Need to COPY my Linux installation to larger drive

Hi Ray,

The good news is that there's a number of ways you can do this.

The easiest is if you are going to keep both drives in the system. In this case, you can leave the system stuff on the original drive and move some of the larger space users (typically /var and /home) to the new drive, and you're done.

But let's assume you have other plans for the old hard drive. Moving the files from the old drive to the new is straightforward. You can do this using 'cp -a -v', which preserves timestamps on files, FIFOs, and otherwise correctly handles other system files. The -v means verbose, so it'll give you some progress info as it copies.

If you are manually partitioning the new drive, make sure that your /boot partition is marked bootable.

Also, doublecheck that the partitions on the old drive are Linux type 83 (or swap, type 82). If they're some other type, a different approach may be needed.

Next, go ahead and copy over the data for each partition, using cp -av.

Now, one thing you'll need to doublecheck is the drive name. If the old drive and the new drive are either both IDE or both SCSI or both SATA, then you don't need to do this. However, if the old drive is IDE and the new one is SCSI or SATA (or vice versa), then you'll need to switch /dev/hda to /dev/sda in the file /etc/fstab.

Finally, you'll need to install grub onto the new harddrive. You can find information about this online. This may require some study and experimentation to get right.

To test the drive, what I would suggest is to unplug the old drive and try booting up the computer. If it doesn't boot, then reconnect the old drive, reboot, and troubleshoot.

Good luck, and report back if you get stuck.

Bryce

Hello Bryce,

Thank you for the help.

I will keep the old drive off-line ('Never burn my bridges! :-))

I have 4 partitions;
1. DR-DOS
2. Windoze XP
3. Linux Swap
4. Ubuntu Linux

Also, HDB for an "Archive" disk.

Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on

/dev/hda4 38266476 4054712 32267900 12% / Linux
/dev/hda1 2096160 190208 1905952 10% /media/hda1 Dr-DOS
/dev/hda2 36908320 30003424 6904896 82% /media/hda2
   WinXp.... The Main concern is this Hog!

This is on an eighty Gig HD and will be replaced by a two hundred Gigger.
I'll probably give DOS only a gig, Linux, 50 Gigs, a 512 Meg swap and the
remainder to the HOG. I have been doing Movie work there and it eats HD
real estate like there is no end!

On Wednesday 14 February 2007 18:40, Bryce Harrington wrote:
> Your support request #3699 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+ticket/3699
>
> Status: Open => Answered
>
> Bryce Harrington proposed the following answer:
> Hi Ray,
>
> The good news is that there's a number of ways you can do this.
>
> The easiest is if you are going to keep both drives in the system. In
> this case, you can leave the system stuff on the original drive and move
> some of the larger space users (typically /var and /home) to the new
> drive, and you're done.
>
> But let's assume you have other plans for the old hard drive. Moving
> the files from the old drive to the new is straightforward. You can do
> this using 'cp -a -v', which preserves timestamps on files, FIFOs, and
> otherwise correctly handles other system files. The -v means verbose,
> so it'll give you some progress info as it copies.
>
? Is the option -R not also required for the CP command?

> If you are manually partitioning the new drive, make sure that your
> /boot partition is marked bootable.
>
> Also, doublecheck that the partitions on the old drive are Linux type 83
> (or swap, type 82). If they're some other type, a different approach
> may be needed.
>
That's the easy part! :-)

> Next, go ahead and copy over the data for each partition, using cp -av.
>
> Now, one thing you'll need to doublecheck is the drive name. If the old
> drive and the new drive are either both IDE or both SCSI or both SATA,
> then you don't need to do this. However, if the old drive is IDE and
> the new one is SCSI or SATA (or vice versa), then you'll need to switch
> /dev/hda to /dev/sda in the file /etc/fstab.
>
Another easy one... Both are Seagate IDE.

> Finally, you'll need to install grub onto the new harddrive. You can
> find information about this online. This may require some study and
> experimentation to get right.
>
I *think* I have GRUB on a rescue floppy with enough info to do this.... I
can lean on a "seasoned" linux friend for some help there whenever I get
that far. I might do that before CP'ing to HDA1 and HDA2 to see how it
plays that far.....

> To test the drive, what I would suggest is to unplug the old drive and
> try booting up the computer. If it doesn't boot, then reconnect the old
> drive, reboot, and troubleshoot.
>
> Good luck, and report back if you get stuck.
>
> Bryce
>
Sure will and thanks again,

Ray

> _______________________________________________________________________
> If this answers your request, please go to the following page to let us
> know that it is solved:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+ticket/3699/+confirm?answer_id=0
>
> If you still need support, you can reply to this email or go to the
> following page to enter your feedback:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+ticket/3699

Sounds good, and what I described should do the trick for the Linux partitions.

I'm not sure that cp -a would work properly on the Windows XP partition; I haven't done Windows in years. Could be worth a shot, but I bet you'd want to dd (or maybe cpio) that one.

Let us know how it goes! :-)

Bryce

The following web page details pretty much what exactly what you're after, with examples:-

http://www.hants.lug.org.uk/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?LinuxHints/OneDiskToAnother

Hello Alan,

Thank you for the input to my needs.

There is certainly a lot of reading/UNDERSTANDING to be done before
venturing onto my project!

Ray

On Thursday 15 February 2007 05:39, Alan Pope wrote:
> Your support request #3699 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+ticket/3699
>
> Alan Pope proposed the following answer:
> The following web page details pretty much what exactly what you're
> after, with examples:-
>
> http://www.hants.lug.org.uk/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?LinuxHints/OneDiskToAnother
>
> _______________________________________________________________________
> If this answers your request, please go to the following page to let us
> know that it is solved:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+ticket/3699/+confirm?answer_id=3
>
> If you still need support, you can reply to this email or go to the
> following page to enter your feedback:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+ticket/3699