Re: dd to backup fat32 drive?

hazzmat <hazzmat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Can I dd the C drive Fat32 formatted from the laptop to an outfile (eg,
> drivec.img) on one of the PC's ext3 formatted harddrives, and then
> reverse that from the drivec.img outfile to a new 2.5" harddrive with
> one large fat32 partition on it, and will the new drive boot?

If you only do dd on the partition (called something like /dev/hda1) the
new drive will not boot unless it also has a Microsoft master boot record
in the MBR. If you do dd on the entire drive (called something like
/dev/hda) you will also get the MBR including the partition table that you
will need.

However, both the partition and the master boot record contain data about
the geometry of the harddrive. If this geometry differs between the old
drive and the new drive you might not be able to use the dd method.

A safer way to copy the data would be to use some program like tar.
However, if you are using tar you might lose some attributes like hidden,
system and archive for files. To restore your tar archive you will also
have to create a file system on the new disk with a tool like gnu parted
or mkdosfs. After that you will also have to use a tool like ms-sys to
make the system bootable.

regards Henrik
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