[H-GEN] Transferring a RH Linux system from one drive to another

[Bruce Campbell]

On Tue, 12 Jan 1999, Anthony Towns wrote:

> > I am trying to transfer a system from one set of drives to another one.
> 
> There are a few problems here, apart from just getting the files across,
> mainly related to boot up:
> 	LILO has to be made to point to the right root device
> 	/etc/fstab has to be made to point to the right devices
> 
> Otherwise, it's not too much of a bother.

And if you have specific root-device dependencies in the kernel; LILO
usually deals with that.

> > 1a: is there a limit on hard drive size for the drive the root partition is 
> > on?
> 
> Some BIOSes don't like you having your kernel outside the first 500MB
> or so.  I usually have a ~10MB /boot partition first on my hard drive,
> and stick kernels in there. Otherwise there aren't any restrictions,
> though. (AFAIK)

The boot partition must be within the first 1024 cylinders (lovely legacy
that), and sometimes will not work if spans that magic number.  10MB for a
boot drive is a bit cramped for a linux system and does require special
care to ensure you don't fill it up; a good plan when laying out the
filesystem structure is needed.  If you're unsure, 150MB is good.

> > 2: what would be the best way to transfer a system from 2 small drives, to 
> > one large drive (partitioned as necessary)
> 
> 	old.machine# tar czf - / | ssh new.machine tar -C /mnt xzpvf -
> 
> You'll need to be careful that you've got ssh setup properly first though --
> trying a few test tar | ssh untar's would be a good move.

Mental note: SCO tar observes '/'.  This is not a good thing, especially
when you are used to tar not observing '/' pathnames.

--==--
Bruce.