Using Part image with System Rescue CD to Clone your hard drive

What tools I used

PartImage http://www.partimage.org/Main_Page

System Rescue CD http://www.sysresccd.org/Main_Page

Gparted http://gparted.sourceforge.net/

I wanted to get this down before I completely forgot it.

I just recently upgrade my PC to a Dual Core AMD X 2 64bit processor, new motherboard, memory, and case. I then needed to reuse my old DVD and Hard Drives. The problem was that I, for some reason, couldn't use my ATA drive as the boot drive. Also the 120 gig IDE drive that I had was not working for some reason and I couldn't just format it because of the data I had on it. I think this was a windows issue. So I ended up pulling an old 80gig hard drive out of the boxes that I had it stored in and used that as my boot drive. I managed to install thinkg were good, but for one thing. The drive sounded like a dryer with rocks in it. That wasn't good. so I started down the path of figuring out how to "clone" this 80gig drive to my 120 gig drive without having to reinstall everything.

I did some searching and found PartImage. A nice tool that you can use to backup or "clone" you drive and then reinstall it. As I was reading I found this tool was installed on a linux based "System Rescue CD". I downloaded the ISO ran it and start my trial and error of using this tool. I won't go through all the details because there is a far amount of documentation already on it but I will outline some of the main items that I had issues with and resolved for this work.

The Process

1) I first had to backup the current 80gig drive with partimage.

a) To perform this work I needed to mount the 300 gig ATA drive. to do this I followed this process. Because these are NTFS drives I need to use NTFS-3g to gain full RW access to the drives.

i) Create a directory to mount the ATA drive too: mkdir /mnt/backup

ii) Mount the ATA drive: NTFS-3g /dev/sda1 /mnt/backup

iii) Now if you run DIR or LS on /mnt/backup you should see the root to the drive you jsut mounted

b) To find out what drive you want to mount to copy your data to you can run gparted and this will scan you system for drive and show you what drive the OS recognized.

c) In a terminal window type partimage. This will start the partimage tool to backup your partition.

2) Once you are the partimage screen, I am only going to point out the main items that I had an issue with, it is really obvious but took me hours to figure out.

3) In partimage, choose the partition that you want to backup by highlighting it.

4) Enter the name of the file you want the image to be saved too. You will need to save it to the mounted drive you created earlier. (/mnt/backup/[dir]/backup.gz)

5) When you choose the compression you have an option to choose the application to break it into small sizes. YOU WILL WANT TO DO THIS. This is the biggest issue I had. I created one file, and used the default of 2gig and when I went to restore the image it failed. I banged my head against the wall on this for days. I finally found the answer on a form. Change the size of the compressed files to 650meg. I made this change and backup up 40gigs of data and restored it to the 120gig drive with no problems.

6) Hit F5 for next, enter the description and run it.

7) After the backup is completed I removed the 80gig drive, installed the 120 gig drive and ran through step one to map the drive.

8) Now I ran Gparted to reparation and format the 120gig drive. I also used this tool to make this drive bootable. (what a great tool)

9) I then ran partimage, choose the drive to restore to, and put in the file name of the image that I created earlier.

10) The restore took 30min.

11) I closed the application, pulled out the Cd and rebooted the system.

12) The Os came up with no problems and everything was the way it was with the other drive.

I am very happy with these tools. It made my life easier in the end, since I didn’t have to reinstall everything all over again, which is a pain in the ars. Keep in mind, I restored an image on the same hardware that the image came from. Issues with SID’s and hardware compatibility were not there. Also, NTFS support is experimental for these tools, but I experienced no problems with anything. The only problem was the size of the image and this was easily resolved by breaking them into smaller pieces.

Drill for Oil in the US

So we can't drill for oil in the Gulf, but Cuba does. We can't drill for Oil in Alaska because of Moose migration patterns. We can't cut down trees in the North West, because trees are beautiful and we love them. OMG this environmentalism is getting ridiculous. We built this country on it's natural resources and now because of of some tree hugging and Moose loving green freaks we are paying the price for it. Literally!!!


I firmly believe that we should be drilling for Oil in Alaska, sorry to be frank, but screw the Moose (not literally). If you drill in the middle of nowhere, the moose will move. Do I want to destroy the world, well maybe, But I don't want to see us destroy our natural resources to get oil. But this can be done with a focus on not messing up everything around the oil, or coal or what ever that resource is. We seem to have forgotten how we became a supper duper power. We knew this land had everything a new growing country needed. We had wood, food, water, and lots o land. We used the wood to build houses and factories. We used coal and wood to heat our homes and run our factories. We found oil and grew the country with cars, trains, and factories and such. We built electrical plants that run on water, oil, coal and natural gas. We then found nuclear power, and we built electrical plants that ran on this. Life was good, and we used what we had. We didn't really rely on anyone and we could handle things on our own pretty well.

We grew and grew to a point that we could then look back and say, OK, how do we make things better after we cut down forests and tore up land. So we did the right thing and fixed some of what we messed up. We replanted trees, filled in the pits left by strip mining and all was right with the world. But then we didn't stop, some went way to far. Now we have no progress, we are moving backward. We can't drill for oil because it might interfere with mother earth, we can't mine for coal, because it might deface some small area of the country. Now we pay a premium to buy these things from other countries. And we are now over a barrel and taking it up the tail pipe because of this "policy" that has been adopted by this hippies and then by the politicians that want to get reelected.


Now it's all about unreliable "green" initiatives. Solar, Wind, ethanol, and such. All great options but not mature yet. The current thought is to choke the consumer by cutting off our main supply of resources an this will make people start using these green alternatives to make mother earth better. Guess what, it is going to take time for these alternatives to mature. In the mean time we subsidise them with our taxes, if anyone thinks that these items are less, just remember you have already payed for some of it with your taxes.

So why can't we keep using our natural resource WHILE we keep refining our alternatives. We got into bed with the Middle East because it was cheap. Guess what, it's not cheap anymore. We need to get back to self reliance, and self preservation.


Can you imagine what would happen to the cost of oil if we started drilling in Alaska and off the gulf coast. It would scare OPEC to death. They would increase production and the prices would drop, and we wouldn't have to pump a drop of oil. They don't want us to drill, they are making billions off of us. Why do you think the oil companies are all over this. Not only do they look good by being green, but then they can keep the oil prices high.


So should we hate the green groups and oil companies, well kind of, but think about it. Who is making huge profits since the price of oil went through the roof, the oil companies. No they are not price gouging, but oil is a commodity, the price fluctuates based on simple economics of supply and demand. Demand is high, supplies are being artificially made low, and the price goes up. Duh, this is simple. But think about it, if we start drilling more or investigating other areas in the US, and OPEC increases production, the demand will be the same, supply will increase, and prices will go down. So who's bottom line will be impacted, yes the oil companies. Now is this bad, no. They are doing the right thing for there business and share holders, but don't think they are in a big hurry to have new oil supplies to increase refineries. Come on, think about it, with all the money the oil companies have, don't you think they could pressure the congress to let them drill in Alaska. Of course, they are trying to drill, but half heatedly, and most of congress is blinded by the green groups, to not do anything. This is the perfect situation for the oil companies.

Now, I am not a conspiracy nut, but doesn't this sound like a plausible situation? Why would oil companies want the oil prices to go down? It make no sense. If you were selling a widget, wouldn't you want to sell it at the highest price you could to make as much money as you could? The point that I am trying to make is the people as a whole are getting sucked into this whole Green movement, but it is playing right into the hands of those who stand to gain the most out of it. The Oil Companies are loving this, and the Green people are starting a new industry and making money hand over fist. You will pay more for everything, also, just today, I heard that the corn growers will be planteing less corn this year. Well isn't that great, what do you think will happen to the cost of food and gas then.


ON A SIDE NOTE:

Now, I am not that old, but does anyone else remember the hole in the Ozone layer? Just wondering, because when I was in grade school and high school everyone was freaked that the ozone layer was going to open up and fry the whole planet, then it closed, and everyone stopped talking about it. It goes to show you that we don't know what we are doing. We are assuming that since we have thought, and can walk on two legs, that we can control our own planet. We can to a point, but unless we unleash all of our nukes, we still have little chance of killing this planet. We may die, but I am sure the planet will survive and heal and move to the next species.

What does the Army Think about the War in IRAQ?

I had an opportunity to have a casual meeting with a member of the Army National Guard. I was taken on a tour of the facility and was shown a Black Hawk and Chanuk helicopter that were in the hanger. As the tour was winding down I asked the person who was showing me around, and yes I am being very vague on who is who and where because I have no intention of getting anyone in trouble, what his thoughts were on the war in Iraq. You see he just got back from Iraq and I felt had a very good opion of what is really going on.


His comments will be paraphrased here but I want to give you the gist of what he said because his comments were insightful, and frankly for me I put more weight into his opinion that any talking heads on the radio or TV.


He first said that we really shouldn't be there. Nothing was found and they were really not doing anything to us at the time. Second he did say that at this point we can't really pull out, but that we should pull back to our bases and let the local Iraqis take care of the major ground work.


He also said the amount of money that is being wasted is amazing not to mention loss of life. He saw a fleet of brand new trucks just sitting there that were to be going to be used for the Iraqis police. He also saw one night one of those trucks "lite up" by and RPG. I am sure this was not the first one of the last one.


He also stated that we should be throwing all of our attention at Osama Bin laden. He started this, but yet is out there still running around. He also stated that there reception by the public has always been great. A lot better then troops returning home from Vietnam and Korea.


I thanked him for his time and explained to him that I and my family are extremely proud of him and the military and that we strongly support them no matter what.


This was a great conversation and it made me think. If this is the sentiment of one man in the military that has seen this first hand, it probably is the thoughts of many in the military. It also made me think he is right. We now have had four thousand troops who have lost there lives. Add to that the hundreds if not thousands of contractors that are over there who have been killed or kidnapped. There is a huge loss of life that is taking place in Iraq and I think now is the time to follow this soldiers recommendation and pull back. Regardless of why we are there, we are there! If we leave it will be chaos, if we stay in the same capacity that we are in now then we will keep getting killed. I think we do need to pull back to our bases, provide support to the Iraqis, but continue to limit that support. Sure, give them money, but start to keep our soldiers out of harms way.


Freedom isn't free, and it can't be handed to someone. Look at our history, we are a free country purely because we wanted it and fought for it. We keep it because we remember the sacrifices of those who helped get it in the first place. The Iraqis will never appreciate it unless they get it for themselves. Unless we pull back, not out, they will never have the feeling of accomplishment and appreciation for what they have. Taking this approach we would hopefully save some lives on our side and give the Iraqis a chance to claim freedom for themselves. Thus hopefully making them appreciate it more. It's kind of like with kids, but if you hand them everything they will never appreciate it. It's only when they get it for themselves do they appreciate it and take better care of it. Freedom is no different.


Then we concentrate on the search for Bin Laden and make him pay for what he has done and is doing.


Another note, this solider also stated that there is no question that the Iranians are supplying arms to the Terrorists in Iraq. He saw munitions with Iranian writing on them. This has been stated in the media (I think), but not to any consequence. What's up with that? This is proof but I guess, what can we do with that proof, we sure the heack don't want to run into Iran and start anything with them.


In closing this war has gone on long enough. We need to take more of a secondary roll. We did make the mess in Iraq, but now is the time to say enough. I am not a pull and run person, but our strategy should change. Leaving is not an option, but staying in the capacity that we are in now, just isn't going to continue to work.



ON A SIDE NOTE:

We have been in Iraq for 5 years. Wheres the freaking oil? We should be getting oil by the barrel full? We are dieing over there, it would be nice to be getting paid back for some of the financical and personal losses that we have paid. Our gas prices are through the roof, if we were pumping oil out of Iraq and bringing it home then we would be in a much better place. Even if we were getting it at a extremely discounted price I would be fine with that. Imagine if we started getting gallons of oil from Iraq, how things would be at home?