<html> <head> <style> .hmmessage P { margin:0px; padding:0px } body.hmmessage { font-size: 10pt; font-family:Verdana } </style> </head> <body class='hmmessage'> > From: mrsam@courier-mta.com > To: fedora-list@redhat.com > Date: Thu, 18 Jun 2009 23:17:06 -0400 > Subject: Re: Unable to boot cloned disk > > Markus Kesaromous writes: > > > On my workstation, with FC9, I attached a second drive, identical to the > > linux boot drive. > > Both drives are SATA. > > The linux boot drive is a dual boot of windows XP and FC9. > > > > In single user mode, I cloned sda to sdb > > > > dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb bs=32M > > > > I shut down and remove the second drive and insert it into > > another workstation. > > > > Booting the second workstation fails because it cannot find > > /dev/root, among other things, and the kernel panics. > > > > Repeating the cloning does not seem to have any effect. > > > > This effectively says that an OEM cannot have a master disk to > > clone disks off of it for use in other machines. > > Of course an OEM can. I see no reason why not. > > > Any ideas how to properly clone fedora disks so that they are bootable > > on other machines? > > For starters, investigate what exactly "among other things" is. The kernel's > inability to find /dev/root is a direct result of previous errors. It's the > symptom, but not the cause, of a boot failure. > > Even though both drives are SATA drives, they may have different geometry, > so a sector-by sector copy will result in a somewhat scrambled drive. > > Generally, OEMs clone identical drives. Same make and model, same geometry. > > Furthermore, drives do not get cloned while the machine is actually booted > off the drive, and the partitions are mounted. In the best case, booting > the cloned drive will result in a fsck, and possibly some lost files. > Generally, when OEM clone drives, they boot off a separate drive, in order > to clone a given drive. > The drives are identical (i.e. make and model) I will try to clone the drives using a live cd. Will report back later. <hr />Insert movie times and more without leaving Hotmail®. <a href='http://windowslive.com/Tutorial/Hotmail/QuickAdd?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_HM_Tutorial_QuickAdd_062009' target='_new'>See how.</a></body> </html>