> dd if=/dev/virtualmachines/windows7-x64 of=mbr.w7-x64 bs=512 count=1 I think if you do this, you are only backing up the first 512 bytes of the logical volume, not the MBR. Someone correct me if I am wrong. -- Mr. Teo En Ming (Zhang Enming) Dip(Mechatronics) BEng(Hons)(Mechanical Engineering) Alma Maters: (1) Singapore Polytechnic (2) National University of Singapore My Primary Blog: <a href="http://teo-en-ming-aka-zhang-enming.blogspot.com">http://teo-en-ming-aka-zhang-enming.blogspot.com</a> My Secondary Blog: <a href="http://enmingteo.wordpress.com">http://enmingteo.wordpress.com</a> My Youtube videos: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/enmingteo">http://www.youtube.com/user/enmingteo</a> Email: <a href="mailto:space.time.universe@gmail.com">space.time.universe@gmail.com</a> Mobile Phone (Starhub Prepaid): +65-8369-2618 Street: Bedok Reservoir Road Country: Singapore <div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Nov 12, 2009 at 9:36 AM, Geert Janssens <<a href="mailto:info@kobaltwit.be">info@kobaltwit.be</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div class="im">On Thursday 12 November 2009, Mr. Teo En Ming (Zhang Enming) wrote: > Hi All, > > I have several Xen virtual machines within logical volumes using LVM2. I > did not use disk images for performance reasons. > > Conventionally, if I want to clone my virtual machines, I have to dd the LV > to an image file. But this consumes a lot of time and harddisk space. > > So, instead of doing that, I want to use losetup and kpartx with my logical > volumes, which contain operating systems of virtual machines. > > I can backup the filesystems of a virtual machine in this way: > > # losetup /dev/loop1 /dev/virtualmachines/windows7-x64 > </div>Are you sure you need to call losetup first ? I remember I used kpartx directly on the lvm containing my vbd. Also, I think you can treat the lvm based vbd as a real disk. So dd if=/dev/virtualmachines/windows7-x64 of=mbr.w7-x64 bs=512 count=1 should backup your mbr. Anyone correct me if I'm wrong please. Geert -- Kobalt W.I.T. Web & Information Technology Brusselsesteenweg 152 1850 Grimbergen Tel : +32 479 339 655 Email: <a href="mailto:info@kobaltwit.be">info@kobaltwit.be</a> _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list <a href="mailto:Xen-users@lists.xensource.com">Xen-users@lists.xensource.com</a> <a href="http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users" target="_blank">http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users</a> </blockquote></div>