Re: [gentoo-user] Moving the system from one disk to another

[Dale <rdalek1967@gmail.com>]

meino.cramer@gmx.de wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have to move my whole system from one disk to another
> bigger one.
>
> I think of doing as follows:
> Boot a system via CD/DVD (knoppix for example).
> Mount small disk read-only
> Mount bigger disk read-write
>
> cd into mountpoint of the first one
> cp -a . ../<mountpoint_of_bigger_disk>
>
> Seems to me slow but correct? Or?
>
> (I have to set the bootable flag of the correct partion
> additionally...)
>
> I dont want to have a booting system afterwards, which "runs" for --
> say -- three month and suddenly hit a obscure bug due to my
> copy-commands, which only did it to 99.87% correct... ;)
>
> I would like to preserve as much as possible of the file/directoy
> times ,,,
>
> Or does a mystical command with s-tar a better job faster?
>
> Thank you very much in adance for any help!
>
> Best regards,
> mcc
>    

The way you plan to do this is almost exactly what I have done several 
times in the past.  I usually add the -v option so that I can tell about 
where the copy process is.  This is not a fast way according to some.  I 
have never compared this with using rsync, tar, star and all the rest.  
The biggest thing, make sure whatever you boot will access your drives 
with DMA and all the other goodies turned on and fully functioning.

When the copy process is done, install grub as well unless you plan to 
still use the old drive and do some editing on the fly.

Dale

:-)  :-)