Q: dd'ing a boot disk
2007-12-25 10:52:00
Here's my original question and find below the answers...
> Hello Sun-Managers,
>
> Has anyone dd'ed a boot disk under Solaris 2.x and booted off it? Does it
> copy the boot sector? Are there any restrictions, e.g. does the new disk
> have to be the same/larger?
>
> Thanks, I will summarize the responses.
>
> Regards,
>
> Kwok
Answer:
Yes...it is possible to dd across a whole boot disk (using Slice 2) and you
don't need to install the boot block as well. :-)
However, a couple of points were raised...a) ideally the disks should be
exactly the same (since the disk geometry is also copied) and b) having
spoken to a Sun engineer about this, they don't like people doing this and
may even refuse to support a system which has been setup by this. :-( The
Sun recommended way of copying disks is to use the ufsdump and ufsrestore
commands. The best way being in the man page for ufsrestore, e.g.
SunOS 5.5.1 Last change: 29 Mar 1996 2
ufsrestore(1M) Maintenance Commands ufsrestore(1M)
f dump_file Use dump_file instead of /dev/rmt/0 as the
file to restore from. Typically dump_file
specifies a tape or diskette drive. If
dump_file is specified as `-', ufsrestore
reads from the standard input. This allows
ufsdump(1M) and ufsrestore to be used in a
pipeline to copy a file system:
example# ufsdump 0f - /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0s7 | (cd
/home;ufsrestore xf -)
Of couse, you will need to installboot afterwards for the boot block.
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