Best way to copy (clone) OS to another drive

[sima66]

I'm unsuccessfully trying to clone my R2 from the USB stick to my SATA DOM!
I was able to clone once(after a dozen tryings) with "Acronis 2014"! Now, I need to do it again because I screwed up the copy, but no luck!
Cloning process is always success, but when booting it says error!
I even tried to do "recovery" from the backup, but same thing!

Any advice? :(

[frd1996]

Hi,

I am not saying that this is the best, but it is quite simple one:

1. Connect the SATA DOM (destination device)
2. Boot any live Linux distribution
3. Connect the memory stick (source device)
4. Verify now devices are recognized by the Linux. You need to identify the source and the destination. lsblk command is your great friend.
5. Use dd tool to copy the source to destination:

Code: Select all

dd if=SOURCE_DEV of=DEST_DEV bs=1M

SOURCE_DEV and DEST_DEV need to be replaced by the actual device names. See the example below.

6. Done.

Example:

If I know that my source device (the stick) is /dev/sdc and my destination device (DOM) is /dev/sdb then:

Code: Select all

dd if=/dev/sdc of=/dev/sdb bs=1M

Notes:
* All commands executed as root
* Devices such as /dev/sdb1 (digit at the end) indicate partitions. You do not want to use them. You are interested in whole disks. Again lsblk is your friend.

F

[sima66]

Thanks Fred!

Just for the step #2 (Boot any live Linux distribution), the only Linux that I have is the WTF player!
Can I use that?

Acronis 2014 that I tried it's also a separate Linux program. Clone is successful, but not boot!

UPDATE: I tried with the WTF and I was able to do it, but the result is the same! Can't boot!
Must be something strange with this stick (but works perfect), since nothing works........or something wrong with me!

[frd1996]

Hi,

Keep in mind that the bootloader installed currently on your memory stick may be configured to boot from that memory stick only, or from a memory stick in general, but not from SATA disk. Once you copied the memory stick image onto the SATA module you may need to update the bootloader as well. The question is what bootloader you are using? Boot loaders such as grub have boot command line and it is usually quite easy to get there. Then you can always try to boot the OS manually.

F

[nige2000]

id say the copy is fine
id imagine bootloader is the issue too
cant remember what i used to do to fix that
maybe some sort of bcd command

[Octagon]

Hi Adam,

I would guess it is the wrong bootloader as well. You might use Easy BCD to check and change the bootloader of your sata drive after copying the stick. Here is the wiki about it:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/EasyBCD#/search

It is freeware and well explained. Dont forget to make a backup of your sata drive before any changes or use a drive no content would be missed ;)

I keep my fingers crossed
Thomas

[sima66]

Thanks Guys,

That would explain why only I can not make a bootable copy!

Thomas, I tried to read the link from Wikipedia, but my head is spinning now more than my cloning disk! Looks like a new world to me! I hoped that it would be something simpler! :(

BTW, Nigel, that working USB stick is from you!
My only working OS!

[sima66]

Honestly, I'm looking into this EasyBCD (I downloaded), but no idea how to use in my case!
I'm totally confused!

After this, I need EasyBensedin!

[Octagon]

Adam,

better take another listening session to your favourite music than those pills, don't you ;)

Sorry, checked a bit but have got no idea of an easier solution. Only suggestion I would think of is to clone to another USB drive. That should at least leave you with a working backup.

Thomas

[sima66]

Adam,

better take another listening session to your favourite music than those pills, don't you ;)

Sorry, checked a bit but have got no idea of an easier solution. Only suggestion I would think of is to clone to another USB drive. That should at least leave you with a working backup.

Thomas

Thanks Thomas, but I already tried to clone to another USB drive (identical to original), but with same results! :(

Also, after Fred's suggestion, my sata dom is not seen in the directory (only in BIOS) and when I tried to use Acronis and re-clone again, I get the error message that this operation is not permitted!
Did I screwed up something?!

UPDATE: I tried the "recovery" from my USB sick back up and I got same error, but this time specifying specifying that Audiophile Optimizer drivers can not be found. I just pressed "ignore" and now my sata dom is a 100% clone to my USB stick and WORKING!
This same "recovery" process I also tried countless times! Why it succeeded this time I have no idea?!