DD memory stick to another memory stick

[tjbradford]

Hi All,

I have heard of DD Being used to copy one drive to another (HDD)

i am unsure of how or if its even possible to clone a drive bit for bit, I have the HP VXI Memory stick for our server but wanted to use one of our memory sticks and keep the original in our safe.

the drive contains 5 partitions that are readable in gparted it also marks a section of the stick as unknown hence the bit for bit copy.

I have read up on DD but not spotted what i'm after yet.

Anyone an experienced DD user?

 

[tjbradford]

resovled

dd if=/dev/sdX of=driveimage.img

then insert new usb

dd if=driveimage.img /dev/sdX

 

[stefanwagner]

While a lot of people use and talk about dd, it's usage is often a bad idea.

If you copy whole drives, including the partitiontable, the target should be of the same size as the source - often an unwanted restriction - i.e. your 4 yo. drive fails, and you buy a new one - normally it will be of a much bigger size.

You copy empty space - loose time and space.

A partial restore is hard to do.

Do you stop the system while backing up? Databases need their own backup procedure. Well- you will know that, if it is your duty.

don't visit my homepage:

http://home.arcor.de/hirnstrom/minis/index.html

 

[flubbard]

From the original post, it sounds like you would like to copy a memory stick "key" of sorts, not a hard drive. Yes, this can be done (assuming that there is nothing funny within the drive itself that identifies it for hp).

dd will do a bit by bit copy from the source to the destination, which would copy all partition information and data. As the previous post stated, you should be using the same size drive as your source. You can either copy it to and from an image or:

dd if=/dev/sdb of=/dev/sdc

I've used this process for making copies of a key that I use for my netbook without a problem, but it is a non-proprietary key.

Good Luck!

- flub

 

[flubbard]

Just as a word of caution, be very careful of your source and destination if you do it all in one shot, or else you run the risk of overwriting your good key with a blank disk!

- flub

 

[tjbradford]

as i posted to my own answer awhile ago it did the job great, cheers for the replys anyway tho guys its always good to see where others have learnt