Cloning a hard drive using the Ubuntu live CD #4

In this video I show you how to easily clone a hard drive.
to do this you'll need a live ubuntu CD and a second hard drive. This can be used to clone any hard drive with any OS installed in it.

The command is: sudo dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb bs=1024
where sda is the hd you are copying from and sdb is the hd you're copying to. so make sure you

change those according to your setup.

**You do this while booted into an Ubuntu live cd**
**make sure to backup all important data before doing this as a precaution in case something goes wrong.**

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• ubuntu
• linux
• gnome
• dd command
• cloning hard drive
• tutorial
• screencast
• help
• opensource
• easy
• windows
• gnu
• free
• computer
• ubuntu 9.04
• backup
• channel

[ricky000000000000001]

nice video.

i have a question when i am trying to upgrade form a old hard disk..

Should i need to add new "swap" and "ext" partitions to the new disk?

[amzertech]

@ricky000000000000001 No you won't have to if they exist in the hard drive your cloning.

[amzertech]

@ricky000000000000001 try disabling the old hard drive from bios and see if it boots from the new location

[mavericksabode]

One question...if my new drive is bigger, then how is it partitioned? I have a dual boot 80GB hard drive with 10GB of Ubuntu and the rest is WinXP. My new drive is 320 GB. How will the data be distributed on the new Hard drive?

[amzertech]

It will copy the partitions exactly how they are in the 80 GB drive. it will not expand any partitions based on your new drive's storage capacity. but you might be able to expand those partitions latter using GParted.

[dmplace]

your vids are really helpful man, thanks!

[amzertech]

I'm glad I could help! thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. bytheway your videos aren't bad either.

[Phenom69ll]

U saved my fucking ass :D

[jmncpr]

Can do the same but with a hard drive connected via USB, the clone will be bootable???

[martinzopetazo]

hey can I do this directly from the ubuntu HD? i mean without the cd, just copy the main HD to another HD

[gward009]

Thanks a lot for this video man..it's old but still works obviously. Got back 3 years of school work I thought I lost!

[chrism46220]

Nice video. I've read that cloning mounted drives can lead to data corruption. Can you comment on this? THANKS!

[RolfJB]

Hi

Just for fun I tested the dd command to clone a 31 gb partition first to a NTFS partition and then to an Ext2 partition within the same disk. It took 3 h 15 min and 45 min, respectively. The speed was 2,7 mb/s vs 11.5 mb/s. - Amazing don't you think?

[Laoch111]

A1 tutorial. Precise & clear.

[ricky000000000000001]

@amzertech

thanks for your reply

i have completed the cloning and resized the partitions..

however it seems that i still always booting the old linux as the grub is still pointing to the old location .. <=i guess

how can i edit it ???

i have try to reinstall the grub according to the guide line on the web but it does not change the result...