Good disk cloner (linux or windows) that can do track-by-track copy
Hi Team,
I have a dedicated TACACS appliance server (linux based) which I have to do a major version upgrade on. Unfortunately, there is no way for me to reverse the change if it fails, so I want to create "cloned" images of these disks so I don't really have to touch them. I have identical model disks of this appliance and I want to clone the 2 x 250GB SATA disks to this new set, and upgrade those, so that if my upgrade fails, I can re-clone again.
What utility (windows or linux) have you guys tried that can do track by track (or sector by sector) copy of disks and will play well with USB to SATA cables? Ideally, I would like to avoid opening up some chassis of some PC and connect SATA disks there, just to do a clone. I have these $40 USB to SATA gizmos that I use when I have to read the stack of SATA disks on my shelf.
Thanks and regards.
I have a dedicated TACACS appliance server (linux based) which I have to do a major version upgrade on. Unfortunately, there is no way for me to reverse the change if it fails, so I want to create "cloned" images of these disks so I don't really have to touch them. I have identical model disks of this appliance and I want to clone the 2 x 250GB SATA disks to this new set, and upgrade those, so that if my upgrade fails, I can re-clone again.
What utility (windows or linux) have you guys tried that can do track by track (or sector by sector) copy of disks and will play well with USB to SATA cables? Ideally, I would like to avoid opening up some chassis of some PC and connect SATA disks there, just to do a clone. I have these $40 USB to SATA gizmos that I use when I have to read the stack of SATA disks on my shelf.
Thanks and regards.
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It's very simple -- just run the included MakeDisk utility to create a bootable CD; then just boot the CD to make your copy. It works with both internal and USB-connected drives, so you can make the copies to your external docks, as you noted you'd prefer to do.
well -it's your choice
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"... but you won't be as certain that your copied data is good. " ==> ANY good copying utility has a validation option ... simply selecting that will ensure you always have good copies.
> ANY good copying utility has a validation option ...
Sure, they do. Do most people do a compare after the copy to make sure it's good?
Would someone who wants to get the copy done as soon as possible be likely to use the verify flag?
Perhaps for those people who would not ordinarily verify, it's useful to point out that a copy over a USB bus is much more likely to lead to lead to undetected corruption (what's your spreadsheet look like when a key '+' becomes a '-'?) than a copy over a SATA or SAS bus.
This issue of undetected corruption or mis-copies is one that most people haven't woken up to. It was a minor issue when disk sizes were an order of magnitude or two smaller than they are today; it will become more and more of an issue as disks continue to grow larger, and we work with larger and larger data sets. We who give advice to others should be aware of the dangers ourselves, and make sure we help those who depend on us understand what it means to them.
Sure, they do. Do most people do a compare after the copy to make sure it's good?
Would someone who wants to get the copy done as soon as possible be likely to use the verify flag?
Perhaps for those people who would not ordinarily verify, it's useful to point out that a copy over a USB bus is much more likely to lead to lead to undetected corruption (what's your spreadsheet look like when a key '+' becomes a '-'?) than a copy over a SATA or SAS bus.
This issue of undetected corruption or mis-copies is one that most people haven't woken up to. It was a minor issue when disk sizes were an order of magnitude or two smaller than they are today; it will become more and more of an issue as disks continue to grow larger, and we work with larger and larger data sets. We who give advice to others should be aware of the dangers ourselves, and make sure we help those who depend on us understand what it means to them.
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