[NMLUG] hard drive replacement how to,

[niosop at msn.com (MATTHEW BOWIE)]

Hook up both drives, boot off old drive, make similar partions/filesystems 
on the new drive (partions don't need to be the same size, filesystems don't 
have to be the same type, although it makes it easier).

to create partions, assuming old drive /dev/hda and new drive /dev/hdb

"fdisk -l /dev/hda" lists the partion table

then use fdisk, cfdisk, sfdisk, etc to create partitions on the new drive.

to create filesystems, mke2fs, mkreiserfs, mkswap, will come in handy.

after creating partitions, filesystems, copy everything over.  Easiest way 
is probably to tar up everything on your old drive, then mount the new drive 
somewhere, then untar to the new drive.

ex:  tar cf backup.tar *
mount /dev/hdb2 /mnt/blah
tar xf backup.tar -C /mnt/blah

repeat for each partition basically.

Alot depends on what your current setup looks like (partions, filesystems, 
etc).  If you're using lvm or raid it gets a little more complex, although 
not much.

If you have problems, post w/ specifics and I'll help.

Matthew

>yeah, sure...
>I meant how to mirror the old disk to a new one before trashing the old,
>I guess I already have the screwdriver skills, ;-)
>(btw, I didn't know the name of the connector was "Molex")