<br><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;"><div class="im">
&gt; To check my understanding - would it be correct to say that;<br>
&gt; 1. Using dd to copy the first 512 bytes (MBR) is ALL that is needed to<br>
&gt; setup the partitions - that is i wont need to run fdisk etc afterward.<br>
<br>
</div>This is correct if you only have primary partitions.  It will not copy the<br>
extended partition and any logical partitions in it.  They reside in the first<br>
sector of the extended partition, which is not a boot sector, but contains the<br>
logical partition table. (I found this out the hard way!)<br>
<br>
Have a look at this to see how you can back up the extended partition tables<br>
with sfdisk (there&#39;s more than one of these, if you have more than one logical<br>
partition) :<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.partimage.org/Partimage-manual_Backup-partition-table" target="_blank">http://www.partimage.org/Partimage-manual_Backup-partition-table</a><br>
<div class="im"><br>
<br>
&gt; 2. Using dd in this way of course will not update the kernel&#39;s knowledge of<br>
&gt; the partition table so a partprobe is necessary<br>
<br>
</div>Yes, or a reboot.<br>
<div class="im"><br>
<br>
&gt; 3. When using fdisk to write a partition table and exit, it calls a re-read<br>
&gt; of the partition table by the kernel so any changes should be ready<br>
&gt; straight away. (there&#39;s a message about calling ioctl when it exits - so i<br>
&gt; guess that is the update)<br>
<br>
</div>They are ready (i.e. written) but not yet read by the OS.  Tools like gparted<br>
(part)probe the device to re-read the partition table after saving changes to<br>
disk.<br>
</blockquote><div><br>Thanks Mick. Great info, esp about the extended partitions. Fortunately, I dont have any on this disk but good to know.<br></div></div><br>