Re: [expert] Hard disk problems

[J . A . Magallon]

On Tue, 21 Nov 2000 17:16:46 Tejinder Singh wrote:
> 
> 2) Duplicate the contents if the existing drive on the new one. The new one
> may have extra partitions if the partitions on
> it are exactly the same size as on the old disk.
> 
> 3) Take out the old disk, or maybe even leave it in there as an extra disk and
> place the new one in as the main /dev/hda
> boot disk.
> 
> 4) Power On the PC and the system comes up exactly as it used to before the
> noise started (with some extra disk space).
> 
> Am I hoping for too much or is there a utility out there that can help me do
> this.

I have just done this, manually. The only tricky step is partitioning the new
disk.
I have Mandrake 7.2, and I used DiskDrake to partition-format the drive. I
suppose RH has any GUI tool similar to do that. In the worst case, you would
have to use
fdisk/mkfs. The thing is to get your drive partitioned and mounted in, say,
/disk.
You can have a distinct partition scheme than your original drive. Just format
all your parts and mount them in their right point under /disk.
Say /dev/hda is your current disk, and /dev/hdb will be the new:

/dev/hdb1 ---> /disk
/dev/hdb5 ---> /disk/usr
/dev/hdb6 ---> /disk/usr/local
/dev/hdb7 ---> /disk/home

Copy all your dirs from your actual root to the future root, but WITH THE -a
flag
(so device files, links, dates and so on are preserved). All BUT /proc. Make
that dir manually with mkdir /disk/proc:
cp -a /bin /boot ... /var /disk

Make a boot disk with your current kernel (mkbootkdisk). If you have all your
mandatory stuff (disk drivers) in kernel, not modules, just
dd if=/boot/vmlinuz of=/dev/fd0.

Shut down, remove your old disk (or swap master and slave if they are ide, or
change
scsi ids to make the new disk seen before the old), boot with the floppy and
run lilo on the new disk.

The advantage of this method is that the partioning scheme does not have to be
equal to the old.

-- 
Juan Antonio Magallon Lacarta #> cd /pub
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] #> more beer

Linux 2.2.18-pre22-vm #7 SMP Sun Nov 19 03:29:20 CET 2000 i686 unknown




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RE: [expert] Hard disk problems

[Tejinder Singh]

First of all thank you all for your speedy and helpful responses.

Unfortunately, I do not have a copy of the Linux Journals, but I may be able to find a 
person who does.

Is the dd performed on a partition by partition basis using /dev/hda...(old disk 
source)  /dev/hdb...(new disk dest) ?

Oh... and it's an 8 GB disk. And I still didn't realise my mistake after I read this 
response, I was actually thinking that
20 GB must be on the way out. Even my very first system back in 92 had a 120 MByte 
Hard Disk !!!

It's worrying when a supposedly carefully written note contains mitsakes...


Regards,

Tej..


Regards,

Tej..

-Original Message-
From:   Charles Curley [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent:   Tuesday, November 21, 2000 7:44 PM
To: Tejinder Singh
Cc: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]'
Subject:    Re: [expert] Hard disk problems

On Tue, Nov 21, 2000 at 04:16:46PM -, Tejinder Singh wrote:
> Dear reader(s),
> 
> I have a machine running RH Linux. It's taken me a long time and numerous package 
>downloads to set this up just so...
> 
> The Linux machine now acts as an intranet server and provides access to the outside 
>world for my other machines.
> 
> Anyway, that's the background, now for the problem:
> 
> Just lately I've started to notice a low frequency whirring sound when the machine 
>is initially powered up. This remains
> for about a minute and then goes. I'm diagnosing this as the beginning of a failure 
>of my hard disk, the one with all the
> Linux bits on it.
> 
> Ideally I would find the following course of action least daunting:
> 
> 1) Buy a new hard drive. The existing one is 8 MByte. I would like a larger ~20MByte 
>replacement.
> 
> 2) Duplicate the contents if the existing drive on the new one. The new one may have 
>extra partitions if the partitions on
> it are exactly the same size as on the old disk.
> 
> 3) Take out the old disk, or maybe even leave it in there as an extra disk and place 
>the new one in as the main /dev/hda
> boot disk.
> 
> 4) Power On the PC and the system comes up exactly as it used to before the noise 
>started (with some extra disk space).
> 
> Am I hoping for too much or is there a utility out there that can help me do this.

To see one way to rebuild your system, see my recent article on bare metal
restore at 79 Linux Journal 104.

What I want to know is how your 8 MB hard drive has lasted so long? I
don't know if you can get 20 MB hard drives any more. :-)



-- 

-- C^2

No windows were crashed in the making of this email.

Looking for fine software and/or web pages?
http://w3.trib.com/~ccurley




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Re: [expert] Hard disk problems

[Charles Curley]

On Tue, Nov 21, 2000 at 04:16:46PM -, Tejinder Singh wrote:
> Dear reader(s),
> 
> I have a machine running RH Linux. It's taken me a long time and numerous package 
>downloads to set this up just so...
> 
> The Linux machine now acts as an intranet server and provides access to the outside 
>world for my other machines.
> 
> Anyway, that's the background, now for the problem:
> 
> Just lately I've started to notice a low frequency whirring sound when the machine 
>is initially powered up. This remains
> for about a minute and then goes. I'm diagnosing this as the beginning of a failure 
>of my hard disk, the one with all the
> Linux bits on it.
> 
> Ideally I would find the following course of action least daunting:
> 
> 1) Buy a new hard drive. The existing one is 8 MByte. I would like a larger ~20MByte 
>replacement.
> 
> 2) Duplicate the contents if the existing drive on the new one. The new one may have 
>extra partitions if the partitions on
> it are exactly the same size as on the old disk.
> 
> 3) Take out the old disk, or maybe even leave it in there as an extra disk and place 
>the new one in as the main /dev/hda
> boot disk.
> 
> 4) Power On the PC and the system comes up exactly as it used to before the noise 
>started (with some extra disk space).
> 
> Am I hoping for too much or is there a utility out there that can help me do this.

To see one way to rebuild your system, see my recent article on bare metal
restore at 79 Linux Journal 104.

What I want to know is how your 8 MB hard drive has lasted so long? I
don't know if you can get 20 MB hard drives any more. :-)



-- 

-- C^2

No windows were crashed in the making of this email.

Looking for fine software and/or web pages?
http://w3.trib.com/~ccurley



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Re: [expert] Hard disk problems

[Denis HAVLIK]

Except for the fact that your machine is running RH, and not LM, I don't
see any reasons why you should not be able to do that. "dd" should be able
to do exactly what you have asked for.

If you feel that dd is too much for you, you can always opt for installing
some minimal linux install, just to get your new HD partitioned the easy
way, then erase everything which the installer put on new server and copy 
all the files from old HD to new one. 

When you are done, you'll have to fix /etc/fstab and /etc/lilo.conf, and
run lilo to get your bootloader in sync, but that's about it.
 
cu
Denis

On Tue, 21 Nov 2000, Tejinder Singh wrote:

:~>Dear reader(s),
:~>
:~>I have a machine running RH Linux. It's taken me a long time and numerous package 
:downloads to set this up just so...
:~>
:~>The Linux machine now acts as an intranet server and provides access to the outside 
:world for my other machines.
:~>
:~>Anyway, that's the background, now for the problem:
:~>
:~>Just lately I've started to notice a low frequency whirring sound when the machine 
:is initially powered up. This remains
:~>for about a minute and then goes. I'm diagnosing this as the beginning of a failure 
:of my hard disk, the one with all the
:~>Linux bits on it.
:~>
:~>Ideally I would find the following course of action least daunting:
:~>
:~>1) Buy a new hard drive. The existing one is 8 MByte. I would like a larger 
:~20MByte replacement.
:~>
:~>2) Duplicate the contents if the existing drive on the new one. The new one may 
:have extra partitions if the partitions on
:~>it are exactly the same size as on the old disk.
:~>
:~>3) Take out the old disk, or maybe even leave it in there as an extra disk and 
:place the new one in as the main /dev/hda
:~>boot disk.
:~>
:~>4) Power On the PC and the system comes up exactly as it used to before the noise 
:started (with some extra disk space).
:~>
:~>Am I hoping for too much or is there a utility out there that can help me do this.
:~>
:~>Thanks for reading this.
:~>
:~>
:~>Regards,
:~>
:~>Tej..
:~>
:~>
:~>
:~>=_974833210-6637-0
:~>Content-Type: text/plain; name="message.footer"
:~>Content-Disposition: inline; filename="message.footer"
:~>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
:~>
:~>Keep in touch with http://mandrakeforum.com: 
:~>Subscribe the "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" mailing list.
:~>
:~>=_974833210-6637-0--
:~>
:~>

-- 
-
Dr. Denis Havlik
Mandrakesoft||| e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Quality Assurance  (@ @)(private: [EMAIL PROTECTED])
---oOO--(_)--OOo-
The mailserver is on strike. It wants better working conditions,
paid days off and a female connector. ([EMAIL PROTECTED])




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[expert] Hard disk problems

[Tejinder Singh]

Dear reader(s),

I have a machine running RH Linux. It's taken me a long time and numerous package 
downloads to set this up just so...

The Linux machine now acts as an intranet server and provides access to the outside 
world for my other machines.

Anyway, that's the background, now for the problem:

Just lately I've started to notice a low frequency whirring sound when the machine is 
initially powered up. This remains
for about a minute and then goes. I'm diagnosing this as the beginning of a failure of 
my hard disk, the one with all the
Linux bits on it.

Ideally I would find the following course of action least daunting:

1) Buy a new hard drive. The existing one is 8 MByte. I would like a larger ~20MByte 
replacement.

2) Duplicate the contents if the existing drive on the new one. The new one may have 
extra partitions if the partitions on
it are exactly the same size as on the old disk.

3) Take out the old disk, or maybe even leave it in there as an extra disk and place 
the new one in as the main /dev/hda
boot disk.

4) Power On the PC and the system comes up exactly as it used to before the noise 
started (with some extra disk space).

Am I hoping for too much or is there a utility out there that can help me do this.

Thanks for reading this.


Regards,

Tej..




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