Using linux to clone a Windows ME disk?

Hewitt Tech hewitt_tech at comcast.net
Sat Jan 31 14:34:57 EST 2004


You're quite correct that buying software just to use once is a waste. I
need to do this often enough that having the software makes sense. Moreover,
if you need to copy NT based partitions, these commercial products make it
very painless. Considering that this is a read-only operation as far as the
source disk goes, Jeff has nothing to lose experimenting with the free
tools. I just recently read where an IT specialist recommended using Knoppix
to backup partitions before making potentially disastrous changes. Indeed I
carry a small 2.5 inch hard drive on client calls expressly for that reason.
I even carry backup software on a USB thumb drive in case I want to pull a
full backup before making changes.

-Alex

P.S. BTW, Knoppix is just the ticket for changing administrator passwords on
an NT box where that information is no longer available (employee left firm
etc..).

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jerry Feldman" <gaf at blu.org>
To: <gnhlug-discuss at mail.gnhlug.org>
Sent: Saturday, January 31, 2004 2:11 PM
Subject: Re: Using linux to clone a Windows ME disk?


-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

On Sat, 31 Jan 2004 12:34:45 -0500
"Hewitt Tech" <hewitt_tech at comcast.net> wrote:

> I realize you wanted to do this with Open Source tools but the
> Powerquest Drive Image tool will do this quickly and reliably. In a
> UNIX environment, I've cloned disks using dd but it gets complicated
> when you mix in Microsoft formats. Not only that but you probably want
> to make the new 60 gig drive a single large partition and although
> Drive Image will do that automatically, it probably would be more
> difficult with Linux based tools. It should be easier to copy a FAT32
> partition and use Windows ME than for example NTFS and any of the NT
> variant OSs.  I guess when you bought the 60 gig drive it didn't come
> with any utilities right? If you happen to buy a Maxtor or a Western
> Digital drive, both manufacturers include utilities that do what Drive
> Image does i.e. make a mirror of the partition and allow you to grow
> the target partition to the size of the available disk. You might want
> to check the web site for the manufacturer of the 60 gig drive to see
> if they have downloadable utilities.
Certainly that would be one way to do it, but Jeff already has all the
right tools. The Knoppix bootable Cd has qtparted which is much like a
partition magic clone. jeff can use dd if he allocates the partition on
the large disk to be identical to the small disk, then use a
partitioning tool to expand. But, the steps that I proposed do work fine
for fat, fat32, vfat and ntfs (W2K and Win XP). I tested it in the lab
at Northeastern last week. It uses the GNU parted library. The
MandrakeMove bootable CD also has an excellent tool.

Also note that I left out formatting of the new partition. qtparted can
do this, or Jeff can use the mkfs(8) command. I see no reason to go out
and buy software that will only be used once, like Drive Image.
- -- 
Jerry Feldman <gaf at blu.org>
Boston Linux and Unix user group
http://www.blu.org PGP key id:C5061EA9
PGP Key fingerprint:053C 73EC 3AC1 5C44 3E14 9245 FB00 3ED5 C506 1EA9
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.2.2 (GNU/Linux)

iD8DBQFAG/3O+wA+1cUGHqkRAj5JAKCBMcX8wNN5rlqoTIuDHjjuPHX1pACdEF9X
CDPvQd2Pe0UcghG8CZhEl/s=
=+ph2
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
_______________________________________________
gnhlug-discuss mailing list
gnhlug-discuss at mail.gnhlug.org
http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss




More information about the gnhlug-discuss mailing list