  Yes, I know you can do the same with Linux on it, but
>            MOST people won't buy it if it doesn't have windows.  If the
>            sticker isn't there, then you will need to either find the
>            original media which will most likely have the license key with
>            it, or you will need to buy new which isn't worth it.  Let the
>            buyer do that if they want.  Just DBAN the laptop and put a basic
>            install of something like Ubuntu on it and then sell it or gift
>            it.
>            Andy
> 
>            On Fri, Aug 17, 2012 at 7:36 PM, BrianO'Keefe
>            <[3]okeefe at cybermesa.com> wrote:
> 
>              Thanks Andy,
>              I checked out the CPUs on PassMark CPU and you are totally
>              correct. The A5560 is almost clocking 4x faster. I ordered it!
>              I never thought about the Windows license. I suppose this
>              Toshiba has one but I wouldn't know how to find it.
> 
>              New laptop should be here by Tuesday! Now when those SSDHDs get
>              down to a reasonable price I can justify upgrading.
> 
>              Brian
>              On 08/17/2012 03:16 PM, Andrew Farnsworth wrote:
> 
>                If the $60 is not too much, go for the  A5560-7414.  The .15
>                Ghz difference won't make a difference really and if you are
>                in single threaded / single core mode this one will turbo up
>                to 2.4 Ghz.  So you get more modern, more powerful and faster
>                cpu, better graphics, better power savings, a bigger HD all
>                for $60.  Sounds like a deal to me.  I know many people will
>                state otherwise, but have a Windows  license for you laptop is
>                a good thing... it improves resale value.
>                Andy
> 
>                On Fri, Aug 17, 2012 at 4:36 PM, BrianO'Keefe
>                <[4]okeefe at cybermesa.com> wrote:
> 
>                  Anyone help me out with these laptops from Newegg?
> 
>                  So this for $319:
>                  ASUS A53U-ES21 Notebook AMD Dual-Core Processor
>                  E-450(1.65GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory DDR3 320GB HDD 5400rpm
>                  DVD±R/RW AMD Radeon HD 6320
>                  and I have a brand new 500GB HD for it.
>                  Or this for $379:
>                  Acer Aspire A5560-7414 Notebook AMD A-Series
>                  A6-3420M(1.5GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory 500GB HDD 5400rpm DVD
>                  Super Multi AMD Radeon HD 6520G . The CPU is a quad core.
> 
>                  Advice please?
> 
>                  No on the HP I wrote about earlier as it has no optical
>                  drive.
> 
>                  Many Thanks,
> 
>                  Brian
> 
>                  On 08/16/2012 10:16 PM, Rob Haag wrote:
> 
>                    Not bad for first hardware, I was just remembering
>                    recently how my first computer had floppies (5.25"). My
>                    first hard drive was 15mb (yep, that is Megabytes :) ).
>                    Now I'm giving my age away, but I know older nerds :) I'm
>                    quite surprised lately at how cheap hardware is getting, I
>                    find (capable) laptops for under $200. It makes it a bit
>                    easier to move onto new hardware when they are so cheap,
>                    and recycling old ones is responsible too... so we don't
>                    have to milk every last drop of service from the old
>                    units.
>                    Good luck and your welcome, of course
>                    Rob
> 
>                    On Fri, Aug 17, 2012 at 12:10 AM, BrianO'Keefe
>                    <[5]okeefe at cybermesa.com> wrote:
> 
>                      Thanks so much Rob. I've cloned my HD several times as
>                      larger cpacity ones came on market and installed them
>                      into this laptop and yes, SATA.  I think though that
>                      it's time to stop trying to make this workhorse pull the
>                      loads that newer OS versions and all the software that
>                      I've installed amount to. amazing to think my first
>                      computer was a Mac G3 Desktop with a 4GB HD!!
>                      I'll check out micro center for sure.
> 
>                      Thanks again
> 
>                      Brian
> 
>                      On 08/16/2012 09:59 PM, Rob Haag wrote:
> 
>                        Does your Toshiba have a SATA hard drive? All the new
>                        ones do, surely this unit at Newegg does too. But you
>                        may also sacrifice speed/reliability to swap it out. I
>                        may suggest you take an image of your old HDD with
>                        GParted or even the 'dd' command, then put that image
>                        on the new hard drive, then grow the new hard drive's
>                        partition to utilize the extra space (if the new on is
>                        bigger (in capacity)... or partition whats left over
>                        and mount that partition too. It's not a fantasy to
>                        swap hard drives though, if you thinking 'will it
>                        start up in the new hardware?'  Also, the new laptop
>                        you linked to certainly supports accelerated 3D
>                        graphics, which sounds like a step up for you in that
>                        department.
>                        Just for the fun of it, check out Micro Center. Not
>                        every deal ships (some are 'in store only'). I
>                        re-located to Columbus, OH and we have Micro Center
>                        here, my dad just picked up a really nice Asus laptop
>                        for $249 that supports accelerated graphics, the RAM
>                        is a bit lower than what you found at Newegg, but
>                        could be upgraded for $20-30 to 4gb. I have had very
>                        good service from Micro Center too, they are very
>                        customer oriented. It's worth a quick look, but
>                        unfortunately most of the 'good' deals are 'in store
>                        only'
>                        MicroCenter [6]http://www.microcenter.com/
>                        Good luck,
>                        Rob Haag
>                        On Thu, Aug 16, 2012 at 11:36 PM, BrianO'Keefe
>                        <[7]okeefe at cybermesa.com> wrote:
> 
>                          Hey all,
> 
>                          I have the Toshiba satellite with an AMD 64 bit
>                          processor. One of my main issues is that the
>                          notebook doesn't have the newer video capability to
>                          run Ubuntu beyond what I have, which is 10.10 except
>                          in crappy 2D mode (or vintage or whatever they call
>                          it).
>                          This Acer laptop
>                          [8]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215371&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL081612&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL081612-_-EMC-081612-Index-_-LaptopsNotebooks-_-34215371-L0A
> 
>                          is capable, I think, and I'm wondering if I could
>                          pop my HD from the Toshiba into it and just run with
>                          it. Or is that a fantasy? The price is great and it
>                          gets good reviews.
> 
>                          Advice?
> 
>                          Muchas gracias
> 
>                          Brian
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> References
> 
>    Visible links
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>    2. mailto:farnsaw at stonedoor.com
>    3. mailto:okeefe at cybermesa.com
>    4. mailto:okeefe at cybermesa.com
>    5. mailto:okeefe at cybermesa.com
>    6. http://www.microcenter.com/
>    7. mailto:okeefe at cybermesa.com
>    8. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215371&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL081612&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL081612-_-EMC-081612-Index-_-LaptopsNotebooks-_-34215371-L0A
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