Clone a hard disk with rsync

> Ralph.White wrote:
>

> > In the event that the main disk dies, I would like to be able to just
> > plug in the 'backup' disk and have the system boot and run normally.
> >
> > My question is, how to do this? Will the following work:
> >
> > rsync -a --delete --force --exclude /backup/ / /backup/
> >
> > Do I need to exclude additional things such as /var/run, etc.? I've
> > seen people recommend excluding dev/ and other system directories but
> > if I do that, I guess the backup drive won't be bootable?

>
> /dev /proc /sys are things you shouldn't try to "copy" as they do contain a
> lot of streams and leads to the filling of your harddrive without geting space
> for the stuff you want. Just see to that the empty directories /dev /proc /sys
> are there on the backup.
>
> In theory your row should work, just test o see, just exclude those 3 other
> directories too... it can be wise to exclude /mnt too, in case you have a CD
> mounted, you may not want to backup it to the harddrive.
>
>

> > Do I need to do something extra? (install LILO on the second disk I
> > assume, but something else?)

>
> Yes, you will need a boot loader or a boot disk. But don't forget to keep the
> backup harddrive as the primary harddrive when you want to install the boot
> driver, so you don't have to problems to find the boot image.
>
> It could be smart to keep a backup kernel, one that you don't remove at all,
> this way you have a kernel you can boot into on the backup system all the time
> and you don't need to update the lilo (IMHO grub could be an easier option as
> it reads a text).
>
>
> //Aho

> For the initial copy, should I format the 'backup' driver, then rsync,
> then install LILO, or should I use 'dd' to start from an exact copy of
> the original disk, and then use rsync to keep this up to date?
>
> Thanks
> Ralph W
>
> "J.O. Aho" <user@example.net> wrote in message news:<30ohsbF30a08oU1@uni-berlin.de>...

>> Ralph.White wrote:
>>

>> > In the event that the main disk dies, I would like to be able to just
>> > plug in the 'backup' disk and have the system boot and run normally.
>> >
>> > My question is, how to do this? Will the following work:
>> >
>> > rsync -a --delete --force --exclude /backup/ / /backup/
>> >
>> > Do I need to exclude additional things such as /var/run, etc.? I've
>> > seen people recommend excluding dev/ and other system directories but
>> > if I do that, I guess the backup drive won't be bootable?

>>
>> /dev /proc /sys are things you shouldn't try to "copy" as they do contain a
>> lot of streams and leads to the filling of your harddrive without geting space
>> for the stuff you want. Just see to that the empty directories /dev /proc /sys
>> are there on the backup.
>>
>> In theory your row should work, just test o see, just exclude those 3 other
>> directories too... it can be wise to exclude /mnt too, in case you have a CD
>> mounted, you may not want to backup it to the harddrive.
>>
>>

>> > Do I need to do something extra? (install LILO on the second disk I
>> > assume, but something else?)

>>
>> Yes, you will need a boot loader or a boot disk. But don't forget to keep the
>> backup harddrive as the primary harddrive when you want to install the boot
>> driver, so you don't have to problems to find the boot image.
>>
>> It could be smart to keep a backup kernel, one that you don't remove at all,
>> this way you have a kernel you can boot into on the backup system all the time
>> and you don't need to update the lilo (IMHO grub could be an easier option as
>> it reads a text).
>>
>>
>> //Aho

> What about dd?
>
> On Sun, 28 Nov 2004 12:39:05 -0800, Ralph.White wrote:
>

> > For the initial copy, should I format the 'backup' driver, then rsync,
> > then install LILO, or should I use 'dd' to start from an exact copy of
> > the original disk, and then use rsync to keep this up to date?
> >
> > Thanks
> > Ralph W