On 05/26/2015 08:09 AM, jdd wrote:
Hello,
My main computer have now two drives: one SSD for system (openSUSE 13.2) and the original Hard drive 1Tb, for Windows 7 system and data.
This computer is now 4 years old and I would like to have a replacement hard drive at hand in case the old one break. I already have the drive (same size).
I have backup for all the data. I don't really mind to backup the linux systems I still have on this old disk (too old), so the main problem is backing up windows to get a bootable result. Of course I don't want to use any windows utility, not boot windows if not obliged to :-). I just keep windows because I need it sometime.
the partition table is like this:
/dev/sda1 2048 206847 204800 100M 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT /dev/sda2 206848 629360441 629153594 300G 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT /dev/sda3 * 629360640 1926973439 1297612800 618,8G f W95 Ext'd (LBA) /dev/sda4 1926973440 1953521663 26548224 12,7G 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT (only linux partition after that)
The cloning tools (clonezilla, redo backup) needs booting a live cd, so making the computer unusable for the backup time, and redo is from 2012 (http://redobackup.org/), so I'm unsure if it works with windows 7.
I guess I will have to use dd, but I know it for being dauntingly slow and wonder if there is not a best way.
I found that
sfdisk -d /dev/sdX | sfdisk /dev/sdY
could copy the partition table to the new disk.
Then I could use rsync?
But will this copy the file system?? if not (I guess not), will mkfs.ntfs and mkfs.vfat make usable systems for partitions 1, 2 and 4?
will the resulting disk be bootable on windows? I have also questions about booting windows and license updating, but it's probably not the good place.
do you have any experience on this? If I need to use dd, what are the best options for speed?
thanks jdd
My Windows machine recently popped up a message that the hard drive was dying. I immediately backed up critical information. Did all the usual maintenance things one should do with Windows. i also discovered that Windows will create a system image disk set for you. Reinstalling all the stuff you add to Windows after install can be a royal pain in the posterior but if the image works as advertised that shouldn't be necessary. I then shut off the machine until the new hard drive arrived. At the same time we ordered the new drive we ordered an "Aukey Super Speed USB3.0 Dual Bay 2.5 & 3.5 inch Sata Hard Drive Dock." I must tell you up front, the instructions for use completely suck. But, this little black box has openings for two 2.5 or 3.5 inch sata drives. Plug in the power supply. Push the on button. Drop the old drive in the "Source" slot and the new, same size or larger only, drive in the "Target" slot. Make sure the slide switch is in the "Clone" position. Press the button on the back that says "Start" and go watch a movie or two. No computer necessary. It says that it will clone any operating system. I haven't tried it on anything but Windows so............................. Being completely OS independent when working I suppose it simply starts up the drives and copies sector A to sector A and sector B to sector B and so on till the job is done. It just moves 1's and 0's. Supposedly, with the slide switch in the "PC" position it will act as an external hard drive dock by USB. Haven't tried that. The upshot is that my Windows computer is back up and running, completely as it was before with no issues, with a brand new hard drive. Way, way, WAY easier than re-installing everything from scratch. AND, I now have a recovery set that will, supposedly, put my system back exactly as it was just in case. -- A cat is a puzzle with no solution. Cats are tiny little women in fur coats. When you get all full of yourself try giving orders to a cat. _ _... ..._ _ _._ ._ ..... ._.. ... .._ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org