| Shannon Lloyd 2005-10-08, 8:46 pm |
| Peter Hucker wrote:
>
>
> The reason I ask is I have NEVER used linux. I want to copy the drive
> to a new one as easily as possible. It wouldn't be the windows
> application, it'd be the Ghost boot disk which runs in DOS.
>
Well, Ghost may work, but I can't vouch for it, not having ever used it.
But I can vouch for using the Knoppix option with qtparted (a GUI
partition editor which comes on the Knoppix disc) to partition the new
disc and dd (in Linux, type "man dd" to read the manual pages for dd) to
copy the data from the partitions on the old disc over to the partitions
on the new disc. It probably isn't quite as point-and-click as Ghost,
but it is all-Linux, so the chances of it f%#king up the partition table
on the new disc is pretty small. You will, however, need to read up a
little on how to use dd effectively. If memory serves me correctly, dd
expect the source and destination partitions to be exactly the same
size. Partimage will give you more or less the same end result as using
dd (except that, unlike dd, it doesn't copy "empty" space on the
partition), except that is has a GUI and will actually create a
compressed image file of the source partition, which can be restored to
the new partition (also using partimage). If you are planning on
transferring the data across to a larger partition, which neither dd nor
partimage are capable of doing, you might want to have a look at the
cpio command instead.
In short, if Ghost will work for you, it is probably the easiest
solution if you have never used Linux. Besides, if the new disk is
currently blank, you don't have much to lose by trying it out. The Linux
solution is (IMO) less likely to screw something up, but only if you
read up and do it carefully.
Shannon
|