Thanks Ori and Shimi; I've forwarded your suggestions to my friend. Your help is much appreciated.
On Sun, Nov 5, 2023 at 3:16 PM shimi <linux...@shimi.net> wrote: > On Sat, Nov 4, 2023 at 9:35 AM Michael Shiloh <michaelshiloh1...@gmail.com> > wrote: > >> Hello all, >> >> Situation: We have a linux computer with various software installed on >> old hardware that may malfunction and be unsupported. To mitigate this >> risk, we would like to make an image of this machine so that we can run it >> in a virtual machine. >> >> How do we do this? >> >> > Beyond what has been suggested before me on this thread, you can also > rescue-boot both the old and the new system that has a disk > same-size-or-larger, and just bit-copy the hard drive as a whole (including > partition table) over the network, without passing through an 'image' > stage. You can either do so securely (but slower) over SSH, or in plaintext > if your network is secure (using netcat). See: > https://www.thegeekdiary.com/how-to-clone-linux-disk-partition-over-network-using-dd/ > . > > Note: The above tutorial suggests using compression when SSH is not > involved (not sure why the difference in approaches), which you may wish to > consider removing from the pipeline, especially if cloning over fast LAN - > as there's a good chance that the compression, which /may/ not reduce the > data volume transferred much (unless you're looking at lots of space that > is filled with a static pattern like zeros) and the CPU may become the > bottleneck instead of the network, and then, מה הועילו חכמים בתקנתם? > > DISCLAIMER: Make sure you understand what you do, so you'll not by mistake > write TO the source disk from the target (or from nowhere...), overwriting > all your data. :) I would say it wouldn't be a problem if you kept backups, > but the original question suggests that one may not be available in this > case... so, be careful. As a rule of thumb, the dd _of=_ parameter on the > _SOURCE_ should NEVER point to anything local, and quite frankly, should > NEVER appear on the source altogether... > > HTH, > > -- Shimi >
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