Re: backing up an NTFS paritition using Linux tools
From: Benedict Verheyen (benedict.verheyen_at_sjki.be)
Date: 03/07/05
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Date: Mon, 07 Mar 2005 17:12:03 +0100 To: Debian Linux Distro Users Discussion <debian-user@lists.debian.org>
H. S. wrote:
> My wife has a dual boot laptop with Windows XP and Debian Sid. Recently
> it had to be send for repairs and I am in the process of reinstalling
> everything.
>
> Since I do not have Norton Ghost, I am going to try using Linux tools to
> install Windows XP on an NTFS partition and image it for future
> installations.
>
> Here is my plan:
> 1) Format the C: partition during installation of Win XP Home with SP1
>
> 2) After installation of Windows XP SP1, install SP2.
>
> 3) Install all other necessary program: anti-spyware, ghostscript, gv,
> acroread, ghost (word to PDF convertor), gaim, ifranview, etc.
>
> 4) At this point I will have the installation of WinXP Sp2 and all
> necessary software. But during all this activity, the disk would be full
> of erased files. So defrag it now. Do the defragmentatino twice or even
> thrice.
>
> 5) To further help gzip later on, boot into windows and run a small
> program I made that just open a new file and keeps on writing 0x00 to it
> till the disk is full. When the disk is full, stop writing to it and
> erase that file. Now all the random data on the C: partition would be
> all zeros. Good for gzip! Note: I can't just boot with a live CD and do:
> $> dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda1/zero.bin
> till disk is full since writing to NTFS from Linux is not advisable(hda1
> is C: here).
>
> 6) Boot using either system rescue CD (http://sysresccd.org/) or Knoppix.
>
> 7) copy the image of the C: (hda1) drive to a separate parition I
> already have(/dev/hda2):
> $> mkdir image-disk
> $> mount -t vfat /dev/hda2 image-disk
> $> dd if=/dev/hda1 | gzip > /image-disk/c-image.img
>
> and then I burn that c-image.img to a DVD.
>
> To restore the image at a later stage, assuming the size of /dev/hda1
> has not changed, I just do:
> $> boot using a Live CD
> $> mkdir image-disk
> $> mount -t vfat /dev/hda2 image-disk
> $> cat image-disk/c-image.img | gunzip -c | of=/dev/hda1
>
> where I have copied the c-image.img from a backup DVD to that /dev/hda2
> partition.
>
> Comments?
>
> Q. How long should I expect step (7) above to take if /dev/hda1 is 14GB?
> The laptop is Dell Inspiron 5160 with 512MB of ram. I know that using
> bzip2 will be quite longer than using gzip.
>
> Q. If somebody has tried this option, how much compression ratio should
> I expect?
>
> Q. Alternatives?
>
>
> Thanks,
> ->HS
>
You seem to have a nice plan. As for imageing software, there is always
http://www.partimage.org/ but it's ntfs support is experimental.
Haven't tried it with ntfs.
Regards,
Benedict
-- Benedict Verheyen Debian User http://www.heimdallitservices.be Public Key 0x712CBB8D -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-REQUEST@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org
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- In reply to: H. S.: "backing up an NTFS paritition using Linux tools"
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