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Consider using Clonezilla [1] instead. While dd will produce a sector-by-sector image of your medium (which can be terribly inefficient if you're using consider

Consider using Clonezilla [1] instead. While dd will produce a sector-by-sector image of your medium (which can be terribly inefficient if you're using considerably less than 100% of its available space) Clonezilla is file system-aware for a number of common file systems and has built-in support for compression as well. It resembles the recently discontinued Norton Ghost this way but is fully FOSS. I normally run it off a live CD/USB of Parted Magic [2], another tool I can wholeheartedly recommend. [1] http://clonezilla.org/ http://clonezilla.org/ [2] http://partedmagic.com/doku.php http://partedmagic.com/doku.php

res0nat0r 13y ago
I'd also recommend SysRescueCD that has these types of tools ready to be used as a bootable USB/CDrom image. http://www.sysresccd.org/System-tools http://www.sysresccd.org/System-tools I've used the imaging tools on the boot cd a few times to clone/restore hosts a few times without any issues. Very handy.
- WestCoastJustin 13y ago
  I created a SystemRescueCd screencast a while ago if anyone is interested [1]. Although, it does not look like SysRescueCD includes Clonezilla, there are tools like rsync, dd, and scp for moving files around in a pinch. [1] http://sysadmincasts.com/episodes/3-systemrescuecd http://sysadmincasts.com/episodes/3-systemrescuecd
sciurus 13y ago
I second the Clonezilla recommendation. Clonezilla is a monumental set of bash scripts that act as a "wizard" to drive a number of other programs. The most important one is probably partclone. You don't have to use Clonezilla to use partclone (it's packaged in linux distributions like Debian), but Clonezilla makes it easier. http://partclone.org/ http://partclone.org/
sandycheeks 13y ago
I would be concerned about how dd handles a bad sector that has not been reallocated by SMART. Many drives have 1 or 2 of these. Clonezilla is a good option because it also includes GNU ddrescue (so does PartedMagic) which can cope with most file system damage like bad sectors.

res0nat0r 13y ago

I'd also recommend SysRescueCD that has these types of tools ready to be used as a bootable USB/CDrom image. http://www.sysresccd.org/System-tools http://www.sysresccd.org/System-tools I've used the imaging tools on the boot cd a few times to clone/restore hosts a few times without any issues. Very handy.

WestCoastJustin 13y ago
I created a SystemRescueCd screencast a while ago if anyone is interested [1]. Although, it does not look like SysRescueCD includes Clonezilla, there are tools like rsync, dd, and scp for moving files around in a pinch. [1] http://sysadmincasts.com/episodes/3-systemrescuecd http://sysadmincasts.com/episodes/3-systemrescuecd

sciurus 13y ago

I second the Clonezilla recommendation. Clonezilla is a monumental set of bash scripts that act as a "wizard" to drive a number of other programs. The most important one is probably partclone. You don't have to use Clonezilla to use partclone (it's packaged in linux distributions like Debian), but Clonezilla makes it easier. http://partclone.org/ http://partclone.org/

sandycheeks 13y ago

I would be concerned about how dd handles a bad sector that has not been reallocated by SMART. Many drives have 1 or 2 of these. Clonezilla is a good option because it also includes GNU ddrescue (so does PartedMagic) which can cope with most file system damage like bad sectors.