iB::Topic::USB boot compatability list

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Topic: USB boot compatability list

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9a6or

Group: Members
Posts: 43
Joined: Feb. 2005

Posted: Mar. 31 2005,22:29

Before I start experimenting, is there a way to backup the full content of the flashdrive including MBR etc.? Not just the files but the full content from byte 0 to the last one of the 512MB? I saw somewhere that dd will do this. What exactly is the syntax?

cbagger01

Group: Members
Posts: 4264
Joined: Oct. 2003

Posted: April 01 2005,00:27

Yes, it is very easy to do with dd.

Here is the man page that explains how it works:

http://www.die.net/doc/linux/man/man1/dd.1.html

Here is an example for you.

In this example my USB stick is located at /dev/sda and my Linux or Win95/98/ME hard drive partition is located at /dev/hda1

First, I make sure that no "sda" partitions are currently mounted like /mnt/sda1 for example.
Second, I make sure that my backup storage paritition is mounted and ready to go like /mnt/hda1

Then I open an xterm and type:

sudo su
dd if=/dev/sda of=/mnt/hda1/stick_backup_file.img

and restoration of the image file is the reverse of removal:

dd if=/mnt/hda1/stick_backup_file.img of=/dev/sda

This will backup/restore the ENTIRE contents of device sda do you better double check and make sure that you are using the correct device and your command syntax is correct or you could accidentally nuke some other device like a SCSI hard drive for example.

Hope this helps.

9a6or

Group: Members
Posts: 43
Joined: Feb. 2005

Posted: April 01 2005,22:10

cbagger01,

Thanks for your very clear description, I'll have a go.

Being able to do a full backup of a USB flashdrive before dedicating it to DSL sounds like a compulsory first step. Your guide should get into the documentation of DSL for those new to such levels of Linux.

john_apple
Unregistered

Posted: April 06 2005,11:18

iaudio M3 - DSL works good

john_apple(;))wp.pl

penguin asylum Offline

Group: Members
Posts: 29
Joined: Feb. 2005

Posted: April 08 2005,11:35

I should've posted this a while ago, but here it is now :P

With a sandisk cruzer micro (256 MB), it works fine.

Details: With 9.6, it seems that on some dells that I tested it on, it boots well and then the display is sort of messed up unless you switch it to 640*480 (it definitely supports more than that). On my computer, it needs a floppy to boot onto the flash drive, and it seems that with 1.0RC1 it doesn't boot well without the floppy on the dells (NTLDR is missing?), but with a floppy on my computer it's fine.

122 replies since Oct. 12 2004,05:20

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