Re: Transfering linux system to a new hard drive

[Rafael Skodlar <raffi@linwin.com>]

On Tue, Dec 04, 2001 at 11:32:41AM -0500, Henry Yen wrote:
> On Mon, Dec 03, 2001 at 05:03:43AM -0600, Cheryl Homiak wrote:
.......
> if that is an issue, the new drive may also be incompatible with your bios,
> in which case you'll only be able to see the first 8 gig.

Can't tell not knowing what motherboard is in there.

> 
> > The plan is to have a dos partition on the sme hard drive as linux, though
> > if I could afford it I'd still rather have two separate hard drives.
> 
> if you can afford the space, it's probably better to have both on a single
> drive; dos can't use more than 2 gig, and 2 drives are more overall
> risk than a single, and also linux has no problem with non-linux
> partitions.

It's always better to have more than one drive, that's the whole idea of 
RAID systems. That means two drives is better than one. You can mirror the 
data which is a quick backup while tape or other removable media servers 
as archive.

.....
> it's a bad idea to hot-plug ide drives (although i've done it a few
> times without problems).  and if there's a stiction problem with the
> old drive, it's quite possible that hot-plugging would cause a
> power hiccup, which is even worse for a marginal drive.

You can do that with SCSI but ATA drives are not build for that kind of
operation. In any case, you need to plug the power in correctly, i.e.  
ground first which is not that easy to do, otherwise you'll damage the
drivers with reverse current or current loops through the motherboard
circuit.

...........
> > If anybody can think of a way I can transfer my current system or can tell
> > me how I can get my ethernet up and working so I can use that to do the
> > package installs, I would appreciate it.
> 
> when faced with a failing drive, my approach would be to get someone
> to lend a hand with another working system with a bunch of free
> space on it, and back the system up over ethernet.  then, swap out the
> old disk, do a minimal install onto the new disk (leaving room for
> partitions from the old disk), and then ethernet the old disk contents back.
> the trick in all this is to watch your partition structure carefully,
> but this is how i upgrade hard drives (note: i am sighted).
> 
> of course, if you can't another system, or you're unable to do a minimal
> install of the temporary "transfer" system, then i don't see a technical
> solution.  if you can do these things, then figuring out your ethernet
> issues should be the best immediate plan.  to start, what appears
> when you type: ifconfig eth0
> 
> -- 
> Henry Yen                                       Aegis Information Systems, Inc.
> Senior Systems Programmer                       Hicksville, New York

-- 
Rafael